Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

It’s a child’s play for some bigwigs

— Photo: Raju V.

with a message: Inmates of Care and Share home for children perform a ballet on the perils of child labour system at Lenin Centre in Vijayawada on Monday.

VIJAYAWADA: Child rights activists in the city, who are actively involved in the drive to purge Krishna district of the child labour menace, are faced with a serious problem from an unexpected quarter.

Sources indicate that a few bigwigs in the city are causing obstructions to the drive by acting in gross violation of norms that aim at protecting the rights of every child.

If the fact that a major chunk of the problem is rooted in the households of moneyed sections is disturbing, tales of pressure tactics used by influential individuals to get away with the offence of employing young girls as domestic help comes as a major embarrassment.

The magnitude of the problem can be envisaged by the fact that the Child Protection Committee, which rescued a girl working as a domestic help from an ‘affluent’ household, is under pressure from an important office in the Secretariat to let her ‘master’ go scot-free.

It took five months for the Child Protection Committee to identify 20 such households in the city alone and only 13 of the children have been rescued so far, thanks to the ‘arm-twisting’ tactics adopted by the lawbreakers.

“The problem is grave and we need to take up a very strong and sustained campaign against this social evil,” says Thomas Koshy, who heads the Child Protection Committee in Krishna district. Since the problem is about the rights of children, the committee plans to involve school children to drive its message home. “Children are more sensitive to the problems of others. Our idea is to educate them about the seriousness of the issue and encourage them to think about their lesser fortunate peers. This way, they can be transformed into agents of social change,” says Fr. Koshy. The Committee members will visit schools, especially the corporate institutions, sometime in mid-July to touch the hearts of the young ones. “When a child will take the anti-child labour message to parents, it will have a definite and profound impact,” he feels.

All children have the right to feel good about themselves. The Child Protection Committee wants this to be conveyed to the elders by their young ones after infusing in them a lot of understanding, warmth and love. “If need be, we will go a step ahead and ask children to commit themselves in writing to the cause of eradication of child labour,” he says.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Scotland a dream destination for students: expert
City to host major men’s tennis tourney in Dec.
Union to seek probe into allocation of house sites
Woman killed in accident
It’s a child’s play for some bigwigs
Appeasing gods for rain
User charges on garbage opposed
Sweet shops, bakeries raided
Jewellers told to install CCTVs
PCC president to visit Vijayawada on June 26

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu