Children of a Lesser God

Editorial:
One of the Days that Sikkim forgot to observe recently was the International Day Against Child Labour. If there is one day that the nation should observe and the media mark with special coverage, it is this day, because the victims here are, as the cliché runs, “the future” and unfortunately in no condition to speak for themselves. And yet, in Sikkim as well in the rest of the country, the day passed unnoticed. There is perhaps only so much that a guilty conscience can suppress with superficial tokenism. Or maybe no one wants to be reminded of how an army of under-14 year olds continue to slave in private homes as domestic servants. Sweeping even such token reminders under the rug helps, perhaps, in convincing employers that the children are receiving a better life here, away from the penury of their own families. Or even worse, is the collective responsibility being shirked because most of the victims are not from Sikkim? Of course, all of these are poor excuses and also illegal, and yet telling reminders surface of how this social responsibility towards the underprivileged young has been scaled down from the priority list of national engagement.
Last week, Sikkim Police rescued 42 children employed as servants in Gangtok homes. Eventually, it found some to be above 14 year old and realised that the State does not have the facilities to shelter rescued children and eventually only 11 were placed in short-stay homes and the rest returned. The raids, it is informed, were triggered when one of the children confided to a concerned neighbour about abuse. Keeping under-14 year olds in any kind of employment is now banned and although the laws and rules and implementation remain conveniently vague, allowing for rampant disregard, the abuse, whether physical or sexual, of anyone is a criminal offence. One hopes that at least this aspect of the child’s welfare are investigated in earnest and not compromised by the consistently lax administration of social propriety in Sikkim.
The employment of children even as domestic helps was banned in October 2006. Five years since the ban was notified, children continue to grow up as servants, in Sikkim as well as across the country, with no concrete welfare institution created to rescue and rehabilitate them. In the initial years, at least school students used to come out once in a while with placards and slogans against child labour, and now even that does not happen anymore. In the 5 years that have passed since, no State of the country has undertaken even inspections to find out how widespread the criminal employment of minors was in the country. The 42 children initially identified and the 11 officially rescued in Sikkim last week are just a sliver of the monstrous abuse underway in the State. The 2001 Census recorded 16,457 “Working Children” in Sikkim in the age group 5-14 years. In the ten years that have passed since, no effort has been made to reform the society and the socioeconomic triggers which made live-in domestic servants such a widespread phenomenon have only increased since. There are definitely many more minors “working” in Sikkim at present. Violators can be jailed for up to two years and fined Rs. 20,000. Has anyone heard of any one being fined or even tried, for having employed a minor, leave alone abused someone in their employ? Time to start holding up the mirror and ask why?