18 child labourers rescued in the last one year

PUNE: A total of 18 children, in the 10 to 15 age group, employed in hotels, garages, bakeries and bars, were rescued during 58 raids conducted between January 2010 and April 2011 in the city, said additional labour commissioner T G Cholke.
"Awareness on child labour has certainly increased in society. Associations of hotels, bars and 'tapris' now know the risks involved in employing child labour as the raids are now conducted by a joint task force, anytime, anywhere.Even under the Shop Act, we issue licences to hotels only after they put up a board about not employing child labour," says Cholke.
Raids conducted on June 7 and 8 in Market Yard and Nana Peth, rescued only two children. "We will conduct some more raids in the coming weeks," says Nakul Kate, coordinator of Action for the Rights of Child (ARC) and member of the task force.
A task force involving members of various NGOs, the education department, department of women and child welfare, health department, labour department and the police, conduct quarterly raids, each of which rescues around four to five children usually in the age group of 10 to 18 years.
According to Manish Shroff, state convenor for Campaign Against Child Labour (CACL), also a member of the task force, the number of children rescued through raids has been decreasing in the last few years. "In 2008, we had rescued over 45 children. It was around 40 in 2009. In 2010, we were able to rescue only 25 children. The number has dropped primarily due to the provision in the Child Labour (Prevention and Regulation) Act (CLPRA), 1986 included by the state government in 2009, which said no child labour, below the age of 14, to be employed in hazardous industries. Until then, we were able to rescue kids till the age of 18," says Shroff.
However, effective follow-up post-rehabilitation, is missing, says Shroff. "There is no procedure currently that can help us keep a track of the rescued and rehabilitated children. Therefore, there are high chances of a child rescued and reunited with the parents, going back to work," Shroff said.
With lacunae in the CLPRA, the only way to counter child labour is to focus on the newly-passed Right to Education Act, says Ingrid Mendonca, founder-member of Action for Rights of the Child (ARC). The umbrella organisation, comprising 30 NGOs that work for child rights, has started a drive since May-end to get as many children as possible, especially belonging to the migrant community, admitted into municipal schools.
"From May-end, we've begun a drive to enroll kids, belonging to the migrant population and those from weaker sections of society, in municipal schools," said Mendonca, who feels there's a need to repeal the prevailing CLPRA. "We need a fresh legislation to counter child labour because the Act focuses on child labour below the age of 14 involved in hazardous occupations/industries. We are stressing on the inclusion of child labour engaged in agriculture and agriculture-related sectors as well," she said.
However, it's difficult to nail cases of child labour in the form of domestic help. "We can take action only when we receive an official complaint. But, so far, not a single complaint in this regard has been registered. So cracking down on child labour in households is still difficult," said Cholke.
And even though awareness about child labour has increased in society, a proper child care plan that could facilitate effective rehabilitation of rescued child labourers is missing. "In 2009, we had written to the state department and the child rights commission about the need to issue to I-cards to members of NGOs involved in rescuing child labour. This can help members like me take prompt action by calling the police to the spot immediately the moment we spot child labourers employed anywhere in the city. This will cut down the unnecessary time involved in following the current protocol. However, we haven't yet received a favourable response in this regard," says Kate.
Kate says that ARC is preparing posters on the role of the police in rescue and rehabilitation of child labour. "We are planning to distribute these posters to all the police stations in Pune district, by mid-August," he says.