Meghalaya came into the limelight in 2010 when Impulse NGO claimed to have detected 70,000 children working in the mines of East Jaintia Hills. The Government then had come under a lot of flak and the National Human Rights Commission took sou moto notice of this claim. While the numbers were contested as being over the top and based on extrapolation after multiplying the number of mines by the number of child labourers found in a few mines, the fact remains that children were rampantly used to dig coal inside the shafts that had very little space for mobility and was profitable to the mine owners.
In 2019, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong while addressing a gathering admitted the prevalence of child labour in the state but said a mechanism is in place to ensure that the state is completely free of the social malaise. Tynsong said then that district task forces headed by deputy commissioners were constituted and there is enough manpower to ensure that child labour is not allowed to happen. He also said that Labour inspectors are posted in each of the 46 blocks to make Meghalaya free of child labour. The problem with making tall declarations about entrenched social issues is that ministers get caught in a web of lies fed by respective departments. Meghalaya is not free from child labour. Rather, child labour has spiralled during and after the pandemic. The reason for the rise in child labour is stark poverty of families that compels them to make the older children seek employment to keep the home fires burning.
The present Labour Minister, Sanbor Shullai should visit villages beyond his urban constituency to see how many children aged 14 years and below are employed as cowherds and are shepherding sheep and paid Rs 2500 for looking after one cow per annum. Girls aged 12 and below are forced to care for their younger siblings at home instead of being in school. The real problem with Meghalaya is that the Government is too Shillong-centric. Their vision does not include rural Meghalaya which is left to the elements. The plight of thousands of families need to be captured by statistical data which is non-existent when it comes to child labour. A Government is as strong as its ability to address acute human problems. For that to happen it needs a solid database. The Department of Economics and Statistics seems to have lost its moorings in the last two decades. A Government that fears to critically look at statistics is in a self-deception mode. Statistics is a good guide to how well or how poorly the Government is performing and provides the opportunity to improve things. The reality is – child labour is rampant in Meghalaya!
