Why choose child labour as the theme this time?
“The idea behind the theme is to create awareness about child labour and what ordinary people can do to abolish it. We want people to know that employing children is a punishable offence. We can start by stopping our neighbour or even ourselves from employing children. We can start by finding the child a school,” says Barry O’Brien, the convener of the annual awards.
Who is a child in India?
The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, defines a child as a person who has not completed 14 years of age. While there are some laws that put the cut-off age at 15 and some at 18, the definition contained in the Child Labour Act, 1986, is widely accepted when dealing with matters of child labour.
What about legal matters?
The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, says a child is any person who has not completed 18 years of age.
Why is child labour such a big concern?
India is said to have the largest number of child labourers in the world today.
With 1.2 crore children between 5 and 11 years economically active in India (2001 data), child labour is the biggest challenge to universal education.
According to data given out by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), this figure touched 2.6 crore in 2007. The unofficial figure for 2011 is 5 crore.
What about the Right to Education?
The Right to Education (RTE) Act, which came into force on April 1, 2010, makes free and compulsory education a fundamental right of every child till the age of 14.
Given the ambiguity in various laws governing child rights and welfare, the RTE is till now mostly on paper. West Bengal hasn’t even finalised the rules governing the implementation of RTE, which has been done in states like Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan.
What is West Bengal doing to curb child labour?
Precious little. With respect to the number of prosecutions under the Child Labour Act, 1986, West Bengal’s score is 7 in 2006-07 and 2 in 2007-08, against the India total of 14,346 and 7,863 during those two periods.
The number of convictions is zero for both periods in West Bengal, while the national total for convictions is 987 in 2006-07 and 904 in 2007-08.
When it comes to initiating cases against employers engaging child labour in violation of various laws, in 2003-04 West Bengal’s score is again zero. The India total is 8,246. States like Andhra Pradesh (4,870 cases initiated in 2003-04) and Karnataka (1,814 cases) show the way.
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