Employing children as domestics is illegal. Yet, this is one law that is broken with impunity again and again.
What a way to begin the week after the long Easter weekend. First, we got the news about baby Afreen in Bengaluru, whose father has allegedly beaten her to death. He did this apparently because he wanted a son and was mad at this wife for producing a girl. Then in a village near Jalgaon, Maharashtra, a 19-year-old girl was strangled to death. The chief suspects are her father, uncle and grandmother. The reason: she was in love with a boy from another caste. And in Mumbai, the police arrested a 20-year-old man who was trying to abduct two minor girls.
But distressing as these reports are, the news from Delhi the previous week of the 13-year-old domestic left locked in a flat by her employers who went off to Bangkok is even more chilling. The facts of that case are now well known and even the international media has reported them. The couple, both medical doctors, have been arrested and charged under various provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act, the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act and the Indian Penal Code. The girl, rescued by the fire brigade when neighbours reported seeing her on the balcony crying, has now been taken to a shelter. And the man who brought her to Delhi from Jharkhand has also been arrested.
Subterranean cities
This story, however, does not end here. It is the beginning of another story, one that gives us a glimpse into a nether-world, one where children are kidnapped, stolen or sold into servitude from some of the poorest parts of India; a world where these children have no choice, no voice. When we think of trafficking, we usually think of the sex trade. In fact, many children are trafficked into domestic and other forms of labour and are never detected.
The story of the 13-year-old girl in Delhi is not an exception. Every now and then similar stories are reported in the media. In Mumbai, we still remember the horrific tale of 10-year-old Sonu who was tortured by her employers and eventually died from the injuries.
But there are two aspects of this story that are particularly worrying: indifference and impunity. Let us take the latter first. In October 2006, the government included domestic work in the Child Labour Act. Earlier, children under 14 years were prohibited from working in a number of hazardous industries that were identified. After 2006, the law banned children from being employed as domestics or to work in dhabas and restaurants. Yet, many like the educated professional couple in this case, think nothing of breaking this law.
Usually, when people like them are asked why they employ children, they come out with a set of standard excuses: “We were looking after the child as if she was our own”. “We were feeding and clothing her, something she would not get in her village”. “She is like a member of our family”, etc. But the point is that they are breaking the law. And with impunity. The fact that so many affluent and middle class people do this is because they are confident that the law applies to others, not to people like them. In fact, they firmly believe that most laws apply to others, not to them.
Unacceptable numbers
Data is not easily available on this issue but roughly 20 per cent of the 12.6 million child workers in India (these are official figures and therefore a gross underestimation) are domestic workers. Of these, the majority are boys. But girls too work as domestics and are particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse. Both boys and girls suffer various levels of physical abuse.
The other side of impunity is indifference. How many of us turn our faces away when we see a woman being harassed, a child being beaten, a law being flouted? No one wants to be involved. I wonder how many people in the housing colony where this couple lived were aware that a child was working in that house? What stopped any of these people from reporting this to Childline, which has a well-advertised number (1098) that anyone can call and an email address where a complaint can be sent?
We are not helping any children, including our own, if we justify employing children to work in our homes. We are flouting not just the child labour laws but also the constitutional provision that gives every child the right to compulsory and free education. Sadly, in India, being educated and part of the better-off class does not necessarily add up to enlightened attitudes. As with dowry, the more we learn, the more we earn, the more we slip back in our attitudes.
sharma.kalpana@yahoo.com
Keywords: Child labour issue, Child Labour Act.
Seating in the comforts and luxury and talking about child labour is easy. But in a country where unemployment, poverty is rampant, children are compelled by the circumstances of poverty and starvation to feed for themselves at the very early age of their life, and are deprived of their childhood, education and in future, a better paid job and a good way of life. Efforts must be made to provide elementary education to such children and financially and emotionally support them, by institutional mechanism.
In India we get some pleasure when we disobey th elaw. We get petty pleasure when we drive without a valid license, overspeeding, killing poor people by drunken driving, acceptind and offering bribes. All these illegal activities will continue including child labour until we Indian are getting good value based education. The schools in india only produces citizens who can cheat others and earn money but never the value of humanity amd love for other living beings.The other easy way to curb this crime is to punish them severely if they indulge in illegal activities.But the possibility of that happening is remote as we corrupted indians always elect crrupted people who doesn't want to obey the rule of law.
I just have one question for people against child labour: Why child labour exits and how do we expect a child to survive without working in a society, which care least about them? I am not in the favour of Child labour but believe me, no parent will ever want their child to work, given they have option.
Most languages make a difference between "education" and "schooling", the latter by
no means a guarantee of the first. I wonder why our languages have no such
differentiation. The best one can think of is "padha-likha ganwar" to describe these
barbaric people, and that isn't really enough as one is now insulting all "ganwars".
As correctly pointed out by other readers, Indian society is still beset by feudalism
and schooling has not ushered in any enlightenment. Will the RTE also address this
aspect once?
Telugu film director Teja is a good example of a person from rags to riches. So, let us atleast support one person who has the potentiality of becoming better.
First I heartily thank & appreciate Ms.Kalpana Sharma for her article. Following that I want to present an incident I encountered at my relatives residence during my vacations.
A small girl around 12 years of age was engaged in day to day chores and when enquired about her I came to know that she was employed during her summer vacations and help in earning for her family. I objected this and complained to the child helpline. There was the great explanation recorded by her parents stating their daughter was sent for practical training whereas it will be useful to her at her in-laws home after marriage.
After that incident we came to know that many girl children are being subjected to this sought of work to earn for their family living and after that at in-laws place.
For boys it is mechanic shop, hotels, roadside eateries, etc... This sought of acts are especially done by educated (sorry literate) people.
Once upon a time women & children were precious assets but now...?
We have tremendous and stringent laws. But the seriousness and committment is lacking in implementation. Everybody knows that employing children as domestics is illegal but noone follows it and respects the law. Sorry to say that in present society many government higher-ups, private industrialists and some of the creamy layer are employing the children illegally. Even soome of our respected leaders irrespective of political parties are also not respecting the law. If law makers are law breakers then the fate of innocent children's welfare will never be protected. Let us hope for the best.
Everyone is blaming the 'literate but not educated' here. I am not in favor of child labor. It is the fact indeed that in many cases, the
family of child forces him to work as a domestic labor, depriving him
any education. The money they are earning in the city is far beyond
there family ever had. In some cases, minor who is domestic help
somewhere, alone supporting the whole family.
Its duty of government to give these children education. And if they
are giving these children education, then economically speaking, the
ROI earned through earning by jobs after getting education should be
greater than what they would have earned working as a domestic labor.
If the ROI on having education is high, child trafficking, related to
domestic help will see a considerable decline.
Excellent Article Kalpana Sharma. I regret the fact that I myself have not done anything about it when I see kids being employed in restuarants/hotels. How can I change the nation or others if I cant change myself first?. This article is calling for a personal change in attitude and less to do with changing others. Hope my actions speak louder than these words.
When i was in school,i used to read in my civics book government has implemented this Child Labour Act , government provides free education under age 14 children , that time i used to think may be law has just implemented, it will take time to educate children working in Dhabas and restaurant but is it actually happening, have we reached to some level? Most elite and educated families of our nation tend to flout these laws, Act.
Our nation need revolution,i believe poverty is main cause, Children from poorest families tend to indulge in trafficking ,if our countrymen can afford basic things, than thay can think of education. but in here, Poor are becoming poorer, rich are becoming richer.
The last line shows the attitude of our people. The more we learn, the more we become fraud. I quote best examples, My friends and relatives. Some of my friends doing Rs.50,000 p/m salary, they also want dowry. I was shocked when they said this to me. These kind of people are just literates, they are not educated. Hope, I would see educated India before my last breath. Its the only wish I have in my life.
This is a stark reality in our country that every one of us need to take responsibility for work to eradicate this evil. Laws and punishments can only go so far. Unless a critical mass of people take it on themselves to appeal to human conscience in every possible way we will continue to find reasons and justifications. The problem is so pervasive and complex that no single entity or a combination laws, fines, NGOS and condemnation can ensure that child labour will be wiped out. How about each one of us take it as a crusade and do whatever we can and influence people in our circles? Why should we need a weaker, smaller and more vulnerable human being to do our chores? Shame on us if we need a child to make a cup of tea for us, carry shopping bags or clean up the mess we make in our homes. What is needed here is unconditional empathy for a budding fellow human being. Do we need to learn this?
This is truly shameful for India. Just making the laws can't help unless some stringent action are taken against those who flout the law and consider themselves as if they have given the child a better life. Even if any child is employed as domestics on a shop near to a police station, police keeps neglecting it because they do not consider the law as a stringent one.We find children working in street shops and dhabas as helpers, but still do take any action. It is people who have to take some action whenever they see the law being broken in front of their eyes.
The term "educated" is used so casually to describe anyone who has high
academic or professional qualifications. Without character and values
nobody can be considered as educated. I do not know what word is
appropriate to describe those persons. Now a days people have only
surface thinking and do not indulge in deeper thinking. What is the use
of so many books which brings to light slavery and duly condemned by the
so called "educated" after buying and reading the books. What a great
hypocrite country India is!
My question to those who employ children for labour is "will you send your children to do such chores?". Just because certain people are deprived of economic well-being, it does not mean that we have a caveat to take advantage of it and turn monsters and slave them. Now with the constitutional validty of Right to Education being upheld by the Supreme Court, duty is cast upon the Government, both Centre and State; and local bodies to identify such children and give them education. Moreover, there has been no meaningful prosecution of those who had employed children. Therefore, there should be a few fair trail and conviction, if found guilty. These cases should be given wide publication. Only this will deter others from doing this inhuman practice.
Now a days it become's a culture to breach the law,And people say very
sheepishly law's are meant to broke,until we broke how the new one
will come.In that row upper class of the society always show the upper
hand.
The need of hour is to empowerment of women first.Every 1 out of 4
girls are sexually harased,1 out of 6 donot see their 15th birthday,1
million girl child out of 12 million girls child donot see thier first
birthday.
Second focus on quality education.RTE is a way foerward in that
direction.
Third empoerment of gram panchayat and gram sabahs,becuase child
labour coomes mostly from rural areas
it is high time that a national movement be started demanding
declaration of children as national assets.every child born be
registered, declared as national property,till adolescence.
Problems of hunger are connected to child labor.Solutions may lie in universal female education,Availability of better birth control,Guaranteed standard of living (food shelter health care and education for all children). If we fail to provide for basic needs to all children we should not deprive them from feeding themselves by working and learning in educated homes.Systems may be created where children are benefited and not exploited.
Just as illegal dowry is punishable by IPC, nearly 90% of arranged marriages among Indians (judges, ministers till the laborers) are done with dowry. Just the same way the child-labor is very common among the middle class with arguments like as you mentioned “We were looking after the child as if she was our own”. “We were feeding and clothing her, something she would not get in her village”. “She is like a member of our family”, etc. Then one has to ask the question whether they are prepared to share their wealth with them or prepared to send them to school.
The only way to stop this inhuman malaise, bonded child-labor is through heavy punishment, prison as well as a monitory compensation in proportion to their wealth in favor of the misused minor. It is high time that NGO’s and women organizations should act to stop this malise.
soma
Mere constitutional provision that gives every child the right to
compulsory and free education will not wish the problem away. Like
in so many aspects of Indian way of life, the crux of the issue
again and again is the lack of quality education. Parental
investments in their children’s education may not be driven entirely
by poverty and credit constraints. Presently economic returns of
education are pathetic and many parents rightly see current mode
education as a waste of time and efforts. It is important for the
policy makers to keep in mind the important factor of economic
return of education and concentrate on implementing policies of
raising the economic benefit of education such as creating higher
skilled job opportunities.
Legislation against child labour alone is never going to solve the problem. The root cause is the abandoment and neglect of children by their parents and families. Stringent and immediate punishment of parents and/or guardians of neglected children will be a step in the right direction. Employment of older children by itself can be accepted provided it is done outside school hours as in many western countries.
The concluding sentences in this article are most true. But if we
want attitudes to change, we need to identify why education has failed
to prevail over feudal thinking in our country. Despite political
freedom, democracy, and economic progress we continue to act and
function like a feudal society. Feudalism's basic value is power. The
one who has power is beholden to none. Such power is the outcome of
wealth. In such a culture, education becomes a means to acquire the
wealth that will in turn bestow power on the wealth holder. The
clearest expression of this obsession with wealth and power is seen on
our roads where right of way is claimed by the one with the biggest
vehicle. And so, the affluent and the middle class routinely flout
rules with impunity. When confronted, these groups play victim and
insist the system leaves them with no other choice. More galling they
play saviour when confronted with an abhorrent practice like child
labour.
Very very true the last lines really signify the state of the educated
people of india. Education is not getting 100% marks but the process in
which a productive citizen and good human being is made, without either
the education means nothing.
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