2. Child labor is done by any working child
who is under the age specified by law. The
word, “work” means full time commercial
work to sustain self or add to the family
income. Child labor is a hazard to a Child’s
mental, physical, social, educational,
emotional and spiritual development.
Broadly any child who is employed in
activities to feed self and family is being
subjected to “child labor’.

3. Child labor in India is a human right issue
for the whole world. It is a serious and
extensive problem, with many children
under the age of fourteen working in carpet
making factories, glass blowing units and
making fireworks with bare little hands.
According to the statistics given by Indian
government there are 20 million child
laborers in the country, while other agencies
claim that it is 50 million.
In Northern India the exploitation of little
children for labor is an accepted practice
and perceived by the local population as a
necessity to alleviate poverty. Carpet
weaving industries pay very low wages to
child laborers and make them work for
long hours in unhygienic conditions.
Children working in such units are mainly
migrant workers from Northern India, who
are shunted here by their families to earn
some money and send it to them.

4. The situation of child laborers in India is desperate. Children work for
eight hours at a stretch with only a small break for meals. The meals are
also frugal and the children are ill nourished. Most of the migrant children
who cannot go home, sleep at their work place, which is very bad for their
health and development. Seventy five percent of Indian population still
resides in rural areas and are very poor. Children in rural families who are
ailing with poverty perceive their children as an income generating
resource to supplement the family income. Parents sacrifice their children’s
education to the growing needs of their younger siblings in such families
and view them as wage earners for the entire clan.

5. Bonded labor traps the growing child in a hostage like condition for
years. The importance of formal education is also not realized, as
the child can be absorbed in economically beneficial activities at a
young age. Moreover there is no access to proper education in the
remote areas of rural India for most people, which leaves the
children with no choice.

6.  The most inhuman and onerous form of child
exploitation is the age old practice of bonded
labor in India. In this, the child is sold to the
loaner like a commodity for a certain period of
time. His labor is treated like security or collateral
security and cunning rich men procure them for
small sums at exorbitant interest rates.

7. Bonded Child Lab our
The practice of bonded child labor is
prevalent in many parts of rural India,
but is very conspicuously in the Vellore
district of Tamil Nadu. Here the bonded
child is allowed to reside with his
parents, if he presents himself for work
at 8 a.m. every day. The practice of child
bonded labor persists like a scourge to
humanity in spite of many laws against it.
These laws although stringent and
providing for imprisonment and
imposition of huge fines on those who
are found guilty are literally non-
functional in terms of implementation.

8. Adult unemployment and
urbanization also causes child
labor. Adults often find it difficult
to find jobs because factory owners
find it more beneficial to employ
children at cheap rates. This
exploitation is particularly visible
in garment factories of urban
areas. Adult exploitation of
children is also seen in many
places. Elders relax at home and
live on the labor of poor helpless
children.

9.  Child labor is a reality in spite of all the steps taken by the legal
machinery to eliminate it. It prevails and persists as a world
phenomenon in spite of child labor laws.
The causes of child labor in the contemporary world are the same as
those in U.S. hundred years ago- namely poverty, lack of education and
exposure, poor access to education, suppression of workers rights,
partial prohibition of child labor and inadequate enforcement of child
labor laws.
The existing law and codes of conduct regarding child labor are blatantly
violated by the beneficiaries and the victims of this terrible practice all over the
developing world. There are ambiguities in the export and manufacturing
sector, which means multiple layers of outsourcing and production- making
the monitoring of labor performers not only difficult but impossible. Extensive
subcontracting also makes it impossible to identify the use of child labor
whether intentional or unintentional.

10. The Indian constitution categorically states
that child labor is a wrong practice, and
standards should be set by law to eliminate
it. The child labor act of 1986 implemented
by the government of India makes child
labor illegal in many regions and sets the
minimum age of employment at fourteen
years.
There are many loop holes in this law in
terms of affectivity. First is that it does
not make child labor completely illegal
and does not meet the guidelines set by
ILO concerning the minimum age for
employment, which is fifteen years.
Moreover the policies which are set to
reduce incidences of child labor are
difficult to implement and enforce. The
government and other agencies
responsible for the enforcement of these
laws are not doing their job.

11. Kenya prohibits children under 16 from going to work in industries but
excludes agriculture. Bangladesh also specifies a minimum age to go to work,
but excludes agriculture and domestic work.
Indeed laws become unpractical and redundant in the face of necessity. Poor
children and their family members depend so much on little ones to provide
the basic necessities of life in the impoverished areas that it becomes
impossible for them to adhere to any laws and regulations regarding child
labor. We must also remember, that about one fifth of the world’s six billion
humans live in absolute poverty.

12. PLEASE JOIN YOUR HANDS TO
REMOVE CHILD LABOUR

13.  PRIYANKA SHARMA
 HEENA NIGAM  EKJOT BAGGA
Layouts & graphics designed by : ASHISH GOYAL