Situation of child labourers in Dakshina Kannada District

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The child labourers are found in all places doing all types of work, even the works that are to be done by adults. They work in shops as attenders, packing articles, cleaning the work spot. They do domestic work and are a gret boon to the housewives. They work in aluminum and steel factories and contributes to the formation of utensils and other articles. By their tiny works these tiny tots contributes to the national economy. The survey conducted in July 1994 by the Department of Labour Dakshina Kannada reveleas that about 110 chidren are working in hotels in Mangalore city about 44 in the city of Udupi. There are about 130 children in other parts of the district working for hotels. About 240 chidren are found working garages and automobile workshops. It has been found that 91.2% of the children from within the age group of 11-14 years. 52% of the chiildren studied up to 3 to 5th std. The avaerage working hours of the children who work in garages in 9-10 hours. A rough estimate shows that around two thousand children are involved in beedi manufacturing industires. Female child labour force is mainly involved in either beedi work at home or in domestic work. It is found that children ahve been compelled to employment due to the poverty faced by their families. Majority of the parents are found to be doing coolie work followed by beedi rolling and small farming. Besides this there are children who run away from home or who are abandoned there are children who sleep on the pavements, on railway platforms, at bus stands in parks in vacant lots and even in door ways. There are children who are forced to beg at public places. There are children who spend their days picking rags of waste materials, savaging, in all sorts of unhealthy places or working over time as domestic servants. There are children who are battered by parents or care takers, there are children who are explosed to illegal and criminal activities like steling, pick-pocking, and initiated to into gang life's by anti-social elements. Many poor children in our community live on the collection and sale of the left over of huge garbage dumps. The hard earned income goes to supplement the meager income of many poor families or helps in the survival of the little wage earners themselves. Children are the worst affected from the point of view of lack of care, shelter, food, health and the like when they are left un-cared for at construction sites while their parents are at their work in many places throughout Dakshina Kannada.