A meeting was organised by Child line at XISS on Friday to discuss various issues, including situation of child relating substance abuse in Jharkhand, situation of child labour, intervention of cases and existing mechanism for protection of child from such a menace.
Child Welfare Committee (CWC) Chairperson Jahan Ara, Child labour Commission Chairperson Shanti Kindo, Suradha Kachhap, city coordinator, child line, Sujit Goswami, centre coordinator, Child line, including 57 resource organisations partakers from Ranchi district participated in it.
Unaware of the consequences, lack of basic amenities compels the poor children to take up odd jobs early in life. “Only with the support of society and with utmost seriousness, we can completely eradicate child labour. There are several factors which compel children to work as child labourers. Family burden and psychological factors coerce children of lower strata to indulge in indecent activities like drug abuse and child labour,” said Child labour Commission Chairperson Shanti Kindo.
Similarly, Jahan Ara, CWC Chairperson, said, “Children being the most vulnerable part of the society need both care and protection from society. If any child is in the vicious trap of child labour and drug abuse, it is not the child who should be blamed but the society who is not trying enough to combat and reduce such odious crime. We need to sensitize people on varied aspects of child rights.”
To bring children into mainstream by providing all the basic facilities, the government is trying hard. In an attempt to rescue children from hotels, domestic help and other illegal activities ‘Dhawa Dals’ (raid groups) have been formed. Presently, 12 members, including police personnel, CWC members, Child line members are involved in ‘Dhawa Dal’. However, the group is functional in Koderma district only.
According to a survey of Action against Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Children, released in 2013, as many as five lakh population of below 18 years are working as mechanics, domestic help, daily-wage labourers, coal-pickers and rag-pickers in the State.
Restoration and rehabilitation of child labour and drug addicts is another important aspect which needs attention. From April 2015 to January 2016 approximately 335 cases were registered with Child line. Of them, 110 cases were of drug abuse. Every month, approximately, 300-400 cases covering various aspects of child rights are registered with Child line.