Crack Down on Child Labour; Rescues Several Children in Karnataka
Don Bosco Network of BREADS Bangalore joined hands with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) in a nationwide campaign to combat child labour. The Pan-India Rescue and Rehabilitation Campaign 2.0, which began on 10 January and ends on 31 March 2025, aims to rescue and rehabilitate children working in hazardous environments.
In Gulbarga, Karnataka State, Don Bosco PYaR, along with officials from the Labour Department, Railway Police (RPF & GRP), rescued eight child labourers from the Gulbarga railway station limits. The rescued children were between 14 and 16 years barefoot and in torn clothes, working in a highly exploitative system. The children were sourced from a Tribal Community in Madhya Pradesh by a contractor and were made to work on railway track maintenance (clearly adult work) for more than 12 hours daily without enough food and a proper place to sleep.
Rescued children were brought before the District Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and admitted to a Boys Shelter Home. First Information Reports (FIRs) have been filed against those contractors and middlemen under various laws: The Bonded Labour Act, The Child Labour Act, and The Juvenile Justice Act. Counsellors and social workers attend to the multiple needs of the children and their safety and security. This team rescued another 12 children under the Pan-India Rescue and Rehabilitation Campaign.
A familiar sight in Devadurga Taluk, Raichur District, Karnataka, is transport vehicles loaded with adults and children being taken to the fields for labour. Children, especially, are used as seasonal labourers, losing big chunks of school time and often dropping out because of the resulting learning gaps.
In Devadurga, the Don Bosco team is vigilant during every harvest season to track and rescue child labourers yearly. In this instance, too, they played an integral role in 16 raids on transport vehicles, rescuing 42 child labourers, of whom 30 boys were re-enrolled to mainstream schools after a few motivational classes and counselling. At the same time, 12 girls are housed in a child labour centre, and preparations are on for their re-enrolment to school while counselling and house visits are carried out to educate their parents about the need for sending children to school. Don Bosco Devadurga runs a dedicated home for the rescued girls, and through a bridge course programme, they are equipped to join mainstream school education. Several of the past students of Devadurga Child Labour School are currently studying at Morarji Desai School, which is known for its child-centric and quality education with residential facilities.
Yadagiri district in Karnataka, with high levels of poverty, has been struggling with the issue of child labour across its six taluks. The anti-child labour campaign in Yadagiri involved all the appropriate government departments, district legal services, Police and local NGO Don Bosco Centre for Social Action. According to the Juvenile Justice Act, ten children were successfully rescued and handed over to the District Child Welfare Committee (CWC) for rehabilitation. The shopkeepers who employed the children were summoned by the Labour Department, which, according to the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, imposed penalties on them—this year alone, collected 200,000 rupees from offending shop owners.
It was decided to take legal action against employers of children through 15 surprise raids every month, with strict penalties for offenders. The focus was on shops, garages, and hotels where child labour is usually prevalent. This NCPCR campaign and government departments are aligned with the Don Bosco Network of BREADS for children at risk in the various districts of the State of Karnataka. So far, 93 children have been rescued: Devadurga (42), Gulbarga (20), Yadagiri (10) and Mysuru (21). The children rescued are from various situations of child rights violations: child labour, beggary, being out of school and living on the street without family support.
These interventions reinforce the collective responsibility of government, non-government, and individual agencies and individuals to eradicate child labour and the importance of continuous collaboration and social awareness campaigns.
Child labour is a complex systemic phenomenon that takes various forms according to the circumstances. Addressing it requires multi-pronged efforts and collaboration among various government departments, NGOs, the Police, and the public.
