Education charity and police reduce child labour at Mumbai food stalls

The number of聽children working in Mumbai’s roadside food stalls has plummeted聽in recent years, activists and police said, attributing the聽decrease to a crackdown and heightened vigilance in train聽stations where children are trafficked into the city.聽

Pratham, an Indian charity focused on education, mapped聽200,000 shops across Mumbai over a week in January and found 500聽child workers in as many shops.

Most of them worked in restaurants or聽roadside stalls, lived on their own in Mumbai聽and did not go to聽school.

Pratham counselled and warned shop owners to release the聽children and alerted the police, who are conducting rescues and聽have so far freed 10 children.聽

“In earlier raids, we would find eight to 10 children in聽each shop聽but now the numbers have gone down to one or two,”聽said Pravin Patil, a deputy police commissioner in Mumbai.

“This drop is possibly the effect of a major crackdown we聽did in 2015 when over 1000 children were rescued and cases聽registered against their employers.”

Police rescued nearly 800 children in 2016.聽Children are commonly trafficked to Mumbai from other parts聽of India – particularly the northern states of Uttar Pradesh and聽Bihar – to work in factories, roadside tea stalls and grocery聽stores.

Stepped-up efforts by police, non-governmental organisations聽and other government departments and greater vigilance on聽railway platforms has led to a gradual drop in child workers,聽activists and police said.

The drop in child labour was clear, said Pratham project聽director Kishor Bhamre.

“The numbers are few given that we focused on roadside聽eateries and grocery stores that have traditionally employed聽children,” Bhamre told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

As a perk for shops and eateries that did not employ聽children, Pratham pasted “thank you” stickers on the shop walls,聽giving shopkeepers a little praise and sense of pride.

“Through this campaign we wanted to identify shops that聽employ children and appreciate those who don’t,” Bhamre said.

Shops where child workers were found will be reassessed in a聽few days.

“We need to maintain pressure or the numbers will go up聽again,” said Patil of the Mumbai police.

罢丑别听International Labour Organization聽in 2015 estimated聽there are 5.7 million child workers in India, out of 168 million聽globally.

More than half of India’s child workers are employed in聽agriculture and a quarter in manufacturing – embroidering聽clothes, weaving carpets or making matchsticks. Children also聽work in restaurants, shops and hotels and as domestic workers