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Last Updated:: 14/10/2014
1.5 lakh kids toil as labour
1.5 lakh kids toil as labour in Bangalore, say activists
Times of India by Chethan Kumar, Bangalore, 10th October 2014
Bangalore: "India has touched Mars, but we've not been able to touch our children's hearts," a Bangalore-based child rights activist says. It couldn't be truer when one looks at the extent of child labour in Karnataka. Union labour department statistics point to 2,49,432 child labourers in Karnataka as per the 2011 census. But actual figures are much more, say child rights activists, pegging the number in Bangalore itself to be a little more than 1.5 lakh. Add to this the north Karnataka region where child labour is rampant, and you'll see systemic paralysis.
Next month, the world will observe 25 years of signing of the UN resolution against child labour. But the situation in Karnataka remains disturbing. India had enacted The Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 three years before the UN resolution and Karnataka borrowed the same. It lists 58 occupations that children shouldn't be doing. But the law is hardly implemented.
Karnataka then came up with a plan that envisaged ridding the state of child labour at the end of the plan period (2002-2007). That policy paper lies buried in Vidhana Soudha's archives as children continue to work in bars and hotels, workshops and sweatshops, in hazardous sectors like illegal e-waste, construction sites, brick kilns, silk industry, and so on.
Labour officials say they are cracking the whip. In three years (2011-2013) the department found 428 violations, prosecuted 458 people and convicted 117 people, who'd wrongfully employed children below the age of 14. And therein lies the crux of the problem, say child rights activists. Kavita Ratna of Concerned for Working Children says: "The issue is how we view child labour. Our policies criminalize those below 14 and ignore those above 15 but below 18. There is zero attention to prevention of the problem. Child labour will never go as long as there is largescale deprivation, and the number of homeless and landless people increase."
We cannot simply follow the international method of "ban and boycott," she says, calling to provide alternatives for children, as many are breadwinners. The Apprenticeship Act is never thought of for these children. That has better means to deal with the problem as it allows children to work in a regulated environment and also go to school. "But there's not a single evening school. We're not serious," Kavita says.
Umesh Aradhya, chairperson, Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, says all the departments must work together. "There are some wonderful schemes conceived by the government, but we're failing to deliver the same to these kids. There needs to be a convergence."
One such scheme is the Child Labour Project. Under this, 7,074 children have been sent to school after being rescued from child labour since 2011. But the efforts seem isolated with children continuing to be denied education, food, shelter and other rights. It's time we revisit our policies.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/1-5-lakh-kids-toil-as-labour-in-Bangalore-say-activists/articleshow/44778023.cms