Numbers tell the sad story - an estimated 60 million child labourers in India but only 670,000 violations of the law detected in eight years and just 22,588 convictions.
Behind the bland government figures are the millions of young children working in roadside eateries, slaving away in glass factories, hunched up over carpet looms or sweeping and cooking in homes in blatant violation of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act.
The children are a visible proof of the failure to implement the law, the inbuilt lacunae in the legislation itself and poor rehabilitation policies.
(excerpt from the Deccan Chronicle)