Child Labour: A Necessary Evil in India - Essay, UPSC MAINS | Course for UPPSC Preparation - UPPSC (UP) PDF Download

Child Labour: A Necessary Evil in India

structure

(1) Opening    —    Reference from Manusmriti and Arthasastra.

(2) Body    —    Child Labour is a global problem.

    —    Conditions of working child-ren.

    —    Exploitation of child labour-ers.

    —    Constitutional provisions

    —    Child labour and the diffe-rent five year plans.

(3) Closing    —    Steps to be taken for the gradual elimination of Child Labour.

The problem of child labour is an unfortunate manifestation of economic compulsions as well as socio-cultural perceptions. Child Labour is not a new phenomenon in India. From ancient times, children were required to do some work either at home or in the field along with their parents. However, we find in Manusmriti and Arthasastra that the king made education for every child, boy or girl, compulsory and Kautilya prohibited the trade of children, who were purchased and converted to slaves by some people. The problem of child labour was identified as a major problem in the 19th century when the first factory was started in mid 19th century and legislative measures were first adopted as early as 1881. Since independence there has been several laws and regulations regarding child labour.

Children constitute the most important asset of any nation. Each child is an asset to the society, and the future welfare of society is closely related to the welfare of the child. Children are the future of the nation. They are flowers of our natio-nal garden. It is our duty to protect these flowers of our garden. Child Labour has been defined as any work done by the children in order to economically benefit their family or themselves directly or indriectly, at the cost of their physical, mental or social development. Child is the most lovely creation of nature to nurture in roses but when circum-stances force them to hard labour, so as to earn livelihood from early childhood, disrupting their optimal development – the nation suffers a net loss of his capacity as mature adult.

Child Labour is a global problem. It is more common in under-developed contries. Child labour, by and large, is a problem of poor and destitute families, where either parents canot afford education of their children or have to depend on the earning of their children.

The prevalence of child labour is a blot on the conscience of society. It is a national disgrace that millions of children in this country have to spend a major part of their daily routine in hazardous works while millions of youth and able-bodied men go without employment. The problem of child labour in India may seem to result from traditional attitudes, urbanisation, industriali-sation, migration, lack of schools and so on. However, its causes are extreme poverty and the fact that agriculture is the man occupation of the majority of the opulation. Alfred de Souza and UNICEF have observed that India is said to have the largest number of world’s working children. Over 90% of them live in rural areas. The participation rate in rural urban areas is 6.3% and 2.5% respecively. According to a recent report 17 million children in our country are engaged in earning their livelihood. This constitutes 5% of the total child population of the nation and about 1/3 of the total child labourers of the world.

In India working children are engaged in different organised and unorganised sectors viz-rural and urban. In rural sector children are engaged in fields plantations, dom-estic jobs, forestry, fishing and cottage industry. In urban sector they are employed at houses, shops, restaurants, small and large indust-ries, transport, communication, gar-rages etc. In India working children are also self employed as news-paper boys, milk boys, shoeshine boys, ragpickers, rickshaw-pullers, etc. 78.71% of child workers are enga-ged in cultivation and agriculture, 6.3% are employed in fishing, hunting and plantation, 8.63% in manufacturing, processing, repairs, house industry, etc. 3.21% in construction, transport, storage, communication and trade and 3.15% in other services.

Child Labour is exploited in several ways. Preference of child labour by many employers is mainly due to the fact that it is cheap, safe and without any liability. Many children take up the job just because of the non-availability of schools in their areas and thus rather than sitting idle, they prefer to go to work. Illiteracy and ignorance of parents is also an important factor. These parents do not consider child labour as evil. The child workers have to work for much more time than adult workers whether in the agricultural or non-agricultural sectors. All the reports on Child Labour also indicate that the wages paid to the children are exploitatively low. Poor educational status amongst the working children is due to poor socio-economic conditions, poor educational background of their parents, over-work, exhaustion, lack of physical and mental fitness due to chronic illness and malnutrition and sheer encouragement to take up jobs instead of going to school. Lastly, ineffective laws also contribute to the problem of child labour.

Our Constitution specially protects working children. Article 24 clearly states that no child shall be employed in any factory or mine, or engaged in any other hazardous employment. Article 39(e) of the Directive Principles of State Policy states that the tender age of children should not be abused and citizens should not be forced by economic necessity to enter vocations unsuited to their age and strength. Article 39(f) states that children should be given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity. Article 45 also states that the States shall endeavour to provide, within a period of 10 years from the commen-cement of this constitution, free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of 14 years. The main instrument relating to the exploitation of child labour is the factories Act of 1948 which extends for the whole of India and applies to estab-lishments employing 10 or more workers working with the aid of power or 20 or more working without the aid of power. At present there are 14 major legislative enactment to provide legal protection to the children in various occupa-tions. Inspite of these sets the evil of 

child labour is flourishing because of the non-conformity and various loopholes in these laws.

In April 1974, India adopted a resolution on National Policy for Children. On 2nd October, 1975, the Government of India introduced the Integrated Child Development Services. The Draft Five Year Plan 1978-83 prepared by the Planning Commission stated that “Special attention would be devoted to the problem of children, including prevention of the exploitation of the child labour. Economic backwardness necessitating recourse to child labour to supplement the family income and lack of educational facilities are primarily responsible for employment of children. Greater emphasis in the plan on universal primary education and increasing employment opportunities for the adults would enable parents to allow the children to devote more time to school”. The National Committee on child labour in 1979 had even recommended more and more surveys to be carried out on child labour to help under-stand the problem and suggest remedial measures. The Draft Sixth Five Year Plan had held the view that total abolition of child labour with all its socio-economic remifications does not seem to be a feasible proposition in the immediate future. It felt that child labour has to be seen distinctly in the categories of wage earning employment, paid family workers and apprentices in traditional crafts. The Seventh Five Year Plan also observed that since it is not feasible to eradicate the problem of child labour at the present stage of economic development, attention has to be focussed on making the working conditions of child labour better and more acceptable socially. Improve legislation coupled with better enforcement machinery are called for. The ultimate goal of abolition of child labour can only be achieved when there is sufficient improvement in the conditions of the families whose children are compelled to work. During the the focus was on compulsory schooling and strong regulatory and administrative measures to prevent exploitation of child labour.

In recent years administration acts swiftly and punish the law breakers. Compulsory education and mid-day meal in the schools through out the country substantially reduces the numbers.

The problem of child labour in India is on the increase inspite of the legal enactments. The most important cause for it is poverty. Recognising the vast magnitude of prevalence of child labour in every sphere of the society and considering the economic cons-traints and social exploitation which lead to continuation of child labour in the society, child labour seems an indispensible social evil. Child labour cannot be totally eradicated at present by legislation alone unless supplemented by comprehensive socio-economic programmes and educational uplift of the under privileged sections of the society and by a total change in the attitude of the society toards child labour. Acknowledging the spectrum of laws, the legislations related to child labour and the rights of the child should receive wider coverage by the mass media to increase public awareness and the legislation regarding child labour should be implemented in the spirit of the law in every sphere of child labour. It also needs closer co-ordination between the departments and agencies implementing the laws. It is essential to frame norms for working environment of child labour and extension of compulsory basic and need-oriented education to all working children. The general improvement in socio-economic conditions of people will result in gradual elimination of child labour.