#WorldChildLabourDay: Rehabilitation of kids should start with parents

CHENNAI: Unlike the hashtag #WorldEnvironmentDay that was trending on social media at least until late afternoon on June 5 (last Sunday), #WorldChildLabourDay that falls on June 12 every year barely trended for a few hours early before netizens moved on to more pressing issues that grabbed their attention on a lazy Sunday afternoon. During the few hours when it was the top trending hashtag, several leaders, activists and concerned members out messages on the importance of protecting children from labour of all kinds that deprive them of a childhood.

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Chief Minister MK Stalin, in his International Child Labour Day message, addressed children as ‘poems with legs’. ‘Forcing children to go to work, destroying their future for a paltry sum and robbing them of innocence is a serious social crime. Like growing a wild teakwood tree in a pot, forcing hard labour upon children is clipping their wings, taking away their freedom, and a grave injustice,’ he stated in a release.

For their part, the state government has formed Child Welfare Committees, Child Protection Units and several other departments that are directly engaged in the welfare of children. Under the National Child Labour Project, the state government plays an active role in identifying and eliminating child labour in every cottage industry as soon as it is brought to their notice. Children have been rescued from despicable living conditions and hard manual labour from agricultural where they had been working literally as slaves; young girls have been rescued from garment factories where they were locked in godowns and forced to work 12 to 15 hours a day to earn for their weddings; little children as young as ten have been rescued with their families from fireworks factories and so on. And the government’s efforts are amply reflected in the reduced number of child labourers too. But, are we missing something… something so obvious that we don’t even consider it a problem?

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Since 2016, this journalist has been a regular on the stretch of EVK Sampath Salai between the Periyar Thidal and Sambhavnath Jain Swetambar Temple making at least half a dozen sorties back and forth every day. In this tiny stretch are present a higher secondary school, a high-rise apartment complex, a bungalow or two. Outside these buildings are a few tall trees that provide a nice canopy, a bunk shop, a fast food outlet, a huge garbage bin, some parked two- and four- wheelers, Tangedco junction boxes along the pavement. Between two of the gigantic trees right behind the garbage bin lives Latha with her three children, two girls and a boy. A couple of worn-out suitcases, some bundles of cloth and a few vessels stacked together, completed their home.

Even six years ago, Latha was slender; almost skinny with shining olive skin. Her children, who were all aged between five and ten, had also inherited her shiny olive skin and were really tiny. Her husband, who owned a tricycle, used it to transport materials and a meagre living, which he spent only on drinks. Occasionally, he could also be seen driving an auto rickshaw, rented on daily basis. Her mother lived on the same pavement about fifty feet away surrounded by another half a dozen worn out boxes.

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Latha worked as a part-time domestic help in some of the apartments next to her home and did odd jobs like cleaning floors, vessels etc. When she wasn’t working, the children hung around their mother and went about their day as a gang; they had never been to any anganwadi or school, despite living right next to one. Her three children, who were all so cheerful and active, couldn’t be missed by anyone who visited the tea shop next to the Jain temple (as it is known locally) on that stretch of EVK Sampath Salai. Occasionally, while sipping tea or munching a biscuit, the children would come and ask, almost demand, that they get a share and most customers were only glad to put a grin on their face.

The drunk husband beating Latha into a pulp and her three children begging him to spare her by clinging on to his feet was a common sight on most days after 10 pm on that stretch. Several policemen, who have witnessed this, chase him away and go about their business. But the scene played out again the following day or the day after. They lived on the leftover food from the apartments, occasional money from her husband and other relatives, and mostly wore used clothes that were handed out to them by residents of the apartment complex.

Residents of that stretch have made several attempts to rehabilitate Latha and her children by alerting social welfare department, child protection units etc. who promptly come and take them away. “But somehow, he returns back to the same spot with her children and they all get abused day after day,” said a resident, who has been seeing them for at least 12 years, on condition of anonymity.

As the years passed, the two girls and the boy grew up fast. The father’s visits and abuse reduced slightly as the children were now able to overpower him at times. The boy who grew physically stronger now began to operate the tricycle transporting boxes and other loads for a pittance as the father was missing and the vehicle was idle. The little girls too went to the flats to run errands and were paid anything between Rs. 50/- or Rs. 100/- or just some food or used clothes.

With the pandemic, complete lockdowns and offices closed for the past two years and the family went out of the radar. When routine life resumed, Latha and the son were still on the pavements, going about their lives but the girls were missing. The boy, who is now stronger and has developed a vocabulary that could make life easier on the streets, is hardly available during the day of late. The two girls, confide local residents, had become pregnant and had to be shifted to a different area. “One of them was raped by a relative while the other one got too friendly with one of the male helps in the apartments,” said the resident who has tried to rehabilitate them unsuccessfully.

As part of the state government’s initiative to provide free homes for the homeless, Latha’s mother and other family members got free homes at Perumbakkam and moved out of the pavement. But, she remains put on the pavement of EVK Sampath Salai with her son. “She was promised a home but was duped,” said an acquaintance.

Such Lathas, Geethas and their children are a familiar sight across the city and can be spotted outside every big apartment complex, supermarket or temple in the posh parts of the city where food and clothes are a surplus -- as the Chief Minister had rightly stated -- with their wings clipped, their freedom and access to education denied, and a safe and secure life remaining a dream.

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