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Child
Labour Commission ineffective?
Frank Krishner
Patna: Bihar is the only Indian State with a Child Labour Commission, but judging by the numbers of Bihari child slaves being rescued in Uttar Pradesh, the commission is either ineffective or lacking committed administrative support, Allahabad lawyer activist Amar Saran and nine returning children told Legislative Council Chairman Jabir Hussain on Tuesday.
Pleading for the pro-active involvement of Panchayats and Village Policemen in preventing large-scale child migration from Araria, Saharsa and other districts, Saran said "A practical solution to the child labour menace is only possible if the Welfare department networks with the education and Police departments to provide solutions. The Labour commission cannot work in isolation.
Saran, who is a volunteer for 'Sahyog' the legal cell of Diocesan Development and Welfare Society [DDWS] said that of the 58 children from Bihar rescued from ten raids conducted since September last year, 43 were from Araria district, 11 from Saharsa, two from Supaul and one each from Gaya and Khagaria. Also, during the period 10 Children from Jharkhand and 11 from Malda in West Bengal were rescued.
Bihar Labour Commissioner Vivek Kumar who interacted with the children on Tuesday announced a rehabilitation grant for Rupees 20,000, immediate social security pension of Rs 100 per month to be paid through the post office savings account, and an Indira Awas low cost house for each of them. The children arrived at their home district of Araria on Wednesday accompanied by social workers of DDWS.
The abiding cause of sending children to the looms is the poverty of the parents, and at times the callousness brought about through extreme poverty. Once the child is rescued, and the parents take him home, there is no guarantee that he will not be sent back to the looms again, as was the case with Jai Kishan, released in 1997 by an NGO when he was eight years old, 'rehabilitated' and then found working at the Bhadoi looms in November 2001. The child, one of ten from Saharsa, had contracted tuberculosis, and night blindness, and had been sold by a middle woman consecutively to four loom owners, Saran told Mr Hussain and requested him to initiate steps to ensure that a monitoring system be set up to prevent the repeated trafficking of children.
While the rehabilitation package offered to families of child labour victims is meant to ensure better living conditions that would result in a better future for the child, the parents who actually sell their children to middle-men should be given stern warnings, and if they attempt to repeat the crime, the law should use the existing acts to book and prosecute the parents regardless of their economic status. This will send a clear message to those who are part of the rescue-rehabilitation-reselling game, it is widely felt.
"We cannot eradicate child labour unless we provide viable alternatives. The state and the voluntary sector in Bihar must think in terms of transit homes that provide basic education so that the child becomes functionally literate, knows his rights, learns a vocation, so that he can return to his family and help generate income, Saran says.