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29-Mar-2024
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Poverty feeds child migration

     They are from the fishing community from the coastal district. In two incidents in just the last five days, district authorities rescued 40 children.
      In the best of years, Srikakulam district in Andhra Pradesh is a source of migrant labour in cities as far afield as Hyderabad, Chennai, Vijayawada and the sea ports of Gujarat. This year, with deficit rainfall threatening to bring a drought upon the district’s economy, the wheels of migration are beginning to grind earlier than in normal years. An important component of the migration phenomenon here is the large number of child workers being sent out, many of them in groups of a dozen or more, unaccompanied by their parents. In two incidents in just the last five days, district authorities rescued 40 children being dispatched to work as deck hands in ships and trawlers operating out of Gujarat. On Sunday, 22 children were taken into custody at the Srikakulam railway station. Just two days prior to that, a child labour racket was busted at the very same station, and 18 children being sent to serve on ships off the Gujarat coast were rescued. These are all children from fishing communities in Srikakulam, a coastal district of rich rice paddies, cashew plantations interspersed with impoverished fishing villages. The start of the fishing season coincides with the monsoon, but fish catches have been dwindling for years, with the result that feeding children is a burden for most of the families.

     The children are sent out to sea ports such as Kandla, Surat and Porbandar where they are employed as deck hands, kitchen help and errand boys. The wages offered by the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) for able-bodied workers are just not enough to keep these kids home and in school, so the payment of Rs 7000 per month offered by child labour contractors, plus a lump sum advance of Rs 40,000 for a one-year contract, is an irresistible proposition for most families. The child trafficking racket has roots in several parts of the district. Brokers operate in mandals such as Srikakulam, Gara, Etcherla and Ranasthalam where adults would be glad to get work at Rs.200 per day during the peak agriculture season. Sources said over 800 children are sent out from Srikakulam district to work as labourers in Gujarat’s ports every season.
     One child, Ganagalla Kumar, who was among those rescued on Friday, told The Hindu that he was being sent to work as a cook’s apprentice in the pantry of a ship “We are hidden in a secret hold whenever Coast Guard conducts a raid,” he said. Another factor that drives the migration phenomenon is the alcoholism rampant among men in fishing communities. G. Shiva, a 14-year-old boy who would have been trafficked, said, “My father became addicted to alcohol and my family had no income. So I had to quit studies and go to Gujarat.” A fisherman M. Mahanti of D. Matyalesham village said “Currently, there is no livelihood for us here since fish catches have dropped alarmingly. There is pollution all along our coastal area and there are no fish to catch.” Parents of these children were found to have decided to send them for work as bonded labourers in the sea ports of Gujarat.