Minors exploited (Herald)

Minors exploited July 16, 2013 These mainly illegal businesses, even whilst they swallow up agricultural land, are marked by major violations of the law against child labour. Exploitation of minors continues unabated here where cement products are made and sold along the roadside. Some of the tents and temporary structures, we visited during the trip, had children between the age of 8 and 12 years engrossed in giving shape to products and designing the same. In one of those tents along the Goa Velha road, we spoke to a child while the vendor was busy loading products in one tempo. “I help him (pointing at the man)…He gives me food and some money every week. I stay with him. My parents and a younger sister stay in Hubli. I was sent by them here so that I could earn something,” the boy, in a torn t-shirt, said as he painted a cement flower pot. The police and NGOs who wake up once or say twice in a year to conduct raids and rescue children from hazardous working places, are missing when this exploitation is being blatantly carried out right under their noses. http://www.heraldgoa.in/News/Main%20Page%20News/Minors-exploited/76976.html