CHILD LABOUR IN BIDAR & CHAMARAJANAGAR DISTRICTS A Status Report and Ways Forward D Rajasekhar R Manjula Suchitra J Y Sanjiv Kumar International Labour Organisation International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) Karnataka Child Labour Project (Supported by Government of Italy) Copyright © International Labour Organization 2007 First published 2007 Publications of the International Labour Office enjoy copyright under Protocol 2 of the Universal Copyright Convention. Nevertheless, short excerpts from them may be reproduced without authorization, on condition that the source is indicated. For rights of reproduction or translation, application should be made to ILO Publications (Rights and Permissions), International Labour Office, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland, or by email: [email protected]. The International Labour Office welcomes such applications. Libraries, institutions and other users registered in the United Kingdom with the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP [Fax: (+44) (0)20 7631 5500; email: [email protected]], in the United States with the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923 [Fax: (+1) (978) 750 4470; email: [email protected]] or in other countries with associated Reproduction Rights Organizations, may make photocopies in accordance with the licences issued to them for this purpose. D. Rajasekhar, R. Manjula, Suchitra J.Y., Sanjiv Kumar Child Labour in Bidar and Chamarajanagar Districts: A Status Report and Ways Forward. New Delhi. International Labour Organisation, Sub Regional Office. 2007. ISBN (print) 978-92-2-119949-6 ISBN (web pdf) 978-92-2-119950-2 The designations employed in ILO publications, which are in conformity with United Nations practice, and the presentation of material therein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the International Labour Office concerning the legal status of any country, area or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers. The responsibility for opinions expressed in signed articles, studies and other contributions rests solely with their authors, and publication does not constitute an endorsement by the International Labour Office of the opinions expressed in them. Reference to names of firms and commercial products and processes does not imply their endorsement by the International Labour Office, and any failure to mention a particular firm, commercial product or process is not a sign of disapproval. ILO publications can be obtained through major booksellers or ILO local offices in many countries, or direct from ILO Publications, International Labour Office, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland. Catalogues or lists of new publications are available free of charge from the above address, or by email: [email protected] Copies of this book as well as a list of publications are available free of charge on request from ILO Karnataka Child Labour Project, No.5A, Block 5, MCHS, HSR Layout, Sector VI, Bangalore 560034, India, or by email: [email protected]. Visit our website: www.ilo.org/publns Cover Photo Credit: Born Free Art School, Bangalore Printed in India Foreword (Government) Child Labour is a manifestation of household poverty, which is exploited by employers who do not wish to pay adult wages. Child Labour is a violation of child as well as human rights. Child Labour also creates a vicious cycle of illiteracy and low income, while simultaneously depriving adults of employment and higher wages. The prevalence of child labour also deprives the nation of an educated, skilled and productive work force which could form the basis of rapid economic growth. Thus, employing children robs them of their childhood and stunts the growth of the nation, so there is an urgency to take a sustainable preventive and remedial action for the malaise. The focus of the Karnataka State interventions have been a multipronged attack to eradicate child poverty and illiteracy with appropriate awareness raising, capacity building, bridge schooling, convergence of development works, advocacy and pooling of resources through public private partnership. As long back as 2001 the State launched a comprehensive Action Plan to Eliminate Child Labour in Karnataka, a first in India, with a vision to see Karnataka as a ‘Child Labour Free State’. The State Government was consciously aware that the compartmental approach of eradicating only hazardous child labour focused on the demand side interventions were short sighted and inadequate. In all such cases the children from hazardous sectors migrated to the non-hazardous sectors and pool of children out of school and toiling in the non-hazardous sectors provided an unending source replenishing the children in hazardous work as soon as the attention on the demand side causes slackened. Hence state recognized the importance of addressing this problem in totality with an area approach and working more with the community on the supply side including all child workers whether in the hazardous or non- hazardous employment or even the potential child workers who were just out of school. iii ILO-IPEC – Karnataka Child Labour Project, originally focused on the child labour in the sericulture sector only, and due to the reasons discussed in the earlier paragraph the State Government wanted the project to be more broad based in design and approach which could be successful in rescuing the children from work and bring them back to school to harness their inner potential on sustainable basis. Although it is with the common knowledge that more children are employed in the informal sectors of the economy and most of them are untouched by the Child Labour Prohibition Laws or various National Child Labour Project interventions, hardly any research has comprehensively focused on the plight, problems, travails, exploitation and doomed childhood of such hapless children. This baseline survey comprehensively examining child work with an area approach and exploring local community based solutions, is a good precedence providing research tools, methodologies as well as ample data to fine tune the pilot interventions. I am sure this document, ‘Child Labour in Bidar and Chamarajnagar Districts : A Status Report and Ways Forward’ will generate wide interest amongst policy makers, researchers and practitioners alike. I congratulate the authors, International Labour Organization and the Government of Italy for bringing this out in a book form. K. Jothiramalingam, IAS, Principal Secretary of Labour, Government of Karantaka. Bangalore Dated: 09.04.2007 iv Foreword ( ILO ) The Fight Against Child Labour in the World continues to be a daunting challenge but as reported in the International Labour Organization's second global report (2006), 'The end of Child Labour within reach', there is perceptible reduction in the number of child labourers world wide. It is particularly heartening that the decrease is sharper in the areas of hazardous work. This could not have happened without the concerted efforts of all the stakeholders - governments, international agencies, workers, employers and civil society organizations. We have witnessed a sea change in the awareness of child labour across the world, and a broad consensus has emerged on the urgency of eradicating this scourge. There is now widespread agreement on the tools that are needed. The ILO's Labour Standards and policy advice have been central to this process, guiding awareness raising and practical action. As a first step for any such action, a clear understanding of the dimensions and nature of child labour is essential and for which the tools and expertise developed by ILO's Statistical Information and Monitoring Programme on Child Labour (SIMPOC) are extremely helpful. The ILO, under its International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) has initiated the 'Karnataka Child Labour Project (KCLP)' to combat child labour and economic exploitation of adolescents in Chamarajnagar and Bidar Districts of Karnataka. This three year Project will be implemented through eight components. It is a multibilateral project financially supported by the Government of Italy. In order to design the project strategies to effectively combat the problem of child workers and economic exploitation among adolescents, the first requirement is that of valid and accurate base line information. This information would help towards the identification and selection of beneficiaries, and to arrive at the most effective ways to intervene, with possible institutional arrangement for delivery, monitoring; and objective evaluation of the impact of the project. The information concerning child labour, in general and sector-wise employment of child labour, in particular, is not available from any known statistical source for v recent years. Due to various definitional and methodological problems, universally accepted quantitative information on child labour, particularly in identified child labour activities, is rather difficult to come by. Most of the earlier child labour baselines surveys have concentrated on individual child profiles and related attributes. Baseline on indicators supporting needs of stakeholders for sensitization, capacity building, possible and needbased economic support to the families, utilizing social capital and existing institutional strengths of the locality are virtually unavailable. I am happy that this survey provides us with better understanding of ground realities and has enabled the project