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Business Commentary/Bibek Debroy

Children of a Lesser God

Aparna, who was under sixteen, worked as a maid in Munirka (Delhi). Having worked with her employers for four years, Aparna wanted to go home to meet her parents in Andhra Pradesh. When this was not allowed, Aparna committed suicide by sprinkling kerosene and setting herself on fire. (The Pioneer, January 8, 1998).

When Sandeep V Waghmare, a child labourer working in a metal melting shop run by Pradeep Bhangarwala in Thane (Maharashtra), asked for his salary, he was given electric shocks instead. Sandeep lost consciousness and is struggling for his life at the Thane civil hospital, one hand having been amputated. (Rajasthan Patrika, April 8, 1998).

Three-and-a half-year-old Pankaj Sahni was admitted with a bleeding nose to the Mahanar primary health centre in Bihar after a road accident involving a motor cycle in Chakaso. His eyes were fine when he was admitted to the clinic. But when Pankaj's dead body was handed over to his relatives eight hours later, one eye was missing. This is ascribed to trading in human organs. (The Hindustan Times, April 18, 1998).

Seven-year-old Meina was the daughter of a landless farmer (Younus Sheikh) from Khosalpur village in Murshidabad. When she was four years old, she was disfigured and crippled through a fire. Abdul Hameed and Abdul Mannan promised Meina's father that they would get his daughter a job in Mecca, selling water during Haj. Younus Sheikh was paid Rs 5,000 for this and Meina wound up in Saudi Arabia, begging on the streets, with the money (an estimated Rs 3,000 per day) pocketed by Hameed and Mannan. (The Asian Age, April 30, 1998).

Eleven-year-old Santosh was rescued from bonded labour from a hostel in South Delhi. (The Pioneer, September 20, 1998).

Seventeen-year-old Suresh's mother took a loan from N Suryanarayana of Dharmajigudem village in West Godavari district (Andhra Pradesh). Until the loan was repaid, Suresh was supposed to work in Suryanarayana's house (presumably gratis). With the loan about to be completely repaid, Suresh's mother informed Suryanarayana that her son would no longer work for him. Failing in his attempt to persuade Suresh to stay, Suryanarayana beat him and made him drink pesticides, as a result of which, Suresh died. (The Hindustan Times, October 25, 1998).

Nine minor girls from the Lambadia tribe were forced to work as sex workers at Kovalam beach. (The Asian Age, November 2, 1998).

Young girls and women are auctioned for Rs 5,000 to Rs 13,000 in the Eluru area of Andhra Pradesh. A study done by the Centre of Concern for Child Labour found that 25 to 30 per cent of women in the flesh trade are children and the number is growing at 8 to 10 per cent per year. (The Hindustan Times, December 5, 1998).

In the Tonk district of Rajasthan, girls are sold at prices ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000 and end up in prostitution. (The Hindu, December 10, 1998).

These examples are all from 1998 and I have not collated them myself. The Indian Social Institute, New Delhi, has just brought out (April 1999) a document titled State of Human Rights in India 1998 and these examples are reproduced (with some changes in language) from that document.

Of course, human rights is a broad term and examples in the document cover scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, women, minorities, children, refugees and terrorism. Did you know in India (not New York) there is one rape every 54 minutes, one molestation every 26 minutes, one kidnapping or abduction every 43 minutes, one act of eve teasing every 51 minutes, one dowry death every 1 hour and 42 minutes and one criminal offence against women every 7 minutes? But in the examples I have given you, I have focused on children, especially child labour.

We don't have a ban on child labour, despite what the Constitution says about not allowing employment of children in factories. Child labour is only banned in hazardous processes and occupations. In 1998, the number of industries in which child labour is banned was increased from 19 to 62 to include garages, welding units, potteries and ceramics, utensil making, glass bangles, tyre making and repairing, foundries, zari making, lead based processes, agarbatti making, book making and detergent manufacturing. But such legislation does not make much of a dent unless it can be enforced.

Besides, the bulk of child labour is in the agricultural sector. What do we do about that? What about domestic servants? What about those working in roadside tea-stalls and restaurants? The National Human Rights Commission recommended that the service conduct rules of central government employees should be amended to prevent the hiring of children as domestic servants. But the ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions turned down this recommendation.

I have a few questions. First, why don't we amend the Minimum Wages Act to equalise (at least in law) wages paid to children and adults? At present, the Minimum Wages Act permits this differentiation and builds in a pecuniary incentive in favour of using child labour. Admittedly, there are problems of enforcement. But we can at least remove the legal sanction to lower wages.

Second, why are we hypocritical? We don't ban child labour, barring hazardous processes and occupations. Nor will an outright ban serve much purpose. But unionisation is one way of neutralising exploitation. Yet, the Trade Unions Act will not permit children to unionise or become office-bearers of unions. Having accepted that children will work, why don't we allow them to unionise by amending the Trade Unions Act?

Third, why don't we unify our definition of "child"? In some Indian statutes, it is under 14, in other cases it is under 15. The International Labour Organization's minimum age convention permits a ratifying country to choose an age varying between 14 and 16 and India has opted for 14. In the proposed new minimum age convention, the age will probably become 18, although developing countries will probably be permitted a lower age. Regardless of what the ILO proposes, we can unify our statutes to something like 16.

Fourth, confronted with something like the Harkin Bill, we can afford to be much more aggressive and argue that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with child labour in a poor and developing economy, unless that labour leads to exploitation or prevents the child's access to education. But we have to do much more on education, enshrined in Article 45 of the Constitution as a fundamental right up to the age of 14.

It is crystal clear that schemes like Operation Blackboard (started in 1987) have not worked and left to a centralised government, will continue to have low enrolments, high dropouts and gender and regional biases. However, there are several successful experiments with decentralisation and part-time primary education.

If we can take care of access to education, I am convinced that child labour will become less of an issue. That there is continued external pressure on child labour is essentially because we have failed on primary education in the last fifty odd years.

Bibek Debroy

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