— Photo: Sushil Kumar Verma

EXPRESSING SOLIDARITY: Filmmaker Shyam Benegal with child workers at a press conference in New Delhi on Saturday.

NEW DELHI: The recent amendment to the Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act 1986 is a triumph of civil society, says a non-governmental organisation, Save the Children.

At an interaction with filmmaker Shyam Benegal, organised here on Saturday by the NGO, three rescued girls wanted to know about the follow-up for releasing children from work and ways to ensure that the needs of the families that forced their children into domestic work were taken care of.

The girls narrated how they put up with verbal and physical abuse by their employers. They said it was poverty that had forced them into labour. They were now playing an active role in motivating parents to recall their children from employment. Stating that there was need to create awareness, Mr. Benegal assured the children that he would raise their concerns at appropriate platforms.

According to an official with the NGO, its survey indicated that a significant number of employment agencies in metros including Delhi and Mumbai and in Ranchi were facades which facilitated trafficking in children.

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