The term Child Labor is used for employment of children below a certain age, which is

considered illegal by law and custom. The stipulated age varies from country to country and
government to government. Child labor is a world phenomenon which is considered
exploitative and inhuman by many international organizations. 

In some industries children are forced to do repetitive and tedious work like weaving carpets,
assembling boxes, polishing shoes, cleaning and arranging a shops goods. It is seen that children are
found working more in the informal sectors compared to factories and commercial registered
organizations. Little children are often seen selling in the streets or working quietly on domestic chores
within the high walls of homes – hidden away from the eyes of the media and labor inspectors. 

According to the statistics given by International Labor Organization there are about 218
million children between the age of 5 and 17 working all over the world. The figure
excludes domestic labor. The most condemned form of child labor is the use of children for
military purpose and child prostitution. Child agricultural works, child singers and child
actors outside of school hours during season time are more acceptable by champions of
human rights and law. The phenomenon of child labor is a complex development issue
worthy of investigation. The fact that vulnerable children are being exploited and forced
into work, which is not fit for their age, is a human rights concern now. India and other
developed and developing countries are really plagued by the problem of child employment
in organized and unorganized sectors. 

Child labor is a human rights issue of immense sensitivity. Child labor is considered exploitative by

the United Nations and International Labor Organization. The article 32 of the UN speaks about

child labour as follows-“States parties recognize the right of the child to be protected from

economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere

with the child’s education, or to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral

or social development.” To sum up, most countries of the world consider it highly inappropriate

when a child below a certain age is put to work. People should be prohibited from hiring labor

below a certain age. However, the minimum age at which a human can be put to work differs from

country to country. In the US the child labor laws have set the minimum age to work in an

organization without the parents consent at sixteen.

What is Child Labour

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’. 

It is obligatory for all countries to set a minimum age for employment according to the

rules of ILO written in Convention 138(C.138). The stipulated age for employment should

not be below the age for finishing compulsory schooling, that is not below the age of 15.

Developing countries are allowed to set the minimum age at 14 years in accordance with their

socio- economic circumstances. 

C-138 has also made provisions for flexibility for certain countries, setting the minimum

age of 12 and 13 for their children - but only for partaking in light work. Light work can

be defined as children’s participation in only those economic activities which do not

damage their health and development or interfere with their education. Yes, work that

does not obstruct with a child’s education is considered light work and allowed from age 12 under

the International Labor Organization (ILO Convention 138). It is because of this that many

children employed in part time work like learning craft or other skills of a hereditary nature are not

called child labors. The same work translates into child labor if a child is thrown into weaving

carpets, working into factories or some other employment to earn money to sustain self, or

augment his family’s income - without being given school education and allowed opportunities for

normal social interactions. A child working part time (3-4 hours) to learn and earn for self

and parents after school, is not considered ‘child labor’. The Industrial revolution had ushered

in the horrendous practice of employing children of 4 and 5 years in factories in environmental

conditions, which were risky for their health and well being, often proving fatal. Developed countries
have reacted sharply to this historical fact by equating “child labor” with human right violation.
However poor countries are more accepting about child labor as a living necessity.  
 
The year 1990 witnessed all countries of the world except United States and Somalia
become a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).  The strongest, most
consistent language in legal terminology prohibiting illegal child labor is provided by the CRC. However
it does not establish the practice of child labor as legally punishable. 

Employment with others and self employment both come under the aegis of ‘child labor’. It has been
seen that children who are street sellers, street entertainers, rag pickers, child prostitutes or
 pornography models, beggers etc - are mostly without natural guardians and exploited by
underground gangsters and racketeers. These children are mostly children of illegal migrants. They
are the victim of abandonment, riots, wars or just sheer poverty and homelessness. In poor countries
some children are helping hands for their parents or are employed in factories, commercial
organizations or households with the consent of the parents. The most appalling form of child labor is
prostitution and modeling for child pornography. Some children are even sold to fiefs by their parents
for money.

Child Labour Today

Child labor is a very complicated development issue, effecting human society all over the world. It is a
matter of grave concern that children are not receiving the education and leisure which is important for
their growing years, because they are sucked into commercial and laborious activities which is meant
for people beyond their years. According to the statistics given by ILO and other official agencies 73
million children between 10 to 14 years of age re employed in economic activities all over the world.
The figure translates into 13.2 of all children between 10 to 14 being subjected to child labor. 

Child labor is most rampant in Asia with 44.6 million or 13% percent of its children doing

commercial work followed by Africa at 23.6 million or 26.3% which is the highest rate

and Latin America at 5.1 million that is 9.8%.

In India 14.4 % children between 10 and 14 years of age are employed in child labor. in

Bangladesh 30.1%, in China 11.6%,in Pakistan 17.7%, in Turkey 24%, in Cote D’lvoire

20.5%, in Egypt 11.2%, in Kenya 41.3% , in Nigeria 25.8%, in Senegal 31.4%, in

Argentina 4.5%, in Brazil 16.1%, in Mexico 6.7%, in Italy 0.4% and in Portugal 1.8%.

The above figures only give part of the picture. No reliable figures of child workers below

10 years of age are available, though they comprise a significant amount. The same is

true of children in the former age group on whom no official data is available. If it was

possible to count the number of child workers properly, and the number of young girls

occupied in domestic labor taken into account - the figure will emerge as hundreds of

million.

Child labour is also prevalent in rich and industrialized countries, although less compared to
poor nations. For example there are a large of children working for pay at home, in seasonal
 cycles, for street trade and small workshops in Southern Europe. India is a glaring example
of a nation hounded by the evil of child labor. It is estimated that there are 60 to 115
million working children in India- which was the highest in 1996 according to human rights
watch. 
The problems coming from a centrally planned to market economy has led to the creation of many
child workers in central and eastern Europe. Same is the case in America. The growth of the service
sector, increasing provision of part time jobs and the need for flexible work force has given birth to a
big market for child workers here. 

Historically the working force of child workers is more in rural areas compared to urban
settings. Nine out of ten village children are employed in agriculture or household
industries and craftwork. In towns and cities children are more absorbed in service and
trading sectors rather that marketing. This is due to the rapid urbanization of the modern
world. Survey done by experimental statisticians of ILO in India, Indonesia and Senegal
have revealed that child labor under the age of fourteen takes place in family enterprises
mostly, with the exception of Latin America. Child labor is also found to be gender specific,
with more boys than girls employed in laborious activities. But this is also because it is
difficult to take a count of girls working in households.

Child Labour in India

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. Their families dependence on their income, forces them to endure the onerous

work conditions in the carpet factories. 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. 

The Indian government has tried to take some steps to alleviate the problem of child labor
in recent years by invoking a law that makes the employment of children below 14 illegal,
except in family owned enterprises. However this law is rarely adhered to due to practical
difficulties. Factories usually find loopholes and circumvent the law by declaring that the
child laborer is a distant family member. Also in villages there is no law implementing
mechanism, and any punitive actions for commercial enterprises violating these laws is
almost non existent. 

Child labor is a conspicuous problem in India. Its prevalence is evident in the child work
participation rate, which is more than that of other developing countries. Poverty is the
reason for child labor in India. The meager income of child laborers is also absorbed by
their families. The paucity of organized banking in the rural areas creates a void in taking
facilities, forcing poor families to push their children in harsh labor, the harshest being
bonded labor. 

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. Courtesy :  ngo india 

Causes of Child Labour

Some common causes of child labor are poverty, parental illiteracy, social apathy, ignorance, lack
education and exposure, exploitation of cheap and unorganized labor. The family practice to inculca
traditional skills in children also pulls little ones inexorably in the trap of child labor, as they never g
the opportunity to learn anything els

Absence of compulsory education at the primary level, parental ignorance regarding the bad effects of chi

labor, the ineffictivity of child labor laws in terms of implementation, non availability and non accessibility o

schools, boring and unpractical school curriculum and cheap child labor are some other factors whic

encourages the phenomenon of child labor. It is also very difficult for immature minds and undeveloped bodie

to understand and organize them selves against exploitation in the absence of adult guidance.Poverty and ove

population have been identified as the two main causes of child labor. Parents are forced to send little childre

into hazardous jobs for reasons of survival, even when they know it is wrong. Monetary constraints and th

need for food, shelter and clothing drives their children in the trap of premature labor. Over population in som

regions creates paucity of resources. When there are limited means and more mouths to feed children ar

driven to commercial activities and not provided for their development needs. This is the case in most Asian an
 African countrie

Illiterate and ignorant parents do not understand the need for wholesome proper physical, cognitive an

emotional development of their child. They are themselves uneducated and unexposed, so they don’t realize th

importance of education for their children. Adult unemployment and urbanization also causes child lab

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

The industrial revolution has also had a negative effect by giving rise to circumstances wh
encourages child labor. Sometimes multinationals prefer to employ child workers in the developi
countries. This is so because they can be recruited for less pay, more work can be extracted from the
and there is no union problem with them. This attitude also makes it difficult for adults to find jobs
factories, forcing them to drive their little ones to work to keep the fire burning their home

The incidence of child labor would diminish considerably even in the face of poverty, if there are no
parties willing to exploits them. Strict implementation of child labor laws and practical and healthy
alternatives to replace this evil can go a long way to solve the problem of child labor. Children who are
born out of wedlock, orphaned or abandoned are especially vulnerable to exploitation. They are forced
to work for survival when there are no adults and relatives to support them. Livelihood considerations
can also drive a child into the dirtiest forms of child labor like child prostitution and organized begging.

Child Labour Laws

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. 

Even when laws or codes of conduct exist, they are often violated. 

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. Without proper enforcement all policies and laws
concerning child labor prove useless.
 
Moreover certain sectors like agriculture and domestic work are not included in the exemption of child
labor. In some countries very strict child labor laws exist but the offices and departments responsible for
implementing them are under funded and under staffed. The judicial machinery and courts are also
found to be faltering and falting where proper enforcement of such laws is concerned. Many state
governments are feisty in allocating resources to enforce child labor laws. 

There are also many loop holes while setting laws and rules for child labor which allows exploitation. For
example in Nepal, the minimum age for a person to go for work is 14 years, but plantation of brick clines
is exempted from this. 

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.

Child Labour Policy in India

There are specific clauses in the draft of Indian constitution dated 26th January 1950, about the child
labor policy in India. These are conveyed through different articles in the Fundamental rights and the
Directive Principles of the State Policy. They lay down four specific policy rules regarding child labor. 

They are as following:-  1) ( Article 14) No child below the age of 14 years shall be

employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous

employment. 

2) Article 39-E) The state shall direct its policy towards securing that the health and

strength of workers, men and women and the tender age of children are not abused and
 that they are not forced by economic necessity to enter vocations unsuited to there are

and strength. 

3) ( Article 39-f ) Children shall be given opportunities and facilities to develop in a

healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth

shall be protected against moral and material abandonment. 

4) (Article 45 ) The state shall endeavor to provide within a period of ten years from the

commencement of the constitution for free and compulsory education for all children

until they complete the age of fourteen years. It was also decided that both the Union

government and the State government could legislate on matters concerning child labor. Various
legislative initiatives were also taken in this regard at both the State and Union level. 

The main legislative measures at the national level are The Child Labor Prohibition and Regulation Act
-1986 and The Factories Act -1948. The first act was categorical in prohibiting the employment of
children below fourteen years of age, and identified 57 processes and 13 occupations which were
considered dangerous to the health and lives of children. The details of these occupations and
processes are listed in the schedule to the said Act. 

The factories act again prohibits the employment of children less than fourteen years of age. However
an adolescent aged between 15 and 18 can be recruited for factory employment only after securing a
fitness certificate from a medical doctor who is authorized. The Act proceeds to prescribe only four and
and hour’s work period per day for children between 14 and 18 years. Children are also not allowed to
work in night shifts. 
 
Moreover, in the year 1996 the Supreme Court of India came out with a judgment in court that
directed the State and Union government to make a list of all children embroiled in hazardous
occupations and processes. They were then told to pull them out of work and asked to provide them
with proper education of quality. The judiciary also laid down that Child Labor and Welfare Fund is set
up. The contribution for this was to be received from employers who contravened the Child Labor Act. 

India is also a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ILO Abolition of
Forced Convention – No 105 and ILO Forced labor Convention – No. 29. A National Labor
Policy was also adopted in the year 1987 in accordance with India’s development strategies
and aims. The National Policy was designed to reinforce the directive principles of state
policy in the Indian constitution.

Indian Silk Industry And Child Labour

Hundreds and thousands of children are toiling as bonded labor in India’s silk industry and the government is no
 Contrary to the Indian governments claim bonded children are very conspicuous In India everywhere.
Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu form the core of India’s silk and sari industry. Bonded children
as young as five work for more them twelve hours a day in the silk industry, at different levels of
production. They toil for nearly seven days a week, breathing smoky fumes from the silk making
machinery. These children squat near cramped looms to help and assist workers in dim and damp
rooms. They are required to dip their little hands in boiling hot water that causes blisters and handle
dead worms which breed infections. Twisting thread which injure their fingers is also a part of the silk
making process. Their attempts to attend school are met with protest and physical violence by their
employers. Their adulthood is impoverished, illiterate and damaged by the weight of their childhood. 

The southern state of Karnataka is a major silk producing state in India. It is the major producer of
Indian silk thread. The production depends completely on the labor of bonded children under the age
of fourteen. Most of the bonded children are either Muslims or Dalits. Children as young as nine years
are tied and beaten with belts if they don’t do they work properly by the supervisors and owners in
these industries. 

Bonded children are less common in the carpet Industry in Uttar Pradesh compared to the silk industry.
Child labor laws have been better imposed in the carpet industry due to strong pressure from domestic
and international activists. 

Children who work in silk factories are kept behind covers by being pushed into individual homes.
Tamil Nadu in South India is the home of the largest number of bonded children. However more
attention has been paid to rehabilitate children working on match and fireworks manufacture,
compared to silk factories. 

Kanchipuram is the hub of silk sari weaving in Tamil Nadu, where child labor thrives with a relish.
Children are ill-treated, scolded, beaten and denied development needs regularly for commercial
gains in these industries. Silk fabric and silk threads are also produced in some other states of India,
where child labor flourishes. The plight of these small silk workers epitomizes the sorry state of
bonded children in the country. Commercial exploitation and corrupt government machinery has
violated all human rights efforts to improve the lot of these children.

Child Labour in Indian Sweet Shops

Indian sweet shops are notorious for profiting from child labor which is tantamount to slavery. These shop also
profit from illegal retail activities and use small and vulnerable children in the manufacturing process. Children as
young as eleven and thirteen toil in these shops for hours on end and suffer from exertion and fatigue. They have
no fixed working hours and are constantly threatened with the fear of being fired, are depressed and deprived of
education and entertainment.

Indian sweet shops function quietly and illegally as household industries making little children toil for
long hours on very low wages before huge cauldrons of burning fat. Many children working in Indian
sweet shops remain unpaid or poorly paid, are scolded, ill treated and underfed. Studies
of children toiling in Indian sweet shops show that they mainly hail from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and
Nepal. These children sometimes also double up as domestic help for the owners of the sweet shops
and their families. 

Most of the children working in this sector are not paid more than 300 to 800 rupees in a month, for
more than twelve hours of labor each day - in suffocating rooms which are hot and smoky. The different
processes of making Indian sweets also tantamount to hard and relentless labor. A study shows that
most of the children working in Indian sweet shops want to quit work and go to school. They also pine to
stay with their parents and other family members. The owners of sweet shop discourage their ambitions
and shun the attempts of any social activists who try to bring their plight in the lime light. 

Sweet shop owners prefer to employ small children due to their vulnerability in terms of wanting
remuneration. Also, it is considerably easy to bully and scold a child. They mostly employ minors, and
are reluctant to divulge details about these little employers and their working conditions. Besides the
official statistics of 11 million child workers in India, thousands working in these sweet shops go
unreported, because of the unorganized nature of their labor. The economic boom in India has given a
fillip to the profits of sweet shops, ironically worsening the lot of these children. They are forced to work
for longer hours at lesser wages to fulfill the demand for the sweets, they help to make.

In a recent raid in Delhi, India’s political capital, many boy child workers were rescued from several
sweet shops. Agents had lured them from India’s poorest regions with promises of good wages and
decent working conditions. India’s poor children are locked up in hidden floors of garment factories,
match stick making huts, carpet making work shops and sweltering sweet shop kitchens to create
goods for export. Some of their produce is sold in top shops in the UK and America for huge profits,
while they wither in dire poverty and abject deprivation.

Bonded Child Labour in India

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.

The children who are sold as bonded labor only get a handful of coarse grain to keep them alive in return for their
labor. Sometimes their period of thrall extends for a life time, and they have to simply toil hard and depend on the
mercy of their owners, without any hope of release or redemption. The impoverished parents of the bonded child i
usually a poor, uneducated landless laborer and the mortgagee is traditionally some big landlord, money lender or
big business man who thrives on their vulnerability to such exploitation.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 practi
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. 
 However most of their efforts were sabotaged by high level government officials covering the fact that children we
doing bonded work in factory promises. They deliberately employed their energy in running public awareness
campaigns and made claims of creating propaganda against child labor, instead of punishing erring employers and
freeing and rehabilitating the bonded children. 

Governments did take few directions on the right track initially, but most of their efforts came to naught with tim
Moreover the government efforts did not reach high profile industries like bidi, cigarette making and carpet
weaving. According to Cousen Neff - an official of the Human Rights watch – “Instead of living up to its promises,
the Indian government is starting to backtrack, claiming the problem is being solved. Our research shows that it
not.” 

Neff also identified a major link between caste and bondage in Indian society. Dalit family’s functions as bonded
labor due to caste based discrimination and violence and not poverty in many cases. The caste system in India is
one of the main foundations on which the edifice of bonded labor rests. Dalits or the so called untouchable are
denied access to land in India, forced to work in inhuman conditions, and expected to perform labor for free. Thi
is due to the so called upper castes boycotting them socially and subjecting them to economic exploitation. This
attitude of society keeps the poor families bonded in a scourge of perpetual poverty and labor. It is now very
important for all International donors to put pressure on the Indian government to enforce bonded labor and ch
labor laws in the country. To find more child labor websites visit : ngo in india

Child Labour The Real Situation

The term ‘child labor’ means ‘working child’ or ‘employed child’. ‘Child labor’ is any work done by ch
for profit. ‘Child labor’ is a derogatory term which translates into child exploitation and inhuman
according to sociologists, development workers, medical professionals and educationists. They ha
identified child labor as harmful and hazardous to the child’s development needs, both mental a
physical. 

SHRI V.V. Giri – the former president of India has arrived on two concepts of child labor – first as a bad
economic practice and second as an overt social evil. In the first it is involvement of a child labor in
profitable activities to augment the family income. The second context, namely child labor a social evil –
is more complex in nature and extent. In order to assess the nature of the evil, and gauge the extent of
damage it becomes necessary to understand the character of the job in which the child is engaged, the
dangers to which they are exposed and the development opportunities they are denied.Technically the
term ‘child labour’ is used for children occupied in profitable activities, whether industrial or non
industrial. It is especially applicable for activities which are detrimental to their physical, psychological,
emotional, social and moral development needs. It has been researched and proved that the brain of a
child develops till the age of ten, muscles till the age of seventeen and his lungs till the age of fourteen.
To be more specific, any activity which acts as a hazard for the natural growth and enhancement of
these vital organs, can be considered harmful for natural human growth and development and termed –
‘child labor’.It has been observed in India and other countries, that the practice of ‘child labor’ is a
socio- economic problem. Many appalling relities like poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, low wages,
ignorance, social prejudices, regressive traditions, poor standard of living, backwardness, superstition,
low status of women have combined to give birth to the terrible practice of child labor. Mr. Madan,
Deputy Director in the Ministry of labor has been quoted as saying that “the children are required to
seek employment either to augment the income of their families or to have a gainful occupation in
the absence of availability of school going facilities at various places.” 
It has been observed and repeatedly stated in recent times that ‘child labor’ does not remain a mere
means of economic exploitation but has become a necessity due to the economic needs of the parents
and the child himself. Professor Gangrade has iterated that child labor is also caused by different factors
like social traditions, family attitude, customs, and dearth of schools or parental reluctance to send
children to school, industrialization, urbanization, migration etc. To counter the real situation called
child labor and save little humans from abuse at a tender age, the government should be compelled to
provide compulsory and free education to all children up to the age of fourteen years. The
recommendations of the convention No.138 should be kept in mind by those who formulate child labor
laws. The working age limit for an individual should also be raised to allow consistent and full physical
and mental growth for every individual.

Stop Child Labor

The future of a community is in the well being of its children. The above fact is beautifully expressed by
Wordsworth in his famous lines “child is father of the man”. So it becomes imperative for the health of a nation
protect its children from premature labor which is hazardous to their mental, physical, educational and spiritual
development needs. It is urgently required to save children from the murderous clutches of social injustice and
educational deprivation, and ensure that they are given opportunities for healthy, normal and happy growth.

The venerable Indian poet Rabindranth Tagore has said time and again, that every country is absolutely
bound by its duty to provide free primary education to its children. It is important to remember that
industrialization can afford to wait but youth cannot be captured for long. It is imperative that the basic
tenet made in article 24 of the Indian constitution - prohibiting the employment of any child below
fourteen years of age, in a factory, mine or any other hazardous employment be stopped – be adhered
to. There should be no ambiguity in ensuring the right of every child to free basic education and the
promise of the constitution should be fully implemented in the here and now.

Projects related with human resource development, dedicated to the child welfare issues must be
given top priority by the central and state governments to stop the menace of child labor. Child labor
laws need to be strictly implemented at the central and state levels. Corruption and negligence in
child labor offices and employee circles should be dealt with very strictly by the judiciary and the
police force. 
 
The development needs of growing children can only be provided for, by stopping the onerous practice
of child labor in organized and non organized sectors with utmost sincerity. This is the only way a nation
can train its children to be wholesome future citizens, who are happy and prosperous. The provision of
equal and proper opportunities for the educational needs of growing children in accordance with
constitutional directives will go a long way in stopping the evil practice of child labor. Resource: ngo
india

Concerned about the future of its children India has implemented a country- wide ban recently, on
children below fourteen working in the hospitality sector and as domestics. It is intended that those who
are found to violate the law will be fined with 430 dollars and sent into rigorous imprisonment for two
years. Children in India are not allowed to work in mines, factories and other hazardous jobs
already. Two more professions have been added in a list of fifty seven occupations which were
considered hazardous for a child’s development needs in the ‘child labor act’ passed in 1986.Childs
rights activists are waxing eloquent in high pitched voices about the absolute importance of stopping
child labor. But legislation in this regard is just like an intention. It is more important to take
development measures to ensure its practical application by eliminating the reasons of child labor from
our society. The reasons giving birth to child labor are poverty, illiteracy, scarcity of schools, ignorance,
socially regressive practices, blind customs and traditions, migration and last but not the least
corruption amongst employees and government labor organizations. People should not be able to get
away with employing and exploiting children.