NEW DELHI, Sept 29 | Wed Sep 29, 2010 - Outside the stadium to host the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games, Pramod, 6, and his younger brother play football with a sponge, oblivious to the uproar sparked by their role in building the sites for the $6 billion sporting extravaganza.
The children of labourers are the rear of the army of workers that over two years have erected stadia, sidewalks and apartment blocks for the Games.
Their use in building the venues has cast a spotlight on one of the Asian economic powerhouse's darker sides: the country has the largest number of child labourers in the world.
While many of the children may not be forced into labour, with no creches and unable to afford childcare, parents are left with little choice but to bring them to work. Invetiably, the children help out to lift a brick here or carry a spade there.
"Where can we keep them when we work?" asked Pramod's father Teja Ram, who earns $5 a day for setting tiles at the stadium. "They stay with us, play around us and help us with the odd job."
"There were boys of 14 and 15 years working inside, but who will pay for these young children?" said Ram cradling his other son, four-year-old dimpled Bishnu.
The government estimates there are 12.6 million child workers under the age of 14, many of them in hazardous sectors like construction sites, brick kilns, quarries and metal-works, but activists say there could be three times as many.
Authorities deny children are used on Games sites, however, and given that children's payments are made out to their parents, and the multiple layers of contractors and subcontractors on the site, there is little on record that shows involvement.
"Children are very much there, with helmets and tool boxes. I personally have filed four cases in the last one month," said Moushumi Basu, secretary of the Peoples Union for Democratic Rights.
"The labour department just doesn't open its eyes and investigate."
Child workers at the Games have added to a storm of criticism the host country faces, including on corruption, shoddy construction, and dirty housing for athletes.
Poverty is the major culprit. In a country where over 450 million people live on under $1.25 a day, a non-earning person is a drag on a family's already stretched finances and this keeps child labour numbers stubbornly high.
"Rising prices, migration, natural disasters, etc., leave already poor families with little option but to send their children to work," said Thomas Chandy, chief executive of child rights group Save the Children.
LAX LAWS, LITTLE SOCIAL CONCERN
This is not the first time there has been a global outcry against child labour in India. Gap and other fashion labels have in the past pulled out clothing from stores after they were found to be made by units in India employing children.
But many in India do not see child labour as a social evil that has to be ended immediately, saying the poor need it to survive. It is not uncommon to see children working as domestic helpers in the houses of the rich and powerful.
This social acceptance makes it difficult to rally policymakers and authorities against child labour, despite India's international commitments and domestic laws.
But activists say the laws are inadequate and remain on paper. In the last two years, there have been just three convictions, said Chandy.
Many also fear the issue will be forgotten as soon as the Games are over.
"The Games has attracted media attention to the issue of child labour but we must not allow this issue to be forgotten after the momentary media glare subsides," Chandy said. (Additional reporting by Anurag Kotoky; Editing by Alistair Scrutton and Jonathon Burch)
(Sources:http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSSGE68O02M20100929?type=marketsNews)
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