NGO reports 1,817 child labour cases; who'll rescue the kids?

You may have bought a bouquet of flowers, or some veggies from a child on the street.

Perhaps, a child cleared the table at a restaurant you visited recently. Or, your domestic help may be a child. These are some of the activities that children are involved in and it does not bother many of us even in this day and age.

On Wednesday, Pratham, a non-governmental organisation, announced that it had reported to the police 1,817 cases of children sweating it out in intensive activity in the city, that it spotted during a two-month study.

The organisation, which works for children’s rights, visited various establishments across the 24 civic wards and found that this illegal practice of child labour was the worst in south Mumbai. A whopping 28.1% of the cases were in wards A to E that covers areas from Colaba and Fort to Byculla and Mazagaon.

“Most of the leather industries manufacturing purses, bags and suitcases are located in Nagpada and Madanpura areas. A lot of children are also involved in gold jewellery making at sweat shops in Bhuleshwar that function out of old dilapidated buildings in dingy locales,” said Farida Lambay, founder of Pratham.

The next highest concentration of cases was the M/West ward that is the Chembur (West) area in the eastern suburbs. “Up to 24.8% of child labour activity was noted in M/West ward. This area has a range of businesses such as zari industries and leather tanneries especially making Kolhapuri chappals that engage children. Apart from this, many kids were found to be begging, or involved in rag-picking, and some hired as domestic help,” the report stated.

Lambay explained that the 24 wards across the city were divided into six clusters. “Our field workers visited numerous tanneries, zari factories, hotels and such establishments to  pick up child labour cases and they came across glaring examples of under-age children working in hazardous settings,” she said.

The Pratham report listed 15% per cent cases in the Dadar, Matunga, Parel areas where kids were employed largely in small units making papads and pickles, as well as in hotels and dhabas. “There are some factories making caps and zari works also in these areas,” said Lambay. “The situation in the other clusters is not very different.”

According to records available with the Mumbai police, the Juvenile Aid Protection Unit (JAPU) freed 208 child labourers last year. However, its clear that many more children languish in industrial units.

“Just because child labour is no more in your face as it was a decade ago, does not mean that it has been wiped off. With more crackdowns, more employers are turning to scattered unorganised set-ups where they employ children, making detection more difficult,” said Lambay.

The employment of children under 14 years of age is banned under the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986. But clearly it is only on paper.

The cases Pratham found were of children aged 6 to 18 and three-quarters of them were under 14.

Varsha Gaikwad, state minister for women and child welfare, who was invited to the conference, said, “After Pratham sent a list of 1,817 cases to the Mumbai police, we are coordinating with the state home and education departments, along with the police, to rehabilitate these children.”