Of Human Bondage and Freedom from It

From construction sites to a primary school, young Narender has come a long way. Part of the nomadic Lambadis tribe, Narender shifted from building blocks, literally, and counting daily wages, to constructing words and counting numbers.

All thanks to a trade union initiative to set up a school for children of the tribe in Raveendra Nagar, in the Hyderabad suburbs.

While volunteer teachers at the school exult over the keen interest the rehabilitated children show in studies -- "They come in neat uniforms and their parents are showing real interest in the affairs of the school" -- the Lambadi community zealously watches over the makeshift building that changed their lives. It is not just one trade union's initiatives that Narender, his classmate Radha and hundreds of such rehabilitated children across the state are benefitting from.

In fact all the major trade unions in the country have recently cut across barriers to come together on a single platform to take up concrete projects against child labour in the state, thanks to the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

The pilot project with trade unions is part of the ILO-International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) in AP, called AP State Based Project for the Elimination of Child Labour (APSBP).

It is the first time that the project is being formulated to cover a whole state rather than focus on a small area or city.

Also, while ILO and trade unions have worked together in the past elsewhere in the country, it is for the first time that all six trade unions -- BMS, CITU, AITUC, HMS, INTUC and TNTUC -- have come together for a pilot project to root out the social evil in the state.

But, why Andhra Pradesh? Because of a proactive government led by a dynamic chief minister (N Chandrababu naidu) keen on eradicating the problem, and providing logistic support to those involved with the cause, says M P Joseph, ILO national project manager.

Also because the largest number of working minors in the country are in Andhra Pradesh -- 16.6 lakhs according to 1991 census -- the high figures only depicting the transparency in the state government, the only one in the country not hiding the actual figures, Joseph feels.

ILO is optimistic about the joint initiative with the trade unions.

"It's very innovative and unique. Wherelse would you find a federation, a common registered society of trade unions," Joseph asks.

The trade unions are the best way to propogate awareness and generate public support for this campaign, he feels. By spreading awareness through the project, the trade unions will be able to prevent child labour, which is the best way of eradicating it, he adds.

During a workshop with the trade unions last week, ILO decided to extend financial assistance worth Rs 80 to 90 lakhs, and also technical support to the trade unions in their fight against child labour.

The trade unions will organise and mobilise public opinion for creating awareness for a mass movement against the social evil, and build pressure against the employers to replace child workers with adult workers.

The trade unions select different sectors in various districts for focussed action programmes in association with the APSBP.

"It is very pertinent and relevant that trade unions take up the campaign, because they will be strenthening their own unions in the process and their wages would also go up," says B. Srinivasa Reddy, ILO-IPEC-APSBP project officer.

Though different trade unions are taking up different kinds of projects against the social evil, it's the wages issue that is being taken up by the CITU as a focus action programme.

CITU believes that child labour can't be abolished by Acts and laws because they are not being implemented. It therefore suggests that implementation of the minimum wages in the unorganised sector as well the formal sectors is the most effective way of combating child labour.

"Ninety percent of the child labour is in the agriculture sector, and if the government can distribute the degraded forest lands and waste lands to the landless and the poor who practice bonded child labour, instead of leasing the land to MNCs, child labour can be fought," says P. Ajay Kumar, CITU's state committee member.

CITU is taking up a project on minimum wages as a means to combat child labour in five sectors of bidi-making, construction, hotel and catering, cashewnut processing and textile manufacturing -- in five districts of rangareddy, mahbubnagar, Anantapur, Nizamabad and Vijaynagaram.

The trade union plans to add more districts for specific sectors in the future, Kumar says.

While campaigning for implementation of minimum wages, CITU will employ volunteers in each of the districts to generate awareness, conduct surveys, and conduct workshops during the two-year programme with ILO.

CITU has been involved in campaigns against child labour in the beedi-making sector in south Karnataka.

The other trade unions have also been working for the cause in Andhra Pradesh elsewhere in the country as well. AITUC has worked with children employed illegally in slate mines in Markapur in AP and brassware units in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh.

Through its affiliate AP Construction Mazdoor Sangh, the BMS has been involved in nonformal education programmes for rehabilitated children in Hyderabad suburbs.

The HMS has been active in tea plantations in Darjeeling and other parts of the North East, and rag-pickers in Nagpur, Maharashtra. The INTUC has been active all over the country, especially Bhubaneshwar and Delhi.

However, trade unions are just one of ILO's partners in fight against child labour.

The $4.5 million ILO project in AP for 2001-2, has 15 components, including mobilising industry federations, corporate employers, the IT sector, and the business community. FICCI has been actively involved in the south. The South Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI), a FICCI affiliate has worked in the stainless steel industry where a large number of children are employed. SICCI has partnered with AITUC in Tamil Nadu to sensitise workers in the industry against the social evil.

The ILO is also setting up an exclusive institute on child labour in Hyderabad, in association with corporates, the state government, and societal organisations. Still at conceptual stage, the institute proposes to collect and provide latest data on child labour in the state as well as across the country and world, and also would provide policy advice to the government on the issue.

The idea has been informally discussed with the Labour departments in the government, and the response has been quite positive, says Joseph. A workshop will be held in one or two months to brainstorm on the institute idea, adds Joseph.

The need for such an institute is quite evident in the face of lack of data on the current statistics on the problem. The ILO is working based on the 1991 census figures. Even the ILO claims not to have an actual estimate of the current child labour figures.

According to the 1991 census, in India, there are 11.28 million working children under the age of fourteen years in India. Over 85% of this child labour is in the rural areas, working in agricultural activities such as farming, livestock rearing, forestry and fisheries. This labour is outside the formal sector, and outside industry. Moreover, nine out of 10 working children work within a family setting.

The union government is actively involved in the world's largest child labour elimination program. Under the National Child Labour Project, 76 projects have been sanctioned for covering 150,000 children. Around 105,000 children are already enrolled in special schools.