CHAPTER-VI

REHABILITATION AND MAINSTREAMING OF CHILD

LABOURERS IN SALEM DISTRICT

Children are an asset for a nation and it is the nation's responsibility to nurture
them through various stages of their development to enable them to realize their full
human potential. However, the existence of millions of working children in India
today is one of the tragic realities. It is also a grim reminder of the fact that a
tremendous effort has to be made in order to overcome the pernicious practice of
employment of child labour. India has a long history of giving legal protection to
working children suffering from exploitation. There are specific provisions both in the
Directive Principles of State Policy and the Fundamental Rights of the Constitution of
India on the rights and protection of children 1• One of the most significant
development that has taken place recently on the issue of elimination of child labour
and protecting working children from exploitation and abuse, is the formulation and
adoption of National Child Labour Policy, in 1987. This Policy aims at successfully
rehabilitating working children withdrawn from employment and reducing the
incidence of child labour progressively through a number of measures.

National Policy on Child Labour

Child labour is a subset of the total child population and policy on child labour
is also a fragment of national labour policy. The national policy on child labour is,
therefore, combination of how the nation views children vis-a-vis other segments of
the population and how it views working children vis-a-vis the rest of the working
population.

Child is the Father of the Man' . It proceeds to emphasize now a child should
be groomed, and receive education and nutrition, so as to enable the petals of
childhood to blossom to the flowers of youth and manhood. India has throughout
followed a proactive policy in handling the problem of child labour. Its essence is that
all working children are also children and must be given the opportunities to develop

217
into healthy well-rounded personalities. Our Indian Constitution prohibits
employment of children in hazardous industries and according to the Directive
Principles of State Policy the state shall so direct its policy as to secure the health and
strength of workers, so that men and women and children of tender age are not abused
and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter vocations unsuited to
their age or strength, and children in particular are given opportunities and facilities to
develop healthily in conditions of freedom and dignity.

It is against this background that the government set up a committee headed

by M.S . Gurupadaswamy to enquire into the causes leading to and problems arising
out of employment of children and to suggest suitable measures for their protection
and welfare. The committee referred the existing laws, their adequacy and
implementation and suggest corrective action to be taken to improve implementation
and to remedy defects, examine the dimensions of child labour, the occupations in
which children are employed, and suggest new areas where laws abolishing/regulating
the employment of children can be introduced and suggest welfare measures, training,
and other facilities that could be introduced to benefit children in employment2 .

The committee drew up a plan of action for the conduct of indepth and
diagnostic studies on the nature and extent of the problem of adequacy of the existing
legal frame work and the supportive measures for working children. It circulated a
questionnaire among politicians, trade unions, social workers, welfare and other
institutions, employers, parents of children, government organizations and the general
public with a view to eliciting information on child labour. In the perception of the
committee "labour becomes an absolute in the case of child when he is required to
work beyond his physical capacity, when hours of employment interfere with his
education, recreation and rest, when the wages are not commensurate with the
quantum of work done and when the occupation he is engaged endangers his health
and safety".

The Ministry of Labour considered these aspects of the problem of child

labour. It recognized the need to protect child labour from exploitation and from being
subjected to work in hazardous conditions that endanger such children's physical and

218
mental development, and the need to ensure the health and safety of children at the
workplace. It recognized that they should be protected from excessively long working
hours and from night work, the work even in non-hazardous occupations should be
regulated, and all working children should be provided with sufficient weekly rest
periods and holidays.

The government formulated the national policy on child labour bearing these
important aspects in view and announced the policy in Parliament in August 1987.
The programme of action plan under national child labour policy comprises:

• A legislative action plan;

• Focusing general development programmes to b enefit children wherever

possible

• Project-based action plans in areas of high concentration of child labour

engaged in wage/quasi-wage employmene.

Legislative Action Plan

The legal action plan seeks to emphasize strict and effective enforcement of
the provisions of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, the
Factories Act, 1948, the Mines Act, 1952, the Plantation Labour Act, 1951 , and other
Acts containing provisions relating to the employment of children.

Focusing General Development Programmes to Benefit Child Labour:

Various national development programmes exist with wide coverage in the

areas of education, health, nutrition, integrated child development, and income and
employment generation for the poor. These programmes will be utilized to create
socio-economic conditions in which the compulsions to send the children to work
diminish and children are encouraged to attend school rather than take wage
employment.

219
Project Based Plan of Action:

Under this, projects were proposed to be taken up in areas of high

concentration ofworking children with a thrust on the following activities:

• Stepping up enforcement of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation Act,

1986, the Factories Act, 1948, the Mines Act, 1952, and such other Acts
within the project areas.

• Coverage of families of working children under the employment and income

generating programmes under the overall aegis of anti-poverty programmes.

• Formal and non-formal education of child labour and stepping up programmes

of adult education for the parents of working children.

• Setting up special schools for working children where provision for education,
vocational training, supplementary nutrition, health care, etc would be made.
If necessary, stipends would be given to children taken out ofbanned forms of
employment to compensate for their loss in earnings.

• Creation of awareness through social activist groups and by other means so as

to educate people regarding the undesirable aspects of child labour.

National Programme of Action

The national policy on child labour was approved by the Cabinet on 14 August
1987 during the Seventh Plan period. Under the policy, a project based plan of action
was envisaged. Accordingly, nine projects were started in areas of high concentration
of child labour4 .

• Match, fireworks, and explosive industry in Sivakasi in Viruddhanagar district

in Tamilnadu.

• Precious stone polishing industry in Jaipur in Rajasthan.

220
• Glass and bangles industry in Ferozabad in UP

• Brassware industry in Moradabad in UP

• Handmade carpet industry in Mirzapur, V aransi, and Bhadoi in UP

• Lock-making industry in Aligarh in UP

• Tile industry in J agampet in Andhra Pradesh

• Slate industry in Markkapur in Andhra Pradesh

• Slate industry in Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh.

Subsequently, in 1994, Nation Child Labour Projects (NCLP) were launched

m Sambalpur, Thane, and Gharwa. The NCLP rests on a gradual, sequential,
progressive and selective approach to tht- elimination of child labour. Since the
magnitude of the problem of child labour is vast, it was thought appropriate that
initially we should concentrate attention and action in areas with a high concentration
of child labour. The NCLPs had the following components:

• Imparting non-formal education to enable the children released from work to

receive functional literacy and acquire a level of equivalence with the
corresponding grade and level in the formal system.

• Supplementary nutrition through midday mid day meals.

• Income and employment generation through impartation of skills.

• Stepping up enforcement of child labour laws.

In regard to the first special schools opened under each project that were to
enroll fifty to seventy-five children on average in different classes corresponding to
the grade/level of the students. These special schools were designed to impart
instructional lessons in a non-formal mode by teachers selected through a special
selection procedure involving the community. While these nine special proj ects for

22 1
rehabilitation of children released from hazardous work were being implemented
(1988-94). The former Prime Minister of India Shri P.V. Narasimha Rao, made an
importance statement in his Independence day address to the nation on 15 August
1994 on the direction being taken for the elimination of child labour5 .

Consequent to this announcement, a National Authority on Elimination of

Child Labour was set up on 26 September 1994 under the chairmanship of the Union
Minister of Labour and with representatives of the ten government departments
relevant to the area of child labour, namely Labour, Education, Welfare, Textile,
Health, Family Welfare, Information and Broadcasting, Women and Child
development, Rural Development and Expenditure. The National Authority initially
conducted a series of review meetings to strengthen policies and programmes relating
to child labour and also to co-ordinate the activities of the central and state
governments with the objective of eliminating child labour.

Pursuant to the announcement a senunar of sixty-two Collectors, District

Magistrates and Deputy Commissioners was also held in September, 1995 to facilitate
the formulation of additional NCLPs. The seminar was attended in addition by the
then Minister of Labour, Shri P.A. Sangma, Prime Minister Shri P.V. Narasimha Rao,
Minister of Industry, Shri K. Karunakran the then Minister of Textiles Shri G.
Vankataswamy, and the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Shri Pranab
Mukherjee. Various issues concerning elimination of child labour such as surveys to
identify and enumerate working children, generating awareness amongst employers,
parents, and working children of the laws and issues involved, additional projects and
special schools for enrolling the large number of children released from work.
Eventually sixty-four additional NCLPs were sanctioned.

Labour Commissioner's Consultation Meet

In order to understand and assess the recent developments and to plan the
future line of action, a one-day Consultation Meeting of Labour Commissioners was
held on January 30, 1996, at the V.V. Giri National Labour Institute, NOIDA. The
meeting was attended by Labour Commissioners from six States namely Bihar, Uttar

222
Pradesh, Maharastra, Madhya Pradesh,Rajesthan and Gujarat. The participants
included Shri A.P. Varma, director, V.V. Giri National Labour Institute, NOIDA, Shri
Uday Balakrishnan, Director, Child Labour Cell, Ministry of Labour, Government of
India, Shri Harnam Singh, Jt. Secretary, Prime Minister' s Office, Shri G.J. Pinto,
Programmes Officer, Unicef, India Country Office, New Delhi, Dr.Mahaveer Jain co-
ordinator, National Resource Centre on Child Labour and Dr. Nadeem Mohsin, A.N.
Sinha institute of Social Studies, Patna. Apart from them, other members of the
National Resource Centre on child Labour were also present in the meeting6 .

Recommendations

The following recommendations were made in this meeting:

• A state level monitoring unit should be set up in all the states and the Labour
Commissioner's office should be the nodal agency from where all activities
related to child labour projects within the states would be monitored.

• At the district level, the Di~trict Collector should be responsible for overall
management of the National Child Labour Projects.

• To set up the monitoring cell of the nodal agency in the office of Labour
Commissioner, a non-recurring grant of about Rs. 15 lakh would be required
by each state for the purchase of vehicles and equipments such as fax , photo
copier, computers, furniture, books/journals, etc. An additional sum of Rs. 15
lakh would be required as recurring expenses per annum to meet the expenses
on the personnel, consultancy, travel etc, of the states monitoring cell/unit.

• Three workshops of Collectors and Project Directors of Child Labour endemic

districts of the country should be organized to review the status of
implementation of the National Child Labour Projects and to impart training
on survey as well as to evolve strategy for awareness generation at the field
(district) level.

223
• The collectors' workshops should be utilized to sensitize District
Collectors/Magistrates and Project Directors of the National Child Labour
Projects on the issue of Child Labour7 .

District CoUector's & Project Directors Workshop:

To put into action the recommendation's of the District Collector's workshop,

the Ministry of Labour, Government of India, jointly with the National Resource
centre on child labour V.V. Giri National Labour institute, Noida, and UNICEF, India
country office, organized three workshops at New Delhi from 19th - 20th February
1996, at Hyderabad on 23rd and 24th February 1996 and at Ahamadabad on gth and 9th
March 1996, to :

• Review the progress in the implementation ofNational Child Labour Projects;

• Co-ordinate the efforts m carr)'lng out surveys for which funds had been
released

• Discuss grass root level awareness generation strategies for proper utilization
of funds.

A door to door survey at the district level was recommended as an important

tool of enumeration for building up a database which is useful for planning future
strategies for elimination of child labour. The survey informations were analyzed by
the district authorities, tables were prepared and sent to the national resource center on
child labour, VV Giri National Institute, Noida for storage and further analysis. Grass
root level, awareness generation campaign through medias like TV, Radio,News
paper and theatre show was emphasized as an important strategy for the prevention
and elimination of child labour. It was mentioned in the NAECL circular that children
who are withdrawn physically from hazardous occupation following launching of
prosecutions against employers, who engaged them, are to be admitted in the special
schools8 .

224
Selection of Project Directors

Since it was felt difficult to get the government officials on deputation as

project directors, it was decided to have any competent outsider or retired government
personnel for the job. Most of the collectors felt that such people, with adequate
management orientation, will be able to do a better job than by government officers
deputed against them will. In Salem district, a retired government officer Thiru
P. Viswanathan is appointed as the project director of the National Child Labour
Project, a talented and dedicated person found suitable for this job.

Selection & Training of Teachers:

At present no criteria IS being followed for the appointment of teachers.

Teachers of special schools are in most cases dedicated but that cannot be a substitute
for quality teaching. It is, therefore, recommended that graduation be a minimum
acceptable criterion with exceptions being made for those who have got through the
l i11 Standard or equivalent and who are also studying for a degree. Unless this is done
it will give room to child labour Project authorities to take in as teachers anyone
whom they might feel like obliging. Teachers must be given minimum orientation and
training, in teaching skills which will equip them to conduct education programmes in
a non-formal mode through available teacher training systems which can be suitably
strengthened.

Monitoring & Evaluation

Since it will be difficult for the Ministry of Labour to carry out monitoring and
evaluation of child labour programmes it was considered desirable to make V.V. Giri
National Labour Institute NOIDA, as a nodal agency to such matters and identify
institutions in each state to carry out standard monitoring and evaluation activities.

Role of State Government & State Labour Departments:

Full involvement of the State government is necessary to secure their support

in effective implementation of child labour programmes funded by the Government of

225
India. It is therefore necessary for Labour Ministry/ Government of Inida to support a
nodal agency of the State Government, preferably under the State Labour Department,
from which all developments in child labour of a state can be obtained. This will
effectively involve State Government in the ongoing efforts to eliminate child labour
in hazardous occupations. Unless this is done, State Government will continue to be
unconcerned.

Eradication of child labour in Tamilnadu

The Honorable Chief Minister had announced 15 point programme for making
Tamilnadu the best state in the country in every sphere. Eradication of child labour is
one of the 15 points. To achieve this goal, an action plan for eradication of child
labour in Tamilnadu has been launched by the government as per G.O.(MS) No:53 ,
labour and employment department dated 12.5.2003. The state action plan aimed at
the eradication of child labour in hazardous employments by the year 2005 and in
non-hazardous employment by the year 2007 9 .

Government accorded sanction for the formation of a state level child labour
rehabilitation- cum- welfare society and allotted a grant of Rs 25 lakhs in 2003-2004
to the society to implement the action plan. The state child labour rehabilitation -cum-
welfare society was formed and registered under the societies registration Act on 21-
10-2003. In all the districts, district child labour rehabilitation societies have been
formed .

Strategies to achieve the goals of action plan

a. Survey and identify working children

b. Rescue child workers and admit them in special schools

c. Mainstream the children from special schools into formal schools

d. Conduct special drives to en-roll in schools all children in the age group of 5
to 7 years

226
 e. Strengthen formal education

f. Enforce strictly laws prohibiting child labour

g. Generate social awareness that children should go to school and not to work

h. Target implementation of development schemes to benefit families of rescued

child labour

1. Achieve convergence of services of departments and ofNGO 's

J. Reward panchayats and municipalities which become free of child labour

As per the recommendations made in Case No: 3295/03 of the state human
rights commission, a state wide survey on child labour was conducted during march
2003 and 70,344 child labourer were identified.

Rehabilitation of child labour

District collectors have been asked to enroll all the children identified in the
age group of 5 to 8 years immediately. Children in the age group of 5 to 8 years are
being enrolled in NCLP special schools /SSA Alternate day schools/residential camps
I Bridge course.

National child labour project in Tamilnadu

National child labour projects are functioning in Thoothukkudi, Pudukottai,

and Trichy, Coimabtore, Salem, Vellore, Dharmapuri and Virudhunagar districts from
1995-96 and in Tirunelveli district since the year 2000. Now, Chennai, Erode and
Dindugul districts have been sanctioned the projects. Proposals have been sent to
government of India to include Theni and Krishangiri districts also 10 .

Functioning of special schools

20,330 child labourers are presently studying m 489 special schools. A

teacher, craft teacher and a clerk manage each school. DPEP and DIET staff train

227
teachers, the children are taught at the three levels. Children are taught through play
way method and they are mainstreamed into formal education. Special schools
functioning smoothly with dedicated team of teachers. Nutritious meal is provided to
the children of the special schools. Stipend of Rs 100/- per month has been given to
each child. Free bus passes and uniform are also provided to special schools children.
Prevocational training is imparted to the special schools children. Tailoring, Fabric
printing, wire basket making, woolen work, handy crafts, candle making, chalk piece
making, book binding, bead work, basket making, palm leaf products, fiber products,
house wiring, carpentry and doll making are taught to children. Children are given
facilities to play indoor and outdoor games.

Mainstreaming of children into formal schools

There is a close co-ordination with the state education department for

facilitating the enrollment of children passing out of the special schools to the formal
schools. Instructions have been issued to school authorities to admit special school
children into 6 th standard once they finish the stage equivalent to 5th standard syllabus.
So far 8432 children have been mainstreamed into fonnal schools.

Enforcement of Laws regarding eradication of child labour

The provisions prohibiting employment of children under the following labour

enactments are implemented in the state by the Inspector of Labour department and
inspectorate of factories.

1. The child labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986.

2. The factories Act, 1948

3. The Motor Transport workers Act, 1961

4. The Beedi and cigar workers (Condition of Employment )Act, 1966

5. The Tamilnadu shops and establishments Act 1947.

6. The Tamilnadu catering establishments Act 1958.

228
 After the initiation of Action Plan, special drives - surprise special inspections
and joint raids were made by the enforcement machinery of both the Labour and
Factories departments for education of child labour. As a result 1, 79,238
establishments and factories were inspected by the enforcement officers and 1650
prosecutions were launched and 268 convictions secured against the erring employers
during 2003. During the year 2002, 413 persecutions were launched and 108
convictions secured against erring employers.

District child labour prevention squads

All the district collectors have been requested to form a squad in their districts
with the inspectors of labour Factories, authorized volunteers, NGOs and the civil
assistant surgeon to undertake effective inspections and submit reports. Special
squads have been formed in all the districts of the state. These squads organize
frequent joint raids .

Awareness generation: Anti- child labour day

June 12 was observed as "Anti child labour day" and on that day activities
were held in all the districts to create awareness among the public about the problem
of child labour and the steps needed to eradicate this practice. The activities included
rallies, public meeting, media campaign etc. similar activities were also taken up on
children's day, repeat the message for greater importance.

The following books/magazines were published by the state child labour

rehabilitation cum welfare society.

1. Action plan for eradication of child labour

2. Hand book for enforcement officials

3. Booklet on children's day celebration

4. Brochure on INDUS project

5. Stickers on child labour eradication

229
 A conference was held with 500 women self help groups on 18.03.2004 on
international women 's day at Chennai. This was organized to make women conscious
of their rights and also to stress their role in eradication of child labour 11 •

Awareness generation for employers

The enforcement officials have been instructed to conduct meetings with the
employers associations I organization, Trade union leaders, hotel owners, traders etc
for creating awareness on the issue of child labour. The enforcement officials have
been conducting meetings with the employers associations and consequent to which
the employers associations have been issuing circulars to their members not to employ
children in their establishments. ln particular meetings were conducted with silver
chain manufactures, hotels, shops and commercial establishment's owners and the
owners powerlooms, coir work, and automobile workshops

Training

District level workshop for enforcement officials and district level officers of
education, revenue, rural development and other departments in 27 districts was
conducted in the month of May 2003. They were exposed to laws/enactments,
different concepts and ideas, programmes and activities in the eradication of child
labour. State level workshop for convergence of various departments for elimination
of child labour was conducted on 26th June 2003. This workshop emphasized the
convergence among vanous government departments, non governmental
organizations, employers, trade unions etc.

Training of trainers programme

This programme was conducted for the enforcement officials from 15.3.04 to
19.3 .04 at Chennai. This training was given to the inspectors of labour and inspectors
of factories in order to create trainers who will in tum conduct training programmes in
the district.

230
Legislative measures

Tamilnadu government under the able guidance of the Honorable Chief

Minister, had adopted child labour elimination as one of its top priorities in its agenda
towards developing a vibrant state, and committed to a code of binding obligations
towards our children. In the UNCRC article 32, it is stated that states parties recognize
the right of the child to be protect from economic exploitation and from performing
any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education or to
be harmful to the child's health, physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social
development. We have to take legislative, administrative, social and educational
measures to ensure the implementation.

Tamilnadu government is striving hard to tackle the issue of child labour by

way of legislations, which prohibit child labour. Child labour (Prohibition and
Regulation) Act, 1986 Factories Act, 1948 and child labour provisions in other acts
are effectively enforced. In the year 2001,105 cases have been filed by the labour
department and Rs 18570 /- has been collected as fine amount. These efforts have
12
certainly minimized the problem of child labour in the organized sector .

Supreme courts directive and implementation

The Supreme Court judgment, dated 10.12.1996 on child labour in writ

petition C.N.465/86 (M.C.Mehta Vs state of Tamilnadu) gave directions on
elimination of child labour. The implementations of the directions of the Supreme
Court are as follows

• A survey of child labour was conducted during April to June 1997. 10118
children were identified in hazardous and 9052 children were identified in
non-hazardous industries.

• A child labour Rehabilitation-cum-welfare fund at state and district level has

been formed.

23 1
 • Compensation of Rs 20,000/- per child has been collected from 8 employers
and a sum of Rs 1,60,000/- has been deposited in the child labour
rehabilitation -cum welfare fund.

• The state government has deposited a sum of Rs 4, 74,65,000 /- in the state

level Rehabilitation cum welfare fund. So far 157 children have been relieved
from hazardous occupations and the district collectors of Chennai,
Virudhunagar, Pudhukottai, Madurai and Tiruchirapalli have received a sum
ofRs 7.85 lakh as the state governments share towards the welfare fund.

• Around 8799 criminal cases have been launched against the employers under
the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986.

• State child labour cell was formed in the labour department to monitor the
implementation ofthe Supreme Court's decision.

The historic judgment delivered by the Supreme Court on the issue of child
labour had its pressure on the employers. The monitoring cell in the labour
department is the outcome of this judgment. This cell is the body for monitoring and
evaluation of child labour elimination programme.

National Child labour project

In keeping with the national child labour policy, active and proactive measures
in tackling the problem of child labour was undertaken. Nine national child labour
projects which are centrally assisted are launched in child labour concentrated
districts of Tirunelveli, Thoothukkudi, Trichy, Pudukottai, Coimabtore, Salem,
Dharmapuri, Virudhunagar and vellore. About 504 special schools are run by NCLP
society and 19,9 10 children are now studying in special schools. They are provided
with mid-day m eals, uniform and an incentive of Rs 100 per month.

During the 1Oth plan period, the government expanded the NCLPs to the
following five districts of Madurai,Erode,Tiruvallur,Namakkal and Karur at of Rs
4.47 crores under the centrally assisted scheme. Every project proposed for expansion

232
will run 40 special schools with 50 children per school and totally 10,000 children
were admitted. They are also provided with mid day meals, uniforms and a stipend of
Rs 100 per month per child.

ILO-Integrated Programme for Elimination Of Child Labour

At present, two projects are functioning-one at Sivakasi and another one at

Tiruppur. ILO has allotted a sum of Rs.4 Crores for these projects. NCLP
Virudhunagar and Coimbatore are aimed at operationalising the 'Integrated Area
Specific Approach against the Hazardous and Exploitative Forms of Child Labour' in
Sivkasi and Tiruppur. Transitional Education Centres for the child labour relieved
from the industries are conducted. In Virudhunagar 80 TECs are run and 25 children
are studying in every TEC. In Coimbatore, in 80 TECs with 1720 children are at
present studying. 890 children are mainstreamed into formal education.

Vocational Training is being imparted for the children in the age group of 13
to 16 years. In Coimbatore, 225 children of this age group are provided Vocational
Training. In Virudhunagar, 200 children are identified for skill training. Credit groups
are being formed among mothers of child labourers. In Coimbatore, 250 Self Help
Groups are formed and they have undertaken activities such as shared Auto,
Tailoring, preparing masala powder and so on.

The Tamilnadu Slum Clearance Board's Transit School Programme in Chennai

In Chennai, Tamilnadu Slum clearance Board had allotted one crore rupee in
the year 1995 for undertaking Child Labour Elimination Project. Transit Schools were
formed for the child labourers in the slums of Chennai City with the collaboration of
Non Governmental Organisations.

Enhanced INDO-US Cooperation on Eliminating Child Labour

The Ministry of Labour, Government of India and the United States

Department of Labour signed a joint statement on 'Enhanced Indo-US Cooperation on
Eliminating Child Labour' in August 2000. Under this, Govenunent has proposed six

233
projects m Kanchipuram, Virudhunagar, Thiruvannamalai, Karur, Namakkal and
Erode with a cost of Rs.4 crores for each project over a period of three years at a total
project cost ofRs.24 Crores 13 .

Awareness Generation

A lot of awareness had been generated on the issue of child labour with the

assistance from UNICEF. Rallies, Conferences, Human Chain, Cultural Programmes

were conducted at the District Level. Commercial Broadcasting were made in All
India Radio in all stations in Tamilnadu and Pondicherry on the evil effects of child
labour. The Postal Department advertised the Child Labour Message on 20 lakh Post
Cards. In the year 2001 UNICEF assisted in conducting District Level Workshops in
the 6 NCLP Districts to prepare an action plan for Child Labour Elimination. A
Governmant's order has been passed for the Government servants not to engage child
labour for domestic purposes and severe action will be taken against those who
disobey the order.

Funds

Considering the magnitude of the problem, concerted efforts shall be made to

mobilize sufficient funds. Apart from sending project proposals to Ministry of
Labour, Government of India, ILO, UNICEF and other funding agencies may be
addressed for seeking additional support.

Monitoring Mechanism

There is a State Level Monitoring Committee for monitoring and evaluation

of the action taken to eliminate child labour. District level monitoring committees
shall be formed for close monitoring at the district level.National Child Labour
Projects could be extended to five more districts every year and the existing projects
could be strengthened. Every year, there could be study by an external agency to
review the impact of the programmes and policies with regard to 'Eradication of Child
Labour'.

234
 Rehabilitation and mainstreaming in Salem district

I
)'- Salem district had been in the fore front of the war against child labour in
Tamilnadu. It has dubious distinction of employing children below 14 in both
hazardous and non-hazardous industrial and non-industrial sectors such as silver
anklet, weaving, sago, construction, coir making, beedi rolling, brick kiln, automobile
workshops hotel and dhabas, stone quarrying and agriculture and related activities
thus forcing the government to launch an intense National child labour project from
1995-96 14 •

To monitor and spearhead the movement against the social scourge, the union
government under its National child labour programme formed SMILE (Society for
Monitoring and Implementation of child labour Elimination) schools. With the
collector as its chairman, the main objective is to identify child labourers and help
them join the mainstream in society by providing them quality education. According
to the collector J. Chandrakumar, since 1995-96 the war against child labour has been
going in the district without any let up. 11850 have been enrolled in SMILE special
schools, Mr. Chandrakumar said a total of 40 such special schools are functioning in
which 2000 rescued children are studying.

For the National child labour project in Salem district, the district collector
acts as the chairman. The government retired officer, Vishwanathan acts as the project
director. The NCLP office functions in the Nattanmai building within the premisus of
collectorate. Under the National child labour project, 40 schools are functioning in
various parts of the Salem district. After the bifurcation of Salem district into Salem
and Namakkal districts, 30 schools remain under the control of Salem district and 10
schools work under the control of Namakkal district. Many Awareness programmes
like consultation meetings, rally, workshops, general notifications etc were conducted
to create awareness, sensitize at the grass root level of parents, employers, public and
the child labourers about the evil effects of child labour on their health, education and
the over all development. Their Association executives were given counselling to
avoid using children in their concerns. Many raids were conducted and working
children were rescued from hazardous work. The employers were fined upto one lakh

235
for keeping the working children under servitude. NCLP officials used to meet the
parents of child workers, convince them to get the child labourers admitted in the
special smile schools. In the smile schools, the rescued children are provided better
education, made to write the exams conducted by the education department. After
this, they were mainstreamed into the regular schools to get higher education. If
awareness is created among all the people about the aims and objectives and
functioning of National Child Labour Project, there is a hundred percent possibility of
eradication of child labour in Salem district, the project director said this with great
hope.

It looks pity to see the children going to the school bearing the books bag on
their back. But still more pity is to see the children, who are going to work, bearing
the family burden on their back instead of the books bag. Such kind of working
children, below the age of 14 is seen in the large members in Salem district. Child
labour is found in large numbers in the silver anklet production centers, who produce
silver anklets for the ladies of whole Tamilnadu, even the whole of India. Taking
advantage of the poverty of the parents, the owners of the silver anklet unites exploit
the children's work after giving an advance of either 3 or 5 thousands to the parents.
With this amount the poor parents manages their survival. If they happen to see the
sufferings and arduous work that their child undergoes in the silver anklet work units,
15
they will shed blood tears •

These children work for long hours from 8 am to 6 pm for meager amount of
salary. The new entrants to this work are trained fro some months and not paid for
these months. The children who work in the silver anklet production centres become
machines and work along with machines which are hazardous for their health. Next to
silver anklet work, weaving is the large sector of Salem district where large numbers
of children below 14 years of age are found working. Working children are found in
coir twisting work, brick kiln, constriction, beedi rolling. These children are not paid
weekly or monthly. They are purchased for a sum of Rs. 3 or 5 thousand as advance
and made to work.

236
 The first annual day celebration of the SMILE special schools were celebrated
on November 14th, 1996 the children's day. The smile special school students of the
40 schools spread over the whole districts of Salem district were brought to Nehru
Stradium near old bus stand, Salem where the first annual day was celebrated. A
procession consisting of smile school students had taken part on that day. Hansraj
Varma, the then collector of Salem laid the foundation of the NCLP project school-
smile schools in Salem district. In the initial stages, child labourers were given
education in the evening time without affecting their work and these schools were run
by the NGOs voluntary organizations and then taken over by the government. The
practice of giving prizes to the first ten toppers in the final examination encouraged
other child labourers to get good marks in the examination.

Smile rescued E. Thilakavathy of Thalavaipatty was from a coir twisting unit.

The girl's finger prints had been obliterated due to years of coir spinning. She had not
entered a school till she was withdrawn from her employer. In just two years after
being admitted to the transition school in 1999. she passed standard V. Thilakavathy
had been the class toper since joining the government higher secondary school at
Sarkar Kollapathy in July 2001.V. Selvi who was toiling for a silver smith joined the
· special school in 1999. After three years of schooling in smile school, she was
admitted in the regular school, Kollppatty in July 2001. Selvi is also doing
exceptionally well emerging first in all the subjects. A Sathish Kumar is another
student who found a new lease of life after being rescued from a silver smith. After
passing standard V from the special school, he had figured among the top rankers in
the Gugai higher secondary school 16 •

Besides studies, these freed children seem to be mentally and physically

prepared to take on fresh challenges. There are success stories of children in the field
of art and crafts too, says Viswanathan, the smile project director. He said for the
successful implementation of these schools, the collector Dr. J. Radhakrishan has
been a source of encouragement for the proj ect team. The inspecting authority of the
Ministry of labour and Joint Commissioner of Labour have all praised the director's
dedicated service and involvement in the project' s success in the Salem district.

237
 The project director was very particular in selecting the Teaching Volunteers
of smile special schools. Dedicated persons were selected and provided with special
training to handle these children. The teachers were trained in subjects such as play
way methods and eco-preservation in the school premises apart from methods of
improving various programmes organized in these schools. The training prgreammes
were organized for the teachers of these centres every year so that they adopted
receptive teaching methods. The teachers of smile schools were found to be graduates.
The resource persons used to train the teachers of special schools to help them handle
the classes in a better manner 17 .

It is coir twisting trade that poses a big challenge to the smile staff, the project
director says. The community of coir twisters lives in scattered pockets and not in
clusters as in the case of power-looms or silver units. The community consists of
highly migrant and disintegrated families living in abject poverty. The average
earning of family including children is between Rs. 15 and Rs. 75. The children have
to keep rotating the twisting crank for nearly six to seven hours. Children affected by
coir dust develop many respiratory diseases.

Smile rescued many girls and boys working in vanous coir twisting units
from various places of Omalur, Tharamangalam, Vazappadi, Jalakandapuram,
Panamarathupatti and Kollapatty of Salem District. After freeing them, smile provides
them health check up and puts them in transition school before shifting them to the
special schools. A deposit of Rs. 100/- is made in the name of the child in a bank.
Depending on the learning ability, a child is moved up to join mainstream education
in two to three years time. The department of elementary education conducts an
impartial examination and certifies the students.

Later, the student can join any regular school. How ever students above 14
year of age are given vocational training in any useful trade. The mothers of the
rescued children are helped to form self help groups and are made to undertake
economic activities. These self help groups were trained in the preparation of income
generating projects apart from conducting community support group meetings.

238
 Smile project has released 4972 children working in hazardous industries like
coir making, power loom units and silver smiths so far out of 2000 children of 40
special schools. Only 7.8% children are dropped out. Strenuous efforts are made by
the teachers of smile schools to prevent dropouts from the smile schools. Buoyed by
its remarkable achievements, smile has determined to make the district of Salem child
labour free. Many consultative meetings took place between the labour inspectors of
Salem and the Silver anklet producers to discuss about the evils of child labour, their
appointment in the hazardous anklet making units, its eradication due to health
hazards and other ill effects. The Silver anklet producers as a consequence of these
meetings have decided to boycott trade dealings with anklet making units which
employ child labourers 18 •

Under the chief minister's 15 point programme, the labour and employment
commissioner Pranesh and Labour Commissioner Rajaram had instructed the
departments to carry out an audit control drive, awareness drive of the legal
dimensions of employing child labourers in industries. Based on this, the joint
commissioner of child Labour welfare-virudhagiri and Deputy Labour Commissioner
Anzhagesan instituted a surveillance and control drive among child labour prone trade
and industries like hotels, shops, weaving looms and establishments and particularly
among silver anklet units.

The silver anklet industry is clustered in shevoypet area with over 1000 units
employing several hundreds of child labourers. Producers of silver anklets give job
orders to tiny units, and even supply silver bars. In the consultative meetings among
the producers of silver anklets, labour department and NGOs, the need to abolish
child labour was discussed. The legal implications and punishment under the child
labour Abolition Acts were highlighted.

The producers were told that defaulters would have to undergo imprisonment
of3 to 6 months and pay a fine ofRs. 10000/- besides 2000 thousands to be deposited
to the district child labour relief fund. Second time defaulters will be dealt with more
severely. The concept of rehabilitation of child labourers through special schools in
Salem, the food and fee subsidies was highlighted. Parents and producers were thus

239
asked to desist from encouragmg and usmg child labourers. As a result of the
meetings, the Salem silver anklet manufacturers announced that they would adhere to
the norms of child labour laws and decided to boycott the units which do not comply
with the norms ofthe child labour Acts.

Silver bars will not be supplied to the units employing child labour. As there is
no direct interaction between the low level workers of the industry and the produces it
was decided to conduct a campaign on educating the child labour laws among them.
The labour department in Salem district had taken severe action to prevent the use of
child labour in the shops, hotels, dhabas and other commercial establishments. The
Labour commissioner G. Mahalingam held discussions with the owners of
Commercial establishments about the child labour laws, its regulations, and its
implementation by the labour department, throughout the Salem district. These
meetings were attended by the owners of shops, hotels and commercial establishments
and they assured to be abide by the rules and regulations of child labour laws and also
promised to render co-operation in the elimination of child labour. The labour
commissioner was assisted by the inspectors of labour R.S. Krishnamoorthy, H.
Krishnamoorthy,the project director Thiru P.Vishwanathan, in his raids and
. 19
meetmgs .

To create awareness among the public about the evil practice of child labour
and the need for its eradication, an awareness procession was conducted on the
children's day. It was supported by the public and some important personalities Thiru
Jayaprakash, the Associate leader of Nehru yuvakendra, Salem, led the procession,
the project director Thiru. P. Vishwanadthan, inaugurated the procession, Thjru.
J eeva, addressed the procession about evils of the child labour system, its evil effects,
and the necessity of sending the children to school and not to work20 .

As a part of child labour eradication in Salem District, workshops were

conducted several times to provide counselling to the parents and the employers. The
Labour Commissioner Mahalingam, explained in his reports about the various acts
implemented by the central and state governments for the abolition of child labour

240
and the parents and employers were advised to co-operate in the eradication of child
labour.

The child labour abolition scheme was found in the 15 points programme of
21
the Hon'ble chief Minister of Tamilnadu . On the orders of the Labour
Commissioner, Thiru. Rajaram the Inspectors of Salem district conducted raids on the
institutions which employed children below the age of 14, and had taken severe
action. Besides they were also asked to avoid the practice of employing children
below 14 years of age. Silver anklet workers were in particular insisted not to use
children in the manufacture of silver anklets. The silver Anklets Association president
Thiru Kesavan was insisted in preventing practice of child labour in the silver anklet
work. Very often meetings used to take place between the executives of Silver Smiths
Association and the Labour Commissioner, Mahalingam, the inspector of factories
Muralidharan and the smile project director Vishwanathan. It was insisted in these
meetings that the child labour practice can be eradicated successfully only with the
co-operation and strong determination of parents and employers, in not using children
below 14 years of age in work, than by the law.

After listening to the explanation and counselling of the government officials,

the Association leaders conducted the Association meetings and instructed the
members not to use child labour in the silver anklet production and also a resolution
was passed that in the event of any action taken by the government, the Association
will not support the concerned for disobeying the order and advice of the government.
The Labour Commissioner Salem district, thanked the executives of the silver Anklet
Association, for their earnest and sincere efforts in convincing their members for not
22
using child labour .

The Commissioner of Labour Salem, Thiru. G. Mahaligam, warned the factory

owners that the child labour is banned and child labourers should not be employed in
the factories, and who are not adhering this rule are going to be punished by the Court
through the labour department. As per the Judgment given on lOth December, 1996 by
the Supreme Court sum of Rs. 20,000/- will be fined from those who appoint children
below the age of the 14. This welfare fund will be utilized for the concerned child

241
labour. Apart from this 20000, a sum of 10000/- will be fined from the institution
which violates the child labour rules.

The commissioner of labour Thiru. M. Thangavel inspected the smile schools,

whether the infrastructural facilities found in the smile schools are sufficient for the
rehabilitation of the rescued child labourers23 . For the economic development of the
child labourers families, the mothers of the rescued child labourers were asked to
form self-help groups. As many as 1200 mothers of rehabilitated child labourers have
been organized to form self help groups in a bid to empower them socially and
economically. It is hoped that women's empowerment through self help groups will
lead to family's empowerment which includes the children, who will be empowered
by sending to school and not to work and this will help to a great extent in preventing
child labour.

The project envisaged withdrawal of children from hazardous industries in the

age group of 5-14 years, and put them in the smile schools where they were provided
with noon meals, uniform, educational and play materials. They were mainstreamed
into the regular schools. 95 children in the age group of 10-14 had been provided skill
training. It was pointed out that the integrated project for elimination of child labour
aimed at promoting conditions which would enable the states to progressively
regulate, restrict and prohibit child labour to bring about full observance of
international observance of international labour standards on minimum age for
admission to employment24 •

The objective of the smile project includes involvement of employers,

workers, government and non-governmental organizations in the development and
implementation of action programmes against child labour. The immediate objective
of the project in Salem district is to prevent, withdraw and eliminate children from
hazardous work, by channeling the entire package of inputs in a focused geographical
area. A smile has returned on the face of some children in the smile special school of
Salem district. They are now attending schools and getting vocational training.
Importantly they were removed from the clutches daily labour that was claiming their
child hood.

242
 It has been a few months since Ganesh aged 8 started going to smile school.
But his little hands still bear marks of hard labour in the silver anklet work. His
fingers are full of cuts and scratches and palms are too rough for his tender age. It is
reported that the chemicals used in polishing the silver anklets is hazardous for health.
"We get blisters after working with naked hands. Work begins at 6 am and a 30
minutes break at 1.00 pm work resumes till 6 pm., eyes bums owing to the fumes and
there is irritation in our throats", Ganesh said who was forced to take up the job owing
to family compulsions. So, children who have been w ithdrawn from the silver anklet
work were admitted in the special schools where they are trained in motor winding,
gas and electric welding, carpentry, tailoring and embroidery besides regular
education, nutritious mid day meal, stipend of Rs 100. A majority of the rehabilitated
children aged 8 and 12, after a special training, they are enrolled in regular schools 25 .

The inspector of Labour R. Kumarasamy has warned the owners of silver

anklet production units of Sivathauram, Salethampatti, Panankadu, Perumampatti,
Thiruvakavudanoor, Kondalampatti and its surrounding areas, not to employ children
below the age of 14 years in the Silver anklet work. It came to be known that more
than 15000 children were engaged in the silver anklet work.

The joint commissioner of Labour of Thiru. Mookaiyah paid a surprise visit to

the smile schools of Sivathipuram, Thirumalagiri, Ariya Goundampatti, Thalavaipatti
being accompanied by the project director, commissioner of labour, the project
supervisors, Salem district. and enquired about the methods of teaching followed in
the smile schools, the facilities available, the payment of stipend of Rs. 100/- to the
child labourers, etc. He pointed out that the awareness generation about the evils of
child labour is to be created in the areas of high incidence of child labour.

The project director and the project supervisors often visit the smile schools
for inspection, and especially on festival days like independence day, Republic day
etc. On that day as a part of celebration, competitions were conducted and prizes were
distributed to the smile school students which encouraged their studies and other
activities26 . The NCLP smile schools are helped by voluntary organizations like Lions
club, Rotary club, Mahalir Manram etc. with note booms, fan and lighting facilities.

243
Smile school teachers were given prizes for their best achievements in the running of
smile schools. Special functions are arranged by the project director, project
supervisors and field supervisors, in which, the collector gave away the best teachers
the prizes and certificates for their meritorious services. Amutha Alamelu and
Balamurugan of Panchanthanki Eripalli, Sathyapriya and Hema of Allikuttai, Shanthi
of Perumalkoil Karadu, Ramesh and Sarada of Thirumalaigiri, Rukmani, Kavitha
Shanmugam of Kumarapalayam, Padmakala and Mageshwari of Pallupatti were the
notable teachers to get the best teacher award from the then district collector
Radhakrishnan27 .

To create awareness and sensitize the owners of shops, hotels, petrol and
diesel bunks regarding the evil practice of child labour and to prevent them from
employing children below the age of 14, the labour commissioner, Salem used to
conduct meetings on the orders of Labour commissioner, which were attended by the
executive leaders of commercial organization. The employers and the executive
leaders of commercial associations declared that there are no child labourers at
present and assured not to use child labourers in future. It was accepted in the meeting
that each and every concern will keep the board, having the message "Children below
14 years of age are not working".

A General notification was published in the Salem district that any one who
come to know the practice of child labour, can contact the collector and help the child
labour from falling in to the evil practice and join the smile schools to get education.
So, there was a general feeling that the NCLP smile schools have come to abolish
child labour in Salem district.

Two days an orientation workshop was to create awareness and sensitize the
local body members like corporation, Municipal Council members on the protection
of child rights. The Salem district collector inaugurated the two days workshop. The
local body members were requested to co-operate with the officials of national child
labour project in eradicating child labour in Salem district.

244
 The Salem district collector Thiru Radhakrishnan realized that, the role of
public is very important for the successful working of national child labour project in
salem district. So he made an appeal to the public to render their positive co-operation
in the implementation ofNational child labour project in the salem district. The public
also contributed by providing material help like fan,tube lights to smile schools and
facilitated in the proper functioning of smile schools which is the part and parcel of
the National child labour project28 .

The project officials used to admit the child labourers in the smile schools
only after convincing the child labourers and their parents. At the end of the third
year, exams are conducted with the help of the district education department and those
who are passed in these exams, are admitted in the regular schools. The pass
percentages of these schools came around 90 percent. Many students, after entering
the regular school study well in the 6th and ih standards. Due to the efforts undertaken
by the NCLP schemes, the practices of employing the children to work have been
reduced. The central government officer, while he visited the Salem smile schools,
reported that they all proved to very talented and the credit goes to Salem district
collector, who is the chairman of NCLP smile project, the project director, the project
supervisors, field supervisors and above all, the sincere and real spirited teachers and
resumed child labourers who realized the importance of education and attended the
school with full spirit and vigou? 9 .

The government follows the norms of identifying the working children as

hazardous work and non-hazardous work. The government wanted to rescue the
children found working in the hazardous work, provide education, food, dress. For
this purpose only, the central government introduced the National child labour
project. Since the working children are withdrawn from the work to provide
education, there occurs a loss of income to the parents. So to compensate this loss to
the parents, they are provided a sum ofRs. 100/- per month as stipend to the students.

The project officials wanted to create awareness about the evils of child labour
among the villages as they engage their children in agriculture and domestic works
and incase of agricultural failures send them to the nearby towns and cities to work in

245
hotels, restaurants, looms, shops, automobile workshops and silver anklet works to
supplement their poor wages. The Labour department used a novel method of a
mobile music troop for this awareness campaign. The singer's used for this campaign
were visually challenged and they spread the message through songs. The troop was
accompanied by the representatives of the department of education, labour,
panchayats and non governmental organizations and inaugurated by the deputy
commissioner of law K.Alagesan on June 9th 2004. The commissioner of salem
G.Mahalingam had taken an active part in the campaign. The troop visited the villages
from 5 pm to 8pm when the villagers were available and sang the songs on child
labour.

The Collector A.Sukumaran asked all the panchayats, town panchayats,

municipalities and corporation of the Salem district to observe the June12th as anti
child labour day. On that day the parents were instructed to send their children to
school and warned top punish them if they send their children to work below 14 years
of age.

After the introduction of state government action plan, which is stipulated the
total elimination of child labour from hazardous occupations by 2004. The Salem
district authorities had rescued 4002 child labourers and admitted to special schools.
The NCLP alone since 1995 had secured the total of 9534 child labourers from
different occupations and educated them in its 40 smile schools of Salem district. A
staggering 98.61% of child labour students have entered the high school education in
formal schools, an accomplishments that points to a sustained efforts of the state
government, towards the rehabilitation and mainstreaming of child labourers. The
concept of joyful learning is kept in the class rooms of special schools due to the
provision of nutritious mid ay meals at the rateRs 5 per day, Vocational Training, a
monthly stipend of Rs100, free unifonn, free health check up and adoption of the
syllabus of state education department which will be helpful for them to enter the
higher education in the formal schools. Eight children have passed plus II in
April/May 2008 and two girls and one boy are studying in an Engineering college, all
proud products of SMILE projece0 . The successful performance of these special
schools is a pointer to the change in the parents mind set. The project officials are

246
surprised to see the joyful atmosphere among the children of these schools and their
parents. They are striving very hard to prevent 0% drop out from the smile schools as
the drop out rate was only 20% and false to 15% and later to 10%.

The special squad meant for conducting raids, rescued 294 children during
their 101 raids in a 12 months period. In one such raid, led by the then collector
Ramachandran, six child labliourers were rescued ftrom silver anklet industry, 15
child labourers were rwescued from automobile workshops, coir units and admitted
them into the special schools is an important thing to be noted.

An independent household survey was conducted in salem district under the

sarva siksha abiyan, identidfied 7947 child labourers working in various industrial and
non-industrial units in the whole district. Efforts are made to rescue and rehabilitate
them in the special schools run by the NCLP and SSA which now provides education
to the chid labourers in the salem district.

SMILE in co-ordination with revenue and labour departments have so far

carried out 27630 raids in various industrial units and firms and rescued many
children. Those who employed child labourers have also been brought before law. Till
today 99 case out of a total 629 have so far been cleared. The court found them guilty
and fined to the tune ofRs. 16.40 lakh long with a compensation ofRs. 5.60 lakh. The
finn approach had yielded positive results. But still there is a long way to go to
achieve the ambitious objective of total eradication of the child labour Mr.
Chandrakumar the Salem district collector said.

They were child labourers once, working long hours and doing menial jobs.
But thanks to the efforts of the district administration and 'smile' NCLP supported
school involved in rescue and rehabilitation of child labourers, they are now bright
students scoring top ranks in regular schools in Salem and Namakkal districts. Smile
director P.V. Viswanathan's table is full of greetings and letters written by these
former child labours thanking him and this team for the change they have brought
about in their once doomed lives.

247
Evaluation of the NCLP

Under the present administrative arrangement all the 40 special schools run by
the NCLP have been found functioning satisfactorily. There is a smooth transaction
process and timely flow of resources in the form of grants to all special schools to
meet the salaries of teachers, the midday meals expenditure for children, their stipends
and other running expenses. The recruitment of teachers, Clerks and cooks cum peons
of all the special schools has been found to be satisfactory.

All the special schools managed by NCLP of the district are playing a
Commendable role. The educational progress of the students has been found to be
satisfactory. On the whole, these schools have been found to be more disciplined and
better organized than the other primary schools in the district. In some cases, the
special schools have supplied uniforms, utensils and study materials free of cost. This
had not only helped the growth of child workers but also among their parents.

The nutrition programme in all the forty special schools had been functioning
well and almost all the children in these special schools express full satisfaction with
regard to both quantity and quality of the midday meal provided. It is because of the
stipend and the good quality of the food that some of the students who were working
children do not hesitate to commute a long distance either on foot or bicycle. Regular
attendance of students in these schools has been found to be much higher probably
because of the good nutritious food provided.

Awareness generation programme activities to sensitize the public, employers

were quite remarkable. The project society of the district appears to have taken this
aspect serious and conducted awareness programmes on child labour and the
importance of its elimination. The project still should place greater emphasis on
awareness generation activities and sensitization of the issues at the community level
to achieve the goal of progressive elimination of child labour. There should, therefore,
be provision for an annual recurring grant under this head with effective monitoring
m easures rather than the provision for one time lump sum grant of Rs 5 lakh provided
by the ministry of labour31.

248
 The project should examine the welfare measures for its workers and staff
starting from the project director to teachers, clerks and cook-cum-peons at the grass
root level. It has been found that the present pay package made available to the project
staff is grossly inadequate in relation to their skill, ability, educational qualifications
and, above all, labour inputs. This should be fixed on the basis of the pay structure
and gross salary of similar categories of workers at the minimum scales prevalent in
the district.

It must be observed that because of the importance placed on opening special

schools and providing stipends to working children in order to achieve full time
enrolment, the NCLP schools are emerging as a parallel system of education. On the
whole, the performance of the special schools under NCLP has earned admiration at
all levels of the village community for its positive contribution. Since awareness
campaign through audio-visual media is more effective than the printed form of
posters and leaflets as most of the villagers are illiterate, folkdance and folk drama
seems to be the most effective vehicles. Special schools have been successfully
providing access to the basic levels of learning that is likely to stand future
generations in good stead. It was observed that given the existing condition, total
prohibition or elimination of child labour is not possible, but through necessary
rehabilitation measures by the NCLP, the magnitude of the child labour problem in
the Salem district is considerably reduced 32 .

NCLP of Salem district should continue its activities more vigorously and
with new initiatives. The project had generated sufficient enthusiasm amongst
working children, their parents, and the villagers. Despite some weaknesses, the
project is clearly yielding effective and positive results. Its major achievement is the
local community has been directly involved in all its activities, contributing to its
success. It may, therefore, be viewed as a successful means to the total elimination of
child labour in the district.

In most areas, the community has welcomed the opening of the NCLP schools.
This h as provided an opportunity to fulfill the educational needs of the locality33 .
Given the fact that more than 60% of the children in NCLP schools are actually

249
children withdrawn from work indicates that the NCLPs have been successful in their
attempts to withdraw children from work and provide them education. The special
schools need to be continued. There is need to relocate NCLP schools in some other
areas where they are most required. Selection of teachers is mostly done by the
Project Society. The formal school syllabus which was followed in the special schools
enabled a smooth transition of children from the NCLP centers to mainstream
education. Provisions of Mid Day Meal and Stipend have been important motivational
factors for parents to send their children to the special schools. The availability of a
full time Project Director is found to provide a momentum to the activities of the
NCLP of Salem district. However, convergence with the Department of Rural
Development needs to be strengthened.

The NCLP Scheme, which began with a modest number of only 12 districts
has been progressively expanded to various parts of the country with a major thrust in
the 1Oth Plan, when it was expanded to cover 250 districts, spread over in 20 States of
the country. In addition, Indus Project, which is a joint Indo-US child labour project
for rehabilitation of children, is being implemented in 21 districts of the country. The
Project would be ending in August, 2007 and therefore these districts would also need
to be taken over under the NCLP Scheme thereafter. There have been demands from
various States for expanding the coverage of the NCLP Scheme to more districts.
Some States like Orissa and Bihar have proposed for coverage of the entire State
under the Scheme. To target every working child engaged in hazardous occupation in
the country, which is the immediate objective of the Government, there is therefore, a
need to expand the scheme to all the districts in the country. The Central Monitoring
Committee (CMC) on Child Labour also recommended this in its last meeting. Hence,
all other remaining districts having a reasonable number of working children in the
hazardous category would have to be covered under the NCLP Scheme during the 11th
Plan.

The objective of withdrawal of children from hazardous employment in Salem

district like silver anklet work, weaving, Automobile workshop, coir work, domestic,
construction, hotels, dhabas and restaurants etc., and ensuring their rehabilitation
through education in the special schools. It was observed that, the performance of

250
some of the projects is particularly note worthy and extremely encouraging. Parents of
the working children were motivated to send their children to special schools 34 .

The National child labour projects have largely covered the intended target
group, namely children working in hazardous industries. Since they felt the
operational difficulties in drawing a clear line between the children working in
hazardous industries and those in non-hazardous ones, for the purpose of targeting,
the group recommends that the target group for coverage under NCLP should be
children working in hazardous occupations. This would include both children working
in hazardous industries as well as those working children whose work is deleterious to
their health and their well-being.

Delays in release of funds to the projects and uncertainly about continuance of

the projects were inhibiting factors . They led to a great deal of demoralization and
demotivation. These procedural bottlenecks should be ironed out at the earliest. Long-
term planning to eliminate child labour is obviously very essential. One of the
principal objectives of NCLP is to withdraw children working in hazardous
occupations and mainstream them into the formal school system. The rehabilitation
centers act as bridge to facilitate their entry into the formal schools. The child labour
projects have been able to make a dent on the problem and have been able to facilitate
both the withdrawal of children from hazardous work and their gradual entry into
mainstream education. How ever the problem persists. Even after 8 years of
implementation of NCLP in the Salem district, when the child labour survey was
undertaken in March 2003, it was fond that 7000 working children both in hazardous
and non-hazardous activities were found. So it is necessary to continue the project
approach 35 .

The NCLP enables the working children to become productive and

participative members of society. Therefore apart from academic inputs, there should
be strong-prevocational and craft components in the education of children in the
rehabilitation centers. The existing NCLP scheme provides for payment of stipend of
Rs. 100/- per child per months while this amount does not fully compensate the
income foregone by the working children, it acts as a great motivating factor for

25 1
parents to send their children to school. There fore, the system of paying the stipend
should continue. The involvement of development functionaries of allied departments
like education, health, social welfare, rural and urban development. Panchayat Raj
and interaction with them at the district level is necessary to exploit the potential
synergy for the benefit of children covered under the project.

The convergence of various social schemes, such as those run by the social
welfare, welfare, Urban and Rural development education department should be
encouraged. The facilities available under various residential welfare schemes for
backward communities, the mid-day meals scheme should be synchronized and the
provision under NCLP should be permitted to be utilized for the benefit of children
withdrawn from work.

There is a need for adequate awareness generation against the evils of child
labour and stepping up enforcement of the relevant labour laws. The awareness
among the people about the evils of child labour particularly after the judgment of
Supreme Court and follow up action there after is note worthy. The tempo should be
maintained. Apart from inspection and regular monitoring of the child labour projects
there should be concurrent evaluation of the NCLPs through agencies that may be
selected by the District Collector in order to assess the effectiveness of various
interventions for suitable and timely corrective action.

Salem district has bagged the best award in the state for its activities on the
anti-child labour front, for identifying and rehabilitating child labourers. It had strictly
enforced labour laws to improve the socio-economic conditions of the families of the
children rescued from the clutches of those who employed them. The Labour Minister
T.M.Anbarasan presented the award to Collector N.Mathivanan officiates of Project
smile and various other departments have so far rescued over 19700 children aged
below 14 in the district. Of them 12,600 children were enrolled in the mainstream
education after their stay in the special schools. The administration has launched a
number of programmes to increase the level of awareness among people against child
labour. Efforts were also taken to provide assistance to the parents of rescued children
to help them take up income generation activities.

252
Rehabilitation and Mainstreaming of Child Labourers by NGO's

DON BOSCO Anbu Illam- SALEM

The Mission of a Visionary

Saint John Bosco was a 19th century man with Fantastic creativity, Marvelous
courage, Apostolic interiority, Tireless capacity, Rich sensitivity and generous love.
He spent his life working for the street urchins of Turin, in Italy, victims of Industrial
Revolution. This noble endeavor has become a global movement that is being carried
out all over the world by his followers 'The Salesians' today.

The Seedling

There was growing awareness of the ever-increasing number of street children

in the nooks and comers of Salem in the mids 1980s. Incredibly the plight of these
children was not covered under any existing socio-political scheme or programme.
They were not even considered in the population census of the state of Tamilnadu.
This alarming situation captured the attention of some students of philosophy, who
had their academic center at The Retreat, Y ercaud, a hill station, 30 KM away from
Salem. Based on their discussions on how to cater to these street kids during their
weekend service schemes, the genesis of a marvelous rehabilitation programme for
the young at risk was set up and headed by Fr. Schlooz. The initial contact centers
were setup at the City Bus Stand and Railway Junction. They were also working with
the juveniles in the Government Observation Home.

Fr. Schlooz-The Founder of Salem Anbu Illam (DBAI)

Rehabilitation of vagrant youth was completely a new tenn to the city of

Salem when Fr. Schlooz started the Anbu Ill am. The Y ercaud Brothers who used to
come for their Sunday Oratory felt the need for the rehabilitation of the rag pickers.
After seven months of 'Itinerant Oratory' he managed to obtain the present site, which
was opened on 19th December 1988. Fr. Schlooz, though a foreigner by birth, really
got into the shoes of the rag pickers and understood them.

253
Seedling to a Tree

A Child line Programme was started in 2002, a toll free telephone-link to

rescue young at risk in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Justice and
Empowerment, Government of India. A troop for Training and Capacity Building was
formed comprising of Anbu Illam staff and volunteers to train school and college
students, teachers and members of social service organizations on child rights

The Salem Don Bosco Anbu Illam Social Service Society is a registered body
catering its services to street and working children since 1988. It was set up to prevent
and address the problems of street and working children. This process of
rehabilitation is carried through the involvement and empowerment of Community
Based Organizations (CBOs). About fifty five committed volunteers are concentrating
on promoting child rights and organizing the community to eliminate child labour in
the three districts of Salem, Erode and Namakkal. A spacious and child friendly
environment is offered for the integrated growth of street and working children to
allow for their education and vocational training.

The street children mainly lack care and protection, food, shelter and clothes,
healthy recreation and education, medical assistance and parental guidance. These
street children are subjected to harassment and inhuman treatment by public and
police. They are victimized by anti-social elements. They are indulged in Child
trafficking. They are subjected to Sexual abuse leading to psychological damage.
They easily fell victim of addiction to drugs and alcohol. As a whole, their life is full
6
of miseries and uncertainty .

Child Guidance Bureau-Sponsor

Don Bosco Anbu Illam provided shelter and education to the street and
working children to allow them back into society. It believes in involving the local,
national and worldwide communities in order to achieve this mission, thus making it a
global movement in which every one can participate by Shelter sponsor means,
sponsoring one hundred children residing in two shelters, who need meals, medicine,

254
clothes, education materials, sports materials, library books, sanitary articles,
activities and outings, vocational training, job placement, shared musical instruments,
karate classes, scouts, home placement and travel.

By sponsor parent, any one can become a sponsor parent by sponsoring the
educational and personal expenses of these children. Support can be given to two
street based drop centers frequently by eighty children via medical assistance, sports
and recreational materials, meals, clothes, outings and exposure visits, educational
and sanitary materials.

The mam activities of Don Bosco Anbu Illam are particularly related to
watching and preventing child trafficking, contacting and counseling run away
children, organizing rag pickers and children working in hotels, Guidance and referral
serv1ce.

Preparatory Shelter

This is a shelter for the newcomers referred by the Child Guidance Bureau,
Childline, Satellite Centers, Day Care Centers and Extension Centers. It is situated at
the foothills of Y ercaud, a calm and serene atmosphere for vagrant children to reflect
and mend their lives. Their dual rehabilitation (either home placement or being
referred to the main shelter in Salem) is planned both with the child and parents or
guardians. This shelter provides shelter and basic necessities to these children. Non-
formal education is provided along with Periodic medical check up and medical
assistance. They are regularly taking out for outings, film shows, picnics and daily
games are conducted. They are taken to the neighboring schools to visit and observe
the atmosphere of formal schools. Support groups are organized for the stake holders.

Slum center:

There are twenty five slum based centers in which Transit School and
Community Based Organizations function. Any one could support these centers by
way of sponsoring rent for a Transit School, educational materials, noon-meals, sports

255
and recreation articles, medicine, outings and exposure visits, awareness programmes
and training and vocational training for youth, job placement and self employmene 7 •

Orphans, Semi-orphans and children at risk are cared for in these home away
homes. They are helped to do their formal and non-formal education. They are given
good shelter and food so that they can do their studies in a suitable environment.
Besides education their talents in sports, games and music are developed in the
orphanage. They are given moral education and social ettiqute so that they can live as
better citizens. Don Bosco Anbu Illam in Salem is one of the street Children projects
internationally known and locally acclaimed.

It is a journey with the oppressed children, youth and their community. This
journey has been, from the beginning, marked with persistent commitment and
untiring longing for liberation and development of the exploited. Initially Don Bosco
Anbu Illam began its journey to accompany the street and run-away children of Salem
city to mark the centenary celebrations of our founder Johnny Bosco in 1988. 17 years
of intervention of Salem Don Bosco Anbu Illam on childcare and child rights has
made significant change in the lives of several children who are longing for care and
protection. The persistent commitment of DBAI for the children of oppressed and
marginalized community inspires many civil society organizations. Today DBAI has
emerged as a leading child rights organization with its consistent work for promoting
the culture of respecting the dignity of children and struggle for equality and social
justice through the mobilization of Community Based Organizations.

In fact, the Don Bosco Anbu Illam, when it started, was only a night sh elter
for the rag pickers and street children. Today it has grown into a 'Movement of
People for Child rights, Human rights and Social Justice', the community at large is
distorted and torn into pieces due to various social factions and oppressions.
Communalistic violations, caste clashes, hard-core unemployment, anti-poor
government stands, nee-colonization through Globa1isation and Privatisation and
umpteen number issues that keep subjugating the marginalized societies. Therefore
DBAI has paid a special attention in choosing the most afflicted Dalit areas (both
slums and villages) as its operational areas. It aims at building a community, which

256
respects Human Rights and keeps vigilance of vanous violations through the
Community Based Organizations. Of those it is the rights of children and women
which is most violated. They are the most vulnerable section, which need to be
empowered and addressed to with empowerment process. Hence DBAI pays a special
attention to these two groups in the operational areas 38 .

The Main Shelter of Anbu Illam

The main shelter of Anbu Illam was started in the heart of the city, Salem.
Street children and working children were brought to this main shelter. Child
immigrants from he drought prone diostricts of Namakkal,Dharmapuri and Erode,
who came in search of odd jobs in industries like silver chain making, hand looms and
power looms, coir making, beedi,sago and the dyeing industry and in hotels were
identified and helped in their rehabilitation.

Street kids, Rag pickers,Run awy children, destitude children, orphans,

children of prisoners, child labourers of looms and silver chain industries and the
children who never enrolled in schools and drop outs, and hotel boys were provided
shelter and other basic necessities. The run away children were helped to integrate
with their families. Basic education and medical assistance are provided to these
children. They are prevented from vagrancy and provided vocational guidance and job
placement. Child labour is prevented and eliminated. Character·is built and discipline
is promoted. Through community based organizations, the community is being
empowered. The rights of the children are advocated and awareness is created about
the socio-ethic evils.

YWCA

A well-maintained and equipped creche has been functioning in YWCA for

taking care of children of ailing and poor working women. It was started in the year
1991 with the aid of Social Welfare Department

257
Women's Organisation in Rural Development (WORD)

Women's Organisation m Rural Development is a voluntary development

organisation working for the upliftment of rural people especially women and
children. It was started in the year 1985. WORD has got its statutory recognition in
the year 1988. It spread its activities in all spheres and its integrated approach helps
the over all development of women, children and the society. All the programmes of
WORD are people's programme and with their participation, it strongly believe in the
strength of people especially women and children. It is a registered one as a non-profit
organisation under the Indian Trust Act. WORD is an approved charity recognized by
the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India under the Foreign
Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) of 1976. "WORD is also registered under 12
AA and 80-G of the Indian Income Tax Act of 1961 ".

WORD focuses its current activities in Erode and Namakkal Districts of

Tamilnadu, which was a part of salem district before its bifurcation into Salem and
Namakkal Districts. Its administrative office is at Pallipalayam and with two branch
offices at Namakkal. Under the dynamic leadership and administration of Mrs. M .
Sarala with the staff strength of 103 the organisation is proudly dedicated for the
social cause and marching ahead in its tireless work of 18th year with great ecstasy
9
andjol .

Under INDUS project of Child Labour, with the financial assistance both from
Government of India and the United States Department of Labour and the execution
by International Labour Organisation, six special schools are being run in
Pallipalayam and Komarapalayam areas where the textile industries concentrated in
Namakkal District. The six schools are catered to 240 child labourers in the following
areas of Subash Nagar, Pallipalayam, Amman Nagar, Pallipalayam, Avathipalayam,
Pallipalayam, Chinnayakatoor, Pallipalayam, K.Olappalayam, Komarapalayam
Perantharkadu, Komarapalayam.

The child labourers in the special schools are provided with nutritious lunch
and they have been given intensive education for 5 hours per day at par with the

258
Tamilnadu Government Education syllabus. Apart from the educational input, the
skilled teachers are teaching various skills on cultural, sports and games and fine arts.
Keeping in mind that poverty is the main cause of the child labour system in the
country, the parents of the children are being motivated to form self-help groups to
generate income, build assets and move towards self-reliance. It also paved a way to
spur the rural economy at the village level.

In each five villages non- formal education centers are being conducted for the
child labourers and drop-out children from June 2003. Five supplementary education
classes have also been initiated from June 2002. The dull and weak school going
children were made to attend the classes in order to ensure their retention in the
regular schools. Children groups were also organised weekly in the five villages to
develop unity and integrity among them right from their early period of life. In the
month of April and May pre-primary enrolment campaigns were carried out. Door to
door campaign results the increment of students in the local primary schools.

Under the street children contact programme, one contact center and
temporary shelter home is functioning. Once the street children were contacted they
will be taken to the temporary shelter home for a short stay. They will be given proper
counselling, opportunities for education and recreation, medical check-ups etc., And
then they will either be sent with their parents or be admitted in hostels for future
care. Special care and close monitoring is being done especially to the high risk and
vulnerable children. Follow-up care is also been ensured for them not to enter in the
labour market again. A good linkage has been established with the Government
Observation home under the Ministry of Social Defence, Govt of Tamilnadu for
referring the street children for continuum care. Vocational trainings in tailoring with
duration of six months and driving with duration of three months were also given to
22 aged child labourers.lts grass root level work is made possible by the generous
financial support of individuals, foundations, corporate bodies and public agencies.

259
 ChildLine

\. Child line is a project of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment,

Government of India. A national 24-hour emergency toll free number 1098 - is made
available now, and is aptly called the 'Childline'.

It is a nodal organization for the Childline in the city of salem and the Don
Bosco Anbu Illam is the Collaborative organization. Children between 0-1 8 years are
provided shelter, medical relief, restoration to their families, rescue from exploitation,
death related cases, sponsorships and emotional support and guidance. In Salem
district, it started it's ringing from April 2002 on-wards. As the major nodal
organization, YWCA is coordinating Childline services in Salem district. With the
view of coordinating the same Childline Advisory Board (CAB) under the
chairmanship of the District Collector was formed. With the help of some innovative
and conventional methods, awareness is created throughout the district. In response,
Childline received 1,91 ,565 calls, which is an average of 4000 per month and provided
intervention services.

The Multi purpose Action Social Service Society (MASSS)

MASSS began work in 1997 in the Nangavalli block started by subrarnani,

MASSS was a step towards bringing some change. It helps in counselling the parents
regarding their working children to send them to schools to get education. It
succeeded in its efforts. It tried to make the people realize their responsibility for
bringing up their children, make them understand the importance of education for
their children, and realize that by employing their children they are only charring their
childhood. MASSS began working at various levels in the community. As a first step,
non-formal education centers were started for working children and after their study
in the non-formal centers, mainstreamed them in regular schools40 .

MASSS began providing income generation programmes for women and

addressing the child labour issue in the powerloom sector. The organization has built
good rapport with the community all these years, supporting in the implementation of

260
the community based programmes. It has extended its work to the entire block
through self help group programmes supported by the banks and the government. The
organization has initiated a community based pre-school to provide access to
education for the school age children, relieve the mothers, from the burden of baby
sitting to enhance the income for the family, provide opportunity for the other siblings
to attend school, to attain 100 percent enrollment.

CRY (Child Relief & You) was started in 1979 as an INDIAN reaction to the
unjust situation of Indian children, by ordinary people willing to make a difference. It
is an independent organization; its chief objective is to restore to children their basic
right to food, shelter, education - in short, a future. CRY supported the salary
components and plays materials for the children in the beginning for the two centers
and later extended it to four. The community and the women's groups contributed
food, infrastructure, place etc., for the centers currently, CRY supports four center's
teacher's salary cost and all the remaining is taken care of by the community and
women's self- help groups. An additional five centers are run by the self group
themselves, where all the cost, including the salary for the teachers, is taken care of by
the self help groups. The CRY pre-school is a model for the remaining village in the
panchayat to address the issue of the early child care education. MASSS community
pre-school is one of the pioneer models in Tamilnadu for the community based pre-
schools which can be replicated by the other NGO's. The organization works with
mentally and physically challenged children at their homes. A special teacher makes
regular visits to the homes of the mentally. A striking aspect of this organization is
the rapport it has established with the community, and the awareness it has raised
among the people of these villages. The effect is clearly evident from the fact that the
community has understood and taken responsibility for their children and has
contributed to bring a change in their society.

CRY has been supporting this organization since 1999. In all the projects that
CRY has worked with, the key to making 100 percent enrolment and 100 percent
retention in schools a reality has been the active involvement of the community. CRY
recognizes that the community needs to be responsible for the wellbeing of their
children. It h as disbursed $684 million to 163 child development initiatives across the

261
country. Yet, much remains to be done. As the CRY pledge reads - "Before anything
else, I am an Indian. And so is this little child. The rights I enjoy as a citizen of this
free country are hers too. She has a right to be free. She has a right to be happy. But I
am going to fight for her because she has the right to be a child. I am going to fight
for every single day, every single moment. With my skills, with my resources, with
my heart, I am going to fight for her because I CAN, and she can't"

Other NGOs worth mentioning for their services in child labour elimination
service are the Community Service Trust, Salem, Annai Terasa Social Service and
Charitable Trust, Salem, Y.W.C.A, Salem and District Social Rural Welfare Sangam,
Sankagiri.

The problem of child labour is not only socio-economic but also has a very
strong human dimension. Looking to the magnitude of the problem that exists in
varying degrees in many states across the country, a holistic and integrated approach
is essential to tackle and phase out the problem. For this, concerted and sustained
efforts as well as appropriate interventions by states and voluntary organizations are
necessary. Against this background, the NCLP which had played a catalytic role in
mobilizing efforts towards the elimination of child labour needs to be strengthened,
particularly as elimination of child labour finds place in the National Agenda for
Governance of the present government.

262
Foot notes for chapter - VI

1. S.B.Nangia, Child labour m India, Ashish Publishing house, New

Delhi,1978,P-25.

2. Lakshrnidhar Mishra, Child Labour in India, Oxford press, 2000, P-195 .

3. Ibid, P- 215

4. Ibid, P- 207

5. Child Labour- A Report of workshops for District Collectorts and Project

Directors, National Resource center on child labour, V .V.Giri National Labour
Institute, N oida.l996, P -1.

6. Ibid p- 5

7. Ibid, P-7

8. Ibid, P-15

9. G.O.Ms.No : 190, Dated. 18.12.2001 Social Welfare and Nutritious Meal

Programme Department, P-2

10. Ibid, P-9

11. G.O.(M.S).No : 53, Labour and Employment Department Dated. 12.05 .2003,
P-5

12. Ibid,P-7

13. G.O.(M.S).No : 53, Labour and Employment Department Dated. 12.05.2003,

P-5

263
 14. R.Ilangovan. War against child labour yield good results, The Hindu. ,
15.12.2003, P- 1
\
15. The Sufferings of Child Labourers m Salem District, Kaalai Kathir,
l.ll.2002,P-5.

16. Interview with A.Sathish Kumar, Child .Labourer in Silver anklet work on
23 .12.2001 .

17. Training for teachers in special schools, The Hindu, 25.9.2003, P-3

18. Silver smiths to boycott units with child labourers, The New Indian Express,
31.12.2002,P-3.

19. Interview with the Labour Commissioner G.Mahalingam on 5.1.2001

20. Awareness Campaign against child labour, Staff Repot, The Hindu,
11 .6.2004,P-3

21. G.O.(M.S) .No : 190, Dated. 18.12.2001 ,Social welfare and nutriticious
programme department, P-2

22. The Child Labour abolition meeting held in Salem. Thinathanthi, 8.9.2002,
P-7.

23 . Inspection in child labour schools,Malai Malar, 13 .6.2002,P-1

24. Interview with the special school teacher, Narayananagar, Komarapalayam,

10.11.2000

25. Interview with the Project Director Thiru P.Viswanathan Dated 15.06.2002

26. Celebration in smile school at komaraplayam Thinamalar, 1.9.2002,P-3

27. Collector praised the smile school teachers, Thinamalar, 8.9.2002, P-2

264
28. Salem Collector's appeal. Thinamalar 17.9.2002, P-4

29. National Child Labour Project - a pioneer project to abolish child labour.
Thinamalar 14.9.2002,P-3 .

30. R.Ilangovan, War against child labour yield good results 15.12.2008,
P-1.

31. Child labour system abolition awareness rally, Thinamalar, 16.11.2002,P-5.

32. Interview with the Project Director Thiru P.Viswananthan, 22.5.2004

33. Interview with the Parents of Selvi Amudha, a power loom child labour, in the
smile school ofTiruchengodu on 21.6.2005.

34. Interview with the Parents of Selvan P.Ganapathy,Automobile child labour,

smile school ofNamagiripettai on 18.6.2006.

35. G.O.(M.S).No : 53, Labour and Employment Department Dated. 12.05.2003,

P-2.

36. Interview with R.Ravi, Street child, Transit school (Maravaneri),DON

BOSCO Anbu Illarn,Salem on 18.12.2000.

37. Interview with Nithya, Child. Labour student m the Transit school,Anbu
Illam,Salem on 11 .09.2002.

38. Interview with the father Anbu Illam,Salem on 18.03 .2001.

39. Interview with M.Sarala, Secretary, WORD,Pallipalayam on 11.10.2000.

40. Interview with Thiru Subramani, Secretary,MASSS,Nangavalli on 21.5.2007.

265