Child Labour in India

Children are always considered next to the pious versions of the Almighty who always strive to inculcate happiness, joy, innocence and hope. The future of a nation is determined by the way it treats its children and its women, after all, children imply a hope, a hope to strengthen not only the economy of the country, but also to provide the country with skilled human resources who have access to the basic amenities essential for the existence coupled with the tenets of the education in India. It is the moral duty of every citizen for the country to ensure that the childhood of our children is protected and not marred with instances like that of child labour which arise out of poverty and helplessness.

What is Child Labour

Child labour typically means the employment of children in any manual work with or without payment. Child labour is not only limited to India, it happens to be a global phenomenon.

As far as India is concerned, the issue is a vicious one as children in India have historically been helping parents at their farms and other primitive activities. Another concept that needs explanation is the concept of bonded labour which is one of the most common forms of exploitation. Bonded labour means the children are forced to work as employees in lieu of payment of debt by the parents due to exorbitant rates of repayment of interest.

Also associated with the concept of bonded labour is the concept of urban child labour wherein the labouers are the street children who spend most of their childhood on the streets.

UNICEF has categorized child work into three categories:

1. Within the family- Children are engaged in domestic household tasks without pay.

2. Within the family but outside the home- Example- agricultural labourers, domestic maids, migrant labourers etc.

3. Outside the family- Example- commercial shops in restaurants and jobs, prostitution etc.

Causes of Rising Instances of Child Labour

Over population, illiteracy, poverty, debt trap are some of the common causes which are instrumental in this issue.

Overburdened, debt-trapped parents fail to understand the importance of a normal childhood under the pressures of their own troubles and thus it leads to the poor emotional and mental balance of a child’s brain which is not prepared to undertake rigorous field or domestic tasks.

National and Multinational companies also recruit children in garment industries for more work and less pay which is absolutely unethical.

According to UNICEF children are employed because they can be easily exploited. By considering various causes of child labour, we can make a strategy to curb or eliminate child labour.

Causes of Child Labour

• The curse of poverty

The main reason for child labour is poverty. Most of the country’s population suffers from poverty. Due to poverty, parents cannot afford the studies of their children and make them earn their wages from a tender age. In fact, they are well aware of the grief of losing their loved ones to poverty many times. They send their small children to work in factories, homes and shops. They are made to work to increase the income of their poor families at the earliest. These decisions are taken only for the purpose of eking out a living for their family. But such decisions shatter children’s physical and mental state as they lose their childhood at an early age.

• Lack of educational resources

Even after so many years of our country’s independence, there are instances where children are deprived of their fundamental right to education. There are thousands of villages in our country where there are no proper facilities of education. And if there is any, it is miles away. Such administrative laxity is also responsible for child labour. The worst sufferers are the poor families for whom getting their children educated is a dream.

Sometimes the lack of affordable school for the education of poor children leaves them illiterate and helpless. Children are forced to live without studying. And sometimes such compulsions push them into the trap of child labour.

• Social and economic backwardness

Social and economic backwardness is also the main reason for child labour. Socially backward parents do not send their children to receive education. Consequently, their children are trapped in child labour. Due to illiteracy, many times parents are not aware of various information and schemes for child education. Lack of education, illiteracy and consequently the lack of awareness of their rights among them have encouraged child labour. Also, uneducated parents do not know about the impact of child labour on their children. The conditions of poverty and unemployment give rural families a compulsive basis for engaging children in various tasks. In fact, feudal, zamindari system and its existing remnants continue to perpetuate the problem of child labour.

• Addiction, disease or disability

In many families, due to addiction, disease or disability, there is no earning, and the child’s wages are the sole means of family’s sustenance. Population growth is also increasing unemployment, which has adverse impact on child labour prevention. So, parents, instead of sending their children to school, are willing to send them to work to increase family income.

• Poor compliance of laws

In modern society, laws stipulate that citizens have the right to receive good education, avail good health services and take care of their health. Every citizen has the right to play the game he enjoys, and enjoy all the means of entertainment, and when he grows, to obtain employment where he can earn well and contribute to society and nation. But in the absence of proper compliance of the laws, child labour is continuing. It can be prohibited only by strict adherence to the related laws.

• Lure of cheap labour

In the greed of cheap labour, some shopkeepers, companies and factory owners employ children so that they have to pay less to them and it amounts to employing cheap labour. Shopkeepers and small businessmen make children work as much as they do to the elder ones, but pay half the wages. In the case of child labour, there is less chance for theft, greed or misappropriation of money too.

With the development of globalization, privatization, and consumerist culture, the need for cheap labour and its linkage with economic needs of poor families have encouraged child labour.

• Family tradition

It is a shocking but a bitter truth that in our society it is very easy to give child labour the name of tradition or custom in many families. The culture and traditional family values play their role in increasing the problem of child labour at the voluntary level. Many families believe that a good life is not their destiny, and the age-old tradition of labour is the only source of their earning and livelihood.

Small businessmen also waste the lives of their children in the greediness of perpetuating their family trade with lower production costs. Some families also believe that working from childhood onwards will make their children more diligent and worldly-wise in terms of future life. They believe that early employment will give rise to their children’s personal development, which will make it easier for them to plan their life ahead.

• Discrimination between boys and girls

We have been conditioned into believing that girls are weaker and there is no equal comparison between boys and girls. Even today, in our society, we will find many examples where girls are deprived of studies. Considering girls weaker than boys deprives them of school and education. In labourer families, girls are found to be engaged in labour along with their parents.

Child Labour Laws in India

The problem of child labour in India had become an issue of concern for one and all post Independence. The drafting committee of the India constitution wanted to formulate laws on their own without seeking recommendations from other countries with this regard. Since, India had been under the exploitative regime of the British, it only made sense that the provisions were devised keeping in mind the forms of exploitative labour that India had witnessed under the atrocious regime.

The primitive laws that were formed to prohibit child labour in India were when the Employment of Children Act, 1938 was passed. But this act failed miserably because it failed to address the cause of poverty as it is poverty that drives children into forced labour.

The Indian Parliament time and again has passed Laws and Acts to ensure the protection of children from child labour. The Fundamental Rights enshrined in our Constitution prohibit child labour below the age of 14 years in any factor or mine or engaged in any hazardous employment under Article 24. Apart from this, it is also provided under Article 21-A that State shall provide infrastructure and resources for free and compulsory education for children of the age six upto 14 years.

There exists a set of laws which under the Constitution govern the protection of children from child labour. The Factories Act of 1948 prevents the employment of children below 14 years in any factory. The Mines Act of 1952 prohibits the employment of children below the age of 18 years. The Child Labor (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of 1986 prevents the employment of children below the age of 14 years in life-threatening occupations identified in a list by the law. Further, the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of children Act of 2000 made the employment of children a punishable offence.

Ironically, despite this huge array of laws, there seems to be no improvement in the working conditions of the child labourers and employers also freely flout the provisions of the Act covering the prohibition of child labour.

It needs to be highlighted that the violation of these provisions means a deprivation of the basic human rights and demeaning the childhood of the children. The law also isn’t very clear as to how where can the children work. The Acts covers only 10 percent of the total working children and thus not applicable to the unorganized sector. The Act also exempts the family of the child labourer from its purview if they all are working with the same employee as that of the child. Although the Act prohibits the employment of children in certain hazardous industries and processes, it does not define what constitutes hazardous work. It only provides a list of hazardous occupations.

Role of International Organizations in Fighting Child Labour

The International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPECL) was launched under the programme of International Labour Organization in 1991 to work towards the elimination of child labour by creating awareness about child labour as a global issue using national platforms. India was among the first nations to sign the MOU with IPECL to help in combating child labour.

National Labour Project (NCLP) is one of the major programmes implemented throughout the country under which seven child labour projects were set up in the year 1988. Rehabilitation is also one of the major policies that have been adopted by the government of India to reduce the incidence of child labour in India.

Unfortunately, the concerned authorities are unable to combat the rising cases of child labour because of varied reasons. They fail to establish the correct age if the child due to the lack of birth proofs and at times fake proofs. Not much is being done on creating the awareness among people. Even if efforts are being made, they cater to a limited population and the endurance among the authorities is not visible. A lot of laxity can be observed during the conduct of awareness programmes. There is still a need to address the issue on global platforms time and again with stringent policy framework in place.

How to Eliminate and Stop Child Labour

Abolition of child trafficking, elimination of poverty, free and compulsory education, and basic standards of living can reduce the problem to a great extent. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund can help in eradicating poverty by providing loan to the developing countries.

Strict implementation of labour laws is also essential in order to prevent exploitation by parties or multinational companies. Lot many amendments are required in the present child labour prohibition law in order to implement strict measures to control the situation. The minimum of age of fourteen years needs to be increased to at least eighteen. The list of hazardous activities which are present in the law needs to include more occupations which have been left out of the purview of the hazardous activities.

Let’s learn how to stop child labour and solve the problem of child labour:

• To prevent child labour, incidence of poverty needs to be reduced first, so that poor people do not have to send their children to earn their bread and butter.
• Spreading literacy and education is a potent weapon against the practice of child labour, because illiterate persons do not understand the implications of child labour.
• Another way to stop child labour is to eliminate or rein in unemployment. Because of inadequate employment, many families cannot afford to meet all their expenses. If employment opportunities are increased, they will be able to let their children read and write and become worthy citizens.
• To stop child labour, we will have to first change our own thinking. We have to ensure that first of all, we do not keep any child at work in our own home or office. We have to remember that we are not doing any favour to children of tender age by paying them money in exchange of their labour, but we are rather playing with their future.
• We also need to spread awareness about child labour, so that people can understand that child labour is messing with the future of the country. They will have to understand that there is no future for India if its children are weakened mentally and physically through the practice of child labour.
• The common man should take up a resolve that he will not buy any items from the shops where a child is employed as labour. Also, if we come across such instances, we should complain to the police or other agencies, about it. The common citizen should prevent child labour from taking place in society. In this way, the general public can help in the prevention of child labour.
• There are laws prohibiting child labour in our country. If we notice any case of child labour, then we should immediately go to the nearest police station and register our complaint. We must raise our voice against the stonehearted who employ child labour.
• We can also dial 100 to register a complaint against child labour. We can also dial the telephone service number 1098 started by the government to register complaints against child labour.
• We will have to play the role of a conscious customer. Many times we go to the market and shop for our necessities, without knowing that there may be child labour practice behind the texture of that stuff. Why not form a habit from today that whenever we purchase any goods, we ask the shopkeeper about the technique used in their manufacture. Most shopkeepers may not know the answer to this question, but we can take one step from our side. We can create a sensible environment in the society by these inquiries. And say No to the use of something made of child labour. It may seem a little odd, but this can bring a big change in our society.
• Let the parents of the children know the consequences of child labour. If we find any child labour somewhere near us, first we should talk to the family of that child. Empathising with their conditions, we should tell them about the bleak future of their child in case of continuance of this practice.
• Owners of factories and shops should take a vow that they will not force any child to do labour and stop other people from doing the same.
• To prevent child labour, we need proper implementation of laws that prescribe strict punishment to vendors, shopkeepers and mill owners in case they engage children on cheap wages.
• There should be also be more robust and stricter laws for child labour, so that the people fear from employing any child labour.
• Poor parents should pay full attention to the education of their children because today the government is providing free education, food, and even medicines in certain schools.
• They should not make any difference between boys and girls. By this practice, the number of girl child labour can be reduced to a great extent.

Related Information:

Social Reformers of India

For Kids:
Essay on Child Labour

Speech on Child Labour

Paragraph on Child Labour

Slogans on Child Labour