Six p.c. of children in State are labourers

By Sharath S. Srivatsa

MYSORE, OCT. 15. When Sridhar quickly gulped the jamuns stored in the refrigerator at his employer's house, he did not realise that he would lose his hands for committing such a small offence. The horrible reality was that when the angry employer discovered his "crime", he gagged him and burnt his hands after dousing them with kerosene.

This was not all. His employer, Gangappagowda, a coffee planter from Sakleshpur, threatened to kill him if he spoke about the incident to anybody. He also refused to get him medical treatment for 10 days after the incident.

Lakhs of children have been forced to work in hazardous industries and as domestic helps, thanks to poverty. The case of Sridhar, a native of Banavar in Arasikere taluk, is not an isolated instance of child labour, but of stark reality of economic and social hardship.

In Sridhar's case poverty forced his father to "sell" him to his employer, which he probably accepted without any choice. Despite reports of young children perishing under hazardous conditions and demanding employers, very little has been done by the Government to provide them an alternative.

The Human Development Report prepared by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for Karnataka points out an increase in the number of child labourers. The number of child workers has increased from 8.09 lakhs in 1971 to 9.76 lakhs in the age group of five to 14 now. At least, six per cent of the children are labourers today in the State.

A Profile of Child Labour in Karnataka in the four revenue divisions of the State and in Bangalore City identified child workers in hotels, shops, garages, households, construction industry, and small-scale industries. It also identified children engaged in beedi-rolling, cotton-ginning, quarrying, fish- processing, sericulture, agarbathi-making, and brick-making industries.

With little or no support from the Government, child workers in unorganised sectors are usually at the receiving end. Without the stipulation of pay or social security, including health insurance and other benefits, children are forced to work for longer duration with scant regard to health or development. Experts feel that instead of cracking down on establishments employing child workers, the Government has vacillated on the issue. Although Government is "armed" with The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of 1986, its implementation has been dismal.

The NGOs have demanded that the Government should find a holistic solution to the problem. Poverty has been the single largest cause for driving children to work. The NGOs feel that a flexible primary education system to accommodate children in distress and to arrest the school dropout rate in the socially and economically-vulnerable sections of society, is essential.

Another feature of child labour in the State is that an increasing number of girls are employed in the "waged and unwaged" sectors, and there is a steady increase in the number of such children from Scheduled Castes. Girls comprise 49 per cent of child workers in the State, and it is estimated that there are three million child workers if one accepts the view that every child who is not going to school is a potential working child.

However, some experts hold a contrary view. They point out that the educational system in the country does not equip the children with any vocational skills. Further, working at a place that improves the skill of an individual should be encouraged. Cautioning against complacency over the matter, they say that children above eight years of age should be allowed to work at places which are not labelled as hazardous and under the close supervision of the officials of the Labour Department.

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Section  : Southern States
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