ABSTRACT:
“The child is a soul with a being, a nature and capacities of its own, who must be helped to find them, to grow into the maturity, into fullness on physical and vital energy and most breadth, dept and height of its emotional, intellectual and spiritual being.” -By Justice Bhagwati
A large no. of people in the world all have mixed perspective of our country as some think about the subtle beauty in the Indian culture or all the kinds of food or all the humongous amount of history etc. Some think about all the corruption present or all types of crimes which are increasing at an alarming speed or the overpopulation in the country etc.
The news outlets and media houses have often missed to mention numerous issues which affect the people. But, one issue which is highly overlooked by people as it is not considered of importance is Child Labor. Shockingly, in India there are about 33 million child laborers that are in the age group of 5-18 years.
So, in this article we will discuss the meaning of child labor as defined by International Labor Organization (ILO) and also what are the worst forms of child labor. Then, we will be discussing the causes, effect on children, affected areas and also the legal and constitutional provisions related to child labor in India. Lastly, we will be discussing about the impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on child labor.
INTRODUCTION:
It was mentioned above that the issue of child labor isn’t mentioned enough to make people aware of the problem. But, first, what is child labor?
ILO defines child labor as any kind of work which won’t let the children live a peaceful childhood and further, a live of dignity. This kind of work is also harmful for the children as it hinders with their physical and mental development. So, the 2 essentials of child labor are:
1. The work should be mentally and physically dangerous and harmful for the children
2. The work should have an effect on the schooling of the children
Therefore, all child labor is work but, not all kind of work can be classified as child labor until it fulfils the above-mentioned essentials.
Now, child labor has various forms but, Article 3 of the ILO Convention no. 182 has defined what may be called as the worst forms of child labor which are so barbaric that they are on high priority for its end. And they are:
1. Slavery which includes sale or child trafficking, bondage and forced labor
2. Prostitution and child pornography
3. Illicit activities and particularly related to drug trafficking
Or, any other work which causes harm to the health (Both Physical and Mental) of the children. Their safety and morals are also compromised while doing such work.
Now that we have learned about child labor, lets read the causes and the effect of child labor in India.
CAUSES OF CHILD LABOR:
India is the 6th largest economy in the world but, despite that fact, poverty still remains one of the most prevalent problems in India as about 60% of the country’s population still live below the poverty line.
As the issue of poverty increases, it results in the poor living conditions, low job opportunities for adults, migrate a lot to find to find jobs. These are not just the causes of child labor but, it also is a consequence faced by the children because of social inequalities which is happening due to high levels of discrimination in the society.
So, to earn a little more, the parents have no choice but to put their children to work as they think about the present living conditions of themselves and not about the future of their children who can study and change the family’s status permanently.
Many times, when there are many mouths to be feed with minimal income, the parents sell off their children to seths or send them for trafficking to earn some money and then, they can feed a fewer mouths. But the child who has to face abuse or is getting exploited has been scarred for life.
WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF CHILD LABOR ON CHILDREN?
In the early stages of a child’s life, he needs various kinds of skills that are needed to survive in this world and through the education received in schools and higher studies, they can get it. But, when one is trying to earn for his family, it becomes impossible to handle schoolwork as well as earn some income for the family. As the pressure is so much on the child, it subsequently results in the child leaving his education and finding some kind of work which can get them decent income to help his family.
Also, being sell off to someone for money or being trafficked for labor or prostitution can have a huge impact on anyone’s mental health, resulting in life-long trauma faced by the children. So, children who have been physically or sexually assaulted can go into depression and have panic attacks, anxiety issues, loss of self-confidence etc.
The entire country suffers from the problem of child labor. But there are some states which are highly affected from this practice.
So, according to the Ministry of Labor and Employment, the most affected states from child labor are West Bengal, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Assam. Theses states constitute the major no. of cases related to child labor.
Many children in these states have also being rescued as well as rehabilitated through National Child Labor Project Scheme which is an initiative of the central government.
But these no. can’t be trusted as if so, many children were rescued, then how can child labor be still prevalent in India as well as the whole world.
COVID-19 IMPACT ON CHILD LABOR:
As the corona virus spread around the world, many schools were closed, and jobs lost. It had a huge impact on the economies as well as the lives of the people. In India, the most affected people were the migrant laborers and the daily-wage earners as they didn't earn much, but their menial jobs were the only source of livelihood for the families.
Their children were also affected as they couldn't go to school for physical classes. Some of them had a chance to attend online classes, but as there is no source of income in the family, they weren’t able to buy smartphones for online study. And those who didn't have the privilege of online classes, only had the option to leave their studies in between.
As the migrant laborers and daily-wage earners were fighting for survival in these crucial times, the children didn't have any option but to find any work to help their parents for the survival of the entire family.
According to the report made jointly by UNICEF and ILO, worldwide there are now 160 million child laborers which is a leap of 8.4 million children from 2016. This leap which happened due to the pandemic has affected the slow-down of child labor in the world for the last 20 years.
The report mentioned the division of laborers in agriculture sector, service sector and industrial sector. The statistics are 70% in agriculture, 20% in services and 10% in industry.
If is also observed that boys are more volatile to child labor than girls. But if we take into account the household chores done by girls along with child labor, the gender gap in child labor narrows down.
In the world view, Africa has topped the chart with 72 million child laborers which is the highest. On the second place, Asia and Pacific with 62 million children in child labor. While, America has 11 million, Europe and Central Asia has 6 million and Arab States has 1 million child laborers.And, if we don't do anything about child protection, additional 9 million children will turn into child laborers by the end of 2022.This is also said to be a wake-up call for the authorities to do something for the children quickly so that no more children are taken into the trap called child labor.
CONCLUSION:
As a concluding remark I want to state that every child requires direction and backing in their lives. They don't have any kind of idea about how things work in real life but, as grownups, it is our duty to take their hands and show them the correct path to a happy and successful life.
The Indian society has now, finally, shown its acceptance to the trend of child labor as a social norm in the country. Many leaders and activists have opposed the idea of child labor and have also done some work to eradicate this practice from the country but, when the whole society declares child labor as an exploitative and abusive practice and also decides to not tolerate such activities then only can we end such an atrocious practice as rescuing children from various kinds of crimes done to them is not a solution , and it won’t bring back the time. So, we as a society must stand and speak up against any injustice and cruelty to secure and protect the future of the next generation.
SUGGESTIONS:
A message which was given in the UN Convention on Rights of Child, which I think we should implement in our country immediately, is that we should give all the children the right to speak up on the issues which are affecting their lives and the authorities should also take these testimonials in the records so that they can keep all of them in mind whenever they make any laws related to children.We should implement this as the children themselves know what actually they have gone through and when the authorities have the actual accounts of the cruelty faced by the children, they can make people aware and the situation and that will result in the eradication of child labor and not just in India but all around the world.
Basically, the key to child protection is the child himself as the children themselves can explain the problems faced by them, what do they want to do and what do they expect from government and other related authorities to do for them.
REFERENCES:
https://www.ilo.org/ipec/facts/lang--en/index.htm (Last accessed on 23th September 2021 @ 1:30 PM)
https://www.humanium.org/en/child-labor-in-india/ (Last accessed on 23th September 2021 @ 2 PM)
https://www.unicef.org/india/what-we-do/child-labour-exploitation (Last accessed on 23th September 2021 @ 5 PM)
https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/state-high-on-child-labour-list-but-has-many-rescued-kids/article30995253.ece (Last accessed on 23th September 2021 @ 6 PM)
https://www.un.org/en/observances/world-day-against-child-labour (Lat accessed on 23th September 2021 @ 7 PM)
https://www.cry.org/blog/reality-of-the-practice-of-child-labor-in-india/ (Last accessed on 23th September 2021 @ 11 PM)
Mahendra Pal Singh, V.N Shukla’s Constitution of India (13th ed. 2019)
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