Eradicate Child Labour And Aspire A Better Future

Child labour is the practice of having children engage in economic activity, on a part- or full-time basis. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) defines the term child labour as,

The eminent English writer Charles Dickens helped publicize the evils of child labor with his novel Oliver Twist.

Due to this child labour:

Sherin a young orphan girl from Durgapur was taken by a couple to Titagarh to do all domestic service as well as babysitting. She was not being paid for her work. The plight took a new turn when she was accused of stealing money from the piggy bank. She was threatened, beaten and in the end she was dragged to the open-air terrace to spend the night in the biting cold. She was shivering and crouching in the cold. Seeing her condition the neighbour called CHILDLINE for help.

CHILDLINE immediately went there to verify the authenticity of the complaint. The very next day they took local police with them to rescue Sherin. She was seriously injured and was taken to B.N Bose road hospital. “I was punishable for every small mistake and the lady of the house often used to beat me,” told Sherin. The childline team filed an FIR against the couple under the Juvenile Justice Act, The Child Labour Act 1986, and The Indian Penal code.

The truth behind beautifully embroidered saree is a child’s little hands working day and night to make a living. This is one such story.

In a tip-off received by CHILDLINE Jaipur, a large number of children were believed to be working in small dingy rooms with no light or ventilation. These small rooms were homes as well as workplaces for children trafficked from West Bengal, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh. On receiving this information, CHILDLINE Jaipur conducted a raid and rescue operation of 150 child labourers working in zari units with help from the police. The children were made to work for more than 12–14 hours a day without a break, for a minimum salary of Rs. 200 per month. Today, 10 people have been arrested and booked under the Juvenile Justice Act (JJB) for the illegal use of children. According to the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, zari making has been classified as a hazardous form of child labour in India.

The Current State of Child Labor

In the world

The latest ILO estimates indicate that 152 million children — 64 million girls and 88 million boys — are in child labour globally, accounting for almost one in ten of all children worldwide. Seventy-one percent of children in child labour work in the agricultural sector and 69 percent work within their own family unit. Nearly half of all those in child labour — 73 million children in absolute terms — are in hazardous work that directly endangers their health, safety, and moral development. 20 million child workers are employed in factories that make garments, carpets, toys, matches, and hand-rolled cigarettes.

In India

Children are engaged in every sector of the economy like match stick making, fireworks, domestic labour, construction, carpet-making industry, brick kilns, etc. One of the places where child labour is experienced the most is Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu.

Today, there are sufficient statutes condemning and prohibiting child labour such as:

The Factories Act of 1948: The Act prohibits the employment of children below the age of 14 years in any factory. The law also placed rules on who, when and how long can pre-adults aged 15–18 years be employed in any factory.

The Mines Act of 1952: The Act prohibits the employment of children below 18 years of age in a mine. Mining being one of the most dangerous occupations, which in the past has led to many major accidents taking the lives of children is completely banned for them.

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of 1986: The Act prohibits the employment of children below the age of 14 years in hazardous occupations identified in a list by the law. The list was expanded in 2006, and again in 2008.

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of Children Act of 2000: This law made it a crime, punishable with a prison term, for anyone to procure or employ a child in any hazardous employment or in bondage. This act provides punishment to those who act in contravention to the previous acts by employing children to work.

AMENDMENT:

The government last month amended child labour laws allowing children under 14 years to work in the family business and entertainment business ( except circus)

While the challenge is still great, we are clearly moving in the right direction. The 2016 results show that child labour has again declined worldwide, continuing a trend seen since the publication of the Global Estimates of Child Labour in 2000. The 16-year period starting in 2000 saw a net reduction of 94 million in children in child labour. The number of children in hazardous work fell by more than half over the same period. There were almost 134 million fewer children in employment in 2016 than in 2000.

Children constitute the nation’s valuable human resources. So it is the duty of the society to look after every child with a view to assuring full development of its personality. Various organizations in the area of child labour are tasking effort to protect and eradicate the same and to make the parents aware that temporary is not a help to the family. Thus, if awareness about the cons of child labour is spread across the nation and strict policing of implementation of existing laws are done; India can combat the issue of Child Labour.

Child slavery is a crime against humanity. Humanity itself is a stake here. A lot of work still remains, but I will see the end of CHILD LABOUR in my lifetime.

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