“Free India does not necessarily mean freedom for poor from poverty or freedom for children from labour. Stakeholders have to pull up their socks if they really intend to help society's poorer section.” This was the general opinion shared by most of the speakers and stakeholders at the two-day workshop on
'Elimination of Bonded Labour and Child Labour'.
The workshop held at Mahatma Gandhi Labour Institute in Memnagar began on Tuesday. It sought to create awareness among stakeholders to take immediate action against perpetrators of child labour or bonded labour, to become more humane in their approach while dealing with bonded and child labourers and to ensure that their constitutional rights are upheld.
Justice BC Patel, member of NHRC, asked at the workshop, "When India's constitution was written down, there were volumes of drafts pertaining to justice and equality. Unfortunately, today neither justice is available nor equality traceable. Why?"
He pointed out, "As per the report read out in 2011 in parliament, 239 violations were found during 8304 inspections last year. However, no one was convicted."
Explaining the reasons behind this, Patel said, "This sorry state of affairs is because of notorious officials; child labour in India being common; and poor children having no option but to work. There are 26 cases under Gujarat's consideration and therefore continuous training of officials or stakeholders is a must."
Dr Sanjay Dubey, NHRC director said, "Detecting bonded labour is a challenge today, mainly because of its changing nature. And hence, officials must apply their minds in the current context and find out about the victims and the reasons for their suffering."
