No record of children working in Delhi: study

A year ago, there were settlement clusters of families of migrant labourers around all Commonwealth Games (CWG) stadiums. A year has passed since the CWG wrapped up, but no one knows what happened to the families and their children.

A year ago, there were settlement clusters of families of migrant labourers around all Commonwealth Games (CWG) stadiums. A year has passed since the CWG wrapped up, but no one knows what happened to the families and their children.

A study by NGO Child Rights and You (CRY) reveals that children from families who were compelled to live at the CWG construction sites are going without their basic rights to standard housing, sanitation, quality food, water, healthcare and schooling.

While construction of CWG sites was under way, the study also found that none of the sites met the basic requirement to ensure basic safety and sanitation for these children.

“The studies have found out that children were living in the construction workers’ temporary camps, without quality food, safe water, sanitation, quality formal schooling or daycare, healthcare,” it added.

Moreover, there is no record of how many such children have stayed back to become part of Delhi’s labour force. This has become an increasing cause of concern for doctors, who claim that level of nutritional and the medical care provided to these children is abysmal. “There are large number of children who are absorbed in the unorganised sector and find employment as domestic helps and unskilled labourers. But it has to be noted that child abuse is rampant along with the fact that that no attention is paid to child’s nutritional health,” said Dr RN Srivastava, Consultant Paediatric Nephrologist, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals.

“If a child is rescued as a child labourer, there is certain compensation that is given to the family. But in most cases, there is a wide gap between the scheme and its actual implementation. So we plan to approach the Ministry of Women and Child Development and urge them to consider this issue,” said Dr Rajeev Seth, Chairperson, 9th Asia Pacific Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect.