Ramakrishna and his clarion call
It was 10 in the morning. At the Vedanta Math, Siliguri, a middleaged man came up to me and explained that he runs an NGO to spread awareness about cancer.
After a lull for few years, child labourers have again been rescued in Gujarat, this time from a shop in the Naroda area here.
In December 2019, as many as 135 child labourers were rescued from different establishments in Surat with the initiative of an NGO Bachpan Bachaao Andolan.
Apart from shops, small eateries and textile units, child labourers are employed in cotton fields, marble polishing units and the jewellery trade in Gujarat.
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Child labourers in roadside eating joints is so common in the state that a child rights group had undertaken a march in 2014 urging people not to patronise any restaurant that engaged child labour. However, there was not much response to the campaign.
The raid and rescue operation on Tuesday was conducted by Prayas, an NGO, in association with local police and district Child Protection unit.
During a recce of the area, two underage boys were found to be working at a general store in the Naroda area. When the rescue team reached the store, its owner claimed he pays them Rs 3,300 per month each and it is better to earn something than roam around during summer vacation.
Two rescued boys have been sent to a children home run by the district Child Welfare Committee, Prayas volunteer Indrjeetsinh Chauhan told The Statesman.
The shop owner has been booked under various Sections of the Child Labour Act.
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