"When you look into a Childs' eyes you expect to see hope, trust and innocence, but when you see these signs of childhood are replaced by betrayal, hunger, fear and suspicion, we need to take serious stock of ourselves and the society."
India is a wonderful country. Where, India does not only have nice faces but in spite of all progress very ugly ones, too. One of these is the shocking degree of work done by children. India has the highest number of children in the world. More than one-third of country’s population is below 18 years. Approximately 40% of the population is children. Watching a young child work for fourteen hours a day what is termed as child labor. Defining universe for Child labour, in developing country like India, is difficult because child labour can be found in households, roadside Dhabas, railway platforms, pavement etc. Child labor is a concrete manifestation of violations of a range of rights of children and is recognized as a serious and enormously complex social problem in India. Working children are denied their right to survival and development, education, leisure and play, and an adequate standard of living, opportunity for developing personality, talents, mental and physical abilities, and protection from abuse and neglect.
The issue of child labour in the modern era when everyone seems to be concern about human rights no one has even time to think for taking steps for eradication of this monster which is taking out the life from the future of a nation, i.e. a child. True government and various NGOs are working hard to tackle this problem but it still persists. Why? India has the dubious distinction of being the nation with the largest number of child labourers in the world. We hear impassioned pleas to abolish child labour, but nobody seems to either discuss the alternatives or what needs to be done to control its growth.The situation of child laborers in India is deseprate. Child 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.
There are many reasons behind the evil of child labour, poverty and lack of effective education system in India being the main causes. Other than that lack of proper machinery to enforce government policies is also big cause.
However lack of effective education system is the main root cause of the problem. The education system in India is bad. It doesn't help the child in the long run. Poor man feels that there is no point in sending the child to the school. Some parents also feel that a formal education is not beneficial, and that if their children learn work skills through labour at a young age it will help in running of their family. In fact state of education lacks effectiveness in yielding basic literacy in the population. It has been observed that "the overall condition of the education system can be a powerful influence on the supply of child labour”. Therefore it is a failure on the part of the state not to make education attractive enough for the child to long to go to school. 6-11 is a very important period for the development and intellectual growth of a child. So the state should have a legal obligation to provide compulsory primary education to all. But government seems to be more concerned with non formal education system which is of no help to a common man who doesn’t have means to get good education.
Another big cause behind the evil of child labour is the poverty in India. The percentage of the population of India living in poverty is high. In 1990, 37% of the urban population and 39% of the rural population was living in poverty (International Labour Organization 1995, 107). Child labour has became a source of income for poor families. A study conducted by the ILO found that "Children’s work was considered essential to maintaining the economic level of households, either in the form of work for wages, of help in household enterprises or of household chores in order to free adult household members for economic activity elsewhere". In some cases, the study found that a child’s income accounted for between 34 and 37 percent of the total household income. This study concludes that a child labourer’s income is important to the livelihood of a poor family. For most poor families in India, alternative sources of income are close to non-existent. There are no social welfare systems such as those in the West. There poor man finds child labour as the last resort for his survival.
Lastly and one of the main causes is absence of effective governmental machinery for enforcement of anti child labour laws and policies. In regard to child labour, the Indian governments have implemented various policies now and the but still the problem remains in its same condition with no improvement. In August 1994, then- Prime Minister Narasimha Rao announced his proposal of an Elimination of Child Labour Programme. This program pledged to end child labour for two million children in hazardous industries as defined in the Child Labour Act of 1986, by the year 2000. The program revolved around an incentive for children to quit their work and enter non-formal schooling: a one hundred rupee payment as well as one meal a day for attending school. But 3 yrs have pass since but it there is a continuous increase in child labour and illiteracy rate going down. All of the policies that the Indian government have in place are in accordance with the Constitution of India, and all support the eradication of Child Labour. The problem of child labour still remains even though all of these policies are existent. Enforcement is the key aspect that is lacking in the government’s efforts. A glaring sign of neglect of their duties by officials charged with enforcing child labour laws is the failure to collect, maintain, and disseminate accurate statistics regarding enforcement efforts. Although the lack of data does not mean enforcement is nonexistent, the number of child labourers and their work participation rates show that enforcement, if existent, is ineffective.
From the time of its independence, India has committed itself to be against child labour. Article 24 of the Indian constitution clearly states that "No child below the age of fourteen years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or employed in any hazardous employment. Similarly Article 39 (e) directs State policy such "that the health and strength of workers . . . and the tender age of children are not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength" These two articles show that India has always had the goal of taking care of its children and ensuring the safety of workers.Children are remarkably imaginative and resilient - but also heartbreakingly fragile and vulnerable. I have an appeal to all societies and organizations need to understand real problems behind child labour and come forward to solutions!!
“So let us share their dreams and their future”
With this
Yours Friend
Sudarshan Singh
