You are a young officer posted as the Sub Divisional Magistrate in a district which houses factories for making match boxes and fire crackers. It is brought to your notice that a large number of children are working in these hazardous activities. The government had previously released a notification that owners of these manufacturing units need to report on the profiles of their employees annually to prevent child labour. These manufacturing units, abiding by the directives of the government, publish such reports annually and claim to have successfully put an end to employment of child labour. However, there are reports that these units are taking advantage of loopholes in the law. They are using contractors to continue to indirectly hire children without them officially being on the payroll of the units. Families of these child labourers are poor and see this as an essential source of income. An influential local politician also owns some of these manufacturing units and is known to put pressure on the officers involved for not taking any action against child labour. (a) Identify the stakeholders and ethical issues in this case. (b) How would you approach the problem and what would be the main elements of your action? (c) What medium to long-term measures will you propose to tackle the problem of child labour in the district?

(a) The case study involves the violation of Art. 24 of Constitution to prohibit child labour.

Ethical Issues

(1) violation of government laws in spirit by loopholes

(2) Right to education & other rights of children are violated

(3) Poor source of income for families forcing them in vicious cycle of poverty

(4) Dereliction of duty to protect public interest by the politician

(5) Pressure on officials to not do their legal duty in public welfare

(6) Child labour & its future implication on future of the country

(b) Approach & Elements of Action

(1) Order an intense inquiry into the case to establish facts, gather evidence for future course of action.

(2) Approach the families to persuade them to shun such practices & explain the consequences to them.

(3) Take legal action if violation of law is found & punish culprit.

(4) Present a report & recommendation to higher authorities to seal the loopholes in the law.

(5) Encourage the colleagues to do their rightful duties.

(6) Alternate job opportunities for poor families like in MGNREGA etc.

(7) Ensuring children go to schools.

(c) Medium to long term measures

(1) Ensure that government programmes in the region are implemented properly like SSA, MGNREGA, etc to prevent poverty.

(2) Accessibility of schools & ensuring proper functioning of schools along mid-day meal.

(3) Collaborating with NGOs like Bachpan Bachao Aandolan for monitoring situation & violations.

(4) Increase surveillance in such region during festival times especially as more demand is there.

(5) Making public the severity & surety of action in case of violation by loopholes.