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Summary: The Bachpan Bachao Andolan/South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude has adopted some unique strategies in its campaign to free children who are forced into slave labour. The South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude/Bachpan Bachao Andolan (SACCS/BBA) is a civil society initiative set up to fight the practice of child labour. Founded in 1980, by a small group of individuals, the SACCS/BBA today comprises thousands of individual supporters under the banner 'Bachpan Bachao Andolan'. It has a network of over 700 NGOs, trade unions and human rights organisations. More than 60,000 children have been released from slavery. SACCS/BBA chairperson Kailash Satyarthi claims that though there are millions of adult and child bonded labourers in India, Union and state governments have never been seriously concerned enough to abolish the practice. There are no scientific surveys, no activation of district and sub-divisional vigilance committees and no political will to punish the culprits and rehabilitate the labourers. In 1999, the SACCS/BBA initiated a four-step strategy to ensure that all children go to school. The strategy was called 'Child-friendly Village' or 'Bal Mitra Gram' (BMG). The four steps adopted were: the withdrawal of child labour from the village, the enrolment of all children in schools, the formation of a bal panchayat (children's parliament) and making children's voices heard at adult panchayats. The BMG has helped children put forward their problems and grievances before adult panchayats and create a space for them in communities, schools and families. In most rural areas, the quality of education imparted is poor due to teacher absenteeism, lack of infrastructure facilities such as school buildings, non-availability of textbooks and reading aids, etc. By highlighting and addressing these drawbacks, the BMG has succeeded in improving the quality of education in a number of villages in Bihar, Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. In Ramchandranagar, a village 50 km from Patna, none of the 200-odd children who belong to the dalit community had ever been to school. With help from the villagers, who contributed a little money and building material, the BMG constructed a school building in the village. Later, they were assisted by the village panchayat. Today, every child in Ramchandranagar attends school. Ajay Kumar, a child labourer released from bondage, was selected as the sarpanch of the bal panchayat in Ramchandranagar. He started up an anti-liquor campaign in his village and the surrounding villages, reporting each wayward case to the police and the administration and succeeding in shutting down liquor dens. He even threatened to fast unto death to get his alcoholic father to break the habit. While spreading awareness about the importance of education, the BMG also ensures that the issue of gender inequality is addressed. Two-thirds of children rescued from work places are girls. So, in the bal panchayat, priority is given to girls during elections for child leaders. Most children's parliaments are therefore headed by girls who, in turn, take up issues related to their development at the adult panchayat. In June 2002, members from various bal panchayats gathered at Bal Ashram (a rehabilitation centre for boys in Jaipur) to elect a leader, deputy leader and secretaries of the bal mitra mahapanchayat. Ajay Kumar was elected head of the national bal mitra mahapanchayat executive committee. The SACCS/BBA has a reputation for innovative initiatives and multi-faceted interventions, which include secret raids-and-rescue operations to free working children. The children are then given vocational training and education at various rehabilitation centres like Mukti Ashram, Bal Ashram and Girls' Collective. On May 15, 2000, the organisation carried out a raid in Handia tehsil in Uttar Pradesh's Allahabad district. Thirty-three child labourers were rescued from a carpet factory, where they were working in deplorable conditions without any wages and subject to all kinds of mistreatment and cruelty. Likewise, on April 28, 2001, 26 bonded labourers were released in a raid at a brick kiln factory in Bilaspur district in Madhya Pradesh. The process of raid-and-rescue is a considerably risky one. Sometimes, the owners of establishments employing child labour even physically attack activists. The SACCS/BBA launches a campaign every year, in the months of July and August, to generate awareness among children about the importance of education and the need to attend school. The campaign is called 'School Chalo Abhiyan'. Around 20,000 children participated in the campaign in July-August 2003, in seven Indian states. During the campaign around 9,000 children (released child labourers) were enrolled at various primary schools across the country. The campaign covered 40 districts, under various ongoing programmes -- Bal Mitra Gram, Intensive Action Area (IAA) and the Mukti Caravan Campaign. "We have initiated 'Stop Migration' campaigns too," says Kailash Satyarthi. He adds: "We are taking ... like street plays, skits, folk songs, picketing, dharnas and demonstrations to different parts of the country from where children migrate to various hazardous industries." The SACCS/BBA has made a difference not only in India but also in several African and Latin American countries. In particular, it successfully set up the Rugmark Foundation to monitor, certify and affix labels to carpets guaranteeing that they have not been made by bonded child labour and are eligible for export.