JOIN USAs another ‘World Day against Child Labour’ arrives on June 12, the sight of little girls selling bunches of red flowers in the CBD areas is still prevalent. One can also find boys and girls selling stationery items and food products on roadsides in posh areas like Indiranagar, Residency Road and towards the interior areas such as KR Market, Cottonpet and Chickpet.
Although the number of children working as domestic help and in hotels has reduced, children continue to be employed in sweatshops on the outskirts of the city and garment units. One also finds a large number of children, who assist their parents working at construction sites and also sell products at prominent traffic junctions across the city.
Government agencies who work in co-ordination with Bengaluru City Police in rescuing and rehabilitating these children say it is poverty and an abusive atmosphere at home that push these children to work. Dr Kripa Amar Alva, chairperson of the Karnataka State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR), feels child labour thrives because the respective laws aren’t implemented and enforced in stringently.
“The Labour Department has the power to come down heavily on people or organisations employing children but this is not being done in a proper manner. We handle only cases that are brought to our notice but sadly, most of the time cases of children being employed is overlooked and ignored. There must be a change in the attitude among people,” she reasons.
Dr Kripa says the best way to put a end to child labour is to send them to school. “I’ve made a beginning by travelling across 23 districts in the state to get children who are out of school back in school and I will be doing the same in the city soon. Educating them and freeing them from bondage for life is the only way out,” she says.
There are several organisations such as Bosco Mane and South India Cell for women empowerment Human Rights Education and Monitoring (SICHREM) who work with the government in rescuing children from the clutches of bonded labour. Fr John, Executive Director of Bosco, says they have rescued children employed, in garment factories near market areas and at construction sites. “There are cases where the whole family is employed in these factories. When the parents work there, children are also brought along with them. The employers take them in because they can extract more work from them,” he says. Most of these families are from remote places in Jharkhand and Bihar. “They don’t speak the local language and this makes them more vulnerable to exploitation,” he adds.
Mathew P, Director of SICHREM observes children are employed by middle-class families to help with domestic work such as cleaning, cooking and washing clothes. “These children are brought in by the agents from villages to work in cities are first promised good salaries but things change when they start working. They are made to do all kinds of odd jobs and made to work long hours,” he says. He says children are also seen working as rag pickers and as shoeshine boys, especially near railway and bus stations.
The officers in the law and order division of Bengaluru City Police say they act only when a case of child labour is reported to them. When asked if children selling items, near traffic junctions are a part of an organised body or a racket? K S R Charan Reddy, Additional Commissioner of Police (West) says, “I don’t think it is a part of any racket. It is clearly economic reasons that have forced these children to sell things on the street and work in add jobs. They are being sent by their parents. We haven’t received any complaints so far but if we do then we will take action,” he assures.
Cases of child labour can be reported to Childline at 1098 or KSCPCR at 22115291/92.