Tag: child labour

Child labour in India

The term “child labour” is often defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential, and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development. It refers to work that :

  •  Is mentally physically, socially, or morally dangerous or harmful to children and/or
  • interferes with their schooling by depriving them of the opportunity to attend school; obliging them to leave school prematurely; or requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work.
Image Source : PTI

Key facts

  • The number of children in child labour has risen to 160 million worldwide – an increase of 8.4 million children in the last four years – with 9 million additional children at risk due to the impact of COVID-19.
  • Progress to end child labour has stalled for the first time in 20 years, reversing the previous downward trend that saw child labour fall by 94 million between 2000 and 2016.
  • The incidence of hazardous work in countries affected by armed conflict is 50% higher than the global average.
  • 30 million children live outside their country of birth, increasing their risk of being trafficked for sexual exploitation and other work.

Child labour in India
According to data from Census 2011, the number of child labourers in India is 10.1 million of which 5.6 million are boys and 4.5 million are girls. A total of 152 million children – 64 million girls and 88 million boys – are estimated to be in child labour globally, accounting for almost one in ten of all children worldwide.
Despite rates of child labour declining over the last few years, children are still being used in some severe forms of child labour such as bonded labour, child soldiers, and trafficking. Across India, child labourers can be found in a variety of industries: brick kilns, carpet weaving, garment making, domestic service, food and refreshment services (such as tea stalls), agriculture, fisheries, and mining. Children are also at risk of various other forms of exploitation including sexual exploitation and production of child pornography, including online. Child labor and exploitation are the results of many factors, including poverty, social norms condoning them, lack of decent work opportunities for adults and adolescents, migration, and emergencies. These factors are not only the cause but also a consequence of social inequities reinforced by discrimination.

Picture Source : https://www.lifegate.com/12-june-world-day-against-child-labour-education-is-the-solution

How can we stop child labor in India?

  • Sending more children to school 

India has the world’s largest educational system, yet faces the hurdles of low literacy, due to low enrolment. Organizations like Save the Children execute several initiatives to boost children’s enrolment in schools. The organization maps out-of-school children and those who are at risk of dropping out and ensures that they enter into the fold of education.

  • More stringent laws and effective implementation

Policymaking is essential to long-lasting social change, and lobbying for better laws involves demonstrating how change can bring considerable benefit. The government should be strict with all the laws and take heavy actions against the lawbreakers.

  • Spread awareness

Parental awareness of the evils of child labor can prevent disruption in schooling and the pushing of children into labor. Lack of understanding on the part of parents creates situations where traffickers prey upon children and many trafficked children end up in child labor. Aware communities can comprehend and respond to children’s issues much more effectively.

  •   Discouraging people to employ children in homes, shops, factories, etc

Child labor gets a resounding approval when Indian businesses openly use it, in industries like retail, hospitality, and menial work. NGOs today sensitize trade organizations to end this social evil and educate locals about reporting instances of child labor at businesses and homes. Save the Children has to its credit getting India’s biggest IT market declared child-labor-free.

( Reference from UNICEF and UNICEF India)

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SAY NO TO CHILD LABOUR

CHILD LABOUR

Child labor refers to the employment of a child in any work. This deprives the children of their childhood. It is physically, socially, mentally harmful to children. The education of children is drastically affected by child labor. Currently, the number of child labor has increased by 8.4 million in the last 4 years. There is a myth that most child laborers are orphans. But the truth is that only 3 out of 1000 are orphans. According to the International Labour Organization, currently, more than 168 million people between 5 and 14 are working. In India, according to the data collected from census 2011, it is estimated that there are about 10.1 million child laborers.

CAUSES OF CHILD LABOUR

PRIMARY CAUSES: The International Labour Organization suggests that poverty is the simplest reason behind child labor. For many poor families, the children have to work to fulfill their basic needs. Income from this child may be low but it contributes between 25  to 40% of the household income.

CULTURAL CAUSES: In European history, certain cultural beliefs have rationalized child labor and therefore encouraged child labor. Some people think that doing work is good for character building and skill development of children. In many cultures, children have to take over their parent’s businesses. Also, in many cultures, the education of girls is valued. They think that there is no need for educating the girl children. And these girls are pushed into child labor such as doing household services.

MACROECONOMIC CAUSES: The growth of poverty and unavailability of good schools lies on the supply side of child labor. The growth of low paying informal economy rather than the higher paying formal economy is the cause for the demand side of child labor. Other scholars suggest that the size of the informal economy, inflexible labor market, and lack of modern manufacturing techniques are some of the macroeconomic causes for child labor.

SOME ACTS THAT PROHIBITS THE CHILD LABOUR:

  • The Factories Act of 1984: This act prohibits the working of children below the age of 14 years in any factories. The law also includes rules that how long pre-adults aged 15 to 18 years to be employed in any factory.
  • The Mines Act of 1952: This act prohibits children under 18 years working in the mine.
  • The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of 1986: This law prohibits the working of children (under 14 years) in hazardous places listed by the law.
  • The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of Children Act of 2000: This law states that anyone who employs children in hazardous places will be punishable with prison term.
  • The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act of 2009: The law provides mandatory education to all children aged between 6 to 14 years. This law also states that 25% of seats in every primary school must be allocated to children from disadvantaged groups and physically challenged children.
  • In addition to this, many Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) like Bachpan Bachao Andolan, CARE India, Child Rights, and You, RIDE India are working to eradicate child labor in India.

Despite these laws and prohibition acts in India, there are still millions of children are employed in homes, roadside restaurants, and factories across the country. Every year June 12 is observed as the anti-child labor day. As the citizens of India, we all should be united to eradicate child labor in our country. Donate funds to the NGOs and make awareness programs in rural areas. Start some small campaigns against child labor. Child labor can be eradicated if government performs effectively with public support.

Child Labour

Childhood is considered the most enjoyable period of life. The is period is free from any time worry or responsibility. 

This period is the formative period of life. Parents do everything to fulfill the needs of their children. 

They are brought up with the utmost care, love, and affection. But it is sad to see that the innocent have to work to earn money. This is known as child labour.

The system of child labour is also prevalent in India. It is the worst type of child exploitation. No child likes to work in the budding periods of life of his life. 

It is the poverty of their parents that forces them to do labour. Some parents cannot earn enough to feed their family members. So they compel their children to do some job and earn money.

What are the pros and cons of child labour?

Problems of Child Labour in India

The problem of child labour has become a serious problem. Children have to work in homes or shops or factories where they are paid very low wages. 

They have to do every type of dirty work without any rest or interval. Some children do not return home at night. 

They sleep at the bus stands or in the railway waiting hall or on the footpath. Even their parents have never felt worried about them.

The Indian law prevents the employment of children in factories but not in cottage industries, family households, dhabas, and restaurants, or in fields. 

Most of the children are school drop-outs. Our system of education and economic policies needs a rethinking. Children should be provided job-oriented education right from primary classes. 

Poor and illiterate parents should be made aware of the disadvantage of child labor. Population control is also very necessary.

Child Labour is in India and the world

Child labour is one of the biggest problems. It is not only prevalent in India but also a world problem. This problem is not a new problem. 

It was also present in ancient times. Children were required to do some work either at home or in the field with their parents.

The most important causes of child labor are poverty, large family, ignorance, and lack of education. 

In poor families, children have to work to support their families. The poor parents are ignorant about the value of education. 

They are concerned only with earning two square meals a day. In this job, their children have also to work. 

Thus poverty compels them to work to keep the wolf away from their doors. But in spite of child labor, the poor lead a miserable life.

Exploitation of children

Child labour is the worst type of child exploitation. The Indians look upon children as the gifts of God. But poverty snatches their childhood from them. 

Sometimes poverty forces the poor parents to take loans from the zamindars or their master. This loan is never paid by them and they become bonded laborers’. 

Sometimes they have to pawn or pledge their children to get money. Thus the vicious circle of bandha mazdoor’ goes on from one generation to the other. 

Munshi Prem Chand’s famous novel ‘Godan’ and a serial ‘Udaan’ on Colors channel beautifully present the condition of bonded labour and child labour.

The economic condition of Poor families

Economic condition is the main reason for child labour. The economically bad classes believe that more hands bring in more resources. 

Thus they go on producing children. They feel that their children will become their supporters when they are six or seven years old. 

They never think of sending them to schools. According to a report, child labour is employed mainly in 20 products. 

These products include bidis, bricks, fireworks, glass bangles, matches, and carpets, etc. Some children work in homes and tea-shops where they have to clean the utensils and do sweeping.

Indian Law for Child labour

In India, there is a law against child labour. The Indian Constitution provides that no child below the age of 14 years shall be employed to work in any workplace. 

The ban on child labor has been extended to the domestic and hospitality sectors. Because of this law, child labour is almost absent in the organized sector. 

But the situation is not good in the unorganized sector. There the anti-child labor law is thrown to the winds.

We can find a great number of child laborers in the rural areas, in farms, fisheries, and cottage industries. 

In England, when the Industrial Revolution took place, child labor was required to clean the factory chimneys. 

The miserable condition of the children has been presented in William Blake’s poem ‘Chimney Sweepers’. Child labour deprives children of attending school. 

Besides, working for long hours in unhygienic conditions, and eating unhealthy food, the health of the children is adversely affected. 

However, a great benefit to employers is that child labor does not form trade unions. Besides, it is available at low wages.

So far as the exploitation of child laborers is concerned, it is a naked truth.

A Survey report about Child labour

 According to a survey, children, for the same type of work, are paid less than the adult laborers. Poverty has an intimate relationship with child labor. 

Poor families need money to survive. and children are a source of additional income. Thus poverty and lack of social security are mainly responsible for child labour and bonded labour.

In The Tribune, the Chief Editor has expressed his views on child labour. He has said, “Make employers responsible.” 

According to him, a few months ago, hundreds of children were found working as labourers in one of the farms in Punjab. 

During the Prevention of Child Labor Week, 281 children were rescued from across the state. Of these, 116 were pursuing dangerous occupations. 

It is not that the country lacks legal protection to protect children from exploitation. Their numbers continue to grow. U.S. agencies estimate that the number of child laborers in India could be between four and six million.

The law stipulates only one-year imprisonment and a maximum of Rs. 20,000 fine; In fact, a small amount of Rs.200 is a penalty in most cases. 

The government has passed a number of laws

The government has passed a number of laws such as the Child and Adolescent Labor Prohibition Act, the Right to Education Act, 2010 and implemented schemes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan which encourage the enrollment of children in schools.

It also claims that the number of child laborers has come down from 1.25 crore (Census 2001) to the current figure of 49.6 lakh (National Sample Survey).

Not surprisingly, these figures were arrived at on the basis of a sample size of approximately 70,000 across the nation. 

The government needs to conduct a genuine survey to gauge the magnitude of the problem and make the enforcement machinery accountable. 

Unless employers are made accountable under stringent laws, child labour will continue to shame the nation.

It has become a challenging job to deal with the child labor problem. Efforts are being made to lessen some of the evils of child exploitation. 

The world has set an aim to eliminate the practice of child labour by 20

16. In fact, the problem of child labour has three faces-social, economic and political. The most important factor of the three is poverty. 

Child labour can be checked by reducing poverty in rural areas. If child labour is banned all of a sudden, it will not bear fruitful results. In many poor families, it is necessary for children to work.

To some extent, child labour contributes to development. Most of the children belong to those families where the family’s survival depends on their labor. 

A distinction must be made between forced labour and employment. Children should be allowed to work in their family-based cottage industry like pottery, poultry, or knitting and weaving. Here the children can work in their spare time after school.

Conclusion of child labour essay

On the whole, the issue is how to root out the problem of child labour from India. Besides removing poverty, vocational and technical education should be introduced from the primary stage.

 It is true that this problem cannot be eliminated overnight but in a phased manner. At least, anti-child labour law should be enforced with an iron hand and the defaulters are put behind the bars.

What are different types of aggressions

Researchers identify two types of aggression related to sports: instrumental aggression and hostile aggression.What is instrumental aggression?By nature, certain sports (such as football, ice hockey, etc.) have higher levels of contact between players. Thus, they inevitably include more aggression. But such violence is often within the bounds of the game. You often need to play with a certain measure of physical aggressiveness in order to win. That’s instrumental aggression.Hostile aggression, on the other hand, is violence that goes beyond the scope of the sport. Being hostile refers to “impulsive, angry aggression intended to hurt someone who has in some way provoked an individual” (Russell, 2008). One famous example of hostile aggression in sport is a 2006 World Cup football (soccer here in the U.S.) match. After being insulted by Italian athlete Marco Materazzi in the middle of the game, French player Zinedine Zidane delivered a serious headbutt to his chest, which sent him flying to the ground. Such action was in no way necessary to the game itself; it was simply a way to retaliate against the athlete. Zidane wanted to hurt his provoker as badly as possible.Hostile Aggression Among Teen AthletesIn discussing the problem of aggression, most experts are talking about the concept of hostile – not instrumental – aggression.In surveying 800 adolescent athletes playing 10 different sports all across the U.S., Shields (2005) found that 13% of students have tried to deliberately hurt an opponent at least once during a game. Seventeen percent have said something mean to an opponent. And almost 40% have tried to “get back” at another player.

Heroes Modeling Bad Behavior

Increased media attention on pro-athletes has revealed shocking displays of violence both on and off the sports field. This has an influence on young fans, who often admire and glamorize such athletes. One researcher (Smith, 1983) asked adolescent hockey players who their favorite National Hockey League (NHL) player was. He found that there was a positive correlation between skaters whose NHL hero was aggressive and the young athlete’s own play.

Aggressive Parents

But aggressive behavior isn’t only seen on TV. Often, it’s closer to home. Certain parents could be violent and aggressive with their children at home, as well as on the sports field. (One Minnesota survey found that 17% of adolescent athletes said that an adult had hit, kicked, and slapped them while participating in sports.) Experiencing such violent behavior has a mimicking effect, says researchers. See the case of Thomas Junta and Michael Costin in 2000, and what happened to their kids thereafter.

Showing Loyalty or Seeking Revenge

Moral reasoning theory suggests that some teens think aggressive behavior is not just okay, but even the right thing to do in certain circumstances. “Aggressive behavior is often…justified by players to demonstrate loyalty to teammates, and especially injured teammates, by seeking revenge particularly in competitive, body-checking leagues,” says Cusimano (2016). Hurtful insults, mean taunts, and even stares can provoke certain players, who will then retaliate by become more aggressive (Gordon Russell, 2008). Sports psychologists note that not all athletes respond to the same provocation in the same way. Personality differences, temperament, and even regional hometown (!) change the way athletes will respond to a hurtful remark. For example, Type-A teens will be more likely to get angry when they’re insulted.

Getting Too Hot

Sounds crazy, but it really is true: environmental factors like heat leads to aggression. Science even proves it. Research on weather and crime shows that acts of violence happen most during the summer. In the same vein, getting hot during a sports game can make an athlete more physically aggressive. In analyzing more than 2,300 National Football League games and matching them up with the temperatures on each day, researchers found that the hotter it was, the more aggressively teams played. They determined this conclusion based on comparing temperatures to the number of aggressive penalties teams accrued. Even when the temperature is fairly mild, though (or even cold, as in ice hockey) your teen athlete could be getting warm by all the physical activity they’re doing—running, throwing a ball, tackling, etc.—not to mention all the layers they’re wearing and the gear they’re carrying.

Biological factors

Certain teens may simply be more aggressive, naturally. Studies have shown, for example, that the level of testosterone in male athletes impacts their aggressive level. (Simpson, 2001). In one experiment, male participants with both high and low testosterone levels were given escalating shocks. The males with high hormone levels responded with more aggression than the others.  Changes in hormone levels can likewise increase or reduce aggression. During puberty, for example, which is when testosterone levels generally increase, competitive aggression increases as well.

Crowd Incitement

Many times, parents, coaches and fans encourage aggression from the sidelines. After analyzing parents’ remarks at more than 40 adolescent sports games, Meân and Kassing (2008) found that many parents and sports officials encourage a “war-like” aggression on the sports field. This winning-at-all-costs mentality (as evidenced by statements like ‘kill him!’, ‘trip him,’ “Do what you gotta do,’ let ‘em have it,”) could be trickling down to their children. These adolescents are getting the message that because it’s so important to win, playing aggressively is okay. To them, the sport transforms from “play” to “war” – because that’s what they’re hearing from the crowd.

Living Up to Expectations

They’re nervous about performing well. About 13% of parents admit they’ve angrily criticized their child’s sport performance after a game. (Shields, 2005). Oftentimes, sports have become so important to the parent, and the parent has such high expectations for performance and the winning of the game, that many children are probably “playing much more aggressively than they would if their main objective was to hang out with their friends and have fun.” Research shows that parents underestimate the pressure they place on their young athletes to succeed.

Changing the Culture: Sportsmanship First

According to a Monitoring the Future survey, 71% of adolescent boys and 68% of adolescent girls participate in school sports. With so many teen athletes playing sports, it’s important to understand the factors that can lead to hostile aggression and take any steps one can to reduce it.

For parents, this could mean being mindful of their interactions with their children. Parents who are calm and try their best to reduce angry outbursts (not just at sports games, but also at home) are more likely to produce children who will act similarly. Likewise, parents can do their best in maintaining a low-stress approach to sports so as not to pressure their young athletes. In regards to media exposure, parents can also try to limit how much violence their teens are exposed to by monitoring their TV and media consumption.

Though some factors linking to aggression (such as personality or hormone levels) are out of one’s control, youth sports officials can try to create an atmosphere where hurtful taunts, songs and chants are discouraged, and positive sportsmanship is encouraged. This might limit the number of provocations in the game and thus the number of fights between athletes. In the same vein, angry spectator violence – which is shown to have a mimicking effect on adolescents – should have appropriate consequences.

CHILD LABOUR

• Pandemic – affected the Indian children
 Orphaned
 Child Labour

• Factors of Child Labour – pre existed.

• Third decade of the 21st century:
 152 million – child Labour
 73 million – hazardous work.

Statistics

• 2011 census – 10.1 million children (5-14 years) are working.
 8.1 million – rural areas
 26% – cultivators;
32.9% – agricultural labourers.

• UNESCO’s estimates
 38.1 million – out of school. • Rapid Survey on Children (2013-14)
 Less than half of children – 10-14 years have completed primary education.
• Child Labour:
 long-term devastating consequences – education, skills and acquisition.
 reduce – possibilities to overcome poverty, incomplete education and poor-quality jobs.

Policy and programmatic interventions

• Contributions
 Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) 2005
 the Right to Education Act 2009
 Mid-Day Meal Scheme.

• Education and wage employment (unskilled) for rural families.

• Ratification – ILO child labour Conventions
 Convention No. 138 – Minimum Age
 Convention No. 182 – Worst Forms of Child Labour.

• Online portal – allows to share information and
to coordinate on child Labour at all levels for
effective enforcement of child Labour laws.

• Child Labour – rate of reduction slowed by two-thirds .

• Important – consider the trends while developing policy and response.

• India – slower economic growth and rising unemployment.
• Lockdowns – backtrack the efforts invested and the gains made in eliminating child Labour.

• Present – economic insecurity, lack of social
protection and reduced household income
 Children – to contribute to their family income.
 Exposed to risk and exploitative work.
 Distant learning – child drop out.

• Digital divide.
 Annual Status of Education Report, 2020 – a third of the total number of enrolled
children received learning materials

Way Forward

• Right level of commitment, policy and programmatic interventions.

• Strong alliance – ending child Labour in all its forms by 2025 as agreed to in Sustainable Development
 Goal 8.7
 Eradicate forced Labour and to end modern slavery and human trafficking.
 Secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child Labour in all its forms by the end of 2025.

Child Labour

This is a word you might have heard of in the news or in the movies. It is a crime in which children are forced to work at a very young age. It is to be expected that the children will be to carry out responsibilities such as working and fending for themselves. There are some guidelines, restrictions, and limitations of the work.

The average age for a child to be appropriate, in the work are considered to be at least fifteen years old or more. Children at this age will not be allowed to enjoy any kind of work is very impressive. Why do we do this? As a child, taking away the children from having a normal childhood, a good education, and the physical and mental well-being. In some countries, it is illegal, but in the end, it’s a long way from being completely wiped out.

Causes of child labour
Child labor, for a number of reasons for this. While a few of the reasons as to why this may be used in some countries, there are a number of reasons that are specific to certain regions and territories. However, if we look at the root causes of child labour, and we’re going to be in a position to fight, the better it will be.

First of all, it is the countries with high rates of poverty and unemployment. If a family does not earn enough, and they are the children of the family, so that they do not have enough money to survive. However, as the adults in the family, the unemployed, and the young people who work for them.

In addition, if people do not have access to education, they are going to have on their children to work. The manual only care about the profit, in the short term, and this is the reason why they have to do things so that they are able to survive in them.

In addition, it is save to save the setting out of different industries, which is one of the most important causes of child labour. They are the children, since they are then they will have to pay less for the same work, but as a grown-up. As children, more than adults, and even fewer wages, they prefer children. They can easily influence and manipulate them. They only see their profit and this is the reason why you have to involve the children in the factories.

The abolition of child labour
If we want to eradicate child poverty, and we need to make some of the most efficient and effective solutions that will save our kids. It will also help to improve the future of the country are dealing with these social problems. To begin with, there could be a number of trade union organizations, who are working to prevent the occurrence of child labor. This should help a child to engage in this work, the punishment of those who are with them.”

In addition, we need to keep parents in the loop as they learn the importance of education. If we, free of charge to the education, training and awareness, in which we are going to be able to educate more and more children do not have to do with the child. In addition, in order to make the people aware about the harmful effects of the use of child labour, it is a must-have.

In addition, to the family of the control measures that must be taken into account. This will help to lessen the burden so you have fewer mouths to feed, and her parents are going to be enough to get them to work, rather than a child. In fact, each and every family in need of in order to get a promise of a minimum income to the government in order to survive.

In short, the government and the people need to come together. Of the jobs that could be given to those who are in abundance, so that they are able to earn a living, rather than having to put their children to work. The children are the future of our country, and we can’t expect them to be, in order to maintain the economic conditions of their families, instead of having a normal life.

Child labour

 

Child labor is against the law to force a small child to be work. In India, as in many industries, to force the children to work illegally. Among the many branches of agriculture, it will attract more and more children to take part in the farming to earn their living. Eighty-five per cent of the children are from rural areas of India, as is the case on the basis of a variety of social factors, which do not suit their way of life.
On the elimination of child labour, many of the provisions of a constitution were adopted. In spite of this, many children are involved in hazardous working conditions. Many of the children are usually taken to be the education of paid work in order to earn a living for their families. In a cruel world is robbing them of their childhood, the joys of life.

Causes of child labour:

Poverty
Poverty is one of the most important causes of child labour. In developing countries, poverty is a big drawback, and that is a child, and the first to be sent here to lend a helping hand in order to provide for their families, and their families, support themselves

needs:
Some industries, such as the production of a bracelet, delicate hands, and little fingers need to be completely superb, perfection and precision

Sentence:
What is the penalty for the use of children in conflict with the law? Each and every person who employs a child under 14 years of age, or children between the ages of 14 and 18, which is a very dangerous job, or a process, which can be the cəzalandırıla in prison, a sentence of imprisonment of six months to two years and/or a fine of Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000.

CHILD LABOUR

Childhood is the best and happiest time of everyone’s life, when they learn the fundamentals of life from their parents, loved ones, and environment.

Child labour is any service performed by children during their childhood in any sector. This is due to a lack of resources for survival, the parents’ irresponsibility, or the owner’s lack of resources to boost their earnings on low-risk investments. Childhood is the birthright of everyone, which he should live under the love and care of his parents, but this illegal act of child labour forces a child to live life like a grown-up.

Child labour interferes with the proper growth and development of children in all aspects, mentally, physically, socially and intellectually. Child labour keeps a child away from all the benefits of childhood, the happiest and memorable period of all life is spent working. This interferes with the ability to attend regular school which makes them socially dangerous and harmful citizens of the country. Child labour has become one of the biggest social issues in India that need to be resolved frequently.

Child labour is very common in many developing countries due to the high level of poverty and the existence of schooling opportunities for children. The main causes of child labour worldwide are poverty, parents, society, low wages, unemployment, poor living standards and understanding, social injustice, lack of schools, backwardness, ineffective laws which are directly affecting the development of the country.

Child labour is contaminating the lives of many precious children every day. It is a high level of illegal act for which one should be punished but this is happening side by side due to ineffective rules and regulations.

Children are the power of any nation, Protecting children from child labour is the responsibility of every citizen living in the country.

Children create a prosperous future for any developing country, therefore, they are the major responsibility of all adult citizens and should not be used in negative ways.

They should get a fair chance to grow and develop within the happy atmosphere of family and school.

Child Labour – The real issue of India

Fight for their Childhood: Stop Child Labour!

Child labour this term is more often used in India and we know , why we are well aware of this term. This topic has always been in debate and discussions because child labour is against our laws and it is a crime. But yet we all know that chootu of tea stall who makes us tea, or that chootu in garage who helps his master to fix our vehicles or shall we talk about that chootu who runs behind our vehicles during traffic either begging for money or to sell plastic toys. We might come across a few children like them in our daily life but trust me there are around 12.5 million children who are between the age of seven to seventeen engaged as a child labour. I know that’s too much, one can not even imagine these many number of children are forced to earn money at such a tender age.

Everybody knows that hiring a child to the work is illegal yet why do people still hire them ? well because by doing so they save a lot of money. Yes you got me right, such people know that if they hire a skilled or unskilled adult labour then they have to pay them more but since children don’t know the real value of money , they are deliberately paid half the amount and forced to work like any other adult. Now you must be thinking don’t they raise their voice to get equal pay , no they don’t and even if any child takes the courage to speak up then they are verbally and physically abused by their owners in a such a way that they get scared and the thought of their rights never crosses their mind again.

Child labour is not the only fault of the shop owner who made a child work but the actual fault lies in the government. Child labour has just become a topic to discuss, a topic to to have debate but apart from that no actions are taken against it. Poverty and lack of education are the major factors behind the fact of child labour. It’s not that parents are aware of their child’s situation, they know everything about them but still force them to work because they have no other option left. Poverty is making them so vulnerable that they even get ready to sell their child for money. Parents of such children are bound to send their children to work because they don’t get enough money to feed their family which is why they expect their child to earn in any situation so they can combinedly earn something.

It is hard to believe but there are some worst forms of child labour as well, such as slavery, child trafficking, prostituion , pornography, organised begging, drug trafficking and many more. I understand these words itself are so scary that it is hard to digest but then just imagine what could have been the mental situation of such children involved in such illicit activities. Isn’t it painful to know that there are children in this world who have to go through such hell like activities.

CHILD RIGHTS

CHILD – The insignificant sound of this word can assist us with conjuring a picture of a fun loving minimal person who can easily look for bliss by blending with his/her relatives or companion gathering. A youngster is somebody whose psychological and physical advancement is to a great extent subject to the social and familial condition they live in. Youth is a weak stage wherein scholastic interest, great physical movement (read playing with companions) and sufficient social collaboration in a safe domain can add to the child’s physical and mental well – being. After each of the, a glad adolescence can guarantee a brilliant future. In this way, the word youngster work is an unmistakable logical inconsistency of everything that make for a perfect youth. To put it clearly, it’s the work of youngsters in any work that denies offspring of their adolescence, meddles with their capacity to go to customary school, and that is intellectually, truly, socially or ethically perilous and destructive. An exploitative practice however in any case widespread in the Indian Mechanical space.

India’s 2011 statistics demonstrated that there were more than 10.2 million “monetarily dynamic” kids in the age gathering of five to 14 years – 5.6 million young men and 4.5 million young ladies, 8 million kids were working in provincial territories, and 2 million in urban zones. Despite the fact that in provincial settings the quantity of kid laborers diminished from 11 million to 8 million between the 2001 and 2011 censuses, over a similar period, the quantity of youngsters working in urban settings rose from 1.3 million to 2 million. 1 in each 11 kids in India attempts to procure a living, as indicated by insights by Activity Help India. Absence of training, destitution and lacking mindfulness are a portion of the variables that have added to this wretched development of kid work in India. A few examiners accept that a comprehensive training framework and a severe law against this misbehavior can shorten the development of youngster work in our nation.

Despite the fact that these measures can introduce positive outcomes, history has instructed us that kid work laws/approaches have stayed insufficient in battling this hazard. The need of great importance is to address the financial states of our general public which forces a kid to work at a weak age, regularly in regrettable conditions. Ventures particularly exploit this small workforce as they are not in a situation to contend for better wages or favorable work conditions. Frequently guardians of these children push them to work because of miserable neediness. For a creating nation like India, it’s fairly disgraceful to have an equal economy of incompetent and unregulated workforce of kids who are continually being misused by their representatives, in this way impeding their turn of events and the fate of our nation. Is there a light toward the finish of this dim passage? one may ponder.

There unquestionably is.

Other than comprehensive training, tough utilization of kid work laws/administrative structures, social reviews can assume a significant job in checking kid work across different businesses. Be it a little scope industry or an enormous one, each association should give a record of its corporate social presentation as far as giving word related well being and security, work to minorities, ecological contamination and so on. In the expressions of some prominent scholars’ “social inspecting is characterized as a methodical endeavor to distinguish, investigate, measure (if conceivable), assess, and screen the impact of an association’s procedure on society (that is, explicit social gatherings) and on the open prosperity.” Social Review, in this manner, isn’t simply a stock of social projects completed by the organization yet a successful technique to recognize and decide the social obligations that ought to have been released.

As we have learnt, there are numerous pernicious elements that have added to the development of youngster work in our nation. Be that as it may, the opportunity has arrived to change the monetary texture of our general public for a superior and more promising time to come. A small advance towards this objective can presumably be social reviews alongside settling on educated choices and spreading mindfulness.

These are worldwide principles which request to not control lone youngster work yet in addition to give not too bad living to all representatives of the associations. These principles help the makers to keep up great workplace in the production lines. It gives the certainty to the general public that the producers regard the privileges of the workers.

INDIAN SCENARIO OF CHILD ABUSE

In a nation wide survey on child abuse across 13 states of India report released in 2007 by Ministry of Women and child development Government of India in which 12447 children participated, more than half, 53.22% subjected to one or more forms of sexual abuse. The age wise distribution showed abuse started at 5,gained momentum 10 years onwards, peaking at 12 to 15 years. In 9 out of 13 states reported higher percentage of sexual abuse in boys as compared to girls, Delhi reporting a figure of 65.64% boys. Children at work faced the highest at 61.61%.Out of the total children interviewed 20.90% were subjected to Severe form including sexual assault. Preadolescent to Adolescent children seemed to be more at risk of suffering Severe form. It was also distributing to note that age 6 to 10 years also face severe form of sexual abuse.

Assam, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar reported maximum sexual abuse. There is no legislation on child physical abuse but its moral duty of all adults to report the abuse and stop further harm to the child.

Child sexual abuse is a Universal problem with grave life long outcomes. Is a complex life experience, not a diagnosis or a disorder. An array of sexual activities is covered by the term CSA.

After the enactment of the new law “Protection of child against sexual offences (POCSO) Act 2012” the concept and management of child sexual abuse (CSA) in India has changed a lot safeguarding best interest of the child in every respect at each step including rehabilitation, compensation and all legal procedure.

This law applies to all persons up to 18 years of age, is gender neutral, gives set of guidelines for all the stakeholders to perform their role as even the maintaining silence to allow sexual abuse to happen to the child is a crime and punishable offence under the law of the land, law of the land does not allow consensual sex to any person under 18 years of age, there is provision of mandatory reporting to the police under the Act.

The first step towards prevention is awareness and save the child from further abuse. Hence, stringent measures should be taken for the prevention and control of this hidden public health issue.

The abuser can be of any age, gender and socio – economic class, at times can be a family member. Sexual abuse may not be necessarily penetration, force, pain, or even touching. Most sexual abusers know the child they abuse.

World wide reports have indicated boys are equally abused as girls and have suggested that protective shield should be provided not only to the girls but also to the boys right since they are born. Children can be sexually abused even by their lawful guardians.

child marriage

The highest number of cases were registered in Tamil Nadu (55), followed by Karnataka at 51. Other states witnessing high number of cases of child marriages were West Bengal (41), Assam (23), Telangana (19), Andhra Pradesh (19), Maharashtra (16), Haryana (14), Gujarat (12). Even Puducherry, which had zero reports of child marriage cases in 2014 and 2015 registered 5 in 2016.

Many brides find themselves alone after getting married. There’s no work to be found in the small villages, so young men often seek their fortune across the giant country. Their wives move in with the in-laws and the newlyweds stay in touch via phone.

“What do you expect a kid who’s 15 to understand about marriage or relationships or managing a house?” asks Khandelwal. “They’re not educated, and that trickles down to their own kids. They already don’t have money, and they’re already too young to have kids. It’s a vicious cycle. Will they ever be able to come out of this?”

After two and a half years spent photographing the child brides of Shravasti, Khandelwal sees signs of young girls forced into marriage across the country, even in the metropolis of New Delhi. She plans to turn her camera’s lens on these communities to show how the practice may be illegal and declining, but in India it’s still flourishing on the sidelines.

she expected tradition and patriarchy to dominate each family’s decision to marry off their daughters. What she found was a practice also rooted in poverty, a lack of education, and the volatility of life.

The interplay of many social, economic and religious factors is responsible for child marriage. Many prefer child or early marriage so that the couple bears the highest number of children possible. In communities with poor law and order enforcement, girl child marriage is seen as a solution to protect the ‘honour’ of the girl child, and as a form of ‘protection’ against rape and kidnapping. So entrenched these customs have become that they continue even after the recent improvement of law and order. This can end faulty belief systems, like early marriage and sex-selective abortion. As per the World Bank, educated, healthy women can “engage in productive activities, find formal sector.

Child Labour in India

Child labour has become a major problem in the world as it affects the children both emotionally and physically and it also threatens the children’s future. Child labour, not only in India, but also in other developing countries, is a huge issue. Because of poverty, it is widely common in many developing countries. It is a major social problem because children are a nation’s promise and future. There have been plenty of legislation introduced to prohibit child labour but they are unsuccessful. According to 2017 statics India has a whopping 33 million children working in different forms of child labour, becoming one of the leading countries in Asia.

Strength of Child Labourers in India:

According to the ILO, some 12.9 million Indian children are engaged in work in between ages of 7-17. They are much less likely to go to school or attend only intermittently when children are appointed or doing unpaid work, trapping them in the cycle of poverty. Hundreds of thousands of Indian girls and boys go to work in quarries and warehouses every day, or to sell cigarettes on the highway. Most of these children are between the ages of 12 and 17, who work up to 16 hours a day to help their families accomplish their ends. But child labour in India can begin even earlier with an estimated 10.1 million children aged 5 to 14 involved in work.

India can wipe out child labour with proper laws | Deccan Herald

As children get older, they also become more involved in employment. In India 20 per cent of all children between the ages of 15 and 17 are active in unsafe industry sectors. It is difficult to calculate the exact extent of child labor in India, since it is still concealed and underreported. In India, there are nearly 18 million children between the ages of 7 and 17 who are considered “unavailable,” neither in employment nor in school. Such missing girls and boys in India may undergo some of the worst forms of child labour.

Forms of Child Labour:

According to an ILO study, the majority of child labor in the world (around 71 per cent) is done in agricultural sector, including cotton fields and paddy fields. Approximately 17 percent are hired as service staff, mainly as farm servants or in restaurants, and another 12 percent of child labour, is spread across jobs in the industry sector including hazardous mining activities.

Many child labourers in India are employed in textile factories for starvation wages, helping with carpet manufacturing, or doing back-breaking work in factories and quarries for brick making. Other child labourers compete for the tobacco industry on the street selling cigarettes, called “Bidis.” Throughout industries such as steel mining, gem polishing, and carpet making, children are also used for cheap labour. A shocking number of girls are victims of Indian sex trafficking, be it by conventional slavery or criminal enterprises. Children’s commercial sexual abuse is one of the worst forms of child labour, and trafficking includes around 1.2 million children in India.

Causes of Child Labour:

Notwithstanding India’s recent economic growth, over one third of all Indians tend to live below the poverty line. The IT sector’s technological advances and improvements have not produced jobs in poverty-stricken regions. People from rural areas with little schooling frequently see little choice but to take their kids off school and put them to work to help feed their families. Because of the dire situation of many families, children are being sold to child traffickers by their fathers and mothers or parents abandoning their children in the countryside while they are looking for work in a big city. These children are most vulnerable and are often abused by traffickers who force the boys and girls to work for very low salaries or absolutely nothing.

Laws present to fight Child Labour:

In 1993, the Indian Government passed a new law against child labour banning hazardous work or practices that could impact girls and boys under the age of 18 to the psychological, spiritual, moral or cultural wellbeing. Child labour, however, persists for a variety of reasons, for example people manipulate loopholes in legislation that allow children to be hired if the job is part of a family business. So having kids selling cigarettes on the street might be considered legal if it’s part of a family business. Additionally, many business leaders, such as mine owners, hold political office and have significant influence. Industries might not want to bar cheap labour from their business operations.

The laws against child labour were reinforced in 2006 and again in 2016 to guarantee that children under the age of 14 were forbidden to work in restaurants and hotels as domestic aid or service staff. Nevertheless, child labour remains permissible in family businesses. Furthermore, the rule does not extend to 15 to 17 year-olds who are only restricted to do “dangerous” work.

Steps to resolve the problem of Child Labour:

In the political system much more needs to be done to prevent exploitative child labour in India: the laws against child labour must be further stiffened and implemented more strictly. Furthermore, fighting poverty and hunger, a root cause of child labour, is important. Acknowledging poverty and inequality is crucial for putting an end to child labour.

It is also vital that access to education breaks the intergenerational cycle of poverty and child labour. Once children achieve higher educational rates, they are more likely to find decent paying jobs at adulthood and can use their income to provide for themselves and their families without depending on child labour.