Thirteen year old Sivakami is a pleasant, pony tailed girl whom I see every
day. She is the culinary assistant and assistant waiter at the small mess where
I have breakfast and meals on a regular basis. Besides being cheap, the food one
gets in such messes that can be seen all over Tamilnadu is of excellent quality.However, the quality and low expense comes up
with a specific price tag. The mess depends mainly upon labour of Sivakami as well as her
elder brother Sivanesan, who is studying for his Plus
2. the only silver lining is that both Sivanesan as well as Sivakami have
been allowed to continue with their studies.But this is not the case for many others. The
Planning Commission’s report on Child labour says that
according to the 2001 Census there are
1.26 crores economically active children in the
age-group of 5-14 years. Among the
states, Uttar Pradesh accounts for a larger share of close to one fourth of all
child labour in India followed by Andhra Pradesh.
