TV faces child labour accusations

The workers strike that raged the industry has barely settled and television finds itself in yet another wrangle. Back in September, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights had objected to children below the age of 16 participating in reality shows. This time around the very presence of children in television is being questioned. Trading guns at TV channels and producers is the government of Maharashtra who has sent notices to TV channels and producers who have employed children in their shows.



Confirming the news, Maharashtra’s Assistant Labour Commissioner Shailendra Pol says, “We have sent notices to TV channels and producers who are employing children. These notices were sent on Friday, 12 December. Our major cause of concern is that for years, these parties have not complied with the laws. As per the Child Labour Act of 1966, children below the age of 18 should work only between 8.00 am to 7.00 pm. All together, they can only work for 5 hours that includes one hour of lunch. There can be an addition of one hour. When this is not followed then, such parties can be tried under Section 7, 8, 9, 11. 12 and 13 of the Child Labour Act.”

When asked what the areas of concerns are, Pol replied, “We will have to ascertain that after a thorough inspection by our officers. If there’s any breach then we will ask these parties to strictly comply with the laws.”

This issue was raised again when Bal Praffullata, an NGO in Mumbai, had ********d to the Maharasthra Labour Commissioner, “We are not against children showcasing their talent but what we want to stop the commercialisation in the name of art. To cite an example, a cough syrup ad had a child drinking the syrup eight times so as to get the shot right. We haven’t received more such complaints and it’s time such exploitation stopped,” says Bal Prafullata’s project manager Santosh Shinde.



Expectedly, none of the channel heads nor the producers came forward to speak on this issue but reportedly they’ve also denied receiving notice. We spoke to a father whose 12-yeard-old child had participated in Zee TV’s L’il Champs and Chota Packet Bada Dhamaka. “Most realty shows shoot two episodes in one day. That consumes about 10-12 hours a day. The performance barely takes about two hours. Children get adequate rest and are looked after really well,” says Baldev Rathore (name changed).

A source from Uttaran, which has child actor Sparsh playing the lead, says, “On an average, we shoot for about 4-5 hours a day with Sparsh. We don’t want her to miss out on her studies. Besides, we take utmost care of her.”

With every party defending its territory, one can safely assume that we’re in for collision course.