Child Labour

One of the most worrying and challenging issue is child labour. According to the latest available census (2011), there were 10.1 million child workers under the age of 14, with significant disparities across states.

Child labour deprives children of their right to go to school and reinforces intergenerational cycles of poverty. A key message in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is that children have a right to voice their views on matters affecting them and to have these taken into account. Children have the power to play a significant role in preventing and responding to child labour. They are key actors in child protection and can give valuable insights into how they perceive their involvement and what they expect from the government and other stakeholders.

According to UNICEF, child labour in India has merely shifted from factories to employee homes and children are still engaged in harmful industries such as bidi production and fireworks production.

This shift to informal home-based sectors makes it harder to detect child labour. In 2016, the central government raised the minimum age for work to 14 years but retained caveats that allowed younger children from underprivileged families to work in family-based enterprises. The Child Labour Act also allows states to crack down on child labour, but is not used practically much,as desired results are not obtained. From 2015 to 2017, a total of 4,466 prosecutions were launched across India under the Act.

A new report by UN indicates that a significant share of child labour and human trafficking in global supply chains occurs at their lower tiers, in activities such as raw material extraction and agriculture, making due diligence, visibility and traceability challenges.

Definition of Child - The definition varies differently in different acts in India:
• The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 defines a child as a person who has not completed fourteen years of age.
• The Factories Act, 1948 and Plantation Labour Act 1951 states that a child is one that has not completed fifteen years of age.
• The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 has changed the definition of child to any person who has not completed 18 years of age.
• POCSO Act 2012 defines a child as any person below eighteen years of age.

Child Labour:
UNICEF has categorized child work into three categories:
• Within the family: Children are engaged in domestic household tasks without pay.
• Within the family but outside the home: Example- agricultural laborers, domestic maids, migrant laborers etc.
• Outside the family: Example- commercial shops in restaurants and jobs, prostitution etc.

Causes of Child Labour:
• Poverty: Due to poverty, parents cannot afford the studies of their children and make them earn their wages from a tender age. They are made to work to increase the income of their poor families at the earliest.
• Lack of educational resources: There are thousands of villages in our country where there are no proper facilities for education. And if there is any, it is miles away.
• Administrative Laxity: Administrative laxity is also responsible for child labor. The worst sufferers are the poor families for whom getting their children educated is a dream.
• Addiction, disease or disability: In many families, due to addiction, disease or disability, there is no earning, and the child’s wages are the sole means of family’s sustenance.
• Rising Population Growth: Population growth is also increasing unemployment, which has an adverse impact on child labor prevention.
• Sexual Exploitation: In 2005, a study was conducted by the National Human Rights Commission of India (NHRC) found that India was fast becoming a source, transit point and destination for traffickers of women and children for sexual and non-sexual purposes.
• Illegal Activities: Children, over adults are often chosen to be trafficked for illegal activities such as begging and organ trade, as they are seen as more vulnerable.
• The lure of cheap labor: In the greed of cheap labor, some shopkeepers, companies and factory owners employ children so that they have to pay less to them and it amounts to employing cheap labor.

(References: UNICEF, Jatin Verma)