From the archive record
For every hundred residents of Delhi, there is one person engaged in recycling. And among them are mostly underage kids. It is really ironical that the worst forms of child labour prevail in Delhi in a very high magnitude. At least half a million children are working in full-time jobs here. Mostly they are trafficked from their native villages. Some accompany their migrant worker parents and they live in slums. Rag-picking has been brought under the definition of a hazardous industry, but despite that 50,000 children are rag-pickers. None of the work children do is voluntary, if the child is below 18. Rag- pickers go to work due to some compulsion. There are layers of middlemen who profit from the child's labour. It is forced labour under the legal definition. Trafficked children are held