The Metro campaign on child labour

They wash, sweep and haul at homes and eateries or work round the clock behind closed iron gates in sweatshops. They are part of the child labour population of India, and form a major chunk of workforce in the country.

Four months after the amendments to the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, the state labour department has woken up to the need to put a number to the below-14 workforce in the city.

“We had tried conducting the study ourselves…. But that did not work out and so we engaged NGOs in different areas,” said state labour secretary Subesh Das.

The labour department has roped in 40 NGOs, like Prantik Janabikash Samity, Dishari Ariadaha, Right Track and Focus for the survey, expected to be conducted over three months.

Though the survey will be carried out across the city, the department has identified areas like Kidderpore, Burrabazar, Sealdah, Park Circus and the eastern fringes of the city for intensive data collection.

Metro carried a series of reports on child labour at city sweatshops after a devastating fire at a leather factory in Topsia claimed 11 lives.

The NGOs have been asked to categorise child labour population under various heads, like children coming from other states, children forced by parents to toil and orphans.

Das said the government will look into the possibility of arranging financial help for these children and try to bring them back to the mainstream by providing education and other basic facilities.

According to the 2001 census of the central labour ministry, India has about 12.6 million child labourers, of whom over 857,000 are from Bengal.

But, children’s advocates say, the number could be closer to 60 million.

“The move is a welcome step, but reaching out to all the children, especially underage domestic servants, will be a difficult proposition,” said a representative of an NGO.