Child labourers could surge in post-Covid India, warn child rights activists

Mumbai: Child rights activists warn of a sharp surge in child labour force being used in post-Covid job market and have urged the government and civil society to take up necessary preventive measures. The economic crash due to the pandemic and the drastic relaxation in labour laws will only escalate using children in home based enterprises, hazardous occupations and agriculture, without fear of punity, felt many at an e-conference on June 11, COVID-19 and Child Labour in India: Challenges and Way Forward organised by Child Rights and You (CRY).  

As per the 2011 census, India had 10.11 million child labourers in the age group of 5-14 years, 62% of which were involved in the field of agriculture, forestry and fishing, followed by the manufacturing and services industries. 

Pooja Marwaha, CEO of Child Rights and You (CRY) felt that the current pandemic-led economic slowdown had the potential to “undo all efforts made in reducing and ending child labour”. Protiva Kundu, additional coordinator -Research, at Center for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA) urged the union government to expand the existing National Child Labour Project (NCLP) provisions from 323 to all districts across country to identify child labourers and restore them back to the educational stream by hosting bridge courses for drop-outs.

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Others like Priyank Kanoongo, chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) argued that existing legal provisions were not utilised well enough to curb child labourers, pointing out to the fewer FIR’s filed in comparison to the large proportion of child labourers, against use of child labour. She also urged civil society organisations to strengthen reporting mechanisms in order to curb child labour practices.

Rahul Sapkal, assistant professor at the Centre for Labour Studies of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) felt that recent labour relaxations (like increasing work hours from 8 to 12 hours, reducing rest hours in between work etc) could go against the children in the workforce, as weakened enforcement mechanisms at workplaces could translate into more deployment of child labour amidst Covid crises. He recommended revisiting child labour legislations to address concerns on their work in hazardous industries. 

The CRY has proposed strengthening of the existing provisions of the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICDS), where committee’s at village, block, district et al would have to identify, protect and prevent child right violations. “The existing child protection committee mechanisms comprising of village panchayat, school teachers, anganwadi workers, civil society members etc, right from village to districts, need to be ramped up to create awareness, strengthened, induce capacity building measures like funding etc to curb the issue at the local level itself,” felt Kumar Nilendu, general manager (development and support) at CRY.