Focus on Children: Need to move from shelving to primacy

By Naba Kishor Pujari 

 The Nobel Peace Prize to India’s leading social activist Mr.Kailas Satyarthi and crusader of Girls education, Pakistani GirlMalala Yousafzai has brought a dawn in the millions of children in the world, especially in the south Asia whose lives have seen the dark of bondage and cruelty. The two personalities have proved that the issue of children are important in both social and political point of view. We have to confess that these two have demonstrated such leadership in the field of their vicinity where many of our progressive laws have not been able to do so. To all who love and work for the cause of the children, the Nobel Prize is a kind of social certification for child labour free carpets in South Asia. Mr.Satyarthi, despite saving almost 80,000 children from child labour, and now adding the world’s most famous award to his name, Kailash Satyarthi has always restlessly sought to do more. While we celebrate the Nobel Prize that came due to a noble cause, we need to sharpen our thinking that why Nobel Prize committee selected a person who fight for the cause of children? Is the issue of children in South Asia is debilitating?  Does the state of children is really an area to look into? Do we need to focus on our policy and implementation modalities towards children? Has the issue of child education, child health, child servitude an important issue and affecting the growth of our Country and the South Asia in specific? These questions flash back to us if we take a turn to its implacability. India is home to about 19 per cent of the world’s total child population and the country has the uncertain distinction of being home to the largest child labour force in the world, with an estimated 30 percent of the world's working kids living here.  According to the report of the Education International, of the estimated 21 million slaves in the world today, an astonishing 26%, or more than one in every four, is a child under the age of 18, with some being as young as five. Forced to work for up to 18 hours a day, these children are sold for less than the price of cattle. They are deprived of their right to education and other human rights. This must stop. Despite several laws, Acts, guidelines and directives for children in India, we as a country have not been able so far to protect the childhood of the children of our country. The state of Indian children draws a very sorry figure in terms of their development, education, health, participation and protection. Indian laws only say that those below 14 years of age cannot be employed in “hazardous” industries. A bill, the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Bill, prohibiting the employment of children below 14 altogether, was introduced in Parliament in 2012, but has not yet been passed. Studies show that 60 million children work for approximately 200 days a year at an average cost of Rs 15 per child per day. This amounts to Rs 18,000 crore in one year. Now, these 60 million child labourers, when substituted with 60 million adult labourers, would earn Rs 1.38 trillion at a minimal rate of an average floor wage of Rs 115 per day per labourer for 200 days. This difference in the total earnings works out to Rs 1.2 trillion. This straight profit of Rs 1.2 trillion is a significant loss to the economy.  The major occupations involving child labour are pan, bidi and cigarettes (21%), construction (17%), and spinning & weaving (11%), which qualify as hazardous processes/occupations. Domestic workers constitute 15% of the total child workers. In the context of Odisha, The Government of Odisha has its commitment in the State Plan of Action for Children 2009-2012 that the government would reduce and eventually eliminate entirely the practice of child labour in the state. But this has not been ensured.  For years now, the State government has not carried out any comprehensive survey to find out the population of child labourers in the State. Data (from the National Sample Survey Organisation, January 2014) now puts that the number of Child labour under the age five to fourteen in Rural Odisha is  24 and 41 in Urban areas in the state on every 1000 population. The total number of child labour in the state as per the report is 222953. The state government has enacted Orissa Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Rules, 1994, the bonded labour system (abolition) act, 1976, The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of 1986, The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of Children Act of 2000 and The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act of 2009. This apart, the state government of Odisha is also implementing 24 National Child Labour Project (NCLP) under National policy on Child labour. According to a study report on child labour, 31 percent of the working children are dropped out from the school. Moreover, about 29 percent of the working children have never attended school; only 40 percent are those who currently attending school. Out of the total children currently studying 3 percent is in primary.  The Economic Survey report 2013-14 of the state government also reveals that during 2012-13, 39,409 child labours were admitted into 812 special schools opened under NCLP but these initiatives would not suffice the cause against the magnitude of the problems prevailing in the state. The relentless effort of Mr. Kailash Satyarthi and Malala and the recognition for their fight against child servitude and education must add enthusiasm, spirit and commitment in us to continue our fight against the slavery. After all, we need a country where there are no practices of child servitude and children enjoy their fullest form of rights. The focus on children of our country from shelving to primacy must make a mark. - See more at: http://www.orissadiary.com/ShowOriyaColumn.asp?id=55688#sthash.pLpGd7Lq.dpuf