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Retrieved on October 28, 2008
Alert on girl child labour
October 16, 2004
Ranchi, Oct. 15: A three-day programme to highlight the economic exploitation of girl children and the neglect towards girl child labour was organised in the capital by the Campaign Against Child Labour (CACL).
CACL is a national network of NGOs, academics, women activists and trade union representatives. The programme was organised in association with the Sampurn Gramin Vikas Kendra, Palamau at the Maheshwari Dharamshala here today.
The programme aims to generate awareness about the rights of the girl child, the factors that force children to work and the ways to come out of the trap. Legal safeguards and provisions under the Child Labour Prevention Regulation Act and Juvenile Justice Act will also be discussed.
More than 25 members of NGOs working for the rights of the girl child labour in districts such as the Gram Swaraj Sansthan in Lohardaga, Gram Jyoti Kendra in Gumla, Ravidas Vikas Manch in Garwa, Gramoday Chetna Kendra in Chatra and Prernaniketan in Hazaribagh have enrolled themselves. Binod Kumar, secretary of Sampurna Vikas Kendra, said, ?We tell people how they are exploiting girl children by employing them and not doing them a favour by giving them a source of living, as many would like to think. ?
Over seven lakh girl children work as labourers in the state, according to a survey conducted by the Kendra in 2000. Most of them have low-paying jobs in the unorganised sector and work as maidservants, baby sitters and cooks.
In the villages, they rear cows, work in fields, collect fuel, work in brick kilns, biri factories, weave carpets or even break stones.
Child labour is a product of many factors, poverty, illiteracy, excessive migration and others.
Most of the children are denied education, some even fall prey to traffickers or have to migrate to look for jobs.
The survey also points out the difference between the dropout rate of boys and girls in 2000-2001, which is 40.9 per cent for boys and 46.1 per cent for girls.
?Through seminars involving activists at the grassroots, we try and make the children and families of policies run by the government like Balika Smridhi Yojna, mid-day meals and distribution of bicycles,? added Kumar.
Bhakta. B. Acharya national coordinator of CACL said, ?We have identified 1,045 villages of Jharkhand and our target is to make these villages free of child labour by the year end.?
