Saurabh Gupta | 30 Jun, 2008
Following the recent Primark fallout, SME Times spoke to S K Dev Verman, Joint Secretary, ministry of Labour and Employment, on the child labour issue that has been afflicting India Inc. for some time now.     

Excerpts of the interview...

How do you define child labour in India?
S K Dev Verman: Child labour is not a issue, it a major problem of whole world. We are facing a hydra that defies any easy solution. We cannot be overcome by a single effort because of its many aspects.

As per the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, employment of children below the age of 14 years is prohibited in notified hazardous occupations and processes. The act also regulates employment of children in non-hazardous occupation and process.

At present we have 15 hazardous occupations and 57 processes, where employment of children is prohibited. And we are continuously adding new other occupation and processes. Recently we recommended an additional nine occupations to be notified as hazardous.

If a child is learning the skills of a particular traditional art from his or her parents or seniors, will it be considered as child labour?
S K Dev Verman: See...if a child is getting education properly and he is learning some traditional art only with his parents then this will not be consider as child labour. According to our constitutional provisions, which aim at protecting children from employment:

• Right to Education
• Prohibition of employment of children in factories, etc.
• The state shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing health and strength, etc.

How big is the child labour issue in India compared to other parts of the world?
S K Dev Verman: According to the 2001 census data there are only 12.6 million economically active children in the age group of 5 to 14 years, of which approximately 0.12 million are working in hazardous occupations.

As per the last year's global report on child labour, the activity rate of children in the age group of 5-14 years is 5.1 % in Latin America and Caribbean Region, which is the lowest in the world and when we compare the figures...the activity rate of children in India, as per 2001 census is 5%. So I think we are quite competitive in this.

Are you aware of the recent Primark issue?
S K Dev Verman: Yes I know very well. In fact I was in Tamil Nadu that week and met the labour secretary and other officers in the department there. They told me that, 'As we got the information about the Primark incident our investigation team has immediately rushed to Tirupur where we didn't find child labourers working in the factories.' And I personally know that Tamil Nadu government is very sincere and strict about the child labour issue.

Don't you think these corporate giants, who keep talking about CSR, need to show some responsibility to improve the conditions of the workers in various factories of theirs in India?
S K Dev Verman: How could I say about the Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) of these corporate giants? But in India I can say that the corporate world is very much familiar with the hard effects of child labour. They know that this is an offense and no one wants to hamper his international as well as the domestic market image.

I don’t know why Primark is doing so. Maybe Primark is doing it intensely or there may be some misunderstanding between their supply chain or maybe some rivalry reason was there. Maybe someone has given them the wrong information, so I would like to say that Primark needs to verify the news first.

We always tell to the corporate people to properly check that child labourers do not exists not only in their organization, but also in their supply chain.

Is our government doing something for the child labourers attached with various MSMEs around the nation?
S K Dev Verman: It is not a sector specific problem...we see it as a national issue and our government is implementing the various schemes and policies to solve this problem from its root. We have a policy called 'National Child Labour Policy'. Under this policy the action plan is is multi-pronged and mainly consists of a legislative action plan, which is focus on general development programme for the benefit of the families of children and project based action plan in areas of high concentration of child labour.

There is an other scheme for child labour named 'National Child Labour Project (NCP) Scheme', which is meant for rehabilitation of child labour. Its coverage was increased progressively to cover 250 districts in the country presently. At present, there are 8,887 NCLP schools being run in the country with an enrollment of 0.34 million children and 0.45 million working children have already been mainstreamed to regular education under the NCLP scheme.

And what about the children who collect garbage, street boys selling newspapers at traffic signals and many more working in metros for the sake of their and their parents' livelihood?
S K Dev Verman: See...prior to this child labour problem it is the issue of poverty, which is one of the major problem in any developing country like us. So poverty can't be waived off at one go. It takes time.

Do you think awareness is the only solution? What is your organization doing to make people aware of this issue?
S K Dev Verman: Recently we put the problem of child labour in a meeting with our minister, Oscar Fernandes along with other officers of different councils. Fernandes told to the council officers that it as a serious issue and we need to create awareness not only in the corporate world, but also amongst the common man who have servants and maids in their homes. Fernandes said that there is a need of proper tracking and monitoring of the issue.

Our ministry had set up a working group on tracking and monitoring of child labour to recommend and appropriate tracking and monitoring system for child labour covered under the NCLP scheme.

In your opinion what is the best possible solution to this issue?
S K Dev Verman: I think...there is a need of social awareness among the people so that if any one of our society sees a child labourer working in any place like house, factory, dhaba or some big restaurant, etc. he informs the nearest police station.

I also personally think that these NGOs and corporate organizations need to show some ethics and responsibilities towards this highly flammable issue of child labour. Please don't use this problem for the sake of your benefit or for some revelry reason.