Our law almost legitimises child labour, says Satyarthi

“Bihar is the state from where the highest number of boys and the third state after West Bengal and Jharkhand from where the highest number of girls are trafficked every year,” says India’s first Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kailash Satyarthi. In Bihar on a two-day visit, the Bachpan Bachao Andolan founder spoke to TOIin Patna on Friday. Excerpts: A lot of hue and cry is being made over the new Child Labour Amendment Bill passed during the Narendra Modi regime.Your comments.
It almost legitimises child labour. It says if a child works within a family enterprise, it is not a crime. But the legal definition of the family is so wide and vague that almost nothing is a crime. There was earlier a list of 83 hazardous zones where children could not be employed. Its number has now been reduced to three.
Isn’t it a symbol of collective failure of many organisations, yours included, to do proper advocacy with the government?
I have been engaging with every PM and scores of parliamentarians over the issue since 1986 when this law was first enacted. The International Labour Organisation incorporated my suggestions in the guidelines it put out to tackle the “worst form of child labour”...
That is, you succeeded internationally, but failed at home.
(Pauses) Union labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya and I were on the same page. I also had an encouraging meeting with PM Modi. I even wrote to him, expressing fears about the ‘Make In India’ success if child labour persists because it creates a bad image of India among investors. We were confident the PM would respond positively. I can't say what went wrong and where.
Bihar is among the five states which contribute to the highest number of child labourers across the country…
One of the major contributory factors is child trafficking. Bihar is the state where the highest number of boys and the third state after West Bengal and Jharkhand from where the highest number of girls are trafficked every year.
Bihar looked like a role model when Hisua of Nawada district was declared the first child labour-free block of India in 2002. But things deteriorated even in Hisua.
Yes. Child labour is back in Hisua. When this declaration had come during the chief ministership of Rabri Devi, her husband and former CM Lalu Prasad had gone to the block. My organisation presented a blue-print to him on how to sustain it. Somehow it went off the radar of the administration and the politicians for whom children have never been a vote bank.
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has announced an aid of Rs 25,000 to every rescued child. How is it ensured that it is spent for the child’s welfare?
It’s a “quick response” towards the child’s rehabilitation. This is in addition to the already existing centrally sponsored schemes. In a meting with CM Kumar on Thursday evening, I discussed with him the Brazil model. In Brazil, they credit one instalment to the child’s account when s/he is admitted to a school and each of the remaining instalments when s/he passes one class after another.
How is Bihar doing in terms of rehabilitation of rescued children?
More that 10,000 children in Bihar are still awaiting rehabilitation packages. My concern is, if you delay the rehab, the rescued kids may slip back into the abyss.
What about the prosecution of those found guilty of child labour?
Many states evoke not only the Child Labour Act but also the Bonded Labour Act, Juvenile Justice Act and certain IPC Sections which provide for stringent punishment. In Bihar, unfortunately, most of the cases are tried under the Child Labour Act. Even at the national level, the conviction rate in such cases is woefully low at 2%. Bihar is no exception.
But isn’t poverty an ugly reality that gives birth to the refrain, ‘Bachcha kamayega nahi to khayega kya’?
It’s a myth. Umpteen studies have been done in India and abroad, which show parents many a time are without any work by choice. They push their children to poverty. The employer pushes them to labour because it’s cheap. There are 200 million adults and 168 million child labourers across the globe! Also, if you don’t allow a child to study, s/he will remain a poor. And poverty, going by your argument, leads to child labour.