INTRODUCTION:

Child population between 0-14 years of age constitutes nearly thirty percent of the total population in the country (Census, 2011).Children are the most valuable treasure of any society as future lies on them. The state of children in any country or state gives penetrating insight to form an opinion about any state and nation where or on which pedestal the nation or state stands.

No nation can be great and achieve pinnacles of grandeurs and glory where children sleep empty stomach deprived of even basic amenities of life. Although children are very important segment of the society, yet they are most vulnerable also.

Data speaks that they have to undergo lots of exploitation and abuse in their life time such as malnourishment, lack of education and basic amenities due to poverty in the family, victims of domestic violence, child trafficking, and child labour. Child labour is generally speaking, work for children, which harms them or exploits them in some way (physically, mentally, morally or by blocking access to education). In other words, child labour includes children prematurely leading adult lives, working long hours for low wages, under conditions damaging to their health, to their physical and mental development, sometimes separated from their families, frequently deprived of meaningful education and training opportunities that could open up for them a better future” (ILO 1983). It deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity. Child labour threatens children’s physical, mental, or emotional well-being and involves intolerable abuse, such as child slavery, child trafficking, debt bondage, forced labor, or illicit activities. Not all work done by children should be classified as child labour that is to be targeted for elimination. Children’s or adolescents’ participation in work that does not affect their health and personal development or interfere with their schooling is generally regarded as being something positive. This includes activities such as helping their parents around the home, assisting in a family business or earning pocket money outside school hours and during school holidays. These kinds of activities contribute to children’s development and to the welfare of their families; they provide them with skills and experience, and help to prepare them to be productive members of society during their adult life (International Labour Organisation).

According to Census of India 2001, child labour is participation of a child less than 17 years of age in any economically productive activity with or without compensation, wages or profit. Such participation could be physical or mental or both. This work includes part-time help or unpaid work on the farm, family enterprise or in any other economic activity such as cultivation and milk production for sale or domestic consumption. According to Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, a child is any person who has not completed his fourteenth year of age. This act prohibits children from working in domestic work, dhabas and hotels, catering at railway establishments, construction work on the railway or anywhere near the tracks, plastics factories and automobile garages. The act also prohibits children from working in places where certain processes are being undertaken such as beedi making, tanning, soap manufacture, brick kilns and roof tiles units. As per the International Labor Organization estimates 215 million children between the ages of 5 and 17 currently work under hazardous and exploitative conditions world wide. The incidence of In India, there are estimated 12.6 million child labourers between the age of 5–14 years in the country (Census, 2001). This official figure makes India home to the largest number of child labourers under the age of 14 in the world. Out of these 12.6 million child labourers, 12 million are in hazardous jobs and are employed in many industries and trades, including garments, footwear, brick kilns, stainless steel, hotels, and textile shops. Many work in export-oriented hazardous industries like carpet weaving, gem polishing, glass blowing, match works, brassware, electro-plating, lead mining, stone quarrying, lock making and beedi rolling (indigenous cigarette in which tobacco is rolled in a tendu leaf). Nearly 85 per cent of child labourers in India are hard to reach, invisible and excluded, as they work largely in the unorganised sector, both rural and urban, within the family or in household-based units. However, according to international labour organization estimates, in India, 60 percent of child labour is employed in agriculture sector and as per United Nation's Food and Agriculture organization estimates, 70% of child labour is deployed in agriculture and related activities. Outside of agriculture, child labour is observed in almost all informal sectors of the Indian economy. Child labour in India as per government records has shown a decline as the number of child labourers from 12.6 million in the country in 2001census, it has reduced to nearly 44 lakhs in 2011 census. However, UNICEF India has estimated 28 million children aged five to fourteen involved in work (UNICEF, 2011).

According to International Labour Organisation (2013), the largest numbers of child labourers are working in hazardous work and the total number of child workers is increasing, even though it is forbidden by law. These children are vulnerable to diseases and they struggle with long-term physical and psychological pain. The main cause that induces children to work is poverty. These children work for their survival and their families.(Mapaure, 2009). The incidence of working children in India are engaged in hazardous occupations such as factories manufacturing diamonds, fireworks, silk and carpets, glass and bricks (Waghamodeand Kalyan, 2013). There are several factors that force children to work such as inadequate economic growth, poverty, unemployment, over population and lack of education and health care (Ahmad, 2012).

Causes:

Child labour is a wide-ranging problem of the society, especially in the underdeveloped countries and nations that are in a development stage. It is a cause of major concern for the government. Children work and exert for various reasons and the prime and the top reason is poverty and illiteracy and the induced pressure in their life so that they can escape from this plight of poverty (Khan 1979; Gangrade and Gandhi 1983; George 1990 cited in Ayaz, Ahmad, 2012). The issues and exclusion of education and poverty are intricately related to child labour. Poverty provides the potential condition of putting children to work. The children are also forced to earn livelihood for themselves as well as for their families and it prevents them from realizing their full potential (Weiner 1991; Mishra 2000; Zutshi et al. 2006 cited in Ayaz, Ahmad, 2012). The main reasons behind the child labour peeps from majority of the studies are poverty and illiteracy. Along with poverty and illiteracy, large families, lack of parents’ education and occupation, parental debt and inadequate economic growth of the country are certain causes which force a child into child labour. The causes of child labour in detail are as follows:

· Poverty:

There are various studies that highlight poverty as the main cause of child labour. Families need money to survive and children are additional source of income for the family. Some times due to poverty, parents are not able to fulfill the wishes of their children. As a result children themselves opt for child labour in order to fulfill their needs. Poverty provides the potential condition of putting children to work. The children are also forced to earn livelihood for themselves as well as for their families and it prevents them from realizing their full potential (Weiner 1991; Mishra 2000; Zutshi et al. 2006 cited in Ayaz Ahmad 2012).

· Lack of Social Security:

Since India is a developing economy, therefore, here systems of social security are not as strong as are in developed countries. Poor do not even have excess to loans in the banks. This becomes the basis of worst form of child labour i.e. bonded child labour in which for getting loans they exchange their child’s labour. In some instances, the home situation compels children to work and earn independently. When a family migrates from rural area to town, it faces the unknown labour situations, which brings instability and insecurity for the family for which children are to work for survival of the family (Singh 1980; Suman 1998 cited in Ayaz Ahmad, 2012).

· Unattractive schooling:

System of education and condition of schools is very poor despite all governmental initiatives to improve it. Many times building of the government school is not there. If at all, buildings are there, they are in dilapidated condition. Basic amenities such as electricity, drinking water, toilets and neat and clean classrooms are not available and these reasons are sufficient enough to put off children from schools. As a result they drop out from the school and resolve in to labour.

· Educational level of the parents:

Education acts as a catalyst for social upliftment enhancing the returns on investments for almost all aspects of developmental efforts, be it population control, health and hygiene, women empowerment or poverty reduction (Ayaz Ahmad, 2012). There are various studies indicating that parental education is co related with child labour. Majority of the parents whose children are labourers are either illiterate or very less educated. Better education leads to better employment opportunities as a result better economic resources and therefore no child labour and children would be given opportunities to be in schools and grow.

· Unemployment of Parents:

This is another important factor responsible for child labour. When parents are unemployed or partially employed or are employed in low paying occupations, it puts extra pressure on the children to earn money to fulfill the very basic needs of the family and this leads to child labour. There are various studies revealing that majority of child labourers belong to wage labour families. There is seasonal unemployment among the parents of the working children or they are involved in low paying occupations such as labourers, vendors, rickshaw pullers, domestic workers etc (Ayaz Ahmad, 2012). As a result this leads to the scarcity of the economic resources in the family and children are bound to do labour.

· Large Family Size:

The size of family has an important bearing on the determination of economic conditions of the households. When economic resources are insufficient and number of members in the family is more, then everybody tries to earn according to his/her own potential and children are also forced to go for earnings.

Consequences:

Child labour has far reaching consequences. It deprives them of their childhood, to realize their full potential and leads to poor physical, mental and emotional development of the children. They are denied of basic school education, normal social interaction and personal development and emotional support from the family. They suffer physical injuries and mutilations due to poorly maintained machinery in case of industrial child labourers, pesticide poisoning in case they are involved in agriculture sector or chemical industry, and suffer with long term health problems such as respiratory diseases, cancers, and many more. They also suffer with HIV/AIDS where they are forced in to prostitution and exploited for sexual purposes. They are under nourished and it has impact on their adult life. Apart from these, they are exploited for working in hazardous activities and long working hours that too for very less wages as children are innocent and lack awareness about their rights.

Remedies:

Keeping the causes and consequences of child labour in mind, it is important to work on the remedies so that no child is deprived of his or her childhood due to child labour. The government of India does have adopted proactive policies to combat the problem. There are various constitutional provisions and legal safeguards to protect and help children and achieve the goal of child labour welfare. The concern for children in general and child labour in particular is reflected through the Articles of the Constitution of India. In Article 23, it prohibits traffic in human being and begar and other similar forms of forced labour. Under Article 24 it has laid down that “no child under the age of 14 years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment”. Article 39(e) and (f) requires the State and secure that the tender age of children are not abused and to ensure that they are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited in their age or strength. Those children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth are protectedagainst exploitation and against moral and material abandonment. Article 45 provides, for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of 14 years. Article 51A(k) makes it a fundamental duty of the parent or Guardian to provide opportunities for education to the child or ward between the age of 6 and 14 years. Art. 21-A recognizes that the Right to Education as fundamental right and it mandates that, the state shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of age of six to fourteen years in such manner as the state may, by law, determine.

Similarly there are legal safeguards also to control and regulate the problem of child labour in India. Legislations have sought to address two broad concerns; (1) Prescribing minimum age limit for employment of children and regulation of working hours for children; and (2) Ensuring the health and safety of the child labourers by prohibiting the employment of children in hazardous work. Several statutory provisions prohibiting child labour and protecting interests of children of tender age working as a child labour have been enacted before and after independence to fulfill the commitment to international community and to oblige the mandate provided under Constitution to eradicate the evil of child labour. There is The Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act implemented in 1986 which defines the minimum age for employment i.e. setting up of minimum age for employment of children at fourteen years and forbid child labour in dangerous sectors. The Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act does not ban child labour rather it regulates the age for child labour. In actual sense, it does not facilitate the eradication of child labour. India has a number of child labour. Apart from this the government of India started National Child Labour Policy (NCLP) in 1987. The aim of NCLP is to help children in hazardous activities and provide non-formal education, vocational training, supplementary nutrition etc. Despite these efforts, child labour legislation has not been very effective and successful in protecting the children from labour particularly hazardous activities. Along with these governmental efforts, various non governmental organizations such as Care India, Child Rights and You, Save Our Children are working to protect children through promoting education and trying to put them back in schools. Despite governmental and non governmental initiatives to fight child labour, children continue to work at large scale and it continues to be a social problem. On one side it appears that law has not been implemented in its true spirit and there is need for more stringent laws to be introduced and no flaws are left in its implementation. On the other side, various socio economic factors responsible for child labour such as inequitable distribution of opportunities, income and wealth leading to poverty and unemployment; large families, and unattractive schooling need to be tackled simultaneously.

CONCLUSION:

Despite all constitutional and legislative measures, child labour is a harsh reality. Due to lack of political will and in absence of realistic measures to tackle the problem, the percentage of child labour in the total labour force of the country is on the rise and has become a serious issue with far reaching consequences for the children. Children under fourteen years of age are forced to work in various sectors of the economy and are even involved in hazardous activities, are less paid, have long working hours and are lured to work in those areas where adults refused with far reaching health hazards. Child labour is a wide-ranging problem of the society, especially in the underdeveloped countries and nations that are in a development stage. It is a cause of major concern for the government. Children work and exert for various reasons and the prime and the top reason is poverty and illiteracy and the induced pressure in their life so that they can escape from this plight of poverty. (Khan 1979; Gangrade and Gandhi 1983; George 1990).

REFERENCES:

1 Gangrade, KD, Gandhi JA 1983. Women and Child Workers in Unorganised Sector. New Delhi: Concept Publishing

2 Company.ILO 1983. Report of the Director General. Thirteenth International Conference of Labour Statisticians. Geneva: International Labour Office.

3 http://www.ilo.org/ipec/facts/lang---en/index.htm

4 http://labour.nic.in/cwl/ChildLabour.html

5 http://labour.gov.in/upload/uploadfiles/files/Divisions/childlabour/Census-2001%262011.pdf

6 Osment, L. (2014). Child Labour: The Effect on Child Causes and Remedies to the Revolving Menace (Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation). University of Lund. Sweden. Online available: http://lup.lub.lu.se/luur/download?func=downloadFileandrecordOId=4275652&fileOId=4275654.

7 Population Composition– Census of India (2011). Online available :www.censhttp://www.censusindia.gov.in/vital_statistics/SRS_Report/9Chap%202%20%202011.pdfusindia.gov.in/vital_statistics/SRS_Report/9Chap%202%20-%202011.pdf

8 M. Badiwala (n.d.). Child Labour in India: Causes, Governmental Policies and Role of Education. Online available: www.admc.hct.ac.ae/HD1/english/reading/readings/../rdg9childlabor.do.

9 Ahmad, Ayaz (2012). Poverty, Education and Child Labour in Aligarh City-India. Stud Home Com Sci, 6(3): 165-172 (2012). Online available: http://www.krepublishers.com/02-Journals/S-HCS/HCS-06-0-000-12-Web/HCS-06-3-000-12-Abst-PDF/S-HCS-06-3-165-12-201-Ahmad-A/S-HCS-06-3-165-12-201-Ahmad-A-Tt.pdf

10 Causes and Consequences of Child Labour. Online available: http://www.eclt.org/about/overview.html

11 Encyclopedia of Social Work in India, (1987), Vol.I.

12 Legal Regulation of Child Labour in India and The Judicial Response: A Critique. (N.D.) Online available: http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/8530/16/16_chapter%208.pdf

Received on 08.09.2017 Modified on 15.09.2017

Int. J. Rev. and Res. Social Sci. 2017; 5(3): 155-160 .

DOI: 10.5958/2454-2687.2017.00017.X