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Child workers demand practical solutions to their woes

Also appeal to the Government to curb corruption among NGOs Members of the Bal Mazdoor Union, an organisation formed and run by child labourers themselves, staged a demonstration at Jantar Mantar here on Thursday demanding that the Ministry of Women and Child Development come up with practical programmes for alleviating their problems. They also appealed to the Government to curb corruption among those non-government organisations which have allegedly amassed money in the name of working for the problems of child labourers. During the demonstration, which was supported by research scholars and students of Jawaharlal Nehru University and Delhi University, the child labourers pointed out that they were highly vulnerable to exploitation of all kinds on the streets of the Capital. Memorandum submitted In a memorandum given to the Minister of Women and Child Development, the child labourers pointed out that their employers, anti-social elements, policemen and even passers-by subject them to economic and sexual exploitation. The memorandum also specifically named a particular NGO which had allegedly amassed huge amount of wealth but not done anything for child labourers. In a memorandum they demanded that the Government should design and implement practical initiatives through its own channels; it should put curbs on NGOs which only make money in the name of working to alleviate child labour; the child labourers' voice should be taken care of when programmes for them are envisaged; the Government should control foreign aid being garnered in the name of child development by the NGOs and that transparency should be ensured in their functioning.