Children are the future social capital of a nation. India has taken multiple programmes and policies to enhance the quality of life of its children. It has a national policy on children, child survival programmes, Right to Education Act, universalisation of education, Child labour Prohibition Act, Integrated Child Protection System , Child Commissions, Juvenile Justice Boards, Child Welfare Committees, Child Homes, programmes for girl children and the children of the socially weaker sections.
On June 13, the Union Government took a historic child friendly step, by ratifying the two fundamental conventions related to child labour, of the International labour Organization, such as the Convention- 138 on the minimum age of employment and the Convention -182 on the worst forms of child labour.
After the “Beti Bachao -Beti Padhao Campaign” and the amendment of the old Child labor Prohibition and Regulation (ClPR)Act by the Union Government, this step takes the Narendra Modi Government to the pinnacle of glory in the child protection legislation in India.
The “minimum age” for admission to work is defined in IlO-138 Convention as the age that is not less than the age of completion of compulsory schooling, which is 14 years now under the RTE Act. The convention, however, mentions that the minimum age for admission to any type of employment which by its nature or the circumstances is likely to jeopardize the health, safety or morals of young persons, shall not be less than 18 years.
The Union Government has already rightly amended the ClPR Act, banning all employment to children below 14 years of age and prohibiting hazardous occupation for children between 14 and 18 years of age.
The “worst forms of child labour “ under the provision of IlO-182,comprises of all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage, serfdom ,forced or compulsory labour, forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict , procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, procuring child for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances, procuring children for illicit activities or any such work that is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children. The nature of responsibility has become enormous on the Government, after ratifying the 182 Convention.
To make India, a “Sampurna Sisubadi Rasthra”, the next step for the Modi Government will be to amend the Right To Education (RTE ) Act and provide free and compulsory education to the children of India up to 18 years of age, in accordance with the policy of universalisation of secondary and higher secondary education, raising the UPA’s defective present limit of 14 years which ends at primary level. There should be also reduction of lower age limit from the present 6 year age to 3 years, to cover the pre-school education dimension. This shall be in compliance with the National Policy for Children 2013. It shall not cost the Government much as there are already pre-school, secondary school and higher secondary infrastructure in the country.
The second arena for the engagement of the Government shall be putting in place a higher category of Integrated Child Protection Scheme for the children of the conflict-ridden districts of the country where worse form of child labour like child soldiers persists and the educational rights and the physical-mental health of the child is severely affected. Neither the Government nor the civil society will like to see the children of J&K or North eastern AFSPA States or left Wing Extremism affected States, to grow up as deprived adults to become radicals. Surprisingly, no one is talking about the issue to break the cycle of violence at the children’s stage.
The Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, had launched the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) in 2009-10 to bring several existing child protection programmes under one umbrella. Now, the ICPS units are operating at each district level.
There are also district level Juvenile Justice Boards and Child Welfare Committees, besides the existence of State and National Child Right Protection Commissions and Child Homes. All these structures have to be specially designed for the conflict- affected regions, may be with more child homes or higher capacitated JJBs or CWCs.
Rightly, this year’s theme on Child labour Day was Child labour in disasters and conflicts. Therefore the issues of children in the conflict prone areas need to be raised now.
The State is fighting against various types of outlawed groups ranging from terrorist organizations, separatist organization to lWE groups.
Children living in such territories lead a miserable life and their rights as well as wellbeing are affected as they are sandwiched between the armed police and the outlawed groups. The worst form of child labour exists when the outlawed groups engage the children as child soldiers or servants. Non- functioning of schools in these areas create child labour and generate child migration.
In April 2016, the UN Secretary-General raised concern on this. He observed, “The United Nations continued to receive reports of the recruitment and use of children as young as 6 years of age by armed groups, including the Naxalites, in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha and West Bengal States. To avoid such forcible recruitment, families have resorted to sending children away from home at a young age, leading to children dropping out of school.”
Odisha has 19 lWE conflict-prone districts as indentified by the Union Home Ministry. Besides, there are conflict zones where anti-displacement protests, tribal land rights movements and communal tensions pervade. There is a need for study, creation of special mechanism and monitoring system to address the issues.
Besides, the issue of children in conflict situation, the Union Government should also create a special protection mechanism to combat another worse form of child labour such as child prostitution, pornography and trafficking.