The Plight of Migrant Child Labor in Rural India
Simren's Diary
As Simren explores the underlying forces and issues of her project location, she discovers that migrant child labor is a chronic problem. She shares her thoughts and interactions with Kamlesh and Kripa, two child migrants who were forced to leave their village to work and provide for their families.
Kamlesh's Story
“I thought I could earn some money by going out to work. My mother worked as an NREGA worker in the village but was not paid her due wages. I wanted to make up for the loss. I worked for a month and a half on a BT cotton field in Gujarat. I don’t want to go back. I want to study. I dropped out of school, and I want to rejoin it.”
Kripa is a twelve year old girl from Sagwada village, Udaipur District, Rajasthan. Having worked as a migrant child labor in Gujarat for a while, she’s back home now and wants to rejoin school. Her story depicts the plight of many other young children from the village who are forced to drop out of school and migrate to nearby towns and cities in search of work to be able to fend for their families. While her story is engulfed with some light of hope for she may actually be able to continue with her studies from next year, the decision that the young girl had to make speaks in magnitude the kind of life that the people of this village are conditioned to live.
Also Read: Experiencing Indian Superstition in Pusa as part of the YFI Fellowship
Kripa's Story
Kamlesh, amigrant child labor from Sagwada village has been working in Ahmedabad for the past two years now. Having completed school till 7th standard, Kamlesh and his sister Sangeeta had to leave home for work to be able to feed a family of nine. Kamlesh earns about 250 rupees daily and lives in a rented room in the city, shared by ten other children like him. Having switched jobs a couple of times in the course of two years, Kamlesh now works as a borewell worker. Life hasn’t been a bed of roses for either him or many others of his age. One has to work overtime to be able to bear the expense of living in a city and simultaneously save a miniscule amount of money to send back home. Despite facing difficulties at work place in terms of coercion to work overtime or possessing no bargaining power against the contractor, Kamlesh has accepted his fate and will continue to work in the same manner. However, on being asked whether he would like to receive training for a more decent work he confided in with his approval.
(Kamlesh will be off to work after Diwali whereas his sister Sangeeta would now stay back to do household work. She is 15 years of age and has studied till class 7th).
Also Read: The Inspiring Journey of a Brave Child in Pursuit of Education in India
Building Capacity for Alternative Livelihood Practices
The only way to make these young children opt out of migration is to help them build their capacities to be able to take up alternative livelihood practices, hopefully in their own village. Please share with us your ideas/suggestions of any such training/skill that could be imparted to them, something that is viable and sustainable.
