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Child Labor in India and Anita’s Story

According to India’s labour ministry, “there are 12.6 million children aged between 5 and 14 working in the country — the largest number of child labourers in the world.”
The real number could be higher, given the unknown size of the child domestic work force. “‘It’s difficult to say how many children do domestic work as […]

By Pavani Yalamanchili, November 21, 2006, Issues, Weblogs, Law, News, Daily, Children

According to India’s labour ministry, “there are 12.6 million children aged between 5 and 14 working in the country — the largest number of child labourers in the world.”

The real number could be higher, given the unknown size of the child domestic work force. “‘It’s difficult to say how many children do domestic work as it’s such a secretive thing and you simply can’t go around poking into people’s houses,’ said Manab Ray, manager of Save the Children’s Child Domestic Workers Project.” (”[1] India’s child maids resigned to life of servitude,” Reuters, 11/19/06.)

[2] Urbanguru.net provides a personal account of a young couple in Bangalore who noticed an abused nine-year-old child servant, Anita, working for their downstairs neighbors. They took action by contacting local NGOs and the police, and continuing to follow her progress through the child welfare system. Anita shares her story in Hindi (”translation to come”) on video: [3] 1, [4] 2, [5] 3.

More information: [6] Child Workers in Asia, [7] Concerned for Working Children

Update: A follow-up on Anita’s progress—[8] Anita goes home.

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URL to article: http://niralimagazine.com/2006/11/child-labor-in-india-and-anitas-story/

URLs in this post:
[1] India’s child maids resigned to life of servitude: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061120/india_nm/india276977
[2] Urbanguru.net: http://blog.urbanguru.net/?p=12#more-12
[3] 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R348etaQ4EE
[4] 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEhrTAleqbw
[5] 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCGP9p0yGQk
[6] Child Workers in Asia: http://www.cwa.tnet.co.th/about-cwa.html
[7] Concerned for Working Children: http://www.workingchild.org/intro.htm
[8] Anita goes home: http://blog.urbanguru.net/?p=17

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