Ban on child labour from Tuesday

The ban on child labour will come into force on Tuesday but there is little cheer for about 13 crore working children as their future appears uncertain in the absence of a comprehensive rehabilitation package.

Questions have been raised on how the government will ensure the effective implementation of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act that bars children under 14 years from working as domestic help or servants at roadside eateries and other non-hazardous jobs.

There is a separate law banning the employment of children in factories, mines and hazardous work.

The Labour Ministry, which has already prohibited government employees from engaging children as domestic help, recently issued a notification warning that anyone employing children would be liable to prosecution and other penal action, including fine and a one-year jail term.

The fresh notification prohibits employment of children as domestic servants or servants in dhabas, restaurants, hotels, motels, teashops, resorts, spas and recreational centres.

While the government has decided to crack the whip, experts are of the view that a ban without a proper rehabilitation plan will backfire.

Shaiju Varghese, coordinator of Childline, a child helpline, said it will be difficult for implementing agencies to locate domestic workers unless society is sensitised.

The Labour Ministry is, however, planning to strengthen and expand its rehabilitative scheme of National Child Labour Project, which now covers 250 child labour endemic districts.

The decision to ban employment of children as domestic help or as servants in even non-hazardous jobs has been taken on the recommendation of the technical advisory committee on child labour, headed by the director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research.

The committee, while recommending a ban on employing children in these occupations, had said that they are subjected to physical violence, psychological traumas and, at times, even sexual abuse.

It said such incidents go unnoticed as they take place in the closed confines of households, dhabas and restaurants.

The panel considered the occupations mentioned in the notification as hazardous for children and recommended their inclusion in occupations prohibited for persons below 14 years under the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986.

It said these children are made to work for long hours and undertake various hazardous activities, severely affecting their health and psyche.

The committee has said children employed in roadside eateries and highway dhabas are the most vulnerable and fall easy prey to sex and drug abuse as they come in contact with all kinds of people.

The Supreme Court had earlier this year issued notices to the Centre, the states and the union territories, seeking a complete ban on child labour.

A UNICEF report, World's Children 2006, states that in India, which has the largest number of working children, 17 percent are under the age of 15 and girls aged 12-15 are the preferred choice of 90 percent households.