In Photos: UP’s Young Corn Sellers – the Children of a Lesser God?

Every 100 metres or so, there are children selling corn along this busy Noida expressway on the outskirts of Delhi.

On World Day Against Child Labour, the International Labour Organisation said 168 million children are labourers, or about one in nine children overall.

India, in its 2011 census, estimated that the country had 8.3 million child labourers. The state of Uttar Pradesh alone accounted for 1.8 million of that total.

Every 100 metres (330 feet) or so along the busy Noida expressway on the outskirts of New Delhi, you'll find a child selling corn – quite possibly a child too young to be working legally.

Twelve-year-old Prakash is one of them. Lolling amid the discarded husks from earlier sales, he doesn't seem bothered by the 40 degree Celsius heat (100 degrees Fahrenheit) or the buzzing flies. "We all work together and live together," he says, gesturing towards 15 or so other boys working along the highway.

Each is dropped off by their employer every morning with a sack full of boiled corn. They spend their days trying to flag down drivers. They don't leave until their sacks are empty, sometimes 12 hours later.

Are all as young as Prakash? There's no way to be sure. Each seems to change their age with each answer, often forgetting the number they previously mentioned. Most are careful, however, to use a number above 14 – the legal age in India to work in non-family enterprises. Young men, whom the boys claim are their elder brothers, patrol the highway on motorcycles, ensuring business runs smoothly.

Most comply, anxious to keep jobs that pay about $80 (Rs 5,150) per month – far more than they could earn back home. All the boys have moved to Noida, southeast of New Delhi, from rural villages in search of work.

UNICEF says there has been an overall decline in child labour in India, but that urban areas have seen an increase. (AP Photo/Tsering Topgyal)

Meanwhile, Prakash and the other boys are still selling their corn late in the afternoon. Their sacks are not yet empty.

(This article has been published in an arrangement with the Associated Press)

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