Summer Camp

Summer Vacation Camps Concluded

This year’s Summer Camp for deprived children was concluded on May 30^th Saturday afternoon at Don Bosco Centre, Manacaud.  Over 180 children and their parents participated in the Valedictory function.  Rev. Fr. Stephen Mukkattil, the newly appointed Rector of Don Bosco presided over the function.  Mr. Job Kurian (Playback singer) graced the occasion as the Chief Guest at the function. Yogees on Wheels were also distinguished guests at the function. Members of Inner Wheel Club and Yogees on Wheels contributed their share to provide school materials to all the children who attended the summer camp. The children performed variety entertainment programmes which received top honours during the two summer camps (Manjadi at Don Bosco Centre and Shalabam at Don Bosco Nivas). All children were happy to receive prizes and grateful for the school materials they received. All  departed at 5. 00 pm with renewed vigour to kick start a new school year on the Ist of June. 

Summer Camp

Intervention at Sree Chithra Home

The Kerala Child Rights Commission asked Trivandrum Don Bosco Veedu Society to conduct five days of Vacation camp for the children in Sree Chithra Home. Sree Cithra Home is a Government run children’s home which houses over 200 children and Youth. Their holiday programme mainly consisted of classes. Our intention was to provide the children opportunity for some entertainment. The camp was conducted from 22^nd to 27^th May.  It was a time to gather the children together and give them learning experiences through play. They enjoyed the camp and wanted more interventions from our part. On 25^th of May World Missing Children’s Day was celebrated at the Venue with the presence of Mr. Babu, Member of the Commission as Chief Guest. On the last day training was provided by our team to all the wardens. Further interventions are in the offing in order to provide better care to the children which is a lacuna in the home which has so many children.

Child Labour Act

Child Labour Laws – The way backward

Children below 14 years can work in non-hazardous industries provided it is only during holidays or after school hours according to the Cabinet approved amendment in Child Labour Act on 13/05/2015. The original Child Labour Law banned employment of children below 14 in only 18 hazardous industries. The amendments also make it clear that children between 14 and 18 years will also not be allowed to work in hazardous industries. The changes in the labour law also provide for stricter punishment for employers for violation. While there is no penalty provision for parents for the first offence, the employer would be liable for punishment even for the first violation. In case of first offence, the penalty for employers has been increased up to two-and-half times from the existing Rs 20,000 to up to Rs 50,000 now. In case of a second or subsequent offence of employing any child or adolescent in contravention of the law, the minimum imprisonment would be one year which may extend to three years. Earlier, the penalty for second or subsequent offence of employing any child in contravention of the law was imprisonment for a minimum term of six months which may extend to two years. After the Cabinet approval, the government will move official amendments to the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2012 in Parliament.

"We don't want to redraw the social fabric of Indian society where children learn by participating in work with family elders. We, instead, want to encourage learning work at home as it leads to entrepreneurship," a Government official said.

While child rights activists were opposed to the dilution saying it will promote child labour, those involved in business maintained that children need to be trained in traditional arts at an early stage or they will not be able to acquire the required skills like weaving and stitching. The age of prohibition of employment has been linked to age under Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. Exceptions have, however, been made in case of works in which the child helps the family or family enterprises. Moreover, exemption has also been given where the child works as an artist in an audio-visual entertainment industry, including advertisement, films, television serials or any such other entertainment or sports activities except the circus. The condition is that such enterprises should not be involved any hazardous occupation. Another condition set forth is that they should work after school hours or during vacations.

The Act raises serious concerns such as it will interfere with children’s ability to attend regular school. Forcing children to work deprives children of their childhood. One of these proposes to ban the employment of children below 14 yrs in all occupations except family and audio-visual entertainment industry, on condition that such works do not interfere with their education. It will be difficult to monitor a law which is vague and not specific. The monitoring of this law had been difficult all through right from its beginning in 1996. Out of 6 million child labourers in many industries all over India this law could only come to the help of below 2000 children in the last year.

The constitution of India promised to safeguard the rights of children and protect them from economic exploitation. However, 65 years later it is still perfectly legal to employ a child. As per the census report of 2011, India has over 4 million working children belonging to the age group of 5-14. The new amendment will sure lead to the increase in the number of working children in the years to come.  It is sad to note that no proper consultations have been done before the amendment was thought of.

JJ Bill

Amended JJ Bill – Perspectives

It is reported on all the news papers that the Union Cabinet cleared the Juvenile Justice Bill, under which a minor above 16 years involved in a serious crime could be tried in an adult court if the Juvenile Justice Board decides so. The Juvenile Justice Act will be changed to allow for trial of juveniles in the age group of 16-18 years accused of heinous crimes under the Indian Penal Code, with the New Government bowing to public clamour for tough deterrent against young criminals who go unpunished because of the lenient provisions under the law. As per the changes cleared by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday, Juvenile Justice Boards will determine whether a juvenile accused of a heinous crime ought to be treated as a “child” or adult”. The proposed Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill also provides for the classification of different crimes as “petty”, “serious” and “heinous”, providing for differentiated processes for each category. Under the existing law, only those 18 years and above are tried under IPC. The decision heeds the demand for tougher punishment for the hardened among “juvenile criminals”, which spiked in the wake of the Nirbhaya gang rape in Delhi in December 2012. One of the accused in the crime which shook the nation because of its sheer monstrosity was a juvenile who was the most brutal of the gang which ravaged the young physiotherapy student (Times of India).

UNICEF India expressed concern over the amendments to the Juvenile Justice Act, under which minors above the age of 16 involved in a serious crime can be tried in an adult court, and said such a decision was a "real step back". With the enactment of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act in 2000, India's juvenile justice legislations was brought in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and international standards, focusing on some of the key principles of juvenile justice which deprivation of liberty as last resort, restorative and reformative justice, diversion and alternative sentencing, and separate protection structures and qualified personnel. The UN CRC (article 40.1) states that children who are accused of offences should be tried separately from adults "in a manner consistent with the child's sense of dignity and worth".

"Worldwide evidence shows that the process of judicial waiver or transfer of juvenile cases to adult courts have not resulted in reduction of crime or recidivism. Instead, investments in a working system of treatment and rehabilitation of children have shown to lead to better results in reducing recidivism," said Louis-Georges Arsenault, UNICEF Country Representative.

Most juvenile remand homes are in appalling condition and need a massive overhaul. But whether redrafting the law will bring down juvenile crime is the moot question. What is required better remand homes, more specialised care rather than to expose young people to the trauma and stigma of adult jails.

According to the National Crime Record bureau data shows that the number of children booked in this age group across the country for heinous crimes in 2012 was only 6,747. One year later, NCRB data shows, the figure has gone up to 6,854. As per the census report there are over 6.5 crore belong to the age group of 16-18. It seems difficult to believe that the government is amending the existing Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act 2000 which allows for the adoption of a special approach towards the treatment and rehabilitation of underage offenders and is coming up with a new law by which underage kids accused of heinous crimes will be treated on par with adults simply in order to deal with such a minuscule number.

The motivation for introducing this law gained momentum because of the dark memories evoked by the Nirbhaya case where the Delhi police spun a yarn before the media, claim the most brutal attack on the defenceless victim came from the underage offender who succeeded in escaping the death sentence only because he was a juvenile.

Child rights activist Minna Kabir, wife of the former chief justice Altamas Kabir, has spent several decades working with juveniles agrees that parents tend to pass off love affairs as rape. Dissecting the NCRB statistics, she points out that 50 per cent of the rape charges on investigation turn out to be love affairs while 30 per cent are cases of exploratory sex by boys in the age group of 12-14 years which cases can be attributed to lack of sex education and increasing exposure to sexually explicit messages in movies, ads and the social media.

We strongly condemn all sexual violence, be it by adults or juveniles. None of it can be justified by any means whatsoever. But we also condemn pitching human rights of women against human rights of children since that will not provide an answer to creating a healthy society. All we want is a dialogue with the government before a final decision in this regard is taken.

Don Bosco which basically working for the welfare of the children suggests that the ministry has to do a rethinking over the amendment and demanding more informed engagement on this issue. Neither group majority nor anger and rage should decide law reform, especially since India has ratified the 1992 UN Convention on child rights.  Ministry should realize the need to strengthen the education system since juveniles in trouble usually hail from families which are in trouble as the case of the Delhi juvenile shows. A criminal child or an adolescent is the responsibility of the society and not the children. There is a need to make systems which will care for children before they reach to such an impasse.