HANSARIA - (1.) "I am the child, All the world waits for my coming. All the earth watches with interest to see what I shall become. Civilization hangs in the balance. For what I am, the world of tomorrow will be. I am the child. You hold in your hand my destiny. You determine, largely, whether I shall succeed or fail, Give me, I pray you, these things that make for happiness. Train me, I beg you, that I may be a blessing to the world". Mamie Gene Cole It may be that the aforesaid appeal lies at the back of the saying that "child is the father of man". To enable fathering of a valiant and vibrant man, the child must be groomed well in the formative years of his life. He must receive education, acquire knowledge of man and materials and blossom in such an atmosphere that on reaching age, he is found to be a man with a mission, a man who matters so far as the society is concerned.
(2.) OUR Constitution makers, wise and sagacious as they were, had known that India of their vision would not be a reality if the children of the country are not nurtured and educated. For this, their exploitation by different profit makers for their personal gain had to be first indicted. It is this need, which has found manifestation in Article 24, which is one of the two provisions in Part IV of our Constitution on the fundamental right against exploitation. The framers were aware that this prohibition alone would not permit the child to contribute its mite to the nation building work unless it receives at least basic education. Article 45 was therefore inserted in our paramount parchment casting a duty on the State to endeavour to provide free and compulsory education to children. (It is known that this provision in Part IV of our Constitution is, after the decision by a Constitution bench of this Court in Unni Krishnan, (1993) 1 SCC 645 : (1993 AIR SCW 863) (has acquired the status of a fundamental right). OUR Constitution contains some other provisions also to which we shall advert later, desiring that a child must be given opportunity and facility to develop in a health manner. Despite the above, the stark reality it that in our country like many others, children are exploited lot. Child labour is a big problem and has remained intractable, even after about 50 years of our having become independent, despite various legislative enactments, to which we shall refer in detail subsequently, prohibiting employment of a child in a number of occupations and avocations. 3A. In our country, Sivakasi was one taken as the worst offender in the matter of violating prohibition of employing child labour. As thethere had became intolerable, the public spirited lawyer, Shri M. C. Mehta, thought it necessary to invoke this court's power under Article 32, as after all the fundamental right of the children guaranteed by Article 24 was being grossly violated. He, therefore, filed this petition. It once came to be disposed of by an order of 31/10/1990 by noting that in Sivakasi, as on 31/12/1985, there were 221 registered match factories employing 27,338 workmen of whom 2941 were children. The Court then noted that the manufacturing process of matches and fireworks (for the manufacture of which also Sivakasi is a traditional center) is hazardous, giving rise to accidents including fatal cases. So, keeping in view the provisions contained in Articles 39(f) and 45 of the Constitution, it gave certain directions as to how the quality of life of children employed in the factories could be improved. The Court also felt the need of constituting a committee to oversee the directions given. Subsequently, suo motu cognizance was taken in the present case itself when news about an "unfortunate accident", in one of the Sivakasi cracker factories was published. At the direction of the Court, Tamilnadu Government filed a detailed counter stating, inter alia, that number of persons to die was 39. The Court gave certain directions regarding the payment of compensation and thought that an advocate committee should visit the area and make a comprehensive report relating to the various aspects of the matter, as mentioned in the order of 14/08/1991. The committee was to consist of (1) Shri R. K. Jain, a senior advocate; (2) Ms. Indira Jaisingh, another senior advocate; and (3) Shri K. C. Dua, Advocate.
(3.) THE committee has done a commendable job. It submitted its report on 11-11-91 containing many recommendations, the summary of which is to be found of the report, reading as below :- (a) State of Tamilnadu should be directed to ensure that children are not employed in fireworks factories. (b) THE children employed in the match factories for packing purposes must work in a separate premises for packing. (c) Employers should not be permitted to take work from the children for more than six hours a day. (d) Proper transport facilities should be provided by the employers and State Govt. for travelling of the children from their homes to their work places and back. (e) Facilities for recreation, socialisation and education should be provided either in the factory or close to the factory. (f) Employers should make arrangements for providing basic diets for the children and in case they fail to do so, the Government may be directed to provide for basic diet - one meal a day programme of the State of Tamilnadu for school children may be extended to the child worker. (g) piece-rate wages should be abolished and payment should be made on monthly basis. Wages should be commensurate to the work done by the children. (h) All the workers working in the industry, whether in registered factories or in unregistered factories, whether in cottage industry or on contract basis, should be brought under the Insurance Scheme. (i) Welfare Fund - For Sivakasi area, instead of present committee, a committee should be headed by a retired High Court Judge or a person of equal status with two social workers, who should be answerable either to this Hon'ble Court or to the High Court as may be directed by this Hon'ble Court. Employers should be directed to deposit Rs. 2.00 per month per worker towards welfare fund and the State should be directed to give the matching contribution. THE employers of all the industries, whether it is registered or unregistered, whether it is cottage industry or on contract basis, to deposit Rs. 2.00 per month per worker. (j) A National Commission for children's welfare should be set up to prepare a scheme for child labour abolition in a phased manner. Such a Commission should be answerable to this Hon'ble Court directly and should report to this Hon'ble Court at periodical intervals about the progress. We put on record our appreciation for the commendable work done by the committee.;