Fighting the scourge of child labour

By Vinod Mehta Child labour is a world phenomenon-and a world problem.

There are around 210.8 million children in the 5-14 age group who are engaged in some form of economic activity.

Of these 186.3 million fall within the strict definition of child labour.

Sadly, most of the child labour is concentrated in the developing countries.

India is one of them.

Many international agencies concerned with the welfare of children have been asking India to eliminate child labour.

Our country has taken several steps over the years to tackle the problem.

But we have still a long way to go.

It is acknowledged the world over that children should not be made to take up employment.

But there is no easy answer to this problem.

Fortunately for India, the Union Government is wholly committed to eliminating all forms of child labour.

In fact, the Union Labour Minister, Dr Sahib Singh, declared in New Delhi on 14 January: "We are committing ourselves to eliminating child labour in Delhi by the end of the year and from all over India by 2007." Importantly, he, alongwith Director-General of ILO, Dr Juan Somavia, was jointly launching the National Child Labour Projects (NCLP) in 50 new districts, taking the total to 150 districts in 20 States.

The Minister also announced that the Government would launch another 100 districts within a month.

What is more, a Central Advisory Board on Child Labour has also been set up to ensure effective enforcement of various measures.

India's Second National Commission on Labour went into this problem of child labour in detail.

It began by posing the question: what constitutes child labour? A child chasing goats or cows or a very young girl washing utensils, carrying a pot of water or minding her younger brother constitutes child labour.

Or children rolling beedis, working in a glass factory, match making or carpet weaving constitutes child labour? These issues have been debated for a very long time in India.

It is generally agreed that children helping in a household work or family work or working as apprentice to learn craft skills do not constitute child labour.

But children working in factories and dhabas to earn money are considered child labour.

As for the statistical profile of the child labour, 1991 Census put the number at 11.28 million.

This figure has now come down to 10.40 million as per the 55th round of the National Sample Survey.

The figures of the 2001 census are, however, awaited.

At the same time, there are about 74 million children who are neither enrolled in schools nor accounted for in the labour force.

They come under the category of "Nowhere Children." The National Commission on Labour further points out that the incidence of child labour in India is more rural than urban.

More than 90.87 per cent of the working children are in the rural areas and are employed in agricultural and allied activities.

Cultivation, agricultural labour, livestock, forestry and fisheries account for 85 per cent of child labour.

It is urban informal sector (unorganised), child labour is found in small scale cottage industries, in dhabas, restaurants, workshops, domestic service and on the streets.

Children working in the manufacturing, servicing and repairs sectors account for 8.7 per cent of the urban child labour force; of these only 0.8 per cent work in factories.

About two million children are engaged in employment which is characterised as hazardous.

In certain communities where social and caste factors are important, bonded child labour is also present.

The National Commission also found that the incidence of child labour is high amongst the SC and ST and agricultural labourers.

As for the States, child labour is predominant in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

It is mainly found in poor areas and among disadvantaged and marginalised groups of societies.

There is no appreciable predominance of male or female children in the child labour population.

Male child constitutes 54.28 per cent and female 45.18 per cent of the total child labour.

The Centre has already banned the employment of children below the age of 14 to 13 hazardous occupations and 57 risky processes as per Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act, 1986.

The hazardous occupation cover automobile workshops and garages, slaughter houses, foundaries, handling of the toxic or inflammable substances or explosives, handloom and powerloom industries, mines and collieries, plastic units and fibre glass factories.

The risky processes cover beedi-making, carpet weaving, agarbati manufacturing, gem cutting and polishing, lock making, bangle making, brassware making and zari making.

Under the National Child Labour Projects, started in 1987, special schools have been set up to provide non-formal and formal education, vocational training, stipend, health check up and supplementary nutrition to the children withdrawn from jobs.

Initially, 100 child labour projects were sanctioned in 13 child-labour-endemic States to cover 2.11 lakh children in 4,022 schools.

The Government has also approved continuation of these 100 NCLPs during the 10th Plan.

It hopes through such measures to eliminate child labour by the end of the 10th Plan, i.e., 2007.

Food security provided by the mid-day meals has had positive impact on reducing child labour, according to Dr PD Shenoy, Secretary, Union Labour Ministry.

The strategy is also to ensure that all working children in the 5-9 age group are directly put into school under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan.

Other children between the 9-14 age group will be covered subsequently.

However, looking at the size of the problem it is unlikely that Government laws and Government-supported projects will be able to eliminate child labour by the end of Tenth Plan.

Ultimately, it is for the society at large and community at the local level to ensure that children are sent to schools and not to the labour market.

A number of reasons force parents to send their children to work as child labourers.

The main reason is poverty which forces them to push their children to contribute to the family income.

Secondly, the poor families are not educated enough to understand the implications of sending their small children to work.

Most of the researches have shown that a family which has crossed the threshold of poverty line and where women have become literate is conscious enough not to send children to join the labour market but to send them to the school.

Therefore, every effort should be made to generate more jobs and raise the literacy level to poor families so that, on the one hand, it obviates the need to send children to the labour market and, on the other, sensitises the family to send them to school.

There is also an urgent need to educate the employers not to employ children in their factories or service centres.

Since the wages paid to the child labour are much lower than the ones paid to the adult labour, the employers would always find it economical to employ child worker than an adult worker.

We may have any number of laws but this economic logic of cheap labour would always push employers to employ child labour.

Therefore, we will have to make the employees conscious of the fact that a child's place is in the school and not in a factory or a farm as a labourer.

We need a moral code of conduct among the employers not to employ child workers.(INFA) About us | Advertise | Other Publications | Subscriptions | Weather | Letters | Send Mail Disclaimer: Information is being made available at this site purely as a measure of public facilitation.

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