As more poor migrant children face exploitation in Kerala, some schools are coming up with ways to enrol and retain them. A few schools now have more migrant than local students.
Kerala lacks a system to rehabilitate migrant child labourers. Navya P K finds out how rescued children are sent off to their home districts, and then forgotten.
Cases on child labour or trafficking are rarely filed by the labour department and police. Even when cases are filed, offenders get away quickly.
A large number of migrant adolescents work in the state. Children are forced to work long, arduous hours, and often suffer physical abuse, and sometimes even sexual abuse.
It is tragic that the new Amendment to the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) (CLPR) Act, 2016, which has a seemingly progressive framework, has been largely diluted by chicanery, opines Kathyayini Chamaraj.
Only a systematic review of past policies and efforts can shed light on why child labour continues unabated in the country. Without such analysis, it will be impossible to call the official bluff, and we will continue to witness grandstanding that relies on the short attention span of the media and the public, writes Ammu Joseph.
Few of the reports that appeared in the press in the two-week survey period told readers anything they did not already know. Ammu Joseph surveys media reports of child labour as the Centre's widened ban on employing children in hazardous occupations comes into effect.
The Centre's latest piece-meal approach to child labour is likely to be as ineffective as the previous failed schemes and plans. Unless the underlying causes of child labour are addressed, and the rights of children are properly secured, India will remain prone to wide-spread child labour, writes Ingrid Srinath.
India Together is published with support from Oorvani Foundation.
