Saving childhood is not that easy in this country

The law will no longer frown on child labour, if the NDA has its way. The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill passed on 26 July 2016 proposes giving a great deal of latitude to poor parents who want to put their kids to work. Social activists are urging a rollback. But there are reasons why the Centre no longer wants to prohibit children’s employment in 18 occupations and 65 processes (only three are prohibited: mines, inflammable substances and explosives).

Since the government does not believe in opening up to the press, one can only guess at the reasons. The thought process may run like this: criminalising a social evil does not make it go away. Whether it is laws against ‘unnatural sex’, dowry or suicide, policemen are the last authority anyone would want barging into homes, with their insensitivity and greed. Even educated people dread these visitations, where the State basically shows its teeth instead of its human face. Think now of poor parents engaged in carpet weaving, embroidery, shelling nuts or cleaning lentils. Is it fair to say that they are less capable of looking after their children’s interests than the police? Bachpan Bachao Andolan’s Kailash Satyarthi has pointed out that 80 percent of the children they rescued in the last five years would have to be left alone under the new laws, as they were engaged in family-run trades. This seems to indicate the State was unfair to them.

The UPA made a law that all children have to attend school. Most parents are happy to comply. We would certainly not want policemen stomping around poor tenements looking for kids out of school. The State does not take responsibility for limiting the size of families, or giving unemployment doles to parents who are out of work. If they are engaged in some sort of commercial activity, can we not trust them to balance the need for education with the need to earn some money?

As governance is being delivered from air-conditioned comfort, it is only the grassroot NGOs who provide last mile services to the poor. Now there is a clampdown on NGOs to ensure that foreign funds are not used to mount campaigns against development projects. Some will certainly shut down. But will the government step into the vacuum and provide a comforting and helping hand to the poor? It shows no signs of doing so.

What happens in advanced countries? In the US and UK, a government-employed social worker knocks on the door if there are reports of a child being abused or exploited by its own parents. There is a whole system of foster care if parents are found incapable of raising their kids properly. With average annual salaries of $46,000 per year, social workers responsible for children and families earn quite well. In India, we only have accredited social health activists (ASHAs) who are given no salary, only incentives for each successful ‘case’. Most poor people never see the State providing for their welfare, only tormenting them.

Under the new law, a parent can now make a child work in a brick kiln or slaughter house, do welding or beedi rolling, recycle garbage — all the things which they are anyway doing, despite laws prohibiting such employment. Treating parents like criminals for putting their own kids to work was hardly doing the children any good. If you lock them up in jail, what will happen to the kids? Instead, artisans should be
encouraged to pass on traditional skills (art, craft and farming) instead of believing that a high school certificate alone is the magic key to a better life.

If decolonisation by European oppressors was the biggest development of the 20th century, perhaps the biggest achievement of the 21st will be less governance.

If you can’t help them, don’t beat them.