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Child labourers rescued in Mumbai begin their journey back home

Prachi Pinglay

Issues of weak laws, poverty at home yet to be addressed; probability of children returning to city high

EXPLOITED, DEFENCELESS: A file photo of child labourers waiting in a police station in Mumbai after being rescued. — Photo: Vivek Bendre

MUMBAI: After three major raids on informal sector units in June, during which more than 800 children were rescued and over 100 cases registered, the `Say No to Child Labour' task force has managed to persuade employers to send 13,000 children working in Mumbai, back to their hometowns.

The children were working primarily in Zari, shoe-making, bag-making and buffing units in Madanpura, Bhuleshwar, Gowandi, Patelwadi and Kurla.

The task force comprises a network of 46 non-governmental organisations, and the Labour and Women and Child Welfare departments.

Confirming this news, Kishore Bhamre of the task force said: "We have been working in these areas for months. We told the employers several times that the children should not be working and should be sent back. After the June raids, they knew we were serious about the issue. An NGO, Pratham, sent a bogie with 100 children and accompanying volunteers to Patna. Our volunteers checked the train and kept a record. This is how 13,000 children, mostly from Zari units were repatriated."

Poverty, the key

But there is a probability of the children coming back to the city because of extreme poverty at home. B.D. Sanap, Labour Commissioner, says their native States should implement poverty alleviation programmes. "It is incorrect to say that parents do not mind sending two kids to work if they have six or seven. For a mother, each child is important, but poverty forces parents to send the child out to work. Employers prefer to employ children because it is more profitable. The kids don't form unions or resist longer working hours. They work faster and for at least 13 to 15 hours a day. So conditions at home must improve so that children do not find their way back here."

The Labour Commissioner's office and the NGOs have come across several misconceptions on the part of employers, who believe that they are helping the children by employing them, and that without their employment the children's families would starve.

On a visit to Madanpura, where the first raid was conducted, one of the employers asked: "If the child does not mind and his family gets some money, where is the problem?" Misleading notions, coupled with weak laws, have made it difficult to nail errant employers. Mr. Sanap says that employers do not care: "Since most of these units are not completely legal, they know how to work around loopholes. The Child Labour Act and sections of the Juvenile Justice Act are not strict. The employers dare us to file cases. They know that even if they lose, it is only a question of a paying a monetary fine". Though the law enforcement agency is an integral part of the task force, police officials say that other departments of the government should be more involved. An understaffed and overworked police force can conduct a one-time operation, but for a sustained effort, departments like income tax, labour and licensing should be more vigilant in checking the working of such units.

Additional Commissioner of Police Subodh Jaiswal said: "Stricter laws, speedy trials and severe punishments will ensure that employers do not bring the children back."

In the meantime, around 100 children in various shelter homes in Mumbai await a clear decision. About 700 children have either been sent to their native places in Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, or have been handed over to their parents in Mumbai. But no one has answers for Kartik Chakraborty (13), one of the 291 children rescued from Bhuleshwar jewellery-making units. "My mother does not stay with my father. He beats her. So I came here with my cousin. Where are they sending me? What do I do?"

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