Ruksana, Sheeba and Chandni are children of daily wage labourers from the eastern region, who pick or catch fish, living in a bustling resettlement colony in the northern periphery of New Delhi. 

(Names of the children have been changed to protect their identity)

 

Despite the 'Right to Education Act 2009' these children do not go to school. The Act mandates free and compulsory education to all children between the ages of 6 to 14 years. However, the overall administrative apathy towards children of minorities in the country, is a major hurdle in these children getting enrolled in a school.
 

Living near the drying fishing nets that can be seen here, the children spend the day retrieving tiny fish that have remained stuck to the nets after the owner of the nets have taken all those fish of commercial value out for sale. The big fish are sold to affluent buyers in the up-market residential areas of the city.
 

Parents of these children earn an equivalent of 4 to 7 USD per day for their daily labour, fishing. As there are no water bodies within Delhi available for fishing, they travel about 30 to 50 kilometers to districts in neighbouring states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, where ponds and other water bodies provide the fish crop. They work under big contractors who own dozens of fishing nets and make huge profits from this fishing business.
 

'We don't go fishing with our father. We like to play here and pick up the fish when the nets return home' said Ruksana with a smile on her face.