When this author talked to Kunti, a maid in Borivali in the northern part of Mumbai, who sends her kids to work and earn, she said, “I have four kids. Three of them work somewhere or the other. One kid (Golu) is only a- year-old and is too small to work but he will also work when he will grow up.” Here, Kunti is not talking about Golu working when he matures but he will be working when he will reach an age of 7 to 8 years and will be deprived of primary education just like his other three siblings who help get food to the table.

When talked to Anguri, one of Golu’s sisters, some facts came to light. “I am 8 years old and have been working for last two years. I earn 300 Rupees from one house.” These facts are about a child working since the age of 6 and getting 200 Rupees less compared to an adult who does the same job.

The author also talked to Anguri’s employer, Suvarna S (name changed), who is among those educated people who even after being aware of the fact that child labour is prohibited by the law don’t mind these poor kids assisting her in domestic work. On asking for an explanation for it, some ready made excuses are conveniently thrown, “I have not employed Anguri. It’s her mother who works at my place but when she is unable to come, she sends Anguri. Cleaning and cleansing is important, so I am compelled to make use of them, someone has to work, be it Anguri or her mother.”

On further investigation, the real ploy if not plight was unraveled. “Anguri works at Suvarna madam’s house, I don’t work there,” clarifies Anguri’s mother Kunti.

These parents have their own good reasons to send their wards for work at such a tender age. “We are poor people and one or two people earning does not fulfill our needs. The more people work and earn, the better it is for the family. Even I have been working since my childhood,” explains Kunti.

There are many such kids like Anguri and her siblings who start working at an age when they don’t even know what they want to become in the future. 12-year-old Promod is another such example who works as a cleaner in a restaurant and bar at Nalasopara (a suburb in Thane district). He also is an example of migrant child labourers. “I am form Bihar and am working here since one year. Many of my cousins and neighbours in Bihar came here to work. So did I,” says Promod.

There is no doubt that these labourers are paid less but besides money, the employers have many benefits in recruiting underaged workers. Uday, Promod’s employer, explains, “See cleaning is a less paid job and grown up people don’t like to earn less and even if they do, they take the experience and switch jobs when they get a better paid restaurant. So, if we employ mature persons, they quit the job. But these young kids don’t run away easily as they don’t get a job elsewhere till they have good experience. So we give preference to them though we don’t bring them. But when they come in search of a job, we don’t mind keeping them as we give every facility in addition to salary, like food for three times a day and sometimes shelter too.”

But Santosh Shinde explains, “It is easy to exploit kids than grownups as kids don’t say no, afraid of losing the job, something which grownups don’t do.”

But what can be said about some children who are working at their will like 13-year-old Janardan who is self employed and sells novels and magazines at traffic signals near Bandra, a suburb in Mumbai. “I work on my will. No one has asked me to do so. I am the second child of my mother. Our father has left us to live with some other woman. My mother works as a maid at different houses, which does not fulfill our needs. So, being the eldest sibling among four, I feel responsible and work, and help my mother in running the family. I need to work be it legal or illegal,” tells Janardan.

On this, public prosecutor Makasare says, “If law prohibits child labour, it prohibits it out of your will or under some compulsion.”

Government does have laws and they do take action against it but due to corrupt employees, all the action goes in vain. There are regular raids by police at different restaurants and hotels but there is a bitter truth explained by Uday, a bar owner, who says, “There has not been any raid at my bar till now but we hear about them. But whats the use of these raids when you find the same kids back at work at the same place after some days. It is all fixed. They do ’adjustment’, it is all a give and take relationship.”(laughs)

Most of the time it is seen that the problem of child labour is prominent in poor states but the southern coordinator of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), P Arokiasamy, gives some shocking facts from the latest survey report (NFHS -3), “Surprisingly Gujarat, even being a rich state, shows the highest prevalence of child labour, which is followed by Andhra Pradesh and other poor states.”