CHILD LABOUR
What is Child
Labour?
Child Labour means the employment of
children in any kind of work that
hampers their physical and mental
development, deprives them of their basic
educational and recreational requirements.
A large number of children are
compelled to work in various hazardous
and non-hazardous activities such as
in the agriculture sector, glass factories,
carpet industry, brass industries,
matchbox factories, and as domestic help.
It is a blot on our society and speaks
immensely about the inability of our society
to provide a congenial environment
for the growth and development of
children.
The government has a very important
role to play in the eradication of child
labour. As poverty is the major cause of
child labour in our country, the
government should give assurance to
provide the basic amenities to the lower
strata of our society. There should be an
equal distribution of wealth. More work
opportunities need to be generated to
give fair employment to the poor. The
various NGOs across the nation should
come forward and provide vocational
training to these people in order to jobs
or to make them self-employed
Role of the Government
Child Labour
is a Crime
Despite the strict law about child
labour being a crime, it is still widely
prevalent
in India and many other countries
worldwide. Greedy and crooked
employers
also lack awareness of human rights
and government policies among
the
people below poverty
Eradicating
Child Labour
Eradication of child labour will
require support from multiple
aspects of society.
The government programs and
government agents can only go
so far with their
efforts. Sometimes, poor and
uneducated families would be
reluctant to let go
of their familiar ways even when
better opportunities are provided
The Indian Government enacted many laws to
protect child rights, namely the
Child and Adolescent Labour Act, 1986, the
Factories Act, 1948, the Mines Act,
1952, the Bonded Labour System Abolition Act, and
the Juvenile Justice Act,
2000.
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
As per the Child Labour Act (Prohibition and Regulation), 1986, children
under
the age of fourteen years old could not be employed in hazardous
occupations.
This act also attempts to regulate working conditions in the jobs that it
permits
and emphasizes health and safety standards
Contributing Factors of
Increasing Child Labour
There are a number of factors that contribute to the rise of this peril.
Poverty plays a major role in the issues of child labour. In poor families, children
are considered to be an extra earning hand. These families believe that every
child is a bread-earner and so they have more children. As these children grow
up, they are expected to share their parents’ responsibilities.
Children are the greatest gift to humanity and
Childhood is an important
and impressionable stage of human
development as it holds the
potential to the future development of any
society. Children who are
brought up in an environment, which is
conducive to their intellectual,
physical and social health, grow up to be
responsible and productive
members of society. Every nation links its
future with the present status
of its children. By performing work when they
are too young for the
task, children unduly reduce their present
welfare or their future income
earning capabilities,
As per the International Labour
Organisation, 10.1 million
children
between the age of 5-14 years
are working in India. This data
was on the
basis of the Census of 2011.
In addition, the total child
population in India in the age
group of
5014 is 259.6 million. Out of the
3.9%, which is equal to 10.1
million, are working as the main
worker.
Physical Risk – the children are exposed to many physical risks in
various work sectors. As they work for long hours without having a
proper diet can lead to a lack of physical and mental development.
Affect Childhood – Child Labour takes away childhood from the
children. It doesn’t allow the child to get her/his right to education
and leisure.
Impact on Adult life – Child Labour doesn’t allow the child to
develop skills that are important to have good opportunities for
decent work when they grow up.
Gurupadswamy Committee,
in 1979, was a statutory committee
formed by the Central Government of India, which found that the
inextricable reason behind child labor in India was linked directly to
Poverty. The committee’s findings and analysis were then utilized to
enact the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 by the
union government.
Child Labour (Prohibition &
Regulation) Amendment Act, of 2016
is
an amendment of the Child Labour
(Prohibition & Regulation) Act,
1986 which has placed a complete
prohibition on the employment
of underage children, especially in
hazardous situa
National Child Labour Project (NCLP)
Scheme: This is a scheme by
the central government of India to
facilitate rehabilitation of child
labourers and to aid their introduction
to formal education with
vocational training at NCLP
Centres.tions or
Population – the population of India has
increased rapidly. The job
Causes of opportunities available compared to the
population of the country
Child Labour are fewer. It is one of the factors behind Child
Labour.
in India Poverty – Poverty is one of the main causes
of Child Labour in
India. Here the income from a child’s work is
required for his or her
own survival and also for the household.
Orphans – orphans get involved in working to
meet their daily
needs. New provisions in Indian Constitution
should be made that
would focus on educating the orphans so they
can avoid working
at a young age.
Debt Trap – financial backlog and debt are
the reasons that lead to
Child Labour.
Strengthening Legislative Framework: Enforce and strengthen
existing laws, such as the Child Labour (Prohibition and
Regulation) Act, to ensure comprehensive protection for
children and stricter penalties for offenders. Amendments
should align with international standards.
2. Access to Quality Education: Ensure universal access to free and
quality education for all children. Implement and enforce the
Right to Education Act, focusing on reducing dropout rates and
increasing enrollment in schools.
Poverty Alleviation: Tackle the root causes of
child Labour by
implementing poverty alleviation programs,
providing economic
support to families living in poverty, and
promoting livelihood
opportunities for parents.
4. Awareness and Sensitization: Conduct
widespread awareness
campaigns targeting parents, communities,
and employers
about the detrimental effects of child Labour on
children’s
physical, mental, and educational
development.
5. Rehabilitation and Social Protection: Develop
and implement
comprehensive rehabilitation programs for
rescued child
laborers, including access to education,
vocational training,
healthcare, and psychological support.
Establish social
protection schemes for vulnerable families to
prevent children
from entering the Labour force.
Status of
Child Labour
in India
Child labour refers to the
employment of children in any
work that
deprives them of their childhood,
interferes with their ability to
attend regular school, and that is
mentally, physically, socially or
morally dangerous and harmful.
The Census of India 2011
reports 10.1 million working
children in
the age group of 5-14 years, out
of whom 8.1 million are in rural
areas mainly engaged as
cultivators (26%) and agricultural
labourers
(32.9%).
To combating child
labourIncreased spending
Efforts to abolish on free, quality education is
essential. Governments must
child labour recognise the scale of the
problem and its impact on
millions of families and
children. Policies must be
implemented to offer families
activities that enable them
to live decently without
resorting to child labour,
universal social security
cover must be put in place,
and information campaigns
must be stepped up to raise
awareness of the dangers of
child labour.
Raising public awareness
and international
cooperation are also
essential to sharing good
practice and developing
effective strategies.
Action Education's
role in combating
child labour
ACTION EDUCATION OFFERS SEVERAL SOLUTIONS TO COMBAT CHILD LABOUR.
These solutions include raising community awareness,
developing preventive measures, and supporting families so
that their children can go to school rather than being forced to
work. The association works to enable vulnerable populations to
learn new livelihoods to improve their incomes, and offers
scholarships to keep children in school.
The consequences of
child labour in India
Child labour has serious repercussions on children's health, education and
development
It deprives them of their
childhood, exposes them to risks
of abuse, exploitation and
disease, and limits their future
prospects.
In India, girls are particularly
vulnerable, being twice as likely
to be out of school and to
accept domestic work. This
situation perpetuates the cycle
of poverty that is all too present
in India, preventing sustainable
socio-economic development.
In addition, the psychological
consequences of child labour
are often as severe as the
physical effects, leading to long-
term trauma and mental illness.
Types of
Child Labour Bonded Child Labour: it means the employment
of a child against
the debt, loan, or social obligation by the family
in India
of the child.
Migrant Children: those who are migrated from
Child Labour
other locations
with family are usually forced to drop out of
schools and get
involved in Child Labour.
Street Children: the children living on the streets,
such as
ragpickers, beggars, shoeshines children, etc.
Working Children: those who are working as a
part of family labor.
Children for Sexual Exploitation: many young
girls and boys are
forced to get involved in sexual activities.
Gender-Specific: here, Child Labour is gender-
specific. For example,
girls are being engaged in domestic and home-
based work, and
on the other hand, boys are working as wage
laborers.
Findings from the Study: Authorities
discounted underage child labour
as “children helping parents in the
field”. Similarly, confusion was about
the advance payment to migrant
workers, and associated risks of
forced
or bonded labour. Most of the
interventions in the sugarcane
sector,
either by government authorities or
by the Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) arm of
companies, were focused just on
“improving
farming techniques to ensure an
increase in cane productivity”. Child
Labour and Forced Labour
(Meaning):
KEY POINTS
It is time to consign child labour to
the history books and to allow all
children to realise their rights. Child
labour is a fact of life for children
Conclusion
and
it is an issue that effect of all us in
many country. It is the duty of
everyone
to contribute to the stop child
labour – governments, trade unions,
businesses, international
organisations, communities,
employers, teachers,
parents, children and you-Child
labour is any labour that prevents a
child
from receiving a full time formal
education
