Child labour rampant in old city

The Hindu Child labourers are brought from other States to city by paying Rs. 10,000 to Rs.
30,000 to their parents.
Most of them are employed in the jewellery making units
Efforts to eradicate child labour in old city hardly seem to fructify. Authorities have succeeded to
some extent in preventing their employment in major markets in this part of the city, but no such
achievement is visible in the interior areas.
As one walks through narrow lanes and by-lanes in the migrant dominated areas in Hyderabad,
one comes across many children performing various jobs along with adults in tiny houses that
double up as workshops. Most of them are below 14 years and hail from other States.

According to the Non-Governmental Organisations, the practice of employing child labour is age
old. Apart from local children, those trafficked from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal,
Rajasthan, Orissa and Maharashtra are quite high.
The employers pay advance between Rs.10,000 and Rs.30,000 to their parents and bring along
the children with them. Besides providing cheap labour, children are preferred as they can be
retained for long periods, because they acquire no other skill throughout their childhood, except
the work they are taught.
Neither do the employers face the risk of workers leaving the units mid-way, says an insider.
Most of the children are employed in jewellery making units in Ghansi Bazaar, Gulzar Houz and
Mitti-ka-Sher. A sizeable numbers are also employed in hand embroidery, chappal, safety pin,
bangle and candy making units situated in pockets of Asadbabanagar, Suleimannagar,
Kishanbagh, Hassannagar, Vattepally, Amannagar and Shaheennagar.
It is the primary responsibility of the authorities to collect data on workshops that employ
children and take preventive action, says M. A. Hakeem, convenor, India Child Action Network.
A couple of years ago, the police and labour department officials raided a zari unit in
Bahadurpura and rescued a few children employed there. Not much has been done on this front
after the Bahadurpura raid. Officials limit their role to raiding big shops and booking cases, says
S. Q. Masood a social worker.
The Labour Department officials said they were unaware of the problem but would look into the
issue.

Cabinet nod for ban on hiring children below

14
J. Balaji
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The Hindu Children working at a construction firm in Kancheepuram. File photo: Jothi
Ramalingam
It will be an offence to employ children not only in factories but also in home or on farms
The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved a proposal for amending the Child Labour (Prohibition
and Regulation) Act, 1986, to ban employment of children aged up to 14 in any form of industry.
It will be an offence to employ such children not only in factories or industries but also in homes
or on farms, if their labour is meant to serve any commercial interest.
The Ministry of Labour is likely to introduce the amendment bill in Parliament soon.
Quoting the National Sample Survey Organisations figures, official sources said the amendment
would benefit 46 lakh children, who have been working in various industries now, and they can
concentrate on education.
The Cabinet also approved another amendment to define children aged 14-18 as adolescents
and prohibit their employment in mines, explosives industries, chemical and paint industries and
other hazardous establishments.
The governments decision is in line with the convention of the International Labour
Organisation (ILO), which prohibits any form of child labour until the age of 14.

Since the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act or RTE now stipulates
compulsory and free education of children up to the age of 14, the upper age limit in the Child
Labour Act has been kept at 14.
The RTE, which makes education fundamental right of a child, was passed by Parliament on
August 4, 2009. It sets forth the modalities of free and compulsory education for children aged 614.
Tomorrow if the government increases the upper age limit under the RTE from the present 14 to
16 or 18, the Child Labour Act will also be amended suitably, and the age limit for defining
child labour will be reworked, the sources said.