Child labour: At tender age, all they think about is wage

Manav Mander

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Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 15

Children his age go to school and play with friends, but Munna, hailing from Bihar, is busy delivering tea orders in the busy Chaura Bazar. At the end of the month, he manages to earn Rs 500.

Another boy his age works with his parents at a construction site while an eleven-year-old girl does dishes to help her mother make both ends meet.

The children are forced to work in inhumane conditions. Nothing concrete has been done to check child labour. One can see children working at shops, factories and dhabas.

Although the Child Labour Act and the Right to Education Act are in place to prevent such exploitation, a little has been done to implement these.

The children are exploited and assaulted. The Bachpan Bachao Andolan has been rescuing such children and sending them to their native places. The body was established in 1980 and has rescued as many as 85,000 children to date.

“The children are unaware of the importance of education. They prefer going to places where they can earn money. They’re ready to work in inhuman conditions for meagre salaries, but are ready to study. For them, attending school is a wastage of time. We have asked the authorities of night schools to encourage the children,” said Monika Khurana, president of the Women and Children Welfare Council.

Sunita and her two daughters help her in doing dishes. Sunita said she did not have money to educate her wards and didn’t want to leave them alone at home.

“My husband works in Madhya Pradesh. I don’t have money to send them to school,” she said.

A survey of roadside shops and dhabas revealed that child labour continued unabated in the city. Shambu blames poverty for the exploitation. “I run a tea stall and manage to give two square meals to my family, but can’t think of sending them to school,” he said.

The condition of the children working in factories is no better.

Nine-year-old Kishan spends 12 hours a day wheeling his cycle, loaded with food, through the brick-kilns located on the outskirts of the city.

Most of his customers are children who work in the kilns and help their parents. In summer he sells kulfi, which provides the toiling children a moment’s respite from the searing waves of heat generated by the furnaces. In winter, his spicy, hot papads are in demand. At the end of the day, he manages to earn between Rs 50 and Rs 80.

Twelve-year-old Chhotu migrated eight months ago from Saharanpur.

He spends 12 hours a day hammering thin steel tubes into fancy hub caps for cars. At the end of the month, he is richer by Rs 1,000 which he gives to his parents.

Chhotu’s younger sister is employed with a textile unit and he earns Rs 300 a month.