How child labour ban forgets children

Bhubaneshwar As a Central Government notification banning children working in restaurants, hotels, resorts as well as in homes comes into effect on October 10, there are lingering doubts about the effectiveness of the ban.

With almost no rehabilitation scheme in place, most children employed in factories and domestic establishments may have no where to go.

But while Government figures out rehab plans and alternative schemes, the ban will surely come a temporary breather for many children like the 12-year-old Avimanyue from Ganjam district of Orissa.

Avimanyue, who worked for a bangle factory in Mumbai, was tortured by his employers after being lured to the city by a factory owner with promises of a better life.

"We were given only rice to eat at 12 at night and if we complained we were beaten up and sometimes chilly powder was put on our wounds," he says.

Avimanyue was not alone. The fate of nine children from Tahara village in Orissa was similar. Avimanyue and three others managed to escape from the factory, returned home and narrated their shocking tale to stunned parents.

The boys revealed that there were 30 other children working in the factory who were being subjected to s.

It was only after the parents complained that the factory owner and three others were arrested.

"We are very poor and when the factory owner promised to pay them well we agreed to send our children for a better living. But we never imagined that this would happen to them," says Avimanyue's mother Sabitri Badtiya.

Quite interestingly this village where the ban on child labour was violated is in Union Labour minister Chandrasekhar Sahoo's home district and Orissa's chief minister Naveen Patnaik's Assembly constituency.

"My ministry is coordinating with the Women and Child Development department and Home Department to implement new rehabilitation schemes for child labourers," says Sahoo.

Sahoo might be rushing to implement the the ban on child labour but unless the victims are given proper rehabilitation and education, this ban would hardly yield any result.

NO CHILD’S PLAY
	The Child Labour Act prohibits employment of children below the age of 14 years. The Government will take action against those violating the law.
	According to Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986, those found violating it could face a jail term of up to two years and a maximum fine of Rs 20,000.
	The fresh notification prohibits employment of children as domestic servants or servants in dhabas (roadside eateries), restaurants, teashops, resorts, spas and recreational centres.
	In India, nearly 20 per cent of all children working outside their family homes are working as domestic help.
	There are an estimated 12 million child workers in India.
	Many are brought from poor states such as Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa to bigger towns for a one-time payment to parents.