Former child labourers kick off awareness campaign

NEW DELHI - A group of seven former child labourers Saturday kicked off a week-long sensitisation drive here against the evil of child labour. The campaign is through the medium of street plays and theatre.

A part of the theatre group, Mukti Caravan, the children are all above the age of 18 and have been rescued by the child rights organisation Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) in the past.

“All the seven members of the group are boys who have been rescued from different places like dhabas and factory units in the capital by BBA in the past. They were then sent to school and given shelter by us. They later decided to stay on with us and take up the role of an activist to spread their message against child labour through theatre,” Umesh Gupta of BBA said.

The first stop of the group will be in Lajpat Nagar in south Delhi where they will perform a street play at Good Things, a store that promotes child labour free products.

Besides sensitising people, the campaign will try and encourage people to sign online petitions asking the government to enforce child labour laws more strictly.