child labour
TRANSCRIPT
Research Scholar
Shri. Jagdish Prasad Jhabarmal TibrewalaUniversity, Jhunjhunu,Rajasthan
Under the guidance ofDr. Chandan Bora
Child is Treasure of our Society …
Child is a pylon of our society. They are future of any developing as well as developed country, so literally they are treasure of society.
During the Industrial Revolution,
children as young as four were
employed in production factories with
dangerous, and often fatal, working
conditions. The children of the poor
were expected to help towards the
family budget, often working long hours
in dangerous jobs and low wages. In
England and Scotland in 1788, two-
thirds of the workers in 143 water-
powered cotton mills were described
as children.
By 1900, there were 1.7 million child
labourers reported in American industry
under the age of fifteen. The number of
children under the age of 15 who
worked in industrial jobs for wages climbed to 2 million in 1910.
Who is child labour?ILO defines child labour as :
“child labour means work done bychildren under fifteen. Exception ismade of work done by children withtheir parents at home is so far an aid inthe latter’s work is concerned and childis not deprived of the possibility ofgoing to school”
Who is child labour?Convention on Right of the child underArticle 32 of UN convention Definechild labour as:
“ any economic exploitation or the workthat is likely to be hazardous or whichinterferes with the child’s education oris harmful to the child’s health orphysical, mental, spiritual, moral orsocial development ”
Way back in 1979, Government formed the first committee called Gurupadaswamy
Committee to study the issue of child labour and to suggest measures to tackle it
In consonance with the above approach, a National Policy on Child Labour was formulated
in 1987.
The Action Plan outlined in the Policy for tackling this problem is as follows:
Legislative Action Plan for strict enforcement of Child Labour Act and other labour laws to
ensure that children are not employed in hazardous employments.
Focusing of General Developmental Programmes for Benefiting Child Labour - This
action plan emphasizes the need to cover these children and their families also under various
poverty alleviation and employment generation schemes of the Government.
Project Based Plan of Action: Envisages starting of projects in areas of high
concentration of child labour. Pursuant to this, in 1988, the National Child Labour Project
(NCLP) Scheme was launched in 9 districts of high child labour endemicity in the country.
Did You KnowIndia has the highest number of child labourers
in the world
According to the National Sample Survey
Organisation, nearly 16.4 million Indian
children aged 5-15 are engaged in various
works
As per ILO 90% of child labourers are
employed in Agriculture Sector alone
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.
SITUATION IN INDIA
OVER POPULATION: Limited resources andmore mouths to feedILLITERACY : Illiterate parents do not realizethe need for a proper physical, emotionaland cognitive development of a child.POVERTY: Many a time poverty forcesparents to send their children tohazardous jobs.URBANIZATION:MNC's and exportindustries in the developing world employchild workers.UNEMPLOYMENT OF ELDERS: Elders often findit difficult to get jobs. The industrialistsand factory owners find it profitable toemploy children.
Is all work is bad for
children?
Some child workers
themselves think that illegal
work should not be
considered in the definition
of "child labor." The reason:
These child workers would
like to be respected for their
legal work, because they
feel they have no other choice but to work.
On the outskirts of Dhaka, children heat and
mix rubber in a barrel at a balloon factory.
A young Pakistani girl carries a load of
wool down a street in a poor section of
Peshawar. Pakistan has laws that limit
child labor, but the laws are often
ignored. An estimated 11 million
children work in Pakistan's factories.
A boy works in a tea stall in a
small village in Nepal. Nepal
is one of the world's poorest
countries, forcing huge
numbers of children to do
hard labor. For a majority of
children in Nepal, education
is a luxury.
Sakina, 9, and Javed,
6, work on a carpet
loom at a small
workshop in Kabul.
Afghanistan's deep
poverty forces many
children to work in
adult jobs.
A young Burmese boy climbs
on top of piles of teak wood in
a government-run lumberyard
in Pyin Ma Bin. The boy's job
is to label the teak wood. The
wood is common in Myanmar
and is in high demand in
Japan and most of Asia.
This 9-year-old girl used
to work long hours
weaving rugs in a carpet
factory. Today, she is
enrolled in a Rugmark
school in India. Rugmark
is an organization
working to end child labor
and provide educational
opportunities for children.
For child laborers all over
the world, education is
the ticket to a better
future.
Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu state,
about 45,000-50,000 childrenworking in the fireworks industry
Children earn about 15-18 rupees aday on piece-rates
When an inspector visits a factory,child workers are bundled intostore-rooms and sheds
When asked if the long hoursderived her of the pleasures ofchildhood, 12-year-old Kavithagave a resigned look.
When asked if she would like togo to school like other girls, sheshot back: "Who will feed me,then?"
Beedi Industry Over 1.7 million children work
as laborers in India’s beedi-rolling industry.
Children are engaged as theirnimble fingers are more adept atrolling beedis.
Children are made to work up to14 hours a day with no breaks orholidays.
Earning is as little as Rs.30 per1,000 beedis on an average andthe children hardly get anything.
Suffer from tuberculosis,postural and eye problems,anemia, lung and skin diseases.
Some times children are abandonedby their parents or sold to factoryowners
70-80% of the 8,000 to 50,000children work in the glass industryin Ferozabad.
The two hazardous types of furnacesused are the Pot furnaces the Tankfurnaces
One of the most dangerousindustries, where many deaths andmishaps occur on a regular basis,makes it imperative for theemployers to hire mafia gangs tohush up the occurrence of suchincidents.
Carpet Industry 300,000 children employed in
this industry.
Low wages and docileacceptance.
Work for 10-16 hours a day interrible conditions.
Vast majority of migrant childworkers sleep alongside oftheir loom, further invitingsickness and poor health.
Eyesight is damaged and lungdiseases are common as aresult of the dust and flufffrom the wool.
Silk Industry Over 50,000 children between the
ages of 5 and 13 slog it out in the
silk-weaving industry in
Kancheepuram and Tiruvannamalai
districts of Tamil Nadu.
Many work seven days a week round
the year.
Average monthly income ranges
from Rs.80 to Rs.250.
Require to dip hands in boiling hot
water causing blisters.
Handle dead worms breeding
infections.
Twist thread injuring their fingers .
Why is it a Form of Child Labor? No Bar of Age Limit
More than 12 hours of work
Education Suffers
Parent’s force their children to go for talent search
programmes
The programmes in question are'Chotta Packet Bada Dhamaka' and'Maayka' on ZEE TV, 'Chotte Ustad','Balika Vadhu', 'Jai Krishna' and'Utaran' on Colors
Producers of nine Indian televisionshows, who hired child actors, are tobe dragged to court.
Under the Act, offenders face simpleimprisonment of six months or a fineof Rs. 10,000, or both.
Pati Patni Aur Woh… The show is testing child-rearing skills of celebrities and
for that purpose kids of 4-5 years are shown
It is a cause of great concern that kids’ parents are willful
accomplices in this crime
Your missionTo analyse causes for child labour in
your village
Find solution to eradicate child labour
Develop plan of action
Create awareness to local people on the importance of education and child’s right to education
Persuade local audience and rope in their support to combat child labourproblem by mobilising opinion
How do you go about? Collect the database of school drop-outs
Interview and collect data
Analyse reasons for child labour in your village
Research on Internet referring to the list of websites to gather information on child labourand strategies adopted by other countries to combat the problem
Suggest strategies and find solution to the local problem
Share your ideas on a blog
How do you go about? Contd…
Develop plan of action to address child labour problem
Organise an awareness rally to create awareness to local people on the importance of education and child’s right to education
Persuade local audience and rope in their support to combat child labour problem by mobilising opinion
Child labour has been among and with us in the very
society we live in. But we have rarely paid heed to
them. And we have tried to look at them we have
turned our back because we have been guilty at the
heart somewhere..
The question is not–”Who is to be held responsible for
the situation ?”; Decades have been lost over it and yet
no fruitful step has yielded out, the question should be
“Are we ready to change their lives for the better?” ,if
not then it is high time for all of us to reach out our
helping hands to them and get them out of this inferno
at the earliest, lest our future is CONDEMNED………
It’s up to us all..
It’s the ILO
It’s Member States
It’s Workers
It’s Employers
It’s NGOs
And it’s us – you and me.
Together we can reach the goal – an end to
child labour in our time