CRY Launched Photo Signature Campaign to Send Children to School, Not to Work

Officers from Sarva Siksha Abhiyan pose for the CRY photo signature campaign

Today – on World Anti Child Labour Day, CRY launched a year-long campaign to ‘Send children to school, not work’. CRY sent out a placard “Children should go to school, not work” to supporters on online portals. The invite is to get as many people as possible to pose with the placard in as creative a manner as possible and get a photograph taken and send these photos to CRY.

“Through a series of such campaigns and on-ground activities the volunteers are looking to make citizens aware of the many schemes available to children and their families that help enroll children in school. CRY volunteers have involved about 3000 people in Mumbai in the past year in the campaign ” said Puja Marwaha, Director-West, CRY. For more information visit the CRY website.

Objective of the photo signature campaign:

• To enable greater numbers to participate in the Anti Child Labour Campaign, in their own spaces
• To build pressure on government to address the root causes of Child Labour and to implement holistic rehabilitation policies
• To encourage people to improve their own understanding of why children do not go to school by participating in other campaign activities as well

“Not a single rehabilitation policy comprehensively addresses all aspects that push children in to labour. It is our duty as citizens to use our voices and our learning to stand up for the rights of children who are forced to work and whose childhoods are lost on construction sites, in looking after siblings, in illegal factory settings and in hotels and restaurants,” said CRY Volunteer Krishna Singh, and independent professional who has been a CRY volunteer for the past year in campaigning against child labour.

Through the year the citizens of Maharashtra will use various events to build a voice for Child Rights, one event at a time, one person at a time. “This campaign will not stop till children are assured of their right to a present AND a future”, avows Havovi Wadia, Manager, Child Rights and You.

CRY volunteers will go to bookshops, colleges, schools, communities, through the months of June and July to encourage people to actively support the right of all children to go to school, not work
All the photo signatures will be part of a short film to be uploaded on the Internet on August 15th. Copies of the photo signatures and the film will be sent to the Labour Commissioner, the Department of Women and Child Department, MPs and MLAs in Mumbai.

A story I got from Pakistan "Are we Different ? "

Life Story: Nadeem

Nadeem is a 9 year old boy who works as an apprentice weaver for a wealthy man named Sadique. Nadeem's father is Mirza, a 30 year old brick worker. Sadique is describing the "advantages" his son will "enjoy" in his job position. "I've admired your boy for several months," Sadique says. "Nadeem is bright and ambitious. He will learn far more practical skills in six months at the loom than he would in six years of school. He will be taught by experienced craftsmen, and his pay will rise as his skills improve. Have no doubt, your son will be thankful for the opportunity you have given him, and the Lord will bless you for looking so well after your own."


Sadique most aggressively hires 7-10 year old children because they are "the most energetic and dexterous at this stage of development and are very obedient." Sadique says that the boys would work all day and night if he asked. But, when pressed, Sadique says that he hires them first and foremost because he can save a lot of money. Three boys who produce first class rugs would receive the same salary as a second-class adult weaver. The low cost of his labor gives Sadique a significant edge over all of his competitors in countries where child labor laws are enforced. They greatly undersell their competitors, and, not surprisingly, American and European consumers are attracted to low price, yet high quality goods, not knowing of the children who slaved away making them. Whatever reluctance Mirza currently has are greatly overshadowed by his poverty, which is extreme and worsening. He supports a family of five by working at a kiln nearby, molding bricks by hand for around 80 hours a week. Many families in similar conditions are forced to give their children up to manufacturers like Sadique for as little as $15 US. Poverty is ruling the children’s lives. They are thrown into an endless cycle of hard manual labor. Once the child is put into this cycle, the family usually cannot raise enough money to buy the child back, or the child never gets an education or even a payment to go do something else later on in his/her life.

By Gladson Dungdung
9 June, 2009

The ‘Kelaghgh dam’ is the most beautiful dam constructed on Chhinda river in Simdega district of Jharkhand situated at a distance of 4 km from the district headquarter. It is the best tourist place in the district with lovely water dam surrounded by multiple hills which attracts tourists very much. There is a plateau in the dam where a small and beautiful park exists. Besides, the district administration provides the facility of motor boating and a hotel is also constructed where the tourists can avail the lodging and food facility. But how many of us really know that this beautiful place is made on the grave of Adivasis (indigenous people)? Their only livelihood resource that was land had been snatched away from them during the construction of the Dam. The promises made for providing jobs, adequate compensation and rehabilitation packages were not fulfilled. The owners of the lands were left to die in the name of ‘development’.

The Kelaghagh dam was constructed in 1980 under the minor irrigation project of the irrigation department of the government with the aim of irrigating land of the Simdega block, where three villages – Bernibera, Bara Barpani and Bhudhratoli completely submerged in the dam with the affected people of approximately 3500. These villages were highly populated by Kharia, Munda and Oraon Adivasis, where they used to practice their interesting tradition and culture.

Interestingly, the project failed to achieve its objective. Presently, the water reaches to only one village – Meromdega and the water supply to Tukupani, Jambahar and other areas was stopped since a long time. Though the irrigation project uprooted the well-off Adivasis of three villages but only one village is being benefited from the project. Secondly, the Simdega Notified Area Committee supplies the drinking water to Simdega town from the dam but the displaced people, those who have been living near by the Dam get supply water neither for drinking nor for irrigating their a few pieces of land.

A village called Bernibera situated at a distance of 5 kilometers in the eastern part of Simdega lost it origin, meaning and identity, which had a historic origin made of two words – Berni and Bera. The ‘Berni’ is the name of an herbal plant, which is used as a medicine to cure fever, and the plant is also used to make a rope. Another word ‘Bera’ is a Kharia (language of Kharia Adivasis) word meaning a big piece of fertile land. Hence, there were big pieces of fertile lands and Berni herbal plants were also in plenty nearby the village therefore the village was named Bernibera. The people of the village used to yield plenty of wheat, paddy and vegetables. But when the dam was constructed the big pieces of fertile lands submerged in the dam and the herbal plants also disappeared from the area.

70 years old Mangaldas Kharia is one of those unfortunate victims of Bernibera village faced displacement while construction of Kelaghagh Dam. His family was well-off as his father (Jakarias Kharia) had 20 acres of fertile land in the village and he was also working as a teacher in a government primary school. He had also purchased another 10 acres of land in a village called Lathakhamhan, where he used to teach is a school with a dream of making a good life for his sons (Mangaldash and Isaac). Since he had two sons therefore he was willing to settle them in two different places so that there would be no chances of any conflict between them. But his dream was washed away by the dam. His land of Bernibera village was submerged in the dam and he was given merely Rs. 11,000 as compensation.

Finally, the family had no option than settling down in Lathakhamhan village, where the family had 10 acres of land. The land of Lathakhamhan village was divided between two brothers (Mangaldas and Isaac), which led to a huge division in the family. Though Mangaldas Khria survived because he got the government job as teacher in the place of his father but his younger brother Isaac suffered the most. Later on Isaac and his wife were brutally murdered and their four kids left the village and living else where. They are still not able to settle down. Thus, a well-off family was destroyed by the development project and Mangaldas Kharia is still fighting for the compensation for the land. He recalls that how women those who were protesting against the construction of dam had been kept in the Hazaribagh Jail for three days in 1980.

The villagers had started protesting against the land acquisition by shouting a slogan ‘No to Dam’ but the protest was stopped when the police atrocity was inflicted on the people. In 2007, the displaced people again started a fight with the government for the jobs and compensation promised during the land acquisition for the dam. 70 Raiyats (land owners) including Mangaldash Kharia have filed a case in Gumla Civil Court claiming for the jobs and compensation for their lands. But the unanswered question is will the justice be delivered to them? They have paid the heavy price for the development but get no opportunity to enjoy its taste. Ironically, the government of Jharkhand has signed 102 MoUs (Memorandum of understand) with the corporate houses for establishment of steel plants, mining industries and power plants without addressing the issues of more than 15 lack displaced masses. Are we still advocating for this kind of unjust development processes in India?

Source: www.jharkhandmirror.com

Sugarcane Cutters in Marathwada

By Shirish Khare

As the train heads to Mumbai from Marathwada, the air resonates with the ever-so-familiar poem from school, ‘Shikari aata hai, jaal failata hai. Daane ka lobh dikhata hai, lekin hamein jaal mein naïf fasna chahiye. The poem takes on a new meaning in Marathwada though: there are tales galore of the predator and prey here.

According to Government statistics, sugarcane production here in Marathwada is very high but the exploitation is even more pervasive which, unfortunately, remains unaccounted for.In the morning, we are caught by the sight of a tractor carrying about a dozen sugarcane cutters and their families. They carry with them their entire world: food, clothes and other bare essentials for survival. Children lie asleep on their mothers’ laps or sisters’ shoulders, huddled together with the cattle. When I asked them where they were going, one of the women said, “Very far….to Karnataka…..Bidar factory”. I asked them when they would return and they replied, “Not until the rains”.

This is Marathwada in Maharashtra. Many such tractors ply on the roads connecting the villages here to the cities. Most villages in Kalamb Tehsil, about 100 kms away from Usmanabad lie dreary and deserted.

Vinayak Taur, an educated dalit youth from the nearby Massa village told us, “Thousands of labourers leave their homes here every year between Diwali and the monsoons to work as sugarcane cutters for the sugar factories. Most of them belong to Dalit, Banjara and Pardi communities. They neither have any land they can call their own nor any other source of livelihood. Living on the outskirts of the villages here, they remain untouched by Gram Panchayat schemes and plans. School-going children here, as children anywhere else always, are the worst hit. The sugarcane farms they work in are replete with tales of exploitation.

This area in Marathwada is known particularly for sugar production. Terna sugar factory, the first ever factory here came into being at Dhonka in Usmanabad in 1982. Government statistics put the number of sugar factories here to 30 out of which 7 are in Usmanabad district alone of which, again, 4 are in Kalamb Tehsil. A member of the Terna Sugar Factory Committee, on condition of anonymity, revealed, “Every factory here needs sugarcane worth 25-50 kms worth of land which is taken care of by supervisors. The supervisor signs a deal with the Committee for Rs. 5-10 lakh in exchange of which he assures work to 12-20 labourer pairs for 6 – 10 months.”

A social worker working in that area, Bajrang Tate informed us, “Supervisors belong to the upper castes here. They persuade labourers and their wives to work for 6 to 10 months for a measly Rs. 25-30,000. They make a legal agreement with the labourers – sometimes for factories in far off areas. Under these agreements, labourers from here go to work in areas as far as Pune, Kolhapur in Maharashtra and Bidar, Alumathi and Bedgaon in Karnataka while labourers from these areas come here to work.” Balaji Mulay of Kalamb told us, “The supervisors do not get much time to gather labourers for work available in these factories. So they make sure they use their labour to the fullest without any compromise. Maya Shinde of neighbouring Dorala village narrates, “Bharat Sontake had no idea he would be inflicted by TB soon after signing a deal for work in Kolhapur for 6 months for Rs. 20,000 with one of the supervisors. The supervisor, after hearing of Bharat’s disease, forced Bharat’s entire family – his wife, ageing parents and young daughters - to work to compensate for his absence.”

We noticed a cluster of huts around the factories there - make shift homes for the labourers for 15-20 days of work in these factories. The labourers will be broken up into smaller groups and sent to their respective factories for work. We visited one such Basti near Dharashiv sugar factory in Khedki village. The Basti is made up all of 12 huts – rickety structures barely standing on sticks and rags. The huts have just one room for the whole family which just about enough space to stretch one’s legs. Children and women have to walk miles to for water and electricity and basic sanitation here, remain a distant dream in these Bastis.

At the break of dawn, labourers leave home with little more than a scythe made specially to cut sugarcane. Labourers work on the sugarcane farms in pairs: one cuts sugarcane and the other gathers it in a bunch. A pair usually cuts about 2 tonne of sugarcane everyday which is then transported to sugar factories. Trucks carry sugarcane to the factories well into the night. Many a time children along with their parents work as labourers on these farms as well. Many children cook and clean at home while their parents toil on the farms. Ishara Gore, one of many such child labourers here, told us she studied in the third standard and would be going to the fourth when she returned to her village. Little did she know that her school exams would be over by the time she returned. Her family has migrated to Karat village in Sagli district for work. Her father, Yavik Gore told us, “It’s good if she studies, otherwise we will have to get her married in the next 5 years anyway. Then she will work with her husband like us.” Child marriage is a common practice here. Marriage often takes place among labourers’ families so as to increase the number of labourers within the family and hence the family income. Migration in this case, perpetuates a malice like child marriage.

Shobhayani Kasbe, who works at the neighbouring Shambhu Maharaj sugar factory, voices her concerns about her children, “Our children work when they should be playing and studying. Sometimes, they seem very irritable while sometimes they recoil into a shell and become very quiet.” When we asked them why they didn’t take them back home sometimes, Mudrika Gore replied, “We are not allowed to go back home before the contract ends except during elections. We are taken back only to cast our vote during elections and brought back here soon after that.” They all had stories of gross exploitation to tell: stories of being overworked and underpaid and stories of being battered mercilessly by the supervisors if they even so much as dared to raise their voice. Shivaji Waghmare of Wabhal village narrates one of many such stories, “Last year saw very good production of sugarcane for which the labourers had to pay a price. They were forced to work even after their contract had ended. When some labourers protested, they, along with their wives and children, were beaten up ruthlessly.

The Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme the Maharashtra government runs here is more of a farce than anything else. We visited the Vikaskhand Kalamb office to uncover the truth behind this government scheme and were appalled by what we discovered. Basant Waghmare, the Development Officer of the Panchayat department told us, “It’s been a year since the scheme has been implemented but there are employment opportunities only in 7 out of the 89 villages in this block. With over 50,000 labourers in this block, only 2500 have got jobs under this scheme. And of even those who have managed to get jobs, many are yet to be paid. They will be paid only after we receive a grant of Rs. 5, 00,000 from the district authorities.” He added, “This scheme is mired in red tapism. That’s why it remains defunct at the implementation level.” But social activist Bajrang Tate unravels the other side of the story quite contrary to what meets the eye. He says,” Gram Panchayats here are dominated by the land – owning upper castes. They need labourers to work on their land. Labourers are kept in the dark about the government employment scheme just so they continue to work in farms under oppressive conditions. This way, the status quo remains undisturbed and the power equation unperturbed.”

Silence of the Lambs

Source: IMPHAL FREE PRESS
It is unlikely that anybody (except pathological paedophiles) would consciously act against the interest of the child. It is simply against nature. But what is extremely likely is that unknowingly and unintentionally all of us can end up gravely injuring the interest of the child. Ironically, even when harm has been done in the regard, in all likelihood it would still have been done in the belief that it was in the best interest of the child. Most of the time the presumption of the adult world is they know what is good for the child and thus take the issue for granted. The result is a general silence on children related issues unless of course some drastic developments take place involving children like kidnap, murder, child soldiering etc, monstrosities which unfortunately are no longer a rarity in today’s Manipur. But other than at such times, it is this general silence which can be injurious in the long run. The appeal yesterday by a communist political leader that the election manifestos of political parties should not ignore children issues (published in the IFP), although obviously nudged by a child right worker, is extremely pertinent. Even if we know none of us would advocate policies harmful to the child, it is still essential for us to bring up children issues on the public forum so that they remain active and policy makers are always conscious of them.In this regard, it is disturbing that none of the election manifestos of the different political parties in the state made even a passing reference to the rights of the child. Even more disturbing is that the silence was not even conspicuous. Everybody took it for granted that intuitively the adult world would never betray children and there was nothing very much to discuss or make electoral issues of children affairs. There is another issue with a tendency to fall in the blind spot of society, and this has to do with gender, but thanks to a powerful feminist movement in the last century, this is no longer as bad as it used to be. Even in Manipur, at least one political party, the CPI to be precise, declared it would fight for a 33 percent reservation for women. In the gender issue, it cannot always be said that the males have the best intent for their opposite numbers, after all there is a question of implicit and explicit contest for power between the two in practically all spheres of life. There is hence a great degree of justification in the general presumption that consciously or unconsciously the patriarchal order would ensure that the female gender remains in a subordinate if not subjugated position, be it in the imposition of dress codes, inheritance of parental properties, preferential treatment for boy children even within the family etc.But in a distant way, this sense of being oppressed has led to a resistance, thus taking the matter to the public sphere, and consequently the pressure to act, even if belatedly. But in the case of the child, even this sense is missing because there is absolutely no overt or covert antagonism between the adult world and that of children. There is hence unlikely ever to be the kind of resistance in the nature of the international feminist movement. It only for the adults to consciously advocate their cause and seek attention to area of neglect they have been subject to. Just a few examples would be adequate to convince anybody that this neglect is not imaginary. In the growing congestion of Imphal city, look for a decent children park and be prepared to be appalled. In the mushrooming number of private schools in the city and in the other towns, consider how many schools are run like dingy shops with no space for play and be again prepared to be appalled. In the orphanages and destitute homes run by charitable organisations in the state, discover the per head expenditure the government has ever committed, and yet again be prepared to be appalled. Consider the number of government primary and lower primary schools which have become defunct because of dereliction of duty by their staff and government official alike, and this time be ready to be aghast. Mark Twain once powerfully argued that for every public school (government schools in our case) shut down there would have to be a jail built. He was campaigning against a government move to shut down some public schools in the USA because they were running on a loss, we are campaigning here for the government to ensure our own government schools are not allowed to become rudderless derelicts so that in the not so distant future a light appears at the end of the dark tunnel we are in, and with it a ray of hope for the growing violence in our society to be resolved.