About Child Labor:
In India, child labor refers to the hiring of any child below the age of 14 for the
purpose of any economic benefits. In other words, it is illegal for an
organization, including shops and factories to engage a child in their business
for physical labor. This especially holds true for employment with occupational
hazards, such as coal mines, welding, construction works, and painting, etc.
Though constitution makes employing the kids for laborious works a punishable
offense, data says otherwise. Many national and international laws have been
created to give these children protection from child labor but ground reality is
something else. In India alone, more than 50 million children are forced into
child labor for one or the other reasons.
Major Causes of Child Labor:
Poverty:
First of all, poverty strikes a major percentage of the total population of India.
Life in rural areas of villages is even more difficult. The poor economic condition
and low standard of living pave the way for child labor. To compensate for the
daily needs of food and survival, both boys and girls are forced to work beyond
their capacities. It is fair to say that they are left with no choice.
Lack of Education:
Lack of education in the rural areas means parents are less educated.
Consequently, they also do not value the importance of school and education in
the lives of their own children. In the scarcity of contraceptive awareness,
couples end up having multiple children. Arranging three meals every day
becomes an impossible task and the children learn it the hard way quite soon.
Gender Discrimination:
Girls are often prevented from going to school at a very low age. They are made
to help in the fieldwork and the house chores as well. The story is not much
different for the boys too. They quit school in order to take up some labor work
in factories and farms and help their father in breadwinning.
Cheap Labor:
In big cities and towns, these factors may be absent but that doesn’t immune
the urban areas from the child labor cases. Child labors are easy to afford. They
can be made to do more tiring jobs at low pays. Often the owners would
provide them little food and money for continuous hours of work. As these kids
have no family support, they end up giving in to such exploitations.
Child Trafficking:
Child trafficking is also another factor that leads to child labor. Trafficked
children have no home. They are sent to faraway place unknown to them.
Ultimately, these little souls are pushed into extremely torturing and dangerous
work conditions, such as prostitution, domestic helping, transport of drugs, etc.
Impacts of Child Labor:
Poor Physical and Mental Health:
Children at such a young age are gullible and vulnerable. Child labor affects
their physical, mental, and emotional health in a severe way. They are deprived
of their basic rights to education. Arduous physical strain and the burden of
arranging their own food cause malnutrition in them.
Forced Maturity:
In order to survive in this world, they tend to become mature faster than they
need to. Their childhood is lost and crushed with the bitter pressure of acting
like an adult. The kind of affection and love needed at such a tender age is
never available to them. Both parents and the owners are often highly
demanding to them.
Physical Abuse:
Such consistent threats keep the children in a frightening state of mind all the
time. There are increased chances of physical abuse. To cope up with these
pressures, girls and boys fall victims to the drug abuse. Many more dangerous
habits become a normal part of their lives.
Addiction and Sexual Abuse:
From taking drugs to selling them, alcohol addiction, sexually transmitted
diseases, rape, emotional numbness, violence, are common things that
surround their living conditions. Poor kids may also catch up these habits from
their own parents or localities, where their parents or friends are showing these
behaviors on a regular basis.
The situation becomes worse if these kids are physically handicapped. In
villages and low-income groups, the adults struggle to arrange a proper
livelihood for themselves. So, they begin to see girls and handicapped children
as nothing more than a baggage. As a result, girls are sold off to marry old men
and the kids are left to beg on the streets.
Challenges in Controlling Child Labor:
Unclear Laws:
While the laws to diminish the curse of child labor have been made, they are
pretty vague in nature. For instance, most of the laws are unable to dictate
strict guidelines for the unorganized sectors. Immunity from the dangerous
works is not sufficient. Moreover, clear points should be laid out in terms of
where and for how many hours can the children work (if they really need to).
Lack of Rehabilitation Plans:
Another issue that the authorities face is the lack of rehabilitation facilities for
the children who have been saved from the devil grips of child labor. It becomes
an unanswered question as to how these children should regain control of their
new lives and start afresh. Proper counseling and nutrition play an
indispensable role to help them thrive.
Lack of Awareness:
More awareness needs to be created in rural and urban areas. Adults including
the parents should be taught about the negative impacts of child labor on the
minds of children. They should also be explained about the power of education
and the various schemes which promises a free basic education for kids. It is
even more important to emphasize how the education empowers girls and
makes their lives better.
Facts About Child Labour
1. Currently, there are nearly 30 million people held in slavery and an
estimated 26 percent are children.
2. Around the world one in six children are forced to work, with children
below the age of 18 representing between 40 to 50 percent of laborers.
3. The highest numbers of child laborers are in Asia and the Pacific, where
over 122 million children are forced into work.
4. In 2012, 168 million children – from 5-years-old to 17 – were involved in
child labor. Of this number, 85 million worked in hazardous conditions,
enduring beatings to sexual violenc
5. According to the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF), there are over 300,000
child soldiers forced into armed combat.
Inititiatives Taken By Government
In 2016, GOI amended the CHILD LABOUR PREVENTION & REGULATION ACT
1986, According to this,
Employing a child below 14 yrs of age in any kind of occupation is set to
become a cognizable offence, punishable with a maximum 3 years
imprisonment or fine upto rs.50000. (In the earlier version of this act i.e., before
2016,children below the age of 14 years are prohibited from employment only in
hazardous industries)
For adolescents 14–18 yrs, they should not be working in hazardous
occupations (ex. Mining, explosives & other occupations mentioned in the
factories act) otherwise it will be an cognizable offence. However, it'll allow
employing adolescents in non-hazardous industries like child care, forest
gathering, etc…
However this act allows for child labour in family enterprises or allows the child
to be an artist in Audio-visual entertainment industries.
This new amendment to the act suffers from many problems. It slashed the list
of hazardous occupations for children from 83 to just mining, explosives & other
occupations mentioned in the factory act. The work in chemical mixing, battery
recycling, brick kilns, cotton farms have been dropped from the list. The ones
listed as hazardous can be removed or modified by the government authorities
from time to time at their own discretion bypassing the Parliament.
However,with this amendment India has ratified two fundamental ILO
Conventions with the International Labour Organisation(ILO). The two key
conventions related to the elimination of child labour- the Minimum Age
Convention, 1973 (No. 138) and the Worst Forms of Child Labour convention,
1999 (No. 182)
National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme was launched by the government
of India in 1988 for rehabilitation of Child Labour. The scheme focuses onAll the child labours below the age of 14 years, identified in the target area.
All the adolescent labours below the age of 18 years, occupied in hazardous
occupations or processes.
Families of such children mentioned in the above points.
Objectives of NCLP
The identified children are to be withdrawn from those occupations &
processes and then put into special schools in order enable them to be
mainstreamed into formal schooling system.
special schools/Rehabilitation Centres for the rehabilitation of child labour.
The special schools/Rehabilitation Centres provide:
Non-formal/bridge education, Skilled/vocational training, Mid Day Meal,
Stipend, Health care facilities, etc…
Ways to eliminate Child Labour
First, governments need to ensure that child labor laws are in line with
international labor conventions and that such laws are enforced through regular
inspections. Governments also need to provide access to free and quality
education for children as well as decent health care for everyone. Supporting
vulnerable families through social protections and income support is also
essential.
Second, companies can do more. Many major coffee companies have been at
the front line of tackling child labor, through monitoring and remediation
systems. Others have made good progress in mapping their suppliers down to
the farm level, which is a critical first step. It’s also essential that companies
collaborate with NGOs and governments on programs that tackle some of the
root causes of child labor. Paying better prices to help farmers achieve a living
income should also be part of the solution.
Third, certification organizations and other NGOs that work on creating more
sustainable supply chains must continue to play their part by stimulating policy
change and supporting families and communities to prevent and resolve child
labor.
Crucially, consumers must do their bit too, demanding that brands pay farmers
a better price for commodities such as coffee and cocoa, as well as support
communities in farming more sustainably. Child labor in the coffee and cocoa
sectors — but also in tea, hazelnuts, and other global supply chains — demands
our urgent attention. All of us need to do our part to improve the livelihoods of
farmers and farming communities around the world.
Ensuring all children return to school and stay in school requires urgent
investments in education, social security, and poverty reduction. If that is not
forthcoming, a whole generation of children could be lost to child labor.
Conclusion:
Child labor is not just about forcing children to work. Its side effects are quite
large and gruesome. It leaves a stain on the child’s mind. It interferes with their
mental and emotional health and prevents their proper growth and
development. It is a blemish on the face of humanity that must be erased as
soon as possible.
After all, what kind of citizens do we expect them to grow into after such kinds
of abuse? We need to think about it. Children are the future of our society, our
country. We cannot hope for true growth and prosperity until and unless our
young generation is safe and healthy in every way.