At a massive anti-child labour rally held in Bangalore on June 12, International Child Labour Day, newly appointed Union minister for law and justice M. Veerappa Moily, a stalwart of the Congress party which has ruled in New Delhi for over 40 years with a few interregnums, passed the blame for the country hosting the world’s largest working child population onto the public. “There are nearly 20 million child labourers in the country. There should be a revolution to stop child labour, but the government and police alone cannot stop the practice without diligent citizen participation. If all citizens actively participate in this revolution, it can be eradicated,” said Moily, describing child labour as a “cancer” infecting the country.
The rally was organised jointly by the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority, Advocates Association, state departments of education, women and child development, and labour. It attracted a crowd of over 2,000 primary school children who held placards and banners protesting the incidence of child labour, and featured other speakers including Supreme Court justices R.V. Raveendran and H.L. Dattu, chief justice of Karnataka high court P.D. Dinakaran and Narendra Swamy, minister for women and child development in the Karnataka government.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) designated June 12 as the World Day against Child Labour in 2002 to focus world attention on the global incidence of child labour, and to persuade national governments to initiate strong legislation against it. Every year on this day, ILO exhorts national governments, employers’ and workers’ organisations, and civil society worldwide to unite to eradicate child labour.
But quite evidently these annual exhortations have fallen on unreceptive ears within the Indian establishment, which is quick to sign treaties and conventions for their ritual, rather than real, significance. With the provision of quality education in conducive environments to great masses of the poor proving beyond the ken of the country’s leaders, 53 percent of the 200 million children enroled in primary school at the start of every academic year drop out before entering secondary education. Neither they nor their parents are convinced that government schools, to which the children of the poor are condemned, have anything worthwhile to teach. Hence the number of children in the labour force keeps rising, and is reportedly over 44 million — twice the figure cited by Moily.
As if admitting defeat, the Child Labour (Prohibitions and Regulation) Act 1986, enacted by the Union government, does not unequivocally proscribe child labour. It prohibits the employment of children only in 16 hazardous industries. “The Child Labour Act is completely inadequate as it covers only children working in hazardous industries, and in effect permits their employment in agriculture, factories, shops, and domestic households,” says Regina Thomas, the Bangalore-based regional director of development and youth support at CRY (Child Rights and You).
According to Thomas, the root causes of child labour must be addressed to bring about positive change. “If the Central and state governments are serious about eradicating child labour, they must initiate social welfare and employment programmes to tackle poverty and illiteracy within Indian society. Simultaneously they must ensure every child is in school and receiving quality education,” she said.
In short, rather than fine speeches on one day every year, the onus is primarily on the Central, state and local govern-ments, which collect huge taxes from citizens for the purpose, to facilitate education of the country’s vulnerable children in enabling environments through-out the year. The buck can’t be passed to the citizenry.
Paige Aarhus (Bangalore)