Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai   

44 child labourers to depose before panel

By Our Staff Reporter

Chennai Feb. 19. The only reason why M.Sankareswari of Virudhunagar district dropped out of school was her family not being able to pay the daily bus fare. "The Government bus leaves very early and I have to take the private bus, which costs me Rs.9 a day. My father clears garbage and my mother is a domestic labourer. We do not have the money for that. So I stopped going to school," says Sankareswari as a matter of fact.

She has been working since she was 12 years old and for one-and-a-half years now. After 7-8 months in a match factory, Sankareswari switched to a fireworks factory and has been `rolling caps' for six months now.

"If I roll caps worth Rs. 25 a day, I get Rs.27. All children who work with me are paid the same amount." Her routine begins at 7 a.m. She works in a small room with seven others and reaches home by 6 p.m. She goes to work regularly because she can walk to the factory. She need not take a bus.

Official statistics put the number of children, aged between 6-14, out of school at 3.5 million. That pegs the number of girl children out of school in the State at 2 million. Even as the Government continues to deny the presence of large-scale child labour, a substantial number of the 3.5-million children has joined the workforce. To bring the fact to limelight, the Campaign Against Child Labour has organised a State-level convention and a public hearing of girl child labourers here on February 26 and 27. Fortyfour children from textiles, mosquito net-making, rope making, stone quarrying, rice mills, construction, agriculture, brick kilns, salt panning, cashew processing, match and fireworks, silk weaving and power loom sectors will depose before an eight-member jury, comprising rights activists, lawyers, educationists and lawyers. The children were chosen after district-level public hearing sessions to represent others in the trades, according to the CACL State convener, Norah.

In addition to documenting evidence, the convention aimed at preparing a Tamil Nadu Girl Child Labourers Declaration 2003, which would spell out their demands to formulate policies and laws to liberate them from exploitation, discrimination and abuse, Thomas Eyras of the CACL said. Similar conventions and public hearings are being organised in other parts of the country and girl child labourers delegates from those meeting will congregate at a national convention, scheduled to be held in Mysore between March 5 and 7.

Urging the Government to recognise the presence of child labourers, Ossie Fernandes, CACL member, said invitations had been sent to heads of government departments to provide them an opportunity to represent the official position.

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