Indian parents bring children to work... to work

AT an age when most children are either at home playing or starting out in school, these youngsters in India are putting in a day's work on a building site.

Struggling to hold up shovels which are as tall as they are, the children are helping to build drainage works in front of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi in time for the Commonwealth Games which will take place in October.

They shovel stones into baskets which are then carried away by other children as their parents work nearby on the same construction project.

Parents who bring their children to work on the site have been promised extra bonuses, such as money for bread and milk for their children, on top of their pay. Children and parents also receive an additional meal.

The Games are due to be held in the Indian capital from October 3 to 14, but concerns remain about the construction of sporting and transport infrastructure.

The sheer scale of the project has drawn an enormous population of migrant workers from all over India.

And now it seems children have also been drafted to get the stadium and its surrounding area finished on time.

This week, the High Court of Delhi has sought a response from the Government over the alleged failure to provide all the benefits of labour laws to workers involved in construction work for the Commonwealth Games.

The Commonwealth Games Federation has repeatedly expressed concern about the slow pace of work for the Games, which will involve 6000 athletes from the Commonwealth, including Australia, competing in 17 sports.

Federation president Mike Fennell said in December he was distressed by a report by the CGF evaluation commission that two major venues would not be ready until June, barely three months before the opening ceremony.

The commission said work on the Nehru Stadium, where the opening and closing ceremonies and the athletics program will be held, and the swimming complex was way behind schedule.