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06-16-2005, 02:42 PM
Aged five, this boy works in a police station to keep his family fed
By Peter Foster in New Delhi
(Filed: 16/06/2005)
A boy of five has been forced to take a job in the Indian police station where his late father worked.
In a case that highlights the huge problem of child labour in the sub-continent, Saurabh Nagvanshi spends his days running small errands, such as delivering reports to desks and carrying cups of tea for adult officers.
He was given the post at a police station in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh on "compassionate grounds" after the death of his father.
The practice, in which jobs are passed on within a family when a public servant dies to compensate for the loss of income, was instituted by the British. Although illegal, it remains common in rural areas.
The boy's mother, Ishwari Devi Nagvanshi, justified putting her son to work by claiming that, with a minimal welfare state and a family of five to feed, she had little choice. "In order to run the house, I had no option but to make my child work," she told the BBC. "It's not nice. He should be jumping around and playing at his age."
Saurabh is paid 2,500 rupees (£32) a month. He is likely to remain in his job until he is 18. Then, if lucky, he might become a police driver or a sepoy, the lowest-ranking officer.
Already Saurabh has learned about reporting for duty and signing in a register for his salary, which is given to his family, who live 68 miles outside Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh.
More on this Story (http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/06/16/wboy16.xml)
By Peter Foster in New Delhi
(Filed: 16/06/2005)
A boy of five has been forced to take a job in the Indian police station where his late father worked.
In a case that highlights the huge problem of child labour in the sub-continent, Saurabh Nagvanshi spends his days running small errands, such as delivering reports to desks and carrying cups of tea for adult officers.
He was given the post at a police station in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh on "compassionate grounds" after the death of his father.
The practice, in which jobs are passed on within a family when a public servant dies to compensate for the loss of income, was instituted by the British. Although illegal, it remains common in rural areas.
The boy's mother, Ishwari Devi Nagvanshi, justified putting her son to work by claiming that, with a minimal welfare state and a family of five to feed, she had little choice. "In order to run the house, I had no option but to make my child work," she told the BBC. "It's not nice. He should be jumping around and playing at his age."
Saurabh is paid 2,500 rupees (£32) a month. He is likely to remain in his job until he is 18. Then, if lucky, he might become a police driver or a sepoy, the lowest-ranking officer.
Already Saurabh has learned about reporting for duty and signing in a register for his salary, which is given to his family, who live 68 miles outside Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh.
More on this Story (http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/06/16/wboy16.xml)