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covers analysis of situation related to child labor in india
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iv This paper aims to distinguish between child labour and child work and it argues that this difference is baseless, flawed and weak. It also takes into consideration that how the children contribute in informal economy of India. It also takes into account the views of Kailash Satyartrhi about how child labour amendment act pose a serious threat and hence can be disastrous to the Make In India programme. The recent amendment upsets the children of India. This paper aims to address the issue of child labour in relation to the educational attainment of working children. The labour force which is working is supposed to be in the school. Working children contribute significantly to total household income but the fact that a child is working reduces his or her educational attainment. This paper stresses upon how important is the formal education for the children and explains the long term effects of the education.
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Introduction Each child is an adventure into a better life --an opportunity to change the old pattern and make it new (Hubert H. Humphrey). Children are the most important resource of a country. They are the determinant as to how the world will look like in some years. Natural resources and economy is not the sole factor which governs the wealth and prosperity of a nation but real wealth lies in countries youth and children. They are the shapers and the creators of the nation’s future. Today’s children will be tomorrows adult like the leaders and activists. A child’s personality is consciously or unconsciously developed by the surrounding. They may not be the good listeners but definitely they are good imitators. The nature and kind of destiny that nation beckons will be determined by personality of children. The total number of child labourers’ in India are 33 million according to the study of UNICEF.India is the hub of the largest child labours. According to the National Sample survey organization, Andhra Pradesh shares 13.2% of the child labours in India. As per UNICEF, If a child between 5 and 11 years of age is involved in child labour activities then she or he did at least one hour of economic activity or at least 28 hours of domestic work in a week, and children between 12 and 14 years of age then he or she did at least 14 hours of economic activity or at least 42 hours of economic activity and domestic work per week. There is a triangular relationship between poverty, child labor and illiteracy who have a cause and a consequence relationship (Kailash Satyarthi) This explains that there is the need and in fact the duty of the government to invest in the childhood so that they can survive and attain higher potentials. The missing link of education and widespread poverty pulls the child into the vicious circle of child labour. Investments in children proves to be the intelligent long term investment for the countries future. The working children in the age group 5-14 are 1.26 crores as compared to the total child population of 25.2 crore as per the Census 2001. There are 12 lakhs approximately children working in the hazardous industries which are covered under the Child Labour Prohibition & Regulation Act i.e. 18 occupations and 65 processes. According to the findings of National
vii now have legal backing “The clause “children to work only in school hours and during vacations” is debatable due to lack of monitoring machinery and hence it can be exploited by the employers as there is no mention of number of working hours.As per the 2011 census, 20 per cent are from the Backward Classes, 80 per cent of them are Dalits,. This law will restrict these children to traditional caste-based occupations for generations.
viii The bill is in contradiction with the most fundamental right i.e. Right to childhood and their right to live a life with dignity as granted by the constitution of India the the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which India is a signatory. The definition of child is ambiguous and is in inherent contradiction with various laws. There is a clause which defines child as a person who has not completed his fourteenth year of age or such age as may be specified in the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. Standing committee also noted that this is not in line with the Right to Education Act, 2009 and hence suggested that those who have not completed elementary education even if they are above 14 years will not be employed in any occupation. The government is of the view that whiles considering the prohibition on children employing for work its necessary to keep in mind the socio-economic status of the country. One of the arguments which are put forward by the government is that in a large number of families, children help parents in occupations example; agriculture and artisanship and while helping the parents, children also acquire the necessary skills of that occupation. So, keeping this in mind, striking a balance between the need for education for a child and the reality of the socio-economic condition and social fabric in the country, the cabinet has approved that a child can help his family or family enterprise which is not hazardous or involve non hazardous processess, only after school hours or during vacations.Terming the development historic, Dattatreya said the move is aimed at “total abolition of child labour”. Explaining the exception, Dattatreya said “family’ has been exempted as the relationship between employer and employee does not exist and that a law should be framed keeping in mind the ground realities as well as ensuring that it is implementable. There are aprox. 10.2 million children working in India as estimated by UNICEF.There has been an overall decline in the number of children working in India but child labour has increased in urban areas due to children migrating or being forced into work in hazardous small scale industries or construction sites. Family or home-based work for children in India is often hazardous and includes working in fields of cotton, bangles making and bidis, rolling tobacco, weaving carpet and metal work, the agency said. As per UNICEF official statistics,2011 census, child labour rates in India are highest among Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Schedule Castes(SC) and it is at 6.7 per cent and 3.9 per cent respectively. In both SC’s and ST’s children in rural areas are more likely to work than children from cities and many children are forced to drop out from schools.
x Contrasting Arguments Madhuri, is a 12 year old girl who lives in the servant house in a government bungalow. She studies in class 5th in a Marathi medium school in a small town Bhusawal in Jalgaon district of Maharshtra. Her mother does all the domestic work in the bungalow and for doing that they allow their family to live in a one room-cum-kitchen house, behind the bunglow.The family consist of Madhuri’s father, mother and her younger brother. Before going to school daily while her mother works for the owners, she washes the dishes in her own house, takes care of her brother and helps her mother to prepare food for her father who is a street vendor who sells groceries. Despite all this she is a brilliant student ad studies well. Sangeeta is Madhuri’s cousin. She is 15 years old. She is her father’s brother’s daughter. Her mother left them when she was just two years old. Her father is drunkard who begs around for a living and she works as a domestic worker in a lot of houses. They don’t have any place to live. They stay at Madhuri’s house sometime and likewise alternatively at the house of other relatives. She never went to school and she has been engaged to a 22 year old boy from the nearby village and in a month she would be married to him. Vijay is also Madhuri’s cousin. He is Madhuri’s father’s sister’s son. He also 13 years old and goes to another public school in Bhusawal. He rarely goes to school. He does not like to study. His parents might have enrolled him in the school but no minimum level of attendance is necessary in the school, neither he nor his parents are very much interested in his studies. His father is a carpenter and he also plans to be the same one day. There are many such stories of lakhs of children in India who not only work inside their homes but work in worse conditions. But India on the other hand is a developing country where if children don’t work to help their parents they would not have shelter over their head and probably no food at all. Child workers through the passage of informal economy contribute significantly to Indian GDP. But on the other hand they are deprived of their Right to Education. Also the latest Bill which is yet to be signed by the President permits children to work within the family. In this context, few questions arise - How would authorities keep a check on children working in their homes? How would we differentiate between children helping at home and children doing outsourced work from bigger vendors to poor families? How do we monitor quality of education? Crucially, how is the very idea of children i.e. persons below the age of
xi 18 years working, legitimate? The economic growth rate of the country would be effectively disturbed by preventing child labour, is this effective and legitimate argument to legalise child labour? What seems more crucial - to enjoy the short term benefits of child labour or to worry about the long term damage which would be caused to the country by depriving its most valuable resource – its children be deprived of their basic right of Education? But how logical it is to prevent children from working when there are more than ten people in the family including the elderly who are totally dependent on others and shelter, clothes and food is not a guarantee every day? Indian’s Informal Economy and Child Labour The International Labour Organization defines child labour‟ as “work that deprives children of their childhood and their dignity, which hampers their access to education and the acquisition of skills, and which is performed under deplorable conditions harmful to their health and their development.” On the other hand child labour includes all paid and unpaid work for market and household, whether it is part time or full time. According to the Word Bank also argues that Child Labour should be distinguished from Child Work because in some of the instances, the work done by children within the family may even contribute to the development of the child. They say that no all child labour is harmful and sometimes it is beneficial or it promotes socialization and informal education and training. Work can be a gradual initiation into adulthood and a positive element in the child’s development. Light work, properly structured and phased, is not child labour. Work which does not detract from the other essential activities of children, leisure, play and education, is not child labour. Child labour is work which impairs the health and development of children (Alec Fyfe) On the other hand an article written by G K Lieten in the Economic and Political Weekly in December 2002 questions those of us who have promoted the idea that there should be no differentiation between child labour and child work and that all categories of children who are out of school should be considered either child labourers or potential child labourers. In words of Michael Moore “You can't regulate child labour. You can't regulate slavery. Some things are just wrong.” All such arguments in favour of excluding child work from child labour are baseless. In India, according to the official statistics 11.28 million children are child labourers and the
xiii taken in account. And these is the main reason behind most children drop out of school or have a low attendance. The informal economy is growing very fast and it is contributing very significantly to the Gross Domestic Product of our nation. Now it is important to realise children’s contribution in informal economy and hence to the GDP. Also the informal economy is very closely linked with formal economy. Informal enterprises run by adults are depended on the labour of children who support their mother and father by engaging in the care economy” so that the adults cab be freed up for wage employment. While this work done by children may not be included in the statistics of child labour but it is of immense importance. Not only is the informal economy large, but the estimation of the contribution of the informal sector to the GDP is inadequate. The statistics division of the United Nations secretariat in the year 2000 calculated the contribution of the informal sector to GDP in 24 developing countries ( countries in sub-Saharan Africa, two in North Africa, seven in Asia, and one in Latin America). It was found that: In Asia, the share of the informal economy ranges from 17 to 48 per cent of non-agricultural GDP and from 16 to 32 per cent of total GDP: the lowest and highest share being in Korea and India, respectively. Make in India and Child Labour The prime minister, Mr. Narendra modi launched the Make In India programme as a new initiative to build a stronger nation. The Make in India program includes major new initiatives designed to facilitate investment, foster innovation, protect intellectual property, and build best and the strongest manufacturing infrastructure. It is to promote foreign investment in the economic sphere and ease of doing business in india. There would be an increase in the development of small cottage industries through make in India program and outsized manufacturing activities pressed by outsourcing and subcontracting and at the expense of larger industrial agenda the exception carved out will be disloyal to the children. Mr Kailash Satyarthi wrote a letter to Mr. Narendra and raised concern over the new child labour amendment bill which would according to him will adversely affect “MAKE IN INDIA”. He wrote that if investors would come from foreign countries to manufacture in India and if India’s laws are so weak in child labour in comparison to international standards then it would become a big disaster”. He further added “Make in India” cannot be a success based on the toil, miseries and abuses of young children in the manufacturing sector, “He
xiv described child labour as a form of modern day slavery. Big investors solely place reliance on the local producers of small industries but if the are using child labour then India has to face consequences like.Many other countries example Bangladesh, Brazil and Cambodia whose products are boycotted for the very reason. The child rights activist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 along with Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai said “In India, child labour is working because your law allows it to work. These big brands will be dependent on the producers of small scale industries who are free to employ children but the human rights organisations international and media are not going to spare us” Education and Child Labour To go a long way in our lives and be successful, education is very necessary. It develops an individual’s personality and build a great confidence level. The amendment which was passed in the parliament seems to upset the children of the country. The law in the country has permitted children to be confined to work instead of being in schools and at carefree play. The amendment is in contradiction with the child right to education. Many of the activists raised voice in order to review the amendment. Children who even get a chance to get enrolled in the school face hurdles as they may not be nourished properly and may not get proper place to study at home so they would be further disadvantaged from this amendment. Kailash Satyarthi correctly said,” Every child matters. If we fail our children, we are bound to fail our present, future, faith, cultures, and civilisations.”The exception that they can work in family enterprises as they can acquire skills and practical in-depth knowledge does not hold much water as it would only provide to learn their parents trade. Why cant a potters son become a doctor or a tanners son become a poet? The official statistics on child labour in India show that only 11.28 million children are to be described as , child labourers ‟.In a total population of 203 million children in the age group range of 5-14 years, almost 100 million children are out of the school system and if we find the answer of the question that what these children are doing? Then the answer would be : most of them are working in rural areas, both within and outside the household or in so called light, non-hazardous work‟ and are constantly kept out of the statistics of the labour market. In India , there are 444 million children under the age of 18 years. This number constitutes 37% of the total population in the country according to 2011 census among which 1 in 4 children of school-going age is out of school in our country ie.99 million children in total
xvi under non hazardous industries would bring long term ill effects which would have the capability of destroying the future of the country. Because child labour in any form is harmful. Education is very important for the total development of a child and hence of a nation. All children around the world have the right to an education. Investing in education is not just the right thing to do; it's the smart thing to do. Because education gives people the skills they need to help themselves out of poverty and into prosperity. Better health, higher wages and economic growth, Democracy and political stability are some of the gaols which can be achieved by education rather than supporting child labour in any form. The Bill which seeks to amend the policy hence is indeed a mistake which would further legalise some form of child labour. In the light of policies such as Make In India, ease of doing busissness in India it is important that the laws of the country are in line with the international standards and it would be not so if the Bill gets signed by the President. Hence it is suggested that some changes should be made in the Bill before it finally becomes the law. It is also important that proper statistics are maintained by the concerned ministries of the government so that policies can be made rationally based on the accurate data. Child work often comes under informal sector and many a times it is not even include in any kind of economic activity especially when children are engaged in “care economy”. Hence a lot needs to be done and it nedds to be done fast.
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