Satyendra Charan1

CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA AND ITS CAUSES

INTRODUCTION:

India is a country where child is considered as the appearance of god. But in today’s world

specially in India child is not considered as a appearance of god. They are under the threat of

child labour. Once when I was sitting at a local hotel one day , i went there for having some

food when I saw a little boy cleaning a table in the far corner of the hotel. He was tiny and the

innocence, of childhood had not left his face. On the next table to me sat a happy family of

four, parents and their two children who would more or less be of the same age as of the child

clearing the table. While one set of kids were biting into tasty food, the other, half- starved,

was working hard to feed himself and his family at least one meal a day. So we can see child

working to earn their livelihood everyday –everywhere.

Children are the gifts, they are the precious gifts presented by God to human life for filling

the world with smile, happiness, and hope. Children are the future citizens; it is childhood

which determines a child’s future, his/her life and their worthy contributions to the world. .

Childhood is the time to develop the best physical, intellectual and mental capacity of

children. But in the present world most of the child doesn’t get a childhood in which they can

get education and develop their physical, intellectual and mental capacity. The main reason

behind this is Child labour. Child labour is absolutely violations of a range of rights of

children and it 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.

Usually, when we think of child labour, the first thing that comes to our mind is a child

working in a factory. But this is not only like that , child labour ranges from factories to

mines, to construction areas to small tea stalls and every other work. Children, who are at the

receiving end, end up with ruined lives, bleak and a misty future and physical as well as

psychological disorders.

1 Roll no :87, section :A, Semester :3rd , NUSRL Ranchi

1

The main reason behind the child labour is the poor families and illiteracy. The problem of

child labour is mostly seen in villages. Most of the families in villages are Below Poverty

Line they don’t even have the sufficient foot of two times to eat so they all wants to engage in

works and wants to earn their livelihood and that is why they give pressure to their child to

work and to earn money. They are unaware of what is going on in outside of the world they

always thinks that if a child study then he will forget their parents and also he will not live

with them. Because of that they send their child to work in factories.

In India, officially there are around 16 million child labourers, but if we trust the unofficial

sources, the number crosses 60 million. A country where 70% of the population lives in rural

areas, around 50-60% children are being forced into child labour. Let’s understand this evil

and try to curb it.

DEFINITIONS:

Child Labour, in general, means the employment of children in any work with or without

payment. Every child out of school in the age group of 5 to 14 years, children who are paid in

work, children who work outside the homes or children who in hazardous industries can be

said to be child labourers.

Child labor is defined by many organizations as “any kind of work for children that harms

them or exploits them in some way may it be physically, mentally, morally or by depriving a

child of education”. Child labor is a social menace in many parts of the world, especially

developing countries. There is a widespread practice of child labor in places like agriculture,

factories, mining, and quarrying etc.

According to Stein and Davies, child labour means any work by children that interferes with

their full physical development, the opportunities for a desirable minimum education and for

their needed recreation.

2

ORIGIN :

History of child labour can be traced to some dark realms of industrialisation. But a more

detailed study of this heinous, shameful practice can reveal that child labour was there much

before industrialisation in various forms like in child slavery.

If we turn the pages of History we see that there was a custom for youths from the

Mediterranean basin to serve as aides, charioteers and armed bearers to their adult

counterparts. A few of such examples can be found in Bibles when David serves his King

Soul; we find the examples of Hercules and Hylash in Greek Mythology as well. In Greece

this practice was considered to be an educational tradition and boys were considered to be an

efficient fighting force. Hitler Youth was an official organisation in the Nazi Army. During

the battle of Berlin, this youth force was a major part of the German Defences.

 In India, children used to help and accompany their parents in agricultural and other

household activities in ancient times. Thus we see that child labour is not quite a new thing to

the world.

CAUSES OF CHILD LABOUR :

 India accounts for the second highest number where child labour of the world is concerned.

Africa accounts for the highest number of children employed and exploited. Over population,

poverty, parental illiteracy, lack of proper education, urbanisations, availability of cheap child

labour are some common causes of wide-spread child labour.

POVERTY:

In India over 40% of population is under the poverty line and this is where the child labour is

endemic. The unrelenting poverty forces the parents to push their young children in all forms

of hazardous occupations. Child labour is a source of earning bread and butter for poor

families. In some cases, a child’s income accounted for between 34 and 37 percent of the

total household income for these families. Some parents being in huge debts, sold or

abandoned their children to factory owners.

It is poverty that makes parents/guardians send their children to the streets to hawk, it is

poverty that makes parents send out their children to prostitute, it is poverty that make the

elders sell their children for child trafficking, it is poverty that makes parents allow their

3

children to be employed into formal and informal sectors for daily or monthly pay, it is

poverty that makes parents deny their children education and allow them to wallow in dirt

and unhygienic conditions in the name of working and it is poverty that makes the child to

work for gaining money in his early age. In fact, every form of child exploitation is linked to

poverty.

Most of the children involved are working to assist their families. For some it is necessary to

work to raise money for their education. To others it is a way to help their parents generate

more income to pay for basic needs such as food.

 As i described above that in India in villages most of the families are BPL families and they

do not have sufficient food to eat so they wants to send their child in to factories and

somewhere to work.

It’s poverty that forces them to push their young kids into the gallows because at the end of

the day, its money that matter to them. We can say, child labour and poverty are just two

sides of a coin. Poverty is the head and child labour is the tail. If the tail has to be cut then the

head needs to be chopped off first.

ILLETERACY AND LACK OF EDUCATION:

This is also considered as the one of the greatest reason behind child labour. In india in

villages most of the peoples are illiterate and they never wished to send their children outside

of their villages. Once when i was doing my winter internship in Vikalp Sansthan we went to

schedule areas and we were asking them that why they are not sending their children to the

school then they replied that we do not want to send our child to the schools because he will

earn more money if he will do his paternal work. They also said that if he study and became

an officer he will forget us and never comes to meet us.

Illiteracy is a situation when a person is not able to read and/or write. This is when the person

is not in a position to get even primary education. Lack of education is another aspect which

is a result of illiteracy and lack of information. An uneducated person is one who is generally

unaware of things which an average person is required to know. Such people are normally

unaware of their human rights and the rights of their children too. The children of such

people normally become child labourers around their homes.

4

Illiterate and ignorant parents do not understand the need for wholesome proper physical,

cognitive and emotional development of their child. They are themselves uneducated and

unexposed, so they don’t realize the importance of education for their children.

Illiteracy is at the root of many problems. Parents who are uneducated tend to send their

children to work instead of to study. Moreover, they may feel that primary education, which

is offered for free by the government, will not be enough to earn the child a good wage.

Therefore, they prefer to send their children to work at very young ages so that they can

master the work by the time they become teenagers. In addition, parents with a large number

of children and often other family members at home need extra income from their children to

lead a normal life, having three meals every day. Thus, often parents, who want their children

to go to school, don’t send their child to the school.

IRRESPONSIBLE ATTITUDE OF EMPLOYERS:

A general sense of irresponsibility towards society is seen the employers in India who are

least bothered as to how their employees survive. In spite of being aware of the high cost of

living and inflation they are least bothered and least ashamed to pay wages which are much

below sustenance levels. Also if the employers were responsible they in the first place would

not employ children at all

5

HIGH POPULATION:

This is also the thinking of the people that in today’s world the population is very high and

continuously increasing and each and every person will not get job. Even if our child will go

to the schools and we spend money on that that will in vain because he will not job. I have

seen many instances of small children in villages caring for the cows and doing other

household work, because their parents do not send them to the school.

The industrialists in India have been successful in taking advantage of this disadvantage

faced by job seekers. Due to high population the job seekers not in a position to bargain a

higher wage. As a result the poor remain poor working for low wages and people engage

their child in the work.

IMPORTANCE TO THE AGRICULTURE:

Historically the working force of child workers is more in rural areas compared to urban

settings. Nine out of ten village children are employed in household industries and craftwork

and in agriculture. Children are more employed by their parents in the agriculture sector

because as India is the agriculture based country and more people are willing to do the

agriculture and definitely they earn good money from that but when the period of drought

comes people cann’t do agriculture as there is no water especially in Rajasthan then the

people starts to go to the factories for working and also they took their childrens with them.

BONDED CHILD LABOUR:

Bonded labour is a hidden cause of child labour. Bonded labour means the employment of a

person against a loan or debt or social obligation by the family of the child or the family as a

whole. It is a form of slavery. Children who are bonded with their family or inherit a debt

from their parents are often found in agricultural sector or assisting their families in brick

kilns, and stone quarries. Individual pledging of children is a growing occurrence that usually

leads to trafficking of children to urban areas for employment and have children working in

small production houses versus factories. Bonded labourers in India are mostly migrant

workers, which opens them up to more exploitation. Also they mostly come from low caste

groups such as dalits or marginalised tribal groups. Bonded child labourers are at very high

risk for physical and sexual abuse and neglect sometimes leading to death. They often are

6

psychologically and mentally disturbed and have not learnt many social skills or survival

skills.

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION:

The industrial revolution has also had a negative effect by giving rise to circumstances which

encourages child labour. Sometimes multi-nationals prefer to employ child labourers in

developing countries especially in garment industries only because they can be recruited for

less pay and more work can be extracted from them and there is no problem of union with

them. This attitude also makes it difficult for adults to find job in factories, forcing them to

drive their little ones to work in factories.

FATALIST ATTITUDE OF THE POOR TOWARDS LIFE :

Most of the people belonging to the lowest strata of society in India have a fatalist and

submissive attitude towards life. They do not believe that that their lot can be better. Their

fathers were workers and they will also engage their children in the labour, they don’t think

that their position can be better if their child study.

ORPHANAGE:

Orphanage is another reason of child labour. Children born out of wed-lock, children with no

parents and relatives, often do not find anyone to support which forces them to work for their

own survival. The person who is the owner of the orphanage 1st tells the people that they will

allow the children to study but slowely and gradually they starts to put them under the child

labour .

TRADITION OF MAKING CHILDREN LEARNS THE FAMILY

SKILLS:

It is evident in the rural areas that the paternalistic profession is generally imitated by his

sons also, Since the collective aim of the family is to yield pecuniary benefits, they have none

other resort left but to incorporate one’s own child in the money making so as to facilitate

their prosperity. A person who is by work Potter in the village always tries and wants to

make his child more skilful in this wok he will not admit his son in the school.

7

SOCIAL APATHY AND TOLERANCE OF CHILD LABOUR:

It is a socially rooted conviction in the common people that rather than sending their children

to schools for receiving education, they should be used in labouring so as to achieve the

target of money making for their sole survival. In today in villages if a person send their girl

daughter to schools then the person of the society tells them that why are you westing your

money on her one day she will go in others house so its better to engage her in the work and

hence they give her stress to work in the factories etc.

PARENTAL IGNORANCE REGARDING THE BAD EFFECTS OF

CHILD LABOUR :

The practice of child labour not just devoid a child of his basic rights to live and study but

also affects his future. Parents are ignorant about what will be the bad effects of child labour

They put stress on their child to work in the factories and in reaustraunts and at cheap shops

they are unaware about the bad effects of child labour, they are unaware It is also very

difficult to immature minds and undeveloped bodies to understand and organise themselves

against exploitation in the absence of adult guidance.

Thus we can say that ineffectiveness of child labour laws in terms of implementation, non-

availability and non-accessibility to schools are some of the other factors which encourages

the phenomenon of child labour.

     

8

Government’s policies

Child labour is a matter on which both the Union Government and state governments can

legislate. A number of legislative initiatives have been undertaken at both levels. The

problem of child labour continues to pose a challenge before the state.  Government has been

taking various pro-active measures to tackle this problem. However, considering the

magnitude and extent of the problem and that it is essentially a socio-economic problem

inextricably linked to poverty and illiteracy, it requires concerted efforts from all sections of

the society to make a dent in the problem.

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986: The Act prohibits the

employment of children below the age of 14 years in 13 occupations and 57 processes that

are hazardous to the children's lives and health. These occupations and processes are listed in

the Schedule to the Act;

The Factories Act, 1948: The Act prohibits the employment of children below the age of 14

years. A teenager aged between 15 and 18 years can be employed in a factory only if he

obtains a certificate of fitness from an authorized medical doctor. According to this Act child

aged between 14 and 18 can work per day four and a half hour and prohibits their working

during night hours. An important judicial intervention in the action against child labour in

India was the 1996 Supreme Court judgment, directing the Union and state governments to

identify all children working in hazardous processes and occupations, to withdraw them from

work, and to provide them with quality education. The Court also directed that a Child

Labour Rehabilitation-cum-Welfare Fund be set up using contributions from employers who

contravene the Child Labour Act.

.

9

Conclusion

Child labour is a big issue in India. Government made many policies for stopping the child

labour but the problem is that thses policies are not properly implemented. Most of the

peoples in the villages are illiterate government should implement policise by which they can

be make aware of the bad impact of child labour. Eradication of child labour is not an easy

task; preventive strategies are more sustainable in the long run. One of the major preventive

strategies, which must feature in any national child labour eradication policy, is the role of

social mobilization and community participation. It is vital to ensure that children stay at

home and go to formal government schools rather than leave home to work full time. There

has to be a national campaign to invoke public interest and large-scale awareness on this

issue, there is a need for an extensive awareness generation campaign launched over a period

of time at the Centre and State on a sustained basis. Child labourers are spread across the

country; working in dispersed villages and slums. The eradication of child labour cannot be

done by the labour department alone, as it is so under-staffed. Labour department needs to

have a cadre of youth volunteers who can be trained as ‘Social Mobilisers’ who will be

responsible for withdrawing children from work as well as monitoring school dropouts and

children with irregularity of attendance. It is understood that if such children are not tracked

they would join the labour force as child labour. children are the future of country, they must

be protected from any type of works .

10