Aqib Ul Ahad Wani
Child labour and poverty are inevitably bound together and if you continue to use the labor of children as the treatment for the social disease of poverty, you will have both poverty and child labor to the end of time…
In our country there is the very significant social issue on the children. Child labour is the international concern because of its damages, spoils and destroys and exploiting the future of the children. Child labour problem is not only suffering in the India, but also in the other developing countries. It is a huge problem in India. The Children are our hope and future of our nation, but there are millions of children are deprived in our country. Child labour has never known an ordinary and carefree.
The law of our India says that for the child, that below an age of 14 cannot employ in any factory and offices or restaurant. These rules come into the human rights for the children. In fact, in Indian’s international business has been severely affected in many cases because child labour, violating human rights have used in some stage or the other in manufacturing and packaging those items. And, in a significant no of cases of export of ready-made garments, prawn, and several other items from india has been rejected on the grounds of the child labour used. In india, there is frequently utilization of child labour at various places of production and service such as restaurant service, small-scale industry, domestic aid, shopkeeper’s assistant, stone breaking, book binding, not only in that but also in the small house hold industry.
Causes of Child labour
1.Lack of employment
There is the lack of work in the india. Most of the parents aren’t literate, and they have not any source of employment. Therefore they are unemployed and get his children on child labour. Their child are working just because their parents are unemployed.
2.High poverty level
There is poverty line elevated in the india. Almost in india, there are sick children and there families may rely on child labour to improve there chances of attaining necessities. According to the 2005 U.N statics here, more than one fourth of the world level lives in the extreme poverty. The intensified poverty in parts of Africa, Asia, and Latin America causes many children there to became child laborer’s.
3.Limitation of freedom education
In india, approximately 75 million children are not going to school, just because of the lack of free education. There are minimum schools in india, which is giving free education, but, most of the places have not any free education opportunities for the poor children.
A 2009 report by the U.N estimated that achieving universal education for the world’s children would cost$ 10-30—about 0.7%-2.0% of the annual cost of global military spending.
4.Violation of the existing laws or codes.
They often violated, who makes the laws or order in support of children. There are such instances, most of the manufacturer and exporter have no any ideas about it that what type of workers and labour are working in his outsourcing and production.it can a tough to monitor who is performing labour at each step of the process.
5.Laws and enforcement
Child labour laws around the world are often not enforced or include exemptions that allow for child labour to persist in certain sectors, such as agriculture or domestic work. Even in countries where strong child labour laws exist, labour departments and labour inspection offices are often underfunded and under staffed, or courts may fail to enforce the laws. Similarly, many state governments allocate few resources to enforcing child labour laws.
PREVENTION OF CHILD LABOUR
As per UNESCO, india has the highest no of child laborer’s in the entire world. Census 2011 puts the no of child laborer’s in india at 10.13 million in the age group of 5-14 years whereas in there are 22.87 million children in the age group of 15-18 years. Constitution of india clearly bars child labour in hazardous conditions under article 24. However all the intricacies on child labour are dealt by the child labour(prohibition and abolition) act 1986.Additionally various statutes and the Indian penal code, such as the juvenile justice(care and protection) of children Act 2015, provide a basis in laws to identify, prosecute and stop child labour in india. Despite having strong legal framework millions of children are still exploited and violated. Below are few steps on how to stop child labour. It is duty of every Indian citizen to pledge against the heinous crime and take measures to stop child labour. Perhaps, you can join our platform and make your opinion count and help save millions of children.
(1)Abstain from employing a child.This is biggest step one can take to curb child labour. In india people tend to employ children as domestic help or for petty works in shops and garages example helper, cleaner etc. As per U.N development report 40% of domestic help in Mumbai are under 15 girls. A major chunk of child labour works as domestic help. Most of us have flawed notion of morality and tend to justify employment of children as a domestic help by reasoning that we are providing them better life as against what they would have been living at their home. However, it cannot be justified by any argument and in any case.
(2)Report to the police whenever you witness child labour. In addition to it you can also report to media and various NGO’s like Bachpan Bachao Andolan, CRY, save the children which are working for child rights. This will ensure the child being exploited gets timely help and is rescued.
(3) Counsel the poor who had to employ children to ensure 2square meal for the entire family. In our neighborhood or locality we do come across poor people like our maid, milkman, newspaper vendor, plumber gardener, etc. who have got their children working instead of being in school. Try to convince them that there vices cycle of poverty will be broken only when their children are educated and gain a meaningful employment after growing up. Counsel the children as well who are engaged in labour.
(4) Encourage children to take up education instead of work. A child’s mind is highly impressionable. Leave good impressions on it. Encourage him to dream for a better world. Inspire him to study and grab hold of a better life full of dignity and respect that awaits him.
(5) Donate to prominent and credible NGO’s like CRY, world vision, Save the Children, Bachpan Bachao Andolan and many others to ensure that every single child gets timely help, every single child witness the dawn of hope and dusk of exploitation. These organizations also ensure these children take up education instead of work. Additionally you can also donate and sponsor a child’s education. This will ensure that poor children don’t face financial crunch and complete basic minimum education.
(The author is a law student at Kashmir University. Views are his own [email protected])