World Day Against Child Labour: How placement agencies for domestic helps are violating human rights

SRINAGAR: Every morning, an upscale Srinagar colony witnesses an extraordinary rush of children and juveniles at bakers (kandur). Unable to speak Kashmiri, they use broken Hindi to communicate. Lawasa or tchot are the difficult words they have to learn before communicating with kandur.

Some of them hail from Jharkhand, some from Bengal, and some from Nepal. Placement agencies exploit their poverty and bring them to Kashmir through their conduits.

Later affluent families hire them as domestic helps throwing all norms to the wind. All the payments are made to the agents who pay meager wages to poor child laborers or their families after deducting huge commissions.

“Somebody should come forward and report. We assure them that we will rescue these children and take stringent action against the people involved in the crime,” Abdul Rashid War, Labour Commissioner, Jammu, and Kashmir, told The Kashmir Monitor.

Just a few days back, police booked a man from Safakadal under Public Safety Act (PSA) for human trafficking, child labor, and cheating. Rizwan Ahmad Shah was running Shah Ji Consultancy in Rajbagh.

“Rizwan Ahmad Shah has been booked under the PSA and is now lodged in Kot Balwal Jail. He has been involved in fraud, human trafficking, child labor, and cheating. We urge the public to verify the credentials of consultancies before hiring domestic help,” police said.

Most of these child laborers who work as domestic helps slip through the legal gaps since no one reports the matter to the police or other agencies.

“We have a national helpline. Anyone can dial 1098 and report the matter. It is a central government helpline and child labor issues are also reported. Once they receive any complaint, they forward it to the state for necessary action. Plus, the district magistrate or concerned police station could also be reported. If society comes forward, we will definitely take action,” War said.

Conservative figures reveal that there are more than one lakh child laborers in Jammu and Kashmir. Most of them work in the handicrafts sector, automobile workshops, brick kilns, agriculture, and others.

Waking up to this menace, Jammu and Kashmir government decided to set up Child Welfare Committees (CWCs) and rehabilitation homes. The government intends to constitute CWCs in every district under J&K Rule 15(3) of the Juvenile Justice( Care and Protection of the Children)Act 2015.