Rescued Child Labor in India:
A journey from starvation to poverty
By: Prof. Prabhakar Goswami
Founder/Director, I-India
What is Child Labour
Child labour can be defined as any type of
work a child (up to 18 years of age) is engaged
in for a large part of the day that is preventing
his/her regular attendance and success in
school
Why Child Labour is wrong
•Violation of child rights
Child Labour in India
According to 2001 census, number of working
children/child labour in India is 12666377
In Rajasthan, it has been reported that
1262570 children are engaged with Child
Labour/forced labour work
Child Labour in Rajasthan
In Rajasthan, 1262570 children are engaged
with Child Labour/forced labour work
Origin/States from children trafficked to Rajasthan
• Bihar
• Jharkhand
• Uttar Pradesh (UP)
• West Bengal
• Orissa
Child Labour
Bonded Labour
Bihar- major source for trafficking children
Bihar state of India is major source area for
trafficking of children for forced labour.
Districts/Regions of Bihar from children trafficked to Rajasthan
• Gaya
• Sitamadhi
• Rasheedpur
• Jahanabad
• Madhubani
• Navada
• Nalanda
• Palamu (Jharkhand )
Reasons of trafficking of children to work
• Starvation-poverty
• No work for the adults in village
• Big size of family
• Family debts /Loans
• Pressure from money lenders (To repay loan)
• Peer pressures
• Attraction towards metro urban cities
• Massive flooding and other natural calamity in the region
Reasons to take loan:






Marriage of son or daughter
Death of parents
Flood/Famine
To grow basic agricultural products
Chronic-long sickness of family member
Migration for employment purpose
Major sectors in which child labor involved
Thousands of children are trafficked every year to work in
towns or cities of Rajasthan and especially Jaipur in various
unorganised sectors of work
Categorization of sectors:
 Gem sectors where children are engaged to work
 Embroidery (Aari Tari)
 Beedi (Local cigarette) making
 Carpet weaving
 B.T. Cotton Agricultural fields
 Stone mining work
 Bricks making places
 Domestic servants
Situation of Child Labour in Jaipur/Rajasthan
Children under the age of 14 are forced to work in hazardous
workplaces and they majorly experienced mistreatment and
exploitation by their employers. They usually work for more than
14 hrs a day.
Working conditions:
 Over crowded small room in slums
 No proper ventilation
 No proper light
 No safe drinking water
 Poor shower facilities (Twice in a week)
 No proper bedding
 No fan, even during summer time (44-45 degree C)
Rescue operation conducted by I-India
In a major crackdown against child labour, Jaipur police, Childline
Jaipur and I-India rescued nearly 117 children on June 18, 2011.
Facts about rescue operation:
 Child help line got information about child labor at particular point.
 Child Help Line contacted police to rescue children.
 Childline workers, police and social workers strategized the operation
 They reached to work place and performed raid
 Children's employers were arrested and children were sent to custody
of Child Welfare N.G.Os /shelter homes.
Facts about rescued children:
 117 boys rescued through this operation
 about 21 children belongs to the age group of 6-10 yrs
 about 22 children belongs to the age group of 11-13 yrs
 about 69 children belongs to the age group of 14-17 yrs
58 children out of 117, identified as literate (basic education)
 around 70% children trafficked through close relatives
 30% children trafficked through well organized agents
 average household size of children: 6-8 family members
 around 90% children reported that they were daily working
10-14 hrs with 30 min lunch break.
Facts about rescued children:
Remuneration being paid to children
12%
13%
INR 500-900 per month
19%
21%
INR 1000-1400 per month
INR 1500-2000 per month
INR 2000 per month
35%
No payment
Facts about rescued children:
Major health problems identified among rescued children









Tuberculosis
Skin problem
STD
Eyes problem
Loosing parts of body- fingers, hands etc.
Deformation of bones or backbone
Malnutrition
Depression
Gastric problems
Post-Rescue procedure:
I-India has arranged temporary stay of all rescued children at one of the
shelter home and provided them necessary care in terms of food, water,
clothes, shelter, medical assistance, legal aid and most importantly support
to contact his family and guardians.
Post-Rescue procedure aims at:
 Building trust and confidence amongst children.
 Providing them appropriate living facilities.
 Addressing their Socio-Psychos problems.
 Contact with parents and informing about their children.
 Filling counseling formats by interviewing each child.
 Statements recording of each child by Government, Labor Department
 Presenting each child to medical board for examining their health status.
 Producing before Child Welfare Committee for judicial action.
 Rehabilitation of children.
POST RESCUE PROCEDURE
POST RESCUE PROCEDURE
POST RESCUE PROCEDURE
MOVIE CLIP ON POST RESCUE PROCEDURE
Long Term Rehabilitation:
Despite of several formalities with government after or while rescue and
post rescue procedures, long-term rehabilitation is a crucial step to ensure
that a child is mainstreamed into society and is not re-trafficked.
Initiation of important steps for long term rehabilitation:
• Reuniting children with families.
• Attaching children with social welfare agencies.
• Asking Government of their states to start some vocational training
program in their respective states and help the children.
• Ensuring compensation to each child from the Government for their
exploitation.
• Helping children's families so that they don't rejoin same work as child
labor.
Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation
Thank you!