Date:05/10/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/10/05/stories/2006100505520400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Indifference to a child's plight

Govind D. Belgaumkar

HARD WORK: A boy at work in a garage in Bangalore. — Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

BANGALORE: A walk down Shivaji Road and H.K.P. Road (Broadway) in Shivajinagar is enough to get a glimpse of the rampant abuse of children in auto garages and related business establishments.

It is a common sight to see adult mechanics scolding and sometimes even hitting the younger ones for small mistakes. It is also common to see people walk past without caring about this gross abuse of child rights. The Labour Department, it appears, cares even less.

Apart from the physical dangers in handling heavy and hot materials, inhaling toxic emissions is a health risk. This gets accentuated when children get addicted to petrol fumes, as they often do.

There are at least 10,000 children below the age of 14 working in 20,000-odd licensed garages in Bangalore, and the numbers are increasing, according to Lakshapathi, executive director of the Association for Promoting Social Action (APSA).

"Maar padta lekin tankha bhi milta... (I get beaten but I get paid as well)," said 12-year-old Kabir (the names of child labourers have changed), a fifth standard student, who works in a garage in the evenings and when the school is closed. The boy said his parents do not tolerate his "sharaarath" (mischief) at home and send him to work.

His mate 14-year-old Mustafa quit school because he was always into fights with friends. Eleven-year-old Vijay Balaram who works in a garage on Hayes Road is from Andhra Pradesh. His mother left him here because he refused to attend school. The teacher "used to beat me," he said.

With a broad grin, Vijay says that he will be happy if the Government sends him home, and he will study if his teacher stops beating him. His friend, Girish, aged 13, who works in a neighbouring motor repair shop, said he too would quit work at the first available opportunity.

The likes of Kabir and Mustafa think they are born to work in garages and know how to beat the system. "I will work two months here, two months there," says Kabir smartly. Mustafa, who is tall, said he would convince the Government that he is 15 years old.

Though child labour in auto garages does not fall under the October 10 deadline as it is already classified as a "hazardous industry", it is a sector in which child labour is employed in blatant violation of the law. Employing children below the age of 14 is banned both by the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986, and the Shops and Commercial Establishment Act, 1961.

Mr. Lakshapathi blames the Government for not providing alternatives for working children.The owner of a garage agrees. The father of a child in his employ recently lost his eyes and speech in an accident, he said. The child must now earn for his family.