Child labour rampant despite one year of ban

NEW DELHI: They still mop floors in bungalows of posh colonies and middle-class residences. They still serve at roadside eateries. And worse, their presence in hazardous occupations only seems to grow bigger and bigger.
      
One year after government banned the hiring of children as domestic helps or for employing in restaurants and eateries, the stigma of child-labour persists.

Millions of children still work in the banned professions, according to NGOs, with the law which came into force on Oct 10, 2006, 'more or less just on paper'.

"In the last one year, a mockery has been made out the law. Previously, only the stone-quarrying, zari factories and brick kiln industries were the offenders of the law. But now, with two additional areas included, the law is being flouted every next door," said Kailash Satyarthi of Bachpan Bachao Aandolan (BBA), an NGO working against child-labour.
      
The official records accessed under RTI by BBA revealed that only 6,669 children were identified across the country as child labourers, under last year's amendments in Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986.
      
In all, 872 prosecutions were launched against the offending employers, but not a single conviction had taken place during the last one year, it was revealed.
       
In case of the national capital, only 55 child labourers could be identified, while 290 of them were found in Bihar and just two in Uttarakhand, according to records.
      
Terming the findings as 'shocking', the NGO claimed there were more than 20 lakh children working as domestic helps in restaurants and dhabas in Delhi alone.

"What this indicates is a serious lack of political will and lack of preparedness on the part of government to implement the law. Efforts must be made to change this culture of breaking laws," Satyarthi said.
      
As per the 2001 census, there are nearly 12.6 million children working in India in the age-group of 5-14 years, but unofficial estimates put the figure at anywhere between 60 to 115 million.
      
Even though the government has taken some initiatives like establishing a Child Line service in cities, where violation of the ban could be reported, it has yielded little result.
      
"We hardly get a call reporting child-abuse or employment of child-labour for weeks at a stretch," said an attendant of a Child Line service.

On their part, the Labour department officials also admitted the delay in conviction of offenders.
      
"Legal matters take time and the convictions would take place soon. You must appreciate that so many prosecutions have been done in such a time," a senior labour ministry official, who did not wish to be named, said.

"Certainly, enforcement of the Act is a major problem and this has to be highlighted as on of the biggest challenges," the official of the Labour ministry said.
      
"Enforcement has its own problems. It is not easy to just barge into someone's home to raid and get the children out," he said, adding that currently, the focus was to create awareness and sensitise people about the problem.
      
Identifying the need for "a change in the mindset" of the people, Carlotta Barcaro of UNICEF India said, "Providing a roof on the head and food would not serve much purpose. People must realise the vulnerability of children.
      
"Besides, we must also take care of other aspects such as rehabilitation and providing safety nets in case of the children who are rescued out of illegal employment," Barcaro added.