Child Labour in India Literature Survey

Anveshan-Case Study Page 1

NSS WINTER INTERNSHIP

CHILD LABOUR

LITERATURE SURVEY

NISHANT AGARWAL

DEEPAK BANSAL

SHREYANSH GATTANI


Definitions of Child Labour

Child Labour is basically exploiting the underage children in any form, forcing them to work

illegally which harms or abuses them. This abuse may be physical, mental or sexual;

depriving the children (child labourers) of their right of basic education. Be it Asia, Africa,

U.S.A or Europe, child abuse is prevalent everywhere. [1]

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), "child labour is where children

are deprived of their childhood and futures because they are forced to work long hours

for little or no money, deprived of education and in conditions harmful to their mental

and physical development."

As per ILO the term “child labour” is often defined as work that deprives children of

their childhood, their potential and dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental

development.

“No to child labour is our stance. Yet 215 million are in child labour as a matter of

survival. A world without child labour is possible with the right priorities and policies:

quality education, opportunities for young people, decent work for parents, and a

basic social protection floor for all. Driven by conscience, let’s muster the courage

and conviction to act in solidarity and ensure every child’s right to his or her

childhood. It brings rewards for all. ”Juan Somavia, ILO Director-General

Instances of child labour Here are some instances of child labour:

The first reference given below shows instances of child labour in India and inflicts the

feelings of children affected by it. These children aim high but there is no one who can help

them full fill their dreams.

“Children are the future of the society and the nation and it is really disheartening that

they are being exploited by the society itself.”

-anonymous


[2] documentary on child labour in India

[3] This video gives us an international perspective of child labour which share many

common but some very different instances of child labour.


Forms of Child Labour

• In factories like carpet-making; lock-making; brassware; export-oriented garment

units; gem polishing export industry; leather units; diamond industry etc.

• In Shops and small scale vendors

• In Household

• In farms

• In mines (Labour)

• Near furnaces, welding, hazardous materials

• Children engaged in illegal activities smuggling, prostitution, child

pornography etc.

• In countries including some parts of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan

children are engaged in terrorist activities.

• Begging(more common in India)


Causes of child Labour

• Poverty and over population have been identified as the two main causes of child

labour. Parents are forced to send little children into hazardous jobs for reasons of

survival, even when they know

it is wrong. Monetary

constraints and the need for

food, shelter and clothing drives

their children in the trap of

premature labour.

• Over population in some

regions creates paucity of

resources. When there are

limited means and more

mouths to feed children are

driven to commercial activities

and not provided for their

development needs.

• Illiteracy among parents:

Illiterate and ignorant parents

do not understand the need for wholesome proper physical, cognitive

and emotional development of their child. They are themselves uneducated and

unexposed, so they don't realize the importance of education for their children.

• Adult unemployment and urbanization also causes child labour. Adults often find it

difficult to find jobs because factory owners find it more beneficial to employ children

at cheap rates. This exploitation is particularly visible in garment factories of urban

areas. Adult exploitation of children is also seen in many places. Elders relax at home

and live on the labour of poor helpless children.

• The industrial revolution has also had a negative effect by giving rise to

circumstances which encourages child labour. Sometimes multinationals prefer to

employ child workers in the developing countries. This is so because they can be

recruited for less pay, more work can be extracted from them and there is no union

problem with them. This attitude also makes it difficult for adults to find jobs in factories,

forcing them to drive their little ones to work to keep the fire burning their homes.


Different reports to same reality According to the 2013 edition of the UNICEF’s THE STATE OF THE WORLD’S CHILDREN,

12% of children aged 5 to 14 in INDIA are child workers i.e. 28 million children.

According to the Ministry of Human Resource and Development, 8.15 million children are

currently out of school in INDIA.

Magnitude of child labour and out of school children

As per Census 2011 11.7 million children are employed in INDIA.

Non-Government Organizations working in this field estimate that there are 60 million child

labourers in INDIA.

The NGO Childline India Foundation claims that 11% of India’s workforce consists of children

below 18 years of age.

Ref:

*Census of India 2001

** 2006 population estimate by National Commission on Population

# Labour Department Government of India

## www.ncpcr.gov.in

Distribution of

Children

2001

Population

Census *

2006 Population

projection and

estimate**

% of children to

population

Population

Male 132367710 125485000

Female 120795938 116274000

Total 253153648 241759000

Child Labour (10-14) 2001 2006

Male 6804336 4276744 8.8 6.7

Female 5862041 3894131 8.5 6.3

Total 12666377 8170875 8.7 6.6

Children out of school

Male 36428634 19199205 27.5 15.3

Female 45878836 24184992 38.0 20.8

Total 82307470 43384197 34.4 17.9


Shocking Statistics - 43 million children in government report are not

attending schools, and are neither at ’work’ as per government data.

In most cases children, who are categorised as ‘nowhere’ must be helping their parents in

self-employment activities. Nature of self-employment range from selling eatables at road

side to doing petty business etc. Thus the real magnitude of child labour is much more than

what is reported in the census and NSS data. Some of the empirical studies conducted in

different parts of India show the inadequacy in the way the child labour figures are derived in

the official sources of data.


According to a report in India Tribune, Government statistics say that there are 2 crore (20

million) child labourers in India, a country that has ambitions of becoming a global superpower

in a few years. Non-governmental agencies assert that the figure is more than 6 crore (60

million) including agricultural workers; some claim that the number could be 100 million, if one

were to define all children out of school as child labourers.

*Source for primary completion rate: Data from

2008, published by UNESCO Institute for Statistics,

2014.

**Source for all other data: Understanding Children’s Work Project’s analysis of statistics

from NSS Survey, 2009-2010. # United States department of labor’s bureau of

international labor affairs 2013 findings on the worst forms of child labor.

The International Labour Organization estimates that 218 million children ages 5-17 are

engaged in child labour the world over. A recent report, produced by the International

Confederation of Free Trade Unions, says there are as many as 60 million children

working in India's agricultural, industrial and commercial sectors. The report argues that

India's booming economy takes advantage of children workers to aid its growth and to

bring wealth to a minority.

Table 1. Statistics on Children’s Work and Education

Children Age Percent Working (% and

Population) 5-14 Yrs. , 371,604) 2.0 (4

Attending School (%)

88.8 Yrs. 5-14

Combining Work and

School (%)

Yrs. 0.8 7-14

Primary Completion Rate ( %)

96.5


UNICEF’S TAKE ON STATUS OF CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA

According to UNICEF reports India has the largest number of child labourers under the age

of 14 in the world. In addition, 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, which are generally out of the purview of labour

laws.

The largest and most structured intervention in the area of child labour in India is the National Child

Labour Projects (NCLP). The programme, addressing children rescued from hazardous labour

and centrally managed by the Ministry of Labour (MoL) includes the establishment of special schools

to provide children with the skills they need to be mainstreamed into the formal system, vocational

training, supplementary nutrition, health services etc.

In January 2005, the National Child labour Projects scheme has been expanded to 250 districts in

21 different Indian states, covering 42 per cent of all districts of the country (2001 Census).

In line with this framework, UNICEF India, in partnership with central and state governments,

as well as with NGOs and other key groups, is implementing initiatives aimed to build a

protective environment in which children can live and develop according to their fundamental

rights. Translated into action, this approach led to a programme whose main scope is the

progressive elimination of ALL forms of child labour to comply with Article 32 of the CRC

ratified by India in December, 1992.

UNICEF hopes the World Day against Child Labour (WDACL), which is observed

worldwide on or around 12 June each year, serves as a catalyst for the growing worldwide

movement against child labour.

Various Laws against Child Labour

The Constitution of India, 1949, as amended in 2002 states that India shall provide free

and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years (article

21a). Article 41 directs India, within its economic capacity and development, to endeavour to

secure the right to education. Article 23 forbids trafficking in persons and forced labour

(including the system of bonded labour). Article 24 forbids the employment of children below

14 years of age in factories or hazardous employment. Any failure on the part of India to

identify, release and rehabilitate bonded workers suitably would be considered a violation of

Article 21, protection of life and personal liberty.

The Child Labour Prohibition Act and Regulation Act, 1986 expressly forbids the

employment of children (persons who have not completed their fourteenth year of age) in

certain listed occupations and processes, such as carpet weaving, which are deemed

hazardous.

In 1992, India was the first country to join The International Programme on the Elimination of

Child Labour, a global programme launched by the International Labour Organization a year

before. India has also signed and ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

http://www.unicef.org/india/child_protection_197.htm


LIMITATIONS OF CHILD LABOUR ACT

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 is a legislation to address

hazardous industrial child labour in a limited way as the purview of the Act covers only

the organized sectors of production. This Act has excluded a vast section of toiling

children in the unorganized sectors, as over 90

percent of the labour force in India is accounted for

by the unorganized sectors of production.

INITIATIVE BY GOVERNMENT The flag ship programme of the Government of

India is the National Child Labour Project (NCLP).

The NCLP Scheme started in 1988, has so far

covered 400,200 working children. About 3.08 lakh children have been mainstreamed

into formal education system so far. The Scheme is running in 250 districts in 14 states.

Even after discounting for the inherent problems in the NCLP scheme the coverage is

very low compared to the magnitude of the problem.

Children enrolled in schools but working - New forms of Child Labour

Children working in cotton seed farms are one such case in point. They are enrolled in

schools but they hardly attend schools as they migrate out for more than four months every

year to work in cotton seed farms

1. School or work? – Case of beedi children in Tamil Nadu:

Most of the children enrolled in schools in Vellore district of Tamil Nadu are pledged by their

parents to beedi contractors for a cash advance. These children are forced to work for three

hours in the morning and at least another three hours in the evening after school hours.

2. Full time workers treated as ‘Trainees’ - girls working in Spinning

Mills

In Tamil Nadu, Spinning Mills in Coimbatore have introduced a new scheme of labour

recruitment. This is called “Sumangali” Scheme (meaning marriage assistance scheme),

under which young girls from 14 years of age are recruited to work in the spinning mills. They

are considered as trainees but they work full time. When they are treated as trainees they

won’t be considered as workers by official sources.


Initiatives against child labour

In 1979, the Indian government formed the

Gurupadswamy Committee to find about child labour

and means to tackle it. The Child Labour Prohibition

and Regulation Act was enacted based on the

recommendations of the committee in 1986. A National

Policy on Child Labour was formulated in 1987 to focus

on rehabilitating children working in hazardous

occupations. The Ministry of Labour and Employment

had implemented around 100 industry-specific

National Child Labour Projects to rehabilitate the child

workers since 1988.

Social Programs to Address Child Labour

National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme, Convergence Model Project, Bonded Labour Scheme, Midday Meal Program, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Welfare of Working Children in Need of Care.

Non-governmental organisations:

Many NGOs like Bachpan Bachao Andolan, CARE India, Talaash Association Child Rights and

You, Global march against child labour, RIDE India

etc. have been working to eradicate child labour in India.

Pratham is India's largest non-governmental organisation with the mission 'every child in school

and learning well.' Founded in 1994, Pratham has aimed to reduce child labour and offer

schooling to children irrespective of their gender, religion and social background. It has grown

by introducing low cost education models that are sustainable and reproducible.

Child labour has also been a subject of public interest litigations in Indian courts.


INFERENCE

Children have the right to a joyful childhood. Every child has the right to grow up in a safe and nurturing environment with protection and guidance from their guardians. Whether in the cities or in villages, at home or in schools, a child is always a child and deserves a childhood free from exploitation and abuse.

By analysis of all the data and programmes related to child labour we conclude that there are discrepancies in government data which is quite less than as estimated in UN and media reports, thus indicating that the problems are not clear completely.

There still exist some portions of society which are not counted in the data we receive. This means that the problem is much graver than what we perceive.

When the magnitude of ‘child labour’ is derived not on the children counted as children actually working, but on the basis of children not attending schools, it provides an essential link between the two issues of child labour and education, it also makes a presumption that reasons for children working are the same as the reasons for children not attending schools.

The various actions taken by government and private organizations, although have proved useful but to a small extent. A major part of the problem still persists and needs more attention.


SUGGESTIONS

• Parents should be provided financial help. This will make them more sensitive towards

their children.

• It is important to impart basic

educational skills to such children. All

schools should admit them for free.

• Society homes should be opened for

abandoned child labourers. This will

enable them to focus on their education.

• Law enforcement agencies should be

made active. This would deter

employees from employing them

underage.

• Social Revolution is the biggest key. Once media mobilizes the society, the practice

shall stop.

• To overcome the menace of child labour, several NGOs and the administration should

launch special campaigns to rehabilitate child labourers and beggars.

• The challenge is to convince the parents that they should not force their children to

work or beg on the streets.

• Thus, it is essential that the economic conditions should be improved for the child

labour to stop. When parents would have money, they would think of sending their

children to schools as compared to mines and factories. But a social revolution at basic

level is needed where every one of us should refuse to employ an underage domestic

help.


REFERENCES

[1] http://indianmatters.in/index.php?page=eyeopner/eomaster&inter=EO110110001_1

[2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOCbxqXjwj8

[3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfKJ8Mof6lU

United States department of labor’s bureau of international labor affairs 2013 findings on the

worst forms of child labor. Indian Matters! Wikipedia Indian Tribune Times of India Hindustan Times Zee News Labour Department Government of India

UN Reports

www.ncpcr.gov.in UNICEF ILO

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