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Child labour continues in city as employers misuse legal loopholes
Despite laws to prevent children from working in hazardous conditions, employers often take advantage of certain amendments and use them as cheap labour; migrant children are most vulnerable, claim experts.
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migrator
migrator
Chennai
Suresh* (14) has been working at a hardware store in the city for the last two years. Abandoned by his parents years ago, Suresh has been living with his paternal grandparents in Korukkupet. Helping his aging grandfather eke out a living for him and his grandmother, Suresh works six hours a day after school from 5 pm to 11 pm.
“I work as a shop assistant for the owner in the hardware shop. I work on all seven days a week and get Rs 3,000 per month. I am comfortable working there,” he says. Ask him if he misses catching up on play and recreation, holding back tears, he says, “But my grandfather works so hard for our family. How can I not help him?”
Like Suresh, Ramya*, Priya* and Anitha* — all just about 11 — have been pitching in to ease their family’s financial burden. Till about a few months ago, Ramya and Anitha worked in a stainless-steel factory in the area, while Priya has been a help in a food making unit. All of them have the same tale — single parents or an alcoholic father and the never-ending struggle to make ends meet. Anitha, who was sent to work, even as her brother was in school, admits, “I wasn’t aware that it was illegal for children as young as me to work. Now, I have been sent to a school nearby. I am in Class 5 now, but I don’t know for how long I can continue.”
The four are only a few in a large group of children who toil in workplaces that are unsuitable for them. Activists in the city claim that children are employed as domestic helps, errand boys and girls in stores, catering industry and especially in construction sites R Geetha, an advisor in Unorganised Workers’ Federation, says, “They have no access to schools and child care facilities. The older sibling becomes a caretaker for the younger one and after the latter grows up, they accompany their parents to the sites.”
‘Decreased but not eradicated’
Virgil D Sami, a former member of Child Welfare Committee and director of NGO Arunodhaya that has been working closely with the children in the north of the city, say that while the number of child labourers below 14 years has decreased, it has not been eradicated. “In 1992, when we started working with the groups the problem was rampant. But with interventions like the Community Child Rights Monitoring Committee by Arunodhaya, we have been able to speak to stakeholders like the industries that employ them and the parents with the children. Even though the numbers have come down, but we do spot such cases every now and then.”
Virgil added that there are several sectors that employ children. “A number of children of migrant workers’ who have been working in construction sites, migrant children who have been trafficked into the city can be seen working in these sites. Moreover, a lot of kids are also used in the catering industry and as domestic help,” she said.
She added that the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 2016, with amendments in the original Act has permitted children below 14 to work in family enterprises. “That law has been twisted by many to use child labourers after claiming to be relatives of the kids. This practice is rampant in provision shops and similar establishments,” Virgil said.
She also said that enrolling children in schools after identifying them cannot be a permanent solution because of the lack of facilities in a lot of places. “Take the case of Korukkupet, where there are no higher secondary schools. Children, especially girls, who have been child labourers are bound to drop out and return to their work places,” said Virgil.
‘A lot of intervention,but little action’
Job Zachariah, the chief of UNICEF in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, said Tamil Nadu has been a success story when it comes to eradication of child labour below the age of 14. According to the 2011 Census, around 1.5 lakh children in the age group between 5 and 14 were engaged in child labour, a dip from the four lakh-odd accounted for in the 2001 Census.
Chennai has a National Child Labour Project which is run through special training centres for children rescued from child labour who are later brought into the mainstream, said a source from the State Labour Department. He added, “We have been taking action against those who employ these children. Recently, we took action against a man who employed children in a catering business.” Interestingly, the government has details of only one case in which legal action was taken last year against a party for employing children.
Meanwhile, the official added that a survey would soon be conducted in Chennai to ascertain the extent of the problem. “We have also sent the State Action Plan and the Draft Rules for Child and Adolescent Labour Prohibition and Regulation for approval,” said the source.
‘Those between 15 and 18years more vulnerable’
Virgil D’ Sami said that though the law allows those between 15 and 18 years to work, they are more vulnerable to be exploited on many counts. “Provisions like the Right to Education Act doesn’t include them and they cannot register in a union as they are not eligible for that as well. There is absolutely no way to regulate their work conditions, or ensure that they are given holidays or other facilities at work,” she added.
She also added that while the Labour Department has been spreading awareness, taking action against the perpetrators can go a long way in ensuring that the problem is nipped in the bud. Geetha agrees and says, “The need of the hour is survey and action. The government has been postponing the survey for a long time now, as it mandates subsequent action.”
(*Some names have been changed to protectidentity)
Legal help
- According to the 2011 census: 1,51,437 children in the age group of 5-14 were employed as child labourers in the state
- In Chennai, most child labourers are employed in construction sites, catering industry, production outlets, repair shops and as street vendors, domestic helps
- Activists point out that migrant labour is not accounted for by the government and that they are the most vulnerable to exploitation
- The amendments to the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, prohibits employment of children in work places, except in family enterprises
- The Act prohibits
- Employment of children in the age group between 15 and 18 years in hazardous works
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