The Hindustan
Times New Delhi
February 22, 1996
Parties
lack will on child, bonded labour issues
NEW
DELHI: Senior
political leaders are in search of political will to tackle human
problems like child and bonded labour. But where should one
look for the will, though they felt strongly about the issues.
Leaders of all the national political parties, barring the BJP,
were there to express solidarity with the cause and with a firm
assurance to get the issues added in their poll manifestos. But
in the end they questioned the effectiveness of the political
system which they strongly felt lacked both will and direction.
On
where to look for the will to implement the plethora of laws already
existent for the eradication of these human problems, the only
answer they had was to invoke the conscious of the people through
building a movement. And on their part they assured the functionaries
of the citizens' commission on bonded and child labour to get
the same included in their party election manifesto.
It
was a rather paradoxical situation. But at the end, the man most
satisfied was the commission's convener Swami Agnivesh, who drew
solace in having managed some kind of a commitment from the representatives
of these political parties, which included the Congress, CPI-M,CPI
and the Janata Dal.
For
some of them, it was soul searching which culminated in blaming
their own party set-ups for not having taken up the issues in
right earnest. For others, like AICC general secretary B.P.
Maurya, it was an emotive issue for he claimed having personally
undergone the ordeal of child bonded labour right from his birth
to his formative days. He ended up assuring that being a member
of the draft committee for the party's manifesto, he would do
everything to include it in the manifesto. "If I fail, I will
resign from the committee," he added.
It
is a national shame, they all opined, that this menace has existed
even 49 years after independence. But in the end, they added
that all leaders in their respective parties did not think alike
on such vital issues and hence pulled in different directions
when it came to framing laws and forcefully implementing the same.
Swami Agnivesh has collected all those leaders who were emotionally
attached to the issue. It would have been better had some
others also been involved to rouse their consciousness, averred
Janata Dal leader and former Labour Minister Ram Vilas Paswan.
He recounted how some plans initiated by him during his theme
as a Minister could not become a reality due to opposition from
within his own party.
The
system is not working properly. All leaders in the political parties
do not think alike. It is wrong to blame the bureaucracy.
They toe the line they are given by the political bosses, he said
while squarely blaming the political set up for having lacked
will in tackling problems like child and bonded labour. These
issues should be given top billing in the national agenda.
This section of the society has no voice of its own. All of us
should build a movement to make their voice effective. As a
first step the right to work should be made a fundamental right.
He exhorted the individual political leaders to forcefully rake
up the issue on their party fora. There is no reason that the
parties would not accept their pleas and arguments in this connection,
he added.
Mr.
Paswan also had a word of advice for the judiciary. It is praise
worthy that they have launched "one-sided" tirage against corruption.
It would help a great deal if they used their powers to ensure
implementation of laws in regard to child and bonded labour and
deal sternly with the violators.
Mr.
Maurya admitted that somewhere the system has faltered or the
direction was wrong. That is why the number of child and bonded
labourers has increased manifold since independence. This
freedom has no meaning if these problems touching humanity, were
not eradicated. These problems have not been tackled as strongly
as they should have been done.
Mr.
A.B. Vardhan, deputy general secretary, CPI, said that merely
drafting the laws or including the issue in the manifestos will
not help. Political will is direly needed to implement them. He
criticised the attempts made to categorise the industries into
hazardous and non-hazardous ones for the purpose of child labour.
Every industry is hazardous for the child. Citizens' conscience
will have to be awakened to send across this message.
Mr.
Hanan Maula, MP (CPI-M), reiterated that these issues should be
put on the agenda of the nation. The CPI-M was already engaged
in a battle against these issues and these have already figured
in the election manifestos also.
Earlier,
inaugurating the meeting organised by the commission to convince
the political parties in including these issues in their election
manifestos and show some commitment to work for their eradication,
its chairperson, Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer said that the political
parties should show commitment to liberate every child from bonded
labour. Their childhood could be saved only if there is political
will.
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