Opinion - Editorials   

A ban that was overdue

The Government of India has announced a ban on the employment of children as domestic workers and as workers in restaurants, dhabas, hotels, spas and resorts effective from October 10 this year. This is a welcome move that will benefit many of India's child workers, of whom there are a staggering 13 million or more, forming the largest number of child labourers in the world. Many of these children experience physical, psychological, and sexual abuse on a regular basis. For instance, the exploitation of children is high in roadside eateries, tea shops and dhabas where child labour is rampant. The horrific murder of 10-year-old Sonu, a child domestic worker, who was brutally beaten to death by her employers in Mumbai recently for trying on some lipstick is an appalling example of the kind of cruelty that these children often endure. It is reasonable to assume that there are myriad such incidents going unreported; cases of young children whose childhoods are stolen from them, who are abused and who die at the hands of their employers. The present law, The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986, bans employment of children only in hazardous industrial processes such as mining, chemical production, carpet weaving, bidi making, wool cleaning and in workplaces where toxic substances are used. Rules under this law were framed in 1989 and, through further notifications and schedules, rules for "working conditions" were formulated for children working in environments not prohibited by the 1986 Act, while increasing the number of hazardous industries covered by it.

The Government also launched the National Child Labour Projects in 1988 to rehabilitate working children by getting them into special schools for a non-formal education, and by other measures such as enforcing labour laws to make it illegal for them to be hired. The Supreme Court has also issued various directions in this regard, but the existing laws are ineffective and are not implemented in many parts of the country. Children continue to work under extremely adverse and dangerous conditions, with their plight accorded low importance by various State governments. The latest ban will be ineffective unless the law is enforced and the violators are prosecuted. Surprise inspections of establishments where children are likely to be employed and mechanisms to prevent recurrence need to be established. Non-enforcement by States should entail deterrent action. Such strategies will work well to control the demand for child labour. But also needed is a choking off of the supply. An effective way to do this would be to ensure that the constitutional obligation of providing free and compulsory education for all children under 14 is met, so that children cannot be elsewhere than school. The main, and invaluable, consequence of securing children's basic rights will of course be the powerful enrichment of the nation's human capital, necessary for the country's road to prosperity.

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