Skip to content Skip to navigation

Child Labour- the epidemic needs to end

Twelve year old Jayanta cleans, cooks, washes, grocery shops for the Sharma family for a paltry sum of rupees four hundred a month which in turn he sends to his family of five who live in the nearby village. Sharma’s son gets a sum of Rupees one thousand of which he spends rupees four hundred gorging on pizzas with his friends every month in the swanky Pizza Hut in town. On the contrary, Jonali, Fourteen, who is the full time maid of a family where apart from the daily chores she also has to look after the family’s toddler in return for a kitchen corner to sleep in and three meals a day.

Child labour is an epidemic in Indian society and the world at large, a sore wound that is spreading its germs in our lives and is perhaps beyond healing. Childhood is a time when children are meant to enjoy life in its purest form without worries or a care in the world but it’s not so for every child for there are millions of children working in deplorable conditions in which their basic rights and dignity are flouted. Their basic access to education is hampered and they are subjected to physical and psychological abuses and hazards.

Not all work is bad for children. Some social scientists point out that some kinds of work may be completely unobjectionable — except for one thing about the work that makes it exploitative. For instance, a child who delivers newspapers before school might actually benefit from learning how to work, gaining responsibility, and earn a bit of money. But what if the child is not paid? Then he or she is being exploited. As UNICEF’s 1997 State of the World’s Children Report puts it, "Children’s work needs to be seen as happening along a continuum, with destructive or exploitative work at one end and beneficial work - promoting or enhancing children’s development without interfering with their schooling, recreation and rest - at the other. And between these two poles are vast areas of work that need not negatively affect a child’s development." Other social scientists have slightly different ways of drawing the line between acceptable and unacceptable work.

Poverty in many cases or rather ninety nine percent cases lead to child labour. "The parents of child labourers are often unemployed or underemployed, desperate for secure employment and income. Yet it is their children - more powerless and paid less - who are offered the jobs. In other words, says UNICEF, children are employed because they are easier to exploit," according to the "Roots of Child Labor" in UNICEF’s 1997 State of the World’s Children Report.

Unable to make ends meet poor parents send their children to work and earn money for the family. These children are deprived of a good education and forced to work from a tender age, loose their innocent childhood a basic right of every individual. Life for them becomes a monotonous drill of work and labour. Every person has a right to education but our society has gobbled up these rights for vested interests. Cheap labour in the form of domestic servants, chaiwalla boys, canteen boys etc can be found in every house hold today. People are openly defying the law and involving minors as domestic help which reiterates the fact that many of our laws and acts find prominence only on paper and not in reality.

Many voluntary organizations are working towards the upliftment of child labours by rescuing children from slavery and abuse. Recently a walkathon was organized in Guwahati by an FM station to draw attention towards the good work done by Snehalaya, a shelter home for children to commemorate International Anti Child Labour Day, where as many as 500 people participated. But unfortunately a recent survey had showed that the most no of cases of child abuse is found in Assam itself, a very sad and humiliating finding for the people of Assam. Many children who work as domestic helps often face physical abuse from their masters as was evident when the city police rescued a girl from Uzanbazar who was kept in confinement for many days by her owner. Her face was burnt with a hot iron moreover injury marks were visible all over her body. A case was registered against the owner and the child was sent to a rehabilitation center under Child line. There are many such cases of abuse that don’t always make headlines therefore certain laws should be passed to monitor the lives of child labours not only on paper but they should be followed religiously. There should be a law for registration of domestic helps, periodical survey of their conditions, salary structure, educational facilities, helplines available etc.

UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children Report says only that although the exact number is not known, it is surely in the hundreds of millions of child labours all over the world and It is a myth that child labor is only a problem in developing countries. "But in fact, children routinely work in all industrialized countries, and hazardous forms of child labour can be found in many countries. In the US, for example, children are employed in agriculture, a high proportion of them from immigrant or ethnic-minority families.”

There are about 61% of child labours in Asia, 32% in Africa, and 7% in Latin America, 1% in US, Canada, Europe and other wealthy nations In Asia, 22% of the workforce is children. In Latin America, 17% of the workforce is children. The proportion of child laborers varies a lot among countries and even regions inside those countries.

There is no quick-fix solution to this huge but this is no reason for inaction. Until recently, the prevailing attitude was that, deplorable as it may be, child labour is an inescapable fact of life for the poor, and that it cannot be eliminated without economic growth and development. Most countries have formulated legislations which aimed at eradication child labour, but it has been of limited effectiveness, not only because of weak enforcement mechanisms and traditional values that accept child labour as part of the natural order of things, but also because alternative income sources for the poor may often be non existing or education may be either unavailable, irrelevant or unaffordable.

But there has been a silver lining in the form of reorientation of public attitudes and policies in many countries the past years, and the search by policy-makers and practitioners for new and practical ways to protect working children with a view to eliminating at least the most extreme and damaging forms of child labour within the shortest possible time. In the past few years, several countries have adopted national policies and programmes of practical action to this end, and are attempting to implement them often with the assistance of international agencies such as ILO (International labour Organisation) and UNICEF. Such national and international programmes are for the most part of recent origin. The ILO's International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), for example, is five years old, and although operational in relatively few countries, there are already valuable experiences on which to draw.

The world day against child labour is celebrated on 12th June. The world should wake up to these alarming statistics of child labour. If our future generations are subjected to hazardous and dangerous jobs where they are in danger of injury, and even death will we have a future at all?

The coming generations are our hope — whose skills and needs will build the world’s economy and society. We should do our bit to save our future generations by learning about the issue supporting organizations that are raising awareness, and providing direct hel

Author info

Rituparna Goswami Pande's picture

Journalist, writer

Comments

mukesh chakraborty's picture

sir, it is really a good story, as per my knowled concern our government is buzy with only making policies, but there is no function in grass root level. so, we the people of assam have to do something for that, m alway ready to work with u sir.

Pages

Add new comment

Assamese Translator

Assam Times seeks English to Assamese translators!
Join our volunteer team.
Email editor@assamtimes.org.

Random Stories

Flash flood: animals worst-affected

7 Jul 2012 - 11:44pm | editor
The flash flood has taken lives of around 540 animals in the Kaziranga National Park. Around 75 percent area of the famed park has been inundated by the flood. According to information, the victims...

SC stays defamation against Manoranjana

16 May 2015 - 6:07am | Syed Miraz Ahmed
The Hon'ble Supreme Court of India on Thursday has granted an interim stay to senior journalist Manoranjana Sinh in the criminal defamation case filed against by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi. The apex...

Maibong still tense with protest

29 Jan 2018 - 9:31am | AT News
HAFLONG: An eerie silence continues to dominate Maibong four days after the railhead in Dima Hasao district witnessed ruthless police firing on a huge crowd of protesters who blocked a passenger...

Golaghat book fair underway

19 Oct 2008 - 4:44am | Ritupallab Saikia
The long wait of book lovers of Golaghat is over as Golaghat Book Fair has opened its doors today. The Book Fair has been organized by the joint efforts of National Book Trust in association with...

Other Contents by Author

This women’s day I salute those unsung ‘heroes’ who have withstood the onslaught of fickle fate. No they are not faces in the crowd rather they are the crowd whose faces we don’t remember. They are those who are living in the periphery of life, battling everyday issues of home and hearth.I bow my head in reverence to the grit of Mausam’s mother who put aside her grief after losing her only son to Ewing’s Sarcoma in order to stand as a pillar of strength to her broken husband who unable to bear the tempest of misfortune had almost lost touch with reality. I like many others was a helpless bystander of the tale of woe that had fallen like a bolt from the blue on this poor family.  But...
If I had wings and were a birdWould travel the world and orbit the EarthOr had I been a butterfly Eclectic colors would be mineI would hover over trees, flutter over blooms, On a spiritual high, I would go into a swoonShould I be a fish and swim the seaPass through oceans or haunt a reefWith beautiful corals for companyThe heart would leap at Nature’s bountyHad I been a fir tree insteadMy leaves would flutter in snow headsThe flirty wind would kiss my soulThe icy breeze to lift me up, life would be on a rollWhat if I were the season – SpringOrchid blooms, newness to ring inNo, no let me be the sky, the endless blueFar from earth, to keep a watch on youBut then my mind looks to the...
I, KazirangaShedding tears of bloodMy children, the four leggedIn men no longer trust.God’s blessed beings are theyRoaming the wildsIn search of prey and hayOften trapped by wily menCaught unawaresBy a poaching handLeft to dieWith bleeding woundsWith their hornsCut by forest goonsNo where to runNo where to hideTheir haven encroached by thugsTheir skies taken over by two legged bugsFeigned protectionI don’t seekI, KazirangaWill continue to bleedIf there is no messiahLet my children not desireAny solace from cruel fateBut march towards extinction and Heaven’s gate.
The fact that we need to celebrate Women’s Day portends that all is not well in a women’s world. Or else why would we need to single out a day for millions of women who have equal rights and status in the world they inhabit. We don’t have a men’s day which is evidence enough that all is hunky dory with their race.The UN theme for International Women's Day 2013 is "A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women," while International Women's Day 2013 has declared the year's theme as The Gender Agenda: Gaining Momentum. But then is it really gaining momentum?As we celebrate Women’s Day today a woman is probably being raped in our rape capital i.e. Delhi or any other...
Lately every morning we have been waking up to screaming headlines of animal killings in the newspapers. Rhinos being poached with their horns brutally severed and left to die,elephants electrocuted or hunted down, their bodies mutilated and left to bleed to death. Gory pictures of animal atrocities splashed in every newspaper, every channel. It really makes one ponder as to how low humans can stoop to gratify their covetous desire for money. Twisted minds are targetting the animal kingdom, mute creatures, innocent beings who do not care nor bother to know how our world has become a slave to money. The world Heritage site Kaziranga National park has seen 20 rhino killings this year and a...
All Hindus become epitomes of excitement to the run up to the festival of the auspicious Durga puja. Pandals coming up everywhere, idols being given finishing touches, revellers thronging the markets, discount offers, designer wear on sale and so on. Everyone is under the grip of puja fever and the associated excitement.But for once if we shift our focus away from ourselves and our frivolous acts and ponder over the plights of those innocent animals that would be sacrificed during the puja offerings, I am sure the smiles in our faces would be wiped off. At least the smiles would vanish from those faces who have a little compassion for the four legged. Imagine the little pigeons, a symbol...
From bedraggled beggars on the streets to the suit clad brokers on Wall Street – the ubiquitous cell phone is everywhere, in every pocket irrespective of the rich / poor status of its owners. It is no longer an item of luxury albeit it’s a must have today, a necessary evil. For technology comes with a price and the technology behind mobile phones is sure to make mankind pay a heavy price – the price of health and safety. The recent furore created in the media worldwide over the possible hazareds of mobile phone radiation has made us sit up and take note of the pros and cons of using the innocent looking mobile handset which had till date so surely and surreptitiously...
Man is an animal first and a social animal later. However, our ‘social’ status has failed to erase our animal instincts, which lies dormant in our basic dispositions. The urge to spread violence, the need to kill, and the thirst to quench our carnal desires are proof that there is still some animal in us. These urges raise their ugly heads in the form of homicides, rape and molestation incidents, and mob violence etc putting mankind to shame. The dangerous of all is our affinity towards the mob mentality that threatens to ensnare us at the slightest pretext and at the slightest of provocation. The term “mob mentality” is used to refer to unique behavioral...
The mellifluous tinkle of the Sarod permeated the atmosphere under a canopy of twinkling stars and a soft breeze that emanated from the somber Nilachal hill. Ustaad Amjad Ali Khan and his sons Amaan and Ayaan performed at the open amphitheatre in the Kamakhya temple premises striking a divine chord in all our hearts. The setting couldn’t have been more striking. The silhouette of the sanctuary at the backdrop and the stupendous performances of maestros were the perfect mode of the two day Kameshwari Music and Dance festival 2010. Dance and music have been an inherent part of temples in India since times immemorial. In order to appease the gods these art forms have always been...
“The Assam State Zoo encompassing over 130 hectares of land boasts of an astonishing collection of some rare and extinct species of wild animals settled comfortably in their natural habitat.” This is how a website describes the zoo in our city. However, the ‘stay’ of the animals there is far from ‘comfortable’. The captive animals in small enclosures with hardly room for free movement is a far cry from comfortable. The Assam state Zoo boasts of white tigers, one horned rhinos, Swamp tapirs and leopards to name a few. The zoo is also prosperous in the avian branch and plays host to rare species of birds. Sadly, the animals are caged for better viewing of...