The Hindu : Front Page : Biggest ever operation against child labour

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Nov 21, 2005

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Biggest ever operation against child labour

Devesh K. Pandey

MUMBAI SHOWS THE WAY: A file picture of the child labourers rescued sometime back from different factories sit huddled at a police station in Mumbai

NEW DELHI: In what is said to be the biggest ever operation undertaken to rescue children working under inhuman condition in zari units, a joint team of the State Labour Department, Delhi police and a non-government organisation Pratham plan to mount raids at over 100 such factories in the Capital on Monday. The plan envisages rescue of hundreds of children from the clutches of zari unit owners. It is learnt that the initiative to conduct such a massive operation taken about a year ago after it was observed that rescuing a few children from some zari units was not making the desirable impact on unscrupulous owners and traffickers who bring these children from Bihar, especially Sitamarhi.

As has been witnessed in the past, the children in embroidery units are forced to work mostly in rooms without ventilation, that too for over 14 hours a day, due to which they develop breathing problems and skin allergies in the long run. Most are given as low as Rs. 10 a week, and two meals a day.

Despite their eagerness to rescue the oppressed children, the organisations concerned were finding it difficult to identify those embroidery units which relied on child labour. Hence, the Pratham Child Labour Programme team took up the task of conducting a secret survey to identify the zari units and the children below 14 years working there. The team concentrated on the units located in the trans-Yamuna area where a large number of children were being exploited. In the carefully conducted operation, the 100-member team even documented the number of children in each unit, by involving several teachers in the process.

During the survey, Pratham also documented the names, permanent addresses and other vital information about the children, considered important while carrying out the rescue and rehabilitation exercise. The strategy to rid the trans-Yamuna area, which is said to house most zari units in Delhi, of the child labour problem was recently cleared by the Labour Department. Junned Khan, the head of the Pratham Child Labour Team, said the Labour Department took up the matter seriously, keeping in mind each and every minute detail to make the raid a complete success.

This apart, the Labour Department has with help from HUDCO set up a temporary shelter for about 2,000 children at the August Kranti Bhawan in Bikaji Kama Place in South-West Delhi for their one-week stay. While Pratham would make arrangements for food and other basic amenities to the children, on behalf of the Labour Department, it would also provide volunteers to take care of them during the stay there.

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