No dearth of child labour laws in India, poor

implementation: minister

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According to a recent statement by the labour ministry, India has 12.6 million working children
between the ages of five and 14 -- the largest number of child labourers in the world

Over the past three years, no more than 13,402 cases have been registered across the country
under India's anti-child labour laws, according to Minister of State for Labour and Employment,
Oscar Fernandes. States like Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, West Bengal,
Uttaranchal, Pondicherry, Lakshadweep, Goa, Daman and Diu, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar
Haveli and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands have in fact not registered a single case during this
period.

Giving figures on a state-wise assessment in connection with prosecution of such cases,

Fernandes said that more than 3,300 cases of child labour violations have been registered in
Karnataka, 1,136 in Tamil Nadu, 791 in Bihar, 688 in Jharkhand and 449 in Uttar Pradesh.
Andhra Pradesh registered the highest number of cases -- 6,082 -- while 12 cases have been
registered in Assam, 185 in Sikkim, 140 in Delhi, 46 in Arunachal Pradesh, 158 in Gujarat, and
49 in Maharashtra.

The government's National Child Labour Project, aimed at rehabilitating working children, is
being carried out in 250 districts in 20 states, Fernandes added.

Activists have long decried the fact that despite legislation, child labour continues to flourish in
both rural and urban India. The labour ministry recently stated that there were 12.6 million
working children between the ages of five and 14 -- the largest number of child labourers in the
world.

On October 16 last year, two important notifications to the existing Child Labour Prohibition
(And Regulation) Act 1986 came into effect. The notifications ban the employment of children
younger than 14 as domestic servants and in the hospitality trade, ie in roadside dhabas,
restaurants, hotels, motels and spas. Anyone found violating the ban could receive a jail term of
three months to two years and/or a fine of between Rs 10,000 and Rs 20,000.

However, on March 22, Fernandes admitted that while there was no dearth of laws against child
labour, what was needed was greater emphasis on implementation. He was speaking at a rally
near Jantar Mantar, in Delhi, that was the culmination of the South Asian March Against Child
Trafficking, organised by the Bachpan Bachao Andolan and supported by the Global March
Against Child Labour, UN agencies and civil society organisations. The march, which began at
the India-Bangladesh and Indo-Nepal borders, covered states such as West Bengal, Bihar,
Uttarkhand and Uttar Pradesh. A core team of 100 rescued children formed part of the march.

Twelve-year-old Devli -- one of the leaders of the march -- said beatings were a regular
occurrence at the stone quarry in Rajasthan where she and her family worked. According to the
Bachpan Bachao Andolan, traffickers promise parents a better future for their children and
education, along with the opportunity to earn a decent wage. But once the child is in the custody
of the trafficker, he/she is sold to employers looking for cheap, bonded labour. They are sold for
as little as Rs 2,000 or Rs 5,000 and are employed at brick kilns, stone quarries, carpet-making
units, hotels and restaurants.

CONSEQUENCES OF CHILD LABOUR

 Stunted growth of future generation
 Inability to harness human resources
 Inability to contribute to development
 Inability to benefit from development
 Citizens with accumulated frustration
 Adult unemployment
 Depreciation in wages
 Perpetuation of poverty
 Persistence of child labour
 Perpetuation of economic inequality
 Increased abuse of children
 Increased illiteracy
 Ignorant populace
 Citizens with inferiority complex
 Malnourished citizens
 Sick citizens
 Political instability
 Early morbidity of citizens
 Mental deformity of citizens
 Perpetuation of ill treatment
 Inter generational phenomenon of child labour
 Increased bottlenecks in the development process
 Wasted human resources
 Wasted human talents and skills
 Scientists, artists and persons of eminence lost to child labour