The Hindu : National : “74 p.c. Gujjar kids engaged in child labour”

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Thursday, Nov 15, 2007
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“74 p.c. Gujjar kids engaged in child labour”

Staff Reporter

Jammu: As the country celebrated Children’s Day on Wednesday, an independent survey pointed out that 74 per cent of a Himalayan tribe between the ages of 7 to 15 were engaged in physical labour and were being exploited because of limited sources of family income. Lack of human resources hindered them from securing proper education and health facilities at an early age. The survey was conducted by the Tribal Research and Cultural foundation, a national organisation working on Indian tribes. Extreme poverty, child labour, early marriage and nomadic way of life was leading to the bleak future of lakhs of nomadic Gujjar children residing in the Himalayan range of Jammu & Kashmir, said Dr. Javaid Rahi, national secretary of the foundation. Summarising the concluded survey, he said that out of 100 nomad houses of Gujjar and Bakerwal tribe surveyed in Poonch, Rajouri, Baramulla and Kupwara districts, a total of 74 per cent Gujjar children between the age of 7 to 15 were engaged in physical labour. According to the survey the worst condition was of the children belonging to Ajjhari Gujjar (Shepherd) and Manjhii Gujjar (Buffalo keeper) tribes, 83 per cent of whom had not been to school and only 17 per cent were getting education at religious institutes. Atleast 17 per cent Gujjar children whose forefathers were bonded labourers called Ajhrais among the Bakerwal tribe were doing the same.

It was unfortunate that no governmental or NGO had brought the situation into light till date. The national literacy mission launched by the government in 1988 with the objective of all-round development of poor children in India had failed to touch the Gujjar tribe, it said.

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