Watch story
Thursday, October 12, 2006 (New Delhi):
The new child labour ban may have kicked in, but it is time for a reality check.
What is the government's plan for the tens of thousands of working children who need to be rescued in the Capital?
Each child needs shelter, schooling and protection from abuse.
New homes
Children' homes are an option for vulnerable kids who would otherwise be forced into working. Like Irfan, son of a rickshawpuller, who ran away from a dysfunctional family.
"My father and mother would beat me, so I left home," says Irfan who stays in the Don Bosco Aashalayam.
Elsewhere, poverty is just one of the many disabilities eight-year-old Ranjan Kumari faces. Her only surviving parent is her mother, whose legs are amputated.
"My mother brought me here. Where we were living was not nice, the people were not nice," says Ranjan Kumari, resident, Snehalaya.
There are at least five lakh Irfans and Ranjans at work in Delhi but the government and NGOs offer long term shelter to only 1,400 children.
In fact there is not a single residential school in the Capital for child labour and the situation is even worse in other states.
Lack of resources
At shelter homes, existing facilities are overstretched. There are 40 extra children now and instead of beds, younger children use very narrow bunks.
"We have to say no to a number of children because we just cannot absorb further numbers," said Father Jose Mathew, Director, Don Bosco Aashalayam.
Most children come from historically backward groups like Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, OBCs and Muslims.
There is also a linkage to backward states, since most children are from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
Urgent requirements
Increasingly, children who are sent back to their houses are returning back to their shelter homes.
Salim says that when he was sent back to his mother, who is a widow, he ran away again. Mantosh, whose father is an alcoholic, also returned because the home here ensures his schooling.
"I don't get the facilities at home that I get here. Sometimes my fees wouldn't be paid. But I don't face the problem here," adds Mantosh.
Experts say the ban will force more children on the streets. Some will be rescued from one city and pushed to another as child labour.
With the ban coming into effect, the concern is what are these children returning to.
It is clear that most of them do not have an idealised family situation, and for the law to be effective, the country requires residential schools and children homes that offer long term shelter.
What is the government's plan for the tens of thousands of working children who need to be rescued in the Capital?
Each child needs shelter, schooling and protection from abuse.
New homes
Children' homes are an option for vulnerable kids who would otherwise be forced into working. Like Irfan, son of a rickshawpuller, who ran away from a dysfunctional family.
"My father and mother would beat me, so I left home," says Irfan who stays in the Don Bosco Aashalayam.
Elsewhere, poverty is just one of the many disabilities eight-year-old Ranjan Kumari faces. Her only surviving parent is her mother, whose legs are amputated.
"My mother brought me here. Where we were living was not nice, the people were not nice," says Ranjan Kumari, resident, Snehalaya.
There are at least five lakh Irfans and Ranjans at work in Delhi but the government and NGOs offer long term shelter to only 1,400 children.
In fact there is not a single residential school in the Capital for child labour and the situation is even worse in other states.
Lack of resources
At shelter homes, existing facilities are overstretched. There are 40 extra children now and instead of beds, younger children use very narrow bunks.
"We have to say no to a number of children because we just cannot absorb further numbers," said Father Jose Mathew, Director, Don Bosco Aashalayam.
Most children come from historically backward groups like Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, OBCs and Muslims.
There is also a linkage to backward states, since most children are from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
Urgent requirements
Increasingly, children who are sent back to their houses are returning back to their shelter homes.
Salim says that when he was sent back to his mother, who is a widow, he ran away again. Mantosh, whose father is an alcoholic, also returned because the home here ensures his schooling.
"I don't get the facilities at home that I get here. Sometimes my fees wouldn't be paid. But I don't face the problem here," adds Mantosh.
Experts say the ban will force more children on the streets. Some will be rescued from one city and pushed to another as child labour.
With the ban coming into effect, the concern is what are these children returning to.
It is clear that most of them do not have an idealised family situation, and for the law to be effective, the country requires residential schools and children homes that offer long term shelter.
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"Ours is a battle not for wealth or for power.
It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for the reclamation of human personality."
- Dr BR Ambedkar
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