Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor takes up the cause of child labour

Yesterday, like everyday Sunil Kumar (10) woke up early and got ready to get to work at a roadside dhaba in Hebbal, Bengaluru where he has been working since the past 2 years. His parents, both of them, work as construction labourers, never sent Sunil to a school. At the tender age of 10, Sunil is pulling in ₹ 5,000 to supplement his family income. Yesterday, as Sunil set out to work, the world was celebrating International Day Against Child Labour.

India has 8.2 million child labourers under the age of 14 years like Sunil, according to the recently released India 2011 Census report. "Out of 8.2 million child labourers, over 2 million are very young children between 5 and 9 years. Millions of children have no access to basic food, shelter, education, medical care or security," adds the report.

Bollywood star Anil Kapoor has decided to lend his might behind the campaign to raise awareness against child labour."Every morning over 8 million children in India go to work instead of going to school. Our economic progress loses a lot of meaning if hundreds of thousands of children have no hopes of a future," Anil told reporters, ahead of the International Day Against Child Labour.

The Bollywood star is the Goodwill Ambassador for child rights organisation, Plan India. As part of the arrangement, Kapoor will campaign for the NGO's latest initiative that will raise awareness and inspire action to pull millions of children out of all forms of labour. Bhagyashri Dengle, Executive Director of Plan India, says, "As a part of our vision for 2020, Plan India is committed to improving the lives of 2 million children and youth, through direct programme interventions and by working in close collaboration with the Government and other partners to ensure that no child is left behind."

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Sunil dreams of going to school someday. "I want to become a teacher and teach poor children who can't afford to go to schools," Sunil adds. In May last year, the Union Cabinet approved a proposal to ban employment of children under 14 years in all kinds of commercial enterprises. The original Child Labour Prohibition Act of 1986 banned employment of children below 14 in only 18 hazardous industries. In spite of all these laws, child labourers are ubiquitous. Most of the employers continue to use child labour without fear as hardly any action is initiated under the appropriate law.