INTRODUCTION

Children are the greatest gift to humanity and Childhood is

an important and impressionable stage of human
development as it holds the potential to the future
development of any society. Children who are brought up
in an environment, which is conducive to their intellectual,
physical and social health, grow up to be responsible and
productive members of society. Every nation links its
future with the present status of its children. By performing
work when they are too young for the task, children unduly
reduce their present welfare or their future income earning
capabilities, either by shrinking their future external choice
sets or by reducing their own future individual productive
capabilities. Under extreme economic distress, children
are forced to forego educational opportunities and take up
jobs which are mostly exploitative as they are usually
underpaid and engaged in hazardous conditions. Parents
decide to send their child for engaging in a job as a
desperate measure due to poor economic conditions. It is
therefore no wonder that the poor households
predominantly send their children to work in early ages of
their life. One of the disconcerting aspects of child labour
is that children are sent to work at the expense of
education.

Child labour is a concrete manifestation of violations of a

range of rights of children and is recognised 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 adequate
standard of living, opportunity for developing personality,
talents, mental and physical abilities, and protection from
abuse and neglect. Notwithstanding the increase in the
enrolment of children in elementary schools and increase
in literacy rates since 1980s, child labour continues to be a
significant phenomenon in India.
CAUSES

Child labour is caused by several factors. Some of them

include:

1. Poverty: Children who come from poor families may be

forced to work to support their siblings and parents or
supplement the household income when expenses are
more than the parents’ earnings. It is a huge problem
especially in developing countries where parents are
unable to generate income due to the lack of employment
opportunities or education. Children can be found
employed in mines or hawking in the streets to earn
money that is used to provide basic necessities such as
food and clothing for the family. Children may also be
employed in factories to generate income for the family
instead of attending school. Such a practice is a common
phenomenon in poverty-stricken regions with large
factories set up by international companies.

2. Low Aspiration: It is important for parents and children

to understand that they can work hard and make
something great of themselves. Low aspirations by
parents and children is a major cause of child labour
because in such a situation, being employed in a local
factory, or selling grocery in the streets is the normal way
of life. To these types of children and parents, success
only belongs to a certain region or group of people. They
do not aspire to become professionals in the society or
great entrepreneurs. It is a mindset that forms the very
foundation of child labour.
3. Huge demand for unskilled labourers: The demand
for unskilled labourers is another cause of child labour.
Children are mostly unskilled and provide a cheap source
of labour, making them an attractive option for many
greedy employers. Child labour, by virtue of being cheap,
increases the margin of profits for such entrepreneurs
whose only objective is profit maximization even if it
comes at the expense of ethics and good business
practices. These types of employers can also force
children to work under unfavorable conditions through
manipulation or blatant threats.

4. Illiteracy: A society with many educated people

understands the importance of going to school and
pursuing dreams. Children have the ability and time to
become whatever they aspire to be. Illiteracy, on the other
hand, makes it difficult for many people to understand the
importance of education. Illiterate people view education
as a preserve of the privileged in the society. They will
therefore not provide support to children so that they can
go to school and build solid foundations for future
success. The same view of life is seen among illiterate
parents who prioritize children contributing to the upkeep
of the family over going to school.

5. Early Marriages: Marrying at an early age is a major

contributing factor to overpopulation. Young parents are
able to sire a lot of children because they remain fertile for
a long time. Having many children with little or no
resources to support them leads to child labour. Older
children are forced to work in order to help their parents
support the family.
6. High cost of education: Quality education is
expensive. To many parents who live in abject poverty,
priority is given to providing food for the family because
education is too expensive to afford especially when there
are many children to pay school fees for. Instead of letting
children stay at home because there is lack of money to
send them to school, parents opt to have them working as
unskilled labourers to help support the family. Some
parents can also only afford basic education which means
that children will be forced to look for work since they
cannot pursue their education further.

Consequences / Effects:
Child labour has several negative impacts. Some of them
include:

1. Loss of Quality childhood: It is important for human

beings to enjoy every stage of their development. A child
should play with friends and make memories for a lifetime.
Youths should explore life and form strong foundations
that would define their adult lives. Child labour, therefore,
leads to loss of quality childhood as children will be
deprived of the opportunity to enjoy the amazing
experiences that come with being young. Children are
often encouraged to play because it helps in their growth
and development. A child forced to work will miss many of
the good things associated with childhood.

2. Health issues: Child labour can also lead to health

complications due to undernourishment and poor working
conditions. It is highly unlikely that people who employ
children also have the moral capacity to ensure that they
have good working conditions. Working in places such as
mines and badly conditioned factories may result in
lifetime health issues for children employed to work in
these places. A child assigned physically demanding
duties may suffer physical trauma that may scar him or her
for life.

3. Mental trauma: It is not a pleasant experience to be

kept working as a child while your age-mates are out
playing and going to school. Children also lack the ability
to shield themselves from most of the challenges that
occur in the workplace. Issues such as bullying, sexual
exploitation, and unfavorable working hours may result in
mental trauma in these children. They will find it hard to
forget the past and may become societal misfits because
of bad childhood experiences. Child labour may also result
in the lack of emotional growth and thus insensitivity.

4. Illiteracy: Children that are employed do not have the

time to go to school. They spend a lot of time in their
workstations as the days and years go by. The lack of
education and illiteracy makes them individuals with
limited opportunities as far as employment is concerned.
Education also prepares a person for several challenges
in the society and without it, one may turn out to lack the
basic skills required to overcome many of life’s problems.
An individual who has gone to school may be aware of
how to approach certain situations in life without resorting
to brute force. An illiterate person, on the other hand,
considers force to be the only answer to nearly all of the
challenges experienced.
Solutions
How can child labour be reduced or completely
eradicated? 

Every child born has the right to have dreams and pursue
those dreams. Even though the realization of some of
these aspirations may be limited by several challenges, it
is still possible to overcome them and achieve the highest
levels of success.

There is need to involve various stakeholders to realize

this objective. These are some of the ways in which the
problem of child labour can be addressed:

1. Free education: Free education holds the key to

eliminating child labour. Parents that do not have money
for school fees can use this as an opportunity to provide
their children with education. It has already proved to be a
success in many places around the globe and with more
effort, the cases of child labour will greatly reduce. Mid-
day meals schemes can also be used as a motivating
factor for children whose parents can barely afford a meal
to learn. Even if they will be attending school because of
the free meals, they will still be able to learn and create a
good education foundation for themselves.

2. Moral Polishing: Child labour should not be

entertained at all. It is legally and morally wrong. Children
should not be allowed to provide labour at the expense of
getting an education and enjoying their childhood. Factory
owners, shopkeepers, and industries among others should
not employ children. The society should be educated on
the negative impacts of child labour so that it becomes an
issue that is frowned upon whenever it occurs. This type
of moral polishing would act as a deterrent to people who
intend to employ children and use them as a source of
cheap labour. Many of the ills that go on in the society do
so because people turn a blind eye or fail to consider their
moral impacts. With this kind of approach, cases of child
labour will greatly fall among our communities.

3. Create demand for skilled and trained workers: By

creating the demand for skilled and trained workers, child
labour cases will reduce since almost all child labourers
fall under the unskilled worker category. It will lead to adult
employment as the demand for skilled labour rises.
Establishing skill-based learning centers, vocational
training centers, and technical training institutions
improves literacy and contributes to the availability of
skilled and trained workers in the job market. Creation of
job opportunities by the government is also another way
that cases of unemployment can be reduced and
household income for the population increased. Such
government policies improve living standards and
eliminate the need for children to seek work in order to
support their families.

4. Awareness: Creating awareness about the illegality of

child labour can also help in stemming the practice.
Parents should be made aware that sending their children
to work has legal ramifications and the law would take its
course if they are found to be aiding and abetting this vice.
It is the ignorance among many parents and members of
the society that makes them participate in child labour
practices. Conducting a campaign to create awareness
about its harmful effects would eliminate the practice. The
government, together with non-governmental
organizations and the civil society, can create a strategy to
make such an initiative a success.
5. Empowerment of poor people: Poor people are the
most affected by child labour. The poor living standards
and financial constraints sometimes make them unwilling
participants in this vice. Empowering poor people through
knowledge and income generating projects would go a
long way in reducing cases of child labour. Parental
literacy also plays an important role in ensuring that the
rights of children are upheld, and minors are not used as a
source of labour. Empowering parents with this kind of
knowledge can create a positive change in the society and
encourage the shunning of child labour practices in
communities.

Conclusion
Child labour is not just an affront to the rights of a child but
also a symbol of a society that has lost its way. We
should, therefore, all strive to ensure that the fundamental
rights of children are protected and that they are accorded
the opportunity to go after their dreams and aspirations.
The future is much brighter when the younger generation
has a good foundation for success.

The innocence of a child should never be taken away for

the purpose of making the lives of adults easier. It is both
unfair and morally unacceptable.
Child labour: An Indian boy tells his story to
the ILO in Geneva

A 14-year-old boy, Mohammad Manan Ansari, talks about

how he escaped exploitation at a mica mine during an
international conference held on the day dedicated to the
fight against child labour.

Mohammad Manan Ansari is 14 years old and comes from

Samsahiriya, a village in the state of Jharkhand. He began
working in a mica mine at the age of eight in the district of
Koderma, one of the poorest in the state. Tomorrow he will tell his
story at a gathering of the International Labour Organisation on
the day dedicated to the fight against child labour.

Manan’s story is like that of many other children in his village; like
theirs but not the same as their because he is able to talk about it
in the past thanks to the action of an Indian NGO, the Bachpan
Bachao Andolan (BBA), which convinced his parents to take boy
out of the mine and put him into a rehabilitation centre in Jaipur to
study.

“More than half the children of our village are engaged in mica
mining and so are their parents. The youngest are 6-7 years old,”
Manan said.

Families in Samsahiriya on average have ten members who are

employed in the ‘khadan’, the mine.
Some of the ore can be found on the surface but a good deal has
to be dug out of the bowels of the earth through tunnels. In the
past some tunnels have collapsed killing miners.

For Manan a working day would begin at 10 am and last until 6

pm.

The day's haul would then be sold to agents, the price varying
according to the quality. A kilo of ore could sell for as low as 4-8
rupees or as a high as 20 rupees (US$ 40 cents).

His life was like this until four years ago when the BBA got him to
Jaipur to study.

Since then he has been on a mission to defend children’s rights.

Whenever he visited his family, he tried to convince other families
to let their children go to school instead of the mine. So far eight
did.
“I would tell them that if they didn't allow their kids to study, the
next generation too will suffer,” he said. Even though “it took many
attempts” in the end “they were convinced.”
CASE STUDIES

Shanta looks like any other six-year-old, except there is an

open wound on her head, her hands are swollen, chapped
and grey and
she can barely walk.

She is the youngest of the three little girls aged six to 13

years who were rescued last month from Faridabad in the
state of Haryana.

Badly beaten and bruised, the girls all worked as domestic

helps just a few miles away from India's capital, Delhi.

Shanta says she was beaten children under 14 from

working as domestic servants, at regularly by her employer

In October, the government enacted a law banning

teashops, food stalls, restaurants, hotels or in the

hospitality industry.

Beatings

What has baffled many is the reluctance of local police to

prosecute the family that employed the children for
violating the new legislation.

The sentence for breaking the new child labour law carries
a prison sentence of up to two years and a fine of up to
20,000 rupees ($450).

Shanta says she had been working with the family for the
past year after her brother left her there.

"I used to work in water the whole day. She [the employer]
beat me up regularly with a stick for not finishing my work
on time. I was woken at four in the morning and then I had
to wash the clothes, sweep and mop the floor," she told
the BBC.

According to Shanta, she was given rice only twice a day -

served on the floor - and was made to sleep in the
bathroom.

She said that she never complained about her plight as

that would have meant more beatings.

I was woken at four in the morning and then I had to wash

the clothes, sweep and mop the floor

Shanta, former child labourer

Two other girls, Rita and Sunita, say they were also The
children's hands are abused and locked up like Shanta.
cracked and scarred from hard

work

They were rescued by a local non-governmental

organisation (NGO) after a neighbour watched them being
beaten up and informed the police.

The police filed a complaint against the employers but

only under the less severe Juvenile Justice Act rather than
the tougher new law.

"These girls were trafficked from West Bengal and then

they were illegally confined as bonded labour, they were
abused and made to work. Still their employers were not
booked under the Child Labour Act," said Rishi Kant of the
Shakti Vahini NGO which rescued the girls.

Worst fears

The employers have already been given bail.

Police say they could not have brought a prosecution
against Shanta's employers under the Child Labour Act
because the girls were being paid for their work.

"The Child Labour Act is applied only when children under

14 are not paid for their work and when they are trafficked,
and since this did not happen, this law was not applied to
them, says Faridabad police superintendent Mahinder
Singh Sheoran.

Experts say the Child Labour Act does not make that
distinction. They say that it bans all children under 14
working as domestic labour and in roadside eateries and
hotels.

Haryana Labour Minister Birender Singh supports the

district administration's stand but following pressure from
the local media has now ordered that the employers be
charged under the Child Labour Act.

Social activists were largely sceptical about the efficacy of

the new law when it was brought into force in October.
They say cases like Shanta's confirm their worst fears.

NGOs say that as children continue to work in inhuman

conditions, many in the political and administrative
establishment continue to remain indifferent to their plight.

Shanta, Rita and Sunita are not the girls' real names.