Prevalence of child labour among Dalits in Madurai city

“Violations against Dalit child labor”

“The wage drawn from child labor is outraging social modesty” no one can deny this statement. Child laborers are still employed in tea shops, restaurants, salt pantries, workshops, garbage collection, cleaning, construction, dyeing factories, drum playing and dancing, match factories and firework construction. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child states that child labor should be abolished. Only when children’s rights to life, protection, development, and participation are established can we build an equal and dignified society. This treaty was established in 1989, signed shortly after by the Indian government in 1992. According to Article 24 of the Indian Constitution, children should not be employed to work. Every child below the age of 14 should be provided with standard, free, compulsory and safe education. A special law, the Child Labor (Prohibition and Regulation) Act was established in 1986 to abolish child labor. Aside from this law, other special acts such as the Factories Act of 1948, the Motor Transport Workers Act of 1961, the Beedi and Cigar Workers act 1966, and the Tamil Nadu Shops and Establishment Act of 1947 have been formed and implemented to abolish child labor. The Tamilnadu government has announced that the districts of Madurai, Sivagangai, Ramanathapuram, Tanjore, Perambalur, Cuddalore, Pudhukottai, Villupuram and Kaniyakumari are child labor free districts. Social activists have questioned the truth of this announcement. Is child labor abolished in these above mentioned districts? On what basis has the Tamilnadu government decided to announce these districts as child labor free districts? Is there any proper research backing up this claim? Is there any committee functioning to monitor child labor? Is this committee functioning properly? What are the limitations of child labor according to the government? What is the position of child laborers, who are restricted from these limitations? Objectives and research procedures: State and national level research studies on atrocities against children and child rights have been conducted previously. These research studies have revealed the prevalence of violations such as child labor, kidnapping, sex trafficking, and bonded labor. When we analyzed these studies, we found that most affected among these children are dalit children. No one could deny this statement. Though there are various reasons for the prevalence of dalit child labor, caste, untouchability and atrocities are the main factors. Due to the untouchability and violations imposed on dalit children, they are affected both physically and psychologically. Untouchability is a social injustice which violates the rights of the child. Our EVIDENCE organization wishes to convey to the government that dalit children face not only physical abuse, but also social discrimination. It is essential to learn answers to the following questions– Are dalit children provided with the rights to life, protection, development, and participation? Protection means living without abuses both physical and psychological– do dalit children enjoy this protection? What are the reasons for dalit child labor? Do these factors include society, politics, and family? What are the violations forced on dalit child laborers? Though it has acknowledged a distinction between dangerous and non-dangerous job, has the government acknowledged the extreme challenges of menial jobs? Is any proper legal action taken against the violations and atrocities of dalit child labor? If not, what is hindering this justice? Whatever the challenge, we should find answers for these questions, and these answers must be released to the public. Rehabilitation must be provided to these children. Changes must be brought in laws relating to child labor. With the above considerations in mind, we conducted our research. Research procedures and limitations: We conducted our research in slums in the Madurai region including Karumpalai, Melavasal, Avainyapuram, and Subbramaniyapuram. Four fact finding teams conducted this research. They used a questionnaire form framed with 55 questions in 5 parts. 94 dalit child laborers disclosed the specifics of their situations and the violations they have faced. These dalit children confirmed the truth of their testimony. Our team took photographs of these child labor violations. These photographs focus on dalit children as well as the labors they perform. Research findings: Among the 94 dalit children surveyed, only 2 were female children. Indian law defines the maximum age of a child as 14, but the United Nations defines the maximum age of a child at 18. We conducted our research according to the UN age limit. Of the 94 dalit children surveyed, 65 belong to Arunthathiyar caste, 18 are Parayars, 6 are Pallars, and 5 children had not wished to disclose their caste. Among the 94 dalit children surveyed, 29 (30.85%) belong to the 12-14 age group, 62 (65.95%) belong to the 15-17 age group, and 3 were age 18. 1. Educational qualifications: Among the 94 dalit children surveyed, 32 (34.04%) studied up to the 6th standard, 55 (58.51%) studied up to the 7-10th standard, and 3 were illiterate. 2. Status of their parents: Among these 94 children, 34 (36.17%) children’s fathers work as sweepers, and 1 works as a septic tank cleaner. 25 children’s mothers work as sweepers. Other than these occupations, these children had parents working as load men, auto drivers, servants, hostel workers, agri-coolies, garbage collectors, construction workers, cobblers, panthal arrangers for marriages, tricycle drivers, milk men. 3. Child labor details: When we asked these child laborers how many other child laborers they work with, they gave a proper answer. Among the total 874 workers in the districts studied, 175 child laborers were employed– among all of these laborers, 20.02% were child labors. Dalit children work as garbage collectors, servers, cleaners in restaurants, plumbers, workers in tea shops or workshops, room boys, milk men, painters, cable TV operators, poster pasters, drummers, panthal builders, construction workers, group dancers, and fruit merchants. Ashok Kumar (15) is a menial job worker. 4. Working hours: Among the 94 surveyed child laborers, 28 (29.78%) work for 8-10 hours daily, and 20 children (21.27%) work for about 10-12 hours daily. As the law dictates that adults should not work more than 8 hours, it is especially awful to hear of children working for 8, 10 and 12 hours. 5. Wages for child laborers: Some children earn Rs.30, Rs.50 and Rs.20 as a daily wage. Some children get Rs.100 and Rs.150 per day. 15 year old Sonaimuthu confessed that he works for 11 hours a day, but only receives Rs.30 as daily wage. Muruganatham states that he works 12.30 hours per day but earns Rs.50 per day– just Rs.4.50 per hour. 14 year old Alex Pandi states that he works 12 hours per day but earns Rs.800 as monthly wage. Our research revealed that that many dalit children work in non-government oriented institutions. 6. Reasons behind formation of child labor: Among 94 dalit children, 43 (45.74%) disclosed that they became child laborers after suffering violations by their teachers. 29 (31%) cited the format of the school curriculum as a reason for becoming child laborers. 51 cited their parents economic status, 5 children cited the fact that caste discrimination was practiced in their schools. Both of the female children surveyed reported gender discrimination as the only reason for their labor. 23 reported that they became child laborers because their parents are addicted to alcohol, and 33 children cited the unemployment of their parents. 7. Details on whether their parents worked as child laborers: Among the 94 surveyed children, 80 (85%) children reported that their parents had worked as child laborers. 10 children’s parents had not worked as child laborers. 4 children gave no answer to this question. 8. Violations against child laborers: Of the 94 children, 28 (29.78%) confessed that they were subjected to both physical and psychological abuses in their workplace. They were brutally assaulted, abused with caste bias, and abused with filthy words. Some children sustained injuries on their hands, fingers, and legs; some were suffering from depression. Some dalit child labor-details: Selvan.N.Muthupandi (16) S/o Nagaraj: He has worked as a thappu player for the past 6 years, starting at the age of 10. He works 12 hours per day, having 10-15 days work per month. While playing drums, he is often assaulted by his employer and some elders. His 18 year old brother works as sweeper in a famous hospital in Madurai. His father is addicted to alcohol, and he also worked as child laborer. Selvan. M.Arunpandian (12) S/o Manikandan: He has worked as thappu player for 7 years. He works for 8 hours and just earns Rs.80 per day. He is also assaulted by his owner in workplace. Selvan.Kannan (12) S/o Selvakumar (late): Kannan is 12 years old. Due to brutal abuses by his teacher and the death of his father, he works as a child laborer. He works as a coolie in an iron workshop. His job of breaking iron with a knife is very dangerous. He works for 11 hours daily. He has been assaulted and abused by his employer. He earns Rs.50 per day. . His brother Ramachandran (15) works as child laborer in a hotel in Chennai. Selvan.Karthick (13) S/o Isakimuthu: Karthick is 12 years old. His grandfather Ramasamy and grandmother Muniyammal work as sweepers. His father works as load man. He dropped out of school after his Tamil teacher Ramasamy abused him based on his caste. Now he works as coolie in building construction. He works 12 hours per day. He has to carry bricks up several flights of stairs daily. Selvan.Kalidas (12) S/o Ravikumar: Kalidas studied up to the 5th standard. He dropped out of school because his teacher forced him to clean toilets and severely abused him. Now he works as coolie in a slaughter house. He works for 6 hours and earns Rs.15 per day. Selvan.Gunasekaran (12) S/o Subbramani: He works as coolie in hotel, cleaning and collecting dirt leaves. He has worked since he was 9 years old. He works from 9pm to 1.30 am each day. Selvan.Rajapandi (14) S/o Manoharan: Rajapandi is 14 years old and studied up to the 6th standard. He works as coolie in a cycle shop. He works 16 hours per day. He also works as coolie in construction and plays thappu at death ceremonies. He earns Rs.40 per day, an average of Rs.3 per hour. Selvi.Vallilaxmi (14) S/o Palpandi: She works at Paper Company and involved in sealing work. This is a dangerous job from which she has sustained several burn injuries. We have only given samples. From our research we came to know that most dalit child laborers have been subjected to torture and violations their in workplaces. Conclusion: When our team members approached these dalit children, we could observe the tortures and violations they faced indirectly. Many children could not express these horrors directly. Our research filed only the information disclosed by these dalit child laborers. 15 dalit female children refused to answer our questions. Some children have disclosed the tortures they have faced, but asked us not to release their names. Many children were afraid to answer our questions out of fear that it would affect their jobs. We were unable to mention the details of the torture that many of these children have faced– we gave details only of the children who signed the questionnaire form. Only a few violations have been revealed by our research; the truth is that there are still many violations which have not yet come to light. A 13 year old boy collects dirt banana leaves from hotels and stores them in big drums. Then he sells as feedstock for cattle for Rs.10 per drum. Another dalit child cleans sewage with his bare hands. Many dalit children face these and similar problems in their everyday life. What is the proper legal intervention for child labor? In 2006, 67 cases were filed regarding child labor in Madurai; among these, only 3 cases were filed under the Child Labor Act. In the year 2007, 36 child labor cases were filed, not a single one filed under Child Labor Act. What is the reason for this discrepancy? Why were so few cases filed under the Child Labor Act? Atrocities against social groups including children, dalits, women, adi-vasis, and minorities have gained national and international attention. Our government must answer to international civil society and world countries about the standard of human rights granted to the above mentioned groups. While government representatives claim that such problems do not exist and that immediate action is taken against any violations which occur, this denial only exacerbates the problem. Only when we accept the truth can we solve these problems. We want to express to our civil society that the government’s intervention has been negligent and irresponsible. The central government banned child labor in homes and restaurants on 10.10.2006 and released a report. Yet our research reveals that child labor continues in hotels and homes. Even though there are human rights standards included in government announcements, laws, principles, and the Indian Constitution itself, we can attain the benefits of human rights until these standards are fully implemented. The purpose of our research is not to blame anyone for the persistence of child labor in Madurai. We conducted this research to find answers to the questions– What actions must be taken to resolve the problem of child labor? What type of action plan should be implemented? What necessary steps must be taken to find the problems of previous action plans? We convey our hearty thanks to the organizations Tholamai-Chennai, Sakthi Vidiyal-Madurai, and Seed-Madurai for their great support which allowed us to conduct our research successfully. Recommendations • The Indian Government should fix the age limit of a child from 14 to 18 in conformity with the United Nations. • Indian law has already banned the employment of children in hazardous jobs, threatening to cancel the license of such industries which violate this regulation. Indian law should also ban the employment of children in jobs including removal of agriculture waste, and non-organized works such as removal of garbage or picking of rags. • Rescued child laborers should be provided with long term rehabilitation which should benefit to their families. The government should take action to provide this rehabilitation. • The 1986 Child Labor Act should be fully implemented. Some of its aspects should be altered. The government should form a necessary action plan for the proper implementation of this act. • Section 3(1) (6) of SC/ST Act is applied to rescue dalit bonded laborers. Changes should be brought in the SC/ST Act to extend this action to rescue dalit child laborers. • The government should form monitoring committees at each Panchayat level to monitor the presence of child labor. • The government should raise the relief amount granted for the rescue and rehabilitation of child laborers. The compensation amount collected by government concerning child labor should be used to rescue child laborers. • Governments should take necessary action to monitor the severe atrocities and violations occurring in schools. (A.Kathir @ Vincentraj) Executive Director