How India's New Child Labour Law Might Make The Young More Vulnerable

New Delhi: Last month, parliament passed a new law against child labour, decreeing as illegal all labour of those under 14.   

On the surface, it appears to be the perfect Independence Day gift for children of India's poor, an estimated 5.7 million of whom between the age of 5 and 17 are at work.
   
But the new law makes an exception, allowing parents and relatives to put their children to work after school hours, a clause which the government says addresses the economic realities of India.

But this exception, some argue, legalises child labour,  given that close to 80 per cent of child labour takes place 'invisibly', within families.

Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya told NDTV that the law permits families only to use children for help, not to actually perform labour.

The reality on the ground however suggests these are academic distinctions.

We travelled to Narela, a resettlement colony in north Delhi, to  meet 10-year-old Nasir who helps his mother in filling bottles of chunaa, or limestone powder, used in paan.

Not far away is Sanjay, 10 years old, who helps his mother run a tea stall.
 It is time-consuming work, and pays not very much. Sanjay's mother says they earn approximately about Rs 300-500 per day.

In the case of Nasir, the work carries an element of risk. "The limestone cuts my hand" he says, "especially during winter".

Almost every home here has children some as young as 7 years old doing formal labour.

The government claims the new law only legalises work after school hours. But activists argue that it will impact children's learning.

Nasir's mother says he works 4-5 hours before going to school and afterwards as well. "But he's a child, he gets tired and he's also busy with his work from school", she says.  

Amar Pahadi, a co-ordinator with Dr A B Balaga Trust - an NGO that works in Narela -  says that children who work at home drop behind in their grades; some of them drop out of school altogether.
The minister claims that new tougher penalties in the law will deter parents from exploiting their children.

But far from the complex task of policing the home workspace, there is little evidence to suggest that the government is able to monitor formal and informal units that employ underage children.

An NDTV reporter with a hidden camera accompanied women from a local NGO that works to combat child labour in the thousands of informal units that dot Panipat, an industrial area in Haryana on Delhi's borders.

Most units are engaged in spinning yarn; in almost every one we find children. In one unit a 9-year-old girl can be seen near a spindles machine doing dangerous work. Working alongside is her sister, not much older.
 
According to the new law, this kind of work is illegal, but it is carried out openly. Inspectors rarely make it here. At the office of the labour commissioner, they had no answers as to how many raids carried out, or children rescued.