Capital couldn't care less about child labour

One third of Delhi feels it's okay to make children work long and hard like adults. Find that shocking? There's more. Fifty per cent of the city's population thinks children should be paid lesser than adults. Moushumi Das Gupta reports.

One third of Delhi feels it's okay to make children work long and hard like adults. Find that shocking? There's more. Fifty per cent of the city's population thinks children should be paid lesser than adults.

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The disturbing findings are part of a study conducted by Child Rights and You (Cry), an NGO, in central and New Delhi districts last month to assess the awareness and attitudes among people on child labour issues.

The study interviewed 350 respondents comprising owners of small eateries, auto repair workshops and garages.

The findings revealed an alarmingly low level of awareness and knowledge on child rights and child labour issues in these two districts.

About half of Delhi said they know children in their locality who had left school and were now engaged in some kind of work.

"The idea behind the study was to assess people's perception and attitude towards child labour. It revealed not only an appalling lack of awareness but also insensitivity on the part of potential employers of child labour," said Vijaylaxmi Arora, director, CRY.

About 31% of the respondents, Arora said, were ignorant about any law in the country against child labour. She said the government should step up enforcement if it wants to prevent child labour.

"At present, it is clearly not the priority of policy makers," she said.