Bachpan Bachao Andolan

Last updated November 29, 2023

Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA; Save Childhood Movement) is an India-based children's rights movement. It was started in 1980 by Nobel Laureate Mr. Kailash Satyarthi. It campaigns against bonded labour, child labour and human trafficking, and promotes the right to education for all children. It has so far freed close to 100,000 children from servitude, including bonded labourers, and helped in their re-integration, rehabilitation and education.^[1]

Purpose

The stated vision of Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) is "to create a child-friendly society where all children are free from exploitation and receive a free and quality education."It aims to identify, liberate, rehabilitate and educate children in servitude through direct intervention, child and community participation, coalition building, consumer action, promoting ethical trade practices and mass mobilisation.^[2]

History

BBA was formed in 1980 by Mr. Kailash Satyarthi, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate for 2014, who was appalled by the plight of child slavery across South Asia. Child labour has been socially accepted and widely practised in the region for generations, being seen as a necessary outcome of poverty. BBA became the first organization in India to highlight the issue and spawned the wider South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude (SACCS).

Strategy

The work of BBA takes three strands, being prevention, protection and rehabilitation.^[3]

Prevention is encouraged through community intervention. Public awareness campaigns and efforts to publicise the problems of child labour to consumers are important facets in this activity, as are initiatives at the grassroots level with villages in India where the practice has been tolerated by both employers and parents. The BBA's Child-Friendly Village program (in Hindi, Bal Mitra Gram, or BMG), has been accepted as a best practice model for development and elimination of child labour and trafficking. This program recognises those villages where child labour no longer exists, all children are enrolled in school and they have access to their own public assembly (the Bal Panchayat) that is officially recognised by the elected village council (the Gram Panchayat ).^[3]^[4]
Protection: where possible, the Indian legislative provisions are used to restrain and eliminate the practices of child labour and trafficking, and campaigns for tightening and developing the legislation are pursued. BBA works to recover fines from employers and traffickers and also to obtain monies owed to those whose labour has been used.^[5]
Rehabilitation: BBA tries to ensure that rehabilitation remains the responsibility of the State (Govt.). Statutory rehabilitation is one of the key components of legal action. This includes a fine of 20,000 Rs. on the employer, in cases of child labour, a further compensation of Rs. 20,000 from the Govt., apart from other Govt. social welfare schemes.

In trafficking and child labour cases requiring transit rehabilitation and other support through residential care, the rescued children find their new life at BBA's transit rehabilitation centres - Mukti Ashram, situated at the outskirts of Delhi and Bal Ashram, situated in Virat Nagar, Rajasthan. Mukti Ashram is an immediate shelter for the children who are rescued from Delhi and its surroundings. They are immediately provided with medical help, food, clothing, recreational facilities, sports, theatre and counselling during their stay until the legal formalities are completed and they are repatriated and reunited with their families. On the other hand, children who do not have families to fall back upon finding a new home at Bal Ashram. Here, Children stay for a longer duration, receive basic as well as formal education as well as vocational training which may help them earn their living when they grow up.

Public Interest Litigations: BBA works on policy and legislative changes through effectively implementing the legal process and approaching the Supreme Court of India or various High Courts for making and enforcing policies in favour of children. This includes a number of judgements/ orders including the recent orders:

Upholding the Constitutional validity of Right to Education
Prohibition of employment of children in Circuses
Recovery of fines and cancellation/ sealing of establishments employing child labourers.
Protection of girls being trafficked through unregulated placement agencies.

Campaigns

BBA has led the largest civil society initiative in the world against child labour in the form of the Global March Against Child Labour in 1998, leading to ILO Convention 182 on Worst Forms of Child Labour

One of the recent campaigns of BBA include:

Child Labour Free India Campaign: for an amendment in Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 for total abolition on child labour till the age of 14 yrs., in line with ILO Convention 138.^[6]

Right to Education Campaign:^[7]

In 2001, BBA had led the campaign demanding Fundamental Right to Education, with over 180 Members of Parliament and a 15,000 km long march across the country, resulting in a constitutional amendment and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act.

Child Domestic Labour campaign^[8]

6487 Letters sent to all judges in High Court, Supreme Court, Education department, social welfare department, Commissions, members Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha etc. to create awareness
16140 Stickers pasted in total 320 villages and RWAs across the country.
In Delhi, 225 Resident Welfare Associations pledged to make their home child labour free.

Mukti Caravan (campaign against child trafficking for forced labour)^[9]

Covered 158 villages in UP, Bihar, Delhi and Rajasthan
750 street plays, approx. 3500 wall writings, rallies, Public Vigilance Committees 70 formed, 250 schools reached
Follow up of 137 child labourers, 2 child marriages stopped
Complaint received – 350 approx

Missing Children Campaign: biggest ever research undertaken on missing children, resulting in Supreme Court issuing notice to all states and union territories on missing children.^[10]

Related Research Articles

Murlidhar Devidas Amte, popularly known as Baba Amte, was an Indian social worker and social activist known particularly for his work for the rehabilitation and empowerment of people suffering from leprosy. He has received numerous awards and prizes including the Padma Vibhushan, the Dr. Ambedkar International Award, the Gandhi Peace Prize, the Ramon Magsaysay Award, the Templeton Prize and the Jamnalal Bajaj Award. He is also known as the modern Gandhi of India.

Iqbal Masih was a Pakistani Christian child labourer and activist who campaigned against abusive child labour in Pakistan.

BBA may refer to:

GoodWeave International is a network of non-profit organizations dedicated to ending illegal child labour in the rug making industry. Founded in 1994 by children's rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi, it provides a certification program that allows companies that pass inspection to attach a logo certifying that their product is made without child labour. It is an example of a product-oriented multistakeholder governance group.

Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) is an Indian social movement spearheaded by native tribals (adivasis), farmers, environmentalists and human rights activists against a number of large dam projects across the Narmada River, which flows through the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat is one of the biggest dams on the river and was one of the first focal points of the movement. It is part of the Narmada Dam Project, whose main aim is to provide irrigation and electricity to people of the above states.

Bandhua Mukti Morcha (BMM) (Hindi: बंधुआ मुक्ति मोर्चा, or Bonded Labour Liberation Front is a non-governmental organisation in India working to end bonded labour. Based in New Delhi, it was founded in 1981 by Swami Agnivesh who continued as its chairman until his death in 2020.

Kailash Satyarthi is an Indian social reformer who campaigned against child labor in India and advocated the universal right to education. In 2014, he was the co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Malala Yousafzai, "for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education." He is the founder of multiple social activist organizations, including Bachpan Bachao Andolan, Global March Against Child Labour, Global Campaign for Education, Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation, and Bal Ashram Trust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colin Gonsalves</span> Indian lawyer

Colin Gonsalves is a designated Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of India and the founder of Human Rights Law Network (HRLN). He specializes in human rights protection, labour law and public interest law. He has been awarded Right Livelihood Award for the year 2017 for "his tireless and innovative use of public interest litigation over three decades to secure fundamental human rights for India’s most marginalised and vulnerable citizens." Considered a pioneer in the field of public interest litigation in India, he has brought several cases dealing with economic, social and cultural rights. Most of these cases, decided by the Supreme Court, have been set as precedents.

Lindsay Lohan's Indian Journey is a 2010 British documentary film directed and produced by Maninderpal Sahota. It is presented and narrated by American actress Lindsay Lohan. In the hour long documentary, Lohan talks to victims of human trafficking in Delhi, Kolkata and a village in West Bengal. She also talks to a former trafficker, parents of trafficked children and visits the Sanlaap women's and children's shelter in Kolkata. The documentary was filmed in India over a period of a week in December 2009. Lohan became involved in the project after meeting Sahota at a social event and expressing an interest in participating.

Claire Phillips is a British portrait artist, whose paintings generally have a social or political narrative. Her portraits of prisoners on death row and children rescued from slave labour have received wide media coverage.

National Alliance of People's Movements is an alliance of alter-globalisation activist groups in India. It is an umbrella organisation for various civil society organisations and individuals working towards similar goals.

Alok Agarwal is an Indian social activist and political leader associated with the Aam Admi Party (AAP). The State Convener of Aam Admi Party Madhya Pradesh, Alok is also a member of National Executive Committee. In 1990, Alok joined the Narmada Bachao Andolan, and for the last three decades, has been a key activist in building up this social movement and struggle of tribals, farmers, environmentalists, and human rights workers against the construction of big dams being built across the Narmada river in Central India. and for securing the rights and improved rehabilitation for the millions of farmers and tribals displaced by these dams. Since January 2014, he is also a member of the Aam Aadmi Party of India and contested the Lok Sabha 2014 polls from Khandwa Parliamentary Constituency in Madhya Pradesh.

The 15273 / 74 Raxaul–Anand Vihar Terminal Satyagrah Express is an Express train belonging to Indian Railways - East Central Railway zone and is one of two trains that run between Raxaul Junction and Anand Vihar Terminal in India. The other train is the Sadbhawna Express.

The 2014 Nobel Peace Prize was shared, in two equal parts, between Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai "for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education". Satyarthi is from India, the seventh person from his country to win a Nobel Prize and the second to win the Peace Prize after Mother Teresa, while Yousafzai is a Muslim from Pakistan, the second Nobel Prize winner from her country after Abdus Salam, the forty-seventh woman to win the Nobel Prize, and at the age of 17 years, the youngest winner of a Nobel Prize in any field.

Muhammad Ehsan Ullah Khan is the founder of the Bonded Labour Liberation Front (BLLF) of Pakistan, an organization that has freed more than 100,000 slaves in that country.

Bal Raksha Bharat, commonly known as Save the Children India, is a non-profit organization working to improve the lives of marginalized children in India since 2008. Headquartered in Gurugram, and registered as Bal Raksha Bharat in India, the organization is a member of the international Save the Children Alliance.

Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Aandolan is a people's movement that emerged in the backdrop of massive slum demolitions in Mumbai in 2003–04. It started in 2005 as a struggle for housing rights in Mumbai, and continues to fight for rights of slum-dwellers and those cheated by the builders in various rehabilitation and redevelopment projects, including slum-dwellers, those affected by the Slum Rehabilitation Act and the unorganised sector workers. It is a part of the National Alliance of People's Movements and is led by Medha Patkar.

The Price of Free is a documentary about Nobel Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi. The film, formerly known as Kailash, premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and debuted on YouTube in November 2018. The Price of Free was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Social Issue Documentary at the 40th News and Documentary Emmy Awards.

<i>Jhalki</i> 2019 Indian Hindi-language drama film

Jhalki (transl. Glimpse) is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Brahmanand S. Siingh, produced by Brahmanand S. Siingh and Annand Chavan (OMG), co-produced by Vinayak Gawande and Jayesh Parekh and co-directed by Tanvi Jain. The film featuring Boman Irani, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Divya Dutta and Sanjay Suri, follows a 9-year-old street girl Jhalki, setting out to find her 7-year-old brother against the backdrop of the child slavery trade. The trailer of the film was released at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2019.

Payal Jangid is an Indian children's rights activist. She campaigns against child marriage, child labor and for the right to education for girls.

References

↑ "Kailash Satyarthi: The activist who made child rights fashionable". news.biharprabha.com. IANS. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
↑ "Bachpan Bachao Andolan :: Save the Childhood Movement". Archived from the original on 2012-06-21. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
1 2 "Bachpan Bachao Andolan :: Save the Childhood Movement". Archived from the original on 2012-05-21. Retrieved 2012-06-14.
↑ "Bachpan Bachao Andolan :: Save the Childhood Movement". Archived from the original on 2012-05-20. Retrieved 2012-06-14.
↑ "Bachpan Bachao Andolan :: Save the Childhood Movement". Archived from the original on 2013-05-12. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
↑ "Child Labour Free India Campaign by Bachpan Bachao Andolan". Archived from the original on 2012-05-11. Retrieved 2012-06-14.
↑ "Bachpan Bachao Andolan :: Save the Childhood Movement". Archived from the original on 2012-05-20. Retrieved 2012-06-14.
↑ "Bachpan Bachao Andolan :: Save the Childhood Movement". Archived from the original on 2012-05-20. Retrieved 2012-06-15.
↑ "Bachpan Bachao Andolan :: Save the Childhood Movement". Archived from the original on 2012-05-20. Retrieved 2018-10-31.
↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-23. Retrieved 2012-06-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

External links

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "Kailash Satyarthi: The activist who made child rights fashionable". news.biharprabha.com. IANS. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014.

[2] "Bachpan Bachao Andolan :: Save the Childhood Movement". Archived from the original on 2012-06-21. Retrieved 2012-06-12.

[bba.org.in-3] 1 2 "Bachpan Bachao Andolan :: Save the Childhood Movement". Archived from the original on 2012-05-21. Retrieved 2012-06-14.

[4] "Bachpan Bachao Andolan :: Save the Childhood Movement". Archived from the original on 2012-05-20. Retrieved 2012-06-14.

[5] "Bachpan Bachao Andolan :: Save the Childhood Movement". Archived from the original on 2013-05-12. Retrieved 2019-10-08.

[6] "Child Labour Free India Campaign by Bachpan Bachao Andolan". Archived from the original on 2012-05-11. Retrieved 2012-06-14.

[7] "Bachpan Bachao Andolan :: Save the Childhood Movement". Archived from the original on 2012-05-20. Retrieved 2012-06-14.

[8] "Bachpan Bachao Andolan :: Save the Childhood Movement". Archived from the original on 2012-05-20. Retrieved 2012-06-15.

[9] "Bachpan Bachao Andolan :: Save the Childhood Movement". Archived from the original on 2012-05-20. Retrieved 2018-10-31.

[10] "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-23. Retrieved 2012-06-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]