I worked as a development journalist for a couple of years. Two years back I interviewed Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi, founder of the Bachpan Bachao Andolan. Strangely, our mainstream media had no clue about the man until he got the Nobel Prize. Different people have said so many different things about him. Some of them have even questioned his intentions. I just want to say that I have met Satyarthi once in his office located in Kalkaji, New Delhi, where I interviewed him on behalf of my organization OneWorld South Asia. Besides that I have talked to him on phone three to four times for my stories related to children as he works on an issue related to the children. I found him to be an intelligent yet simple and down to earth man who is committed to the cause of removing child labour from the country. Rest I would let my readers to decide. Here's the complete interview.
The political class doesn't have honesty, especially towards children: Kailash Satyarthi
Anubha: The Indian cabinet has
approved the amendment to the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation)
Act, 1986, which proposes a ban on all sorts of child labour. What does
the ban actually mean and what are its implications?
Kailash Satyarthi: Well, let me begin with the
present law on child labour. India, as we know, is a democratic . Since
1950, since the constitution was established, there have been many
provisions and fundamental principles for the protection of children.
But despite all these, it has not been translated into a law until 1986.
The Indian law against child labour came into existence in 1986,
before that there was no such law. We just had old British laws. It
means between those thirty-six years (1950-1986) we were deaf and dumb
towards the children who were exploited, sold and bought like animals;
children who were producing wealth at the cost of their childhood,
freedom and education. This reflects a deep political and social apathy.
Finally, in 1986 the law was enacted but that law was highly
inappropriate, weak and was not really for elimination or eradication of
child labour. This law was more for continuation of various forms of
child labour. The core element of the Child Labour (Prohibition and
Regulation) Act, 1986, was that child labour was banned only in
hazardous occupations, but in rest of the cases child labour was
allowed. In India, 2/3rd of the child labourers work in the agriculture
sector. The law doesn’t ban agriculture sector.
We started our fight against child labour in 1980. So, from 1980-1986
we were fighting for a law demanding total ban on child labour, so that
children can go to school and develop into better individuals of the
society. We were helping children and rescuing them from traffickers
without any child labour law. We were working under bonded labour law
and other small laws. Our voices were heard only after 6 years but the
law which came into existence was a weak law so we started opposing that
law too. Even then there was a strong stream within the parliament who
wanted to have another law that can regulate child labour but we were
demanding total ban.
In 2000, a new law came into existence which was the Juvenile Justice
Act. This act prohibits any dangerous or exploitative work for children
upto the age of 18 whereas the child labour law prohibits dangerous
work upto the age of 14, so this was a contradiction. Another
contradiction came into being after the enactment of the Right to
Education Act which guarantees education for all children upto the age
of 14. Now, children have to be in school necessarily upto the age of
14, then how can they go for work and be in school simultaneously?
So, Bachpan Bachao Andolan challenged this in the Supreme Court of
India. Another thing we did was to have an intense campaign. We
maintained regular contact with the parliamentarians to build a
political environment for the amendment of a law so that child labour
could be banned completely upto the age of 14 and hazardous child labour
must be banned upto the age of 18. So it is now that the law fulfills
the international standards.
Anubha: How easy is it to implement this law and what are the challenges?
KS: This law has three major elements. First is, all
forms of child labour upto the age of 14 is banned. Employment of
children in hazardous occupations is banned upto 18 years. So, no child
shall work in hazardous conditions. Thirdly, children can now go to
school if they are banned to go to work.
But the challenges are quite big. First of all, this law will face
the challenge of enforcement. India doesn’t have the political will. The
political class doesn’t have honesty, especially towards the children.
Then the growing middleclass of India is full of hypocrisy. It is the
middle class who looks for cheap labour as domestic help. Since 2006,
domestic child labour is illegal but still it has been increasing due to
the demand of the middle class. Girls are brought from across the
country for domestic help. We don’t have a mindset that could respect
the childhood. The so-called well-off people pamper their children, but
do not respect childhood. So, apart from political will, if there is no
social will things are not going to be easy for the children.
Another challenge is the enforcement of the law. The enforcement
machinery in India is not geared up because they don’t have proper
capacity, they lack knowledge, they are not sensitised enough and
moreover, most of them are corrupt. So, we are asking that the
enforcement machinery and the enforcement officers must be held
accountable. If you see a child working, you can go and file a complaint
against the employer but the question is that the labour officers who
are appointed to safeguard the rights of the children are not held
accountable.
The government of India says, since the law was enacted in 1986,
13,60117 (thirteen lakh sixty thousand one hundred and seventeen)
inspections were carried out, out of that less than 50,000 got
prosecuted and out of those 50,000 only 4700 employers got convicted
which means 0.03 per cent convictions. It’s really shameful. If you are
not punishing the offenders, then it doesn’t matter whether law is for 2
year punishment or for 3 years.
This law addresses larger number of children, so we need more budget
allocation also. After the children are rescued, we have to have
rehabilitation and education programmes for these kids. What will you do
for the rehabilitation of a big segment that belongs to 14-18 age
group? If a law has been made then you also need proper budgetary
allocation for its proper implementation which the government is not
considering. This again is a big challenge.
Anubha: What impact will it have on labour laws,
especially on the unorganised sector since 80 per cent child labourers
in India are employed in the unorganised sector?
KS: It can affect the minimum wage act in labour
laws. But laws, if not implemented properly, are nothing but a piece of
paper which you can keep in your library and be very happy that India
has great laws. Laws should be used as weapons but we lack those strong
hands those can use this weapon.
Anubha: There are many children who work with
their parents and children are the source of income for poor families.
How will the law tackle with that?
KS: This is not the case. In India, we have 50-60
million children in full-time jobs and an equal number of adults are
jobless. Globally, 200 million adults are jobless and 210 million
children are in fulltime jobs. In South Asia, we have 80 million jobless
adults and about 80 million children in jobs. This vicious circle needs
to be understood. Children are working at the cost of adults’ jobs.
Parents are not preferred because they are expensive labour whereas kids
are cheap labour. Children are vulnerable and won’t knock the court of
law, so they are preferred. So, the idea that child are bread-earners is
a farce.
There are two international laws regarding child labour. One is ILO
Convention 138 which is also called Minimum Age Convention, 1973.
Another is ILO convention 182, generally known as Worst Forms of Child
Labour Convention, 1999. It’s shameful that India is one of those
countries like Sudan, who have not ratified these laws.
Note:
This interview was originally published here: http://southasia.oneworld.net/peoplespeak/the-political-class-doesnt-have-honesty-especially-towards-children#.VDyM3PmSx_4
Later it was picked up by the International Labour Organization which is a UN specialized agency. http://www.apyouthnet.ilo.org/news/india-the-political-class-doesnt-have-honesty-especially-towards-children
