STREET CHILDREN, LEGISLATION AND EMPERICAL STUDY

SOCIOLOGY PROJECT

Advika Photumsetty

2014070

DAMODARAM SANJIVAYYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

VISAKHAPATNAM

OCTOBER 2014

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Acknowledgment

I would like to sincerely thank our Professor Mr. Laxmipathi Raju for giving me this opportunity

to take up this project regarding ‘Street children, legislation and empirical study’. I thank him

for all his support and guidance. I have my level best to collect various data and information

about the topic in order to provide a clear picture regarding the same.

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Abstract

A street child in India is someone for whom the street has become his or her habitual abode and

source of livelihood; and who is inadequately protected, supervised, or directed by responsible

adults. In India there are about 400,000 street children. This study will involve detailed research

on street children, their lifestyle and livelihood and steps taken by the government in regard to

this matter. This study will also discuss the important legislations regarding street children and

their protection. Empirical study will give insight at the day to day life of street children and

their hardships.

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Contents

1. Research Methodology

2. Introduction

3. Causes for Chld Labour

4. Child Labour in India

5. Child labour laws in India

6. Consequences of Child Labor

7. Conclusion

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Research Methodology

The topic of Street children, legislations and empirical study has a very vast background.

Documentation of many practices is varied as many different outlooks on the topic exist. The

research methodology used in this project is a doctrine study. The material mentioned in this

project has been derived from various other research papers, journals and other online

documentation. Also included in this project is the empirical study of the few street children I

have interacted with.

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Introduction

Street children are a term for children experiencing homelessness who live on the streets of a

city. Homeless youth are often called street kids and street youth; the definition of street children

is contested, but many practitioners and policymakers use UNICEF’s concept of boys and girls,

aged under eighteen years, for whom "the street" (including unoccupied dwellings and

wasteland) has become home and/or their source of livelihood, and who are inadequately

protected or supervised. Female street children are sometimes called gamines, a term that is also

used for Colombian street children of either gender. 1

Some street children, notably in more developed nations, are part of a subcategory called thrown

away children who are children that have been forced to leave home. Thrown away children are

more likely to come from working class and single parent homes. Street children are often

subject to abuse, neglect, exploitation, or, in extreme cases, murder by "clean-up squads" that

have been hired by local businesses or police. In Western societies, such children are sometimes

treated as homeless children rather than criminals or beggars.2

Three major Categories’ of street children:-

1. Children who live on the street with their families and often work on the street. There

may be children from migrated families, or temporarily migrated and are likely to go

back to their homes.

2. Children who live on the street by themselves or in groups and have remote access or

contact with their families in the villages. Some children travel to the cities for the day or

periods of time to work and then return to their villages.

3. Children who have no ties to their families such as orphans, refugees and runaways3

1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_children2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_children3 http://www.childlineindia.org.in/street-children-india.htm

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It is the second and third category of children who are most vulnerable as they are easy victims

of abuse, and inhuman treatment. They often engaged in petty theft or prostitution for economic

survival. Children run away from their homes for a variety of reasons. Some may have faced

traumatic experiences in their homes. Their parents may be abusive or have problems with

alcoholism, poverty and unemployment. Some children leave home drawn by the glamour of the

big cities.

Street children vary across cities and regions. But a majority of these children are boys. It is also

important to note girl street children are often not found in visible spaces and hence hard to trace.

Age wise 40% of the street children are between 11-15 years while another 33% are between 6-

10 years age group. A study found that majority (89.8%) of children live on the street with their

parents/family.

One of the most important consequences’ of an increase street children is the rise in street

children.

Child labour refers to the employment of children in any work that deprives children of their

childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and that is mentally, physically,

socially or morally dangerous and harmful. In Indian terms child labour is defined as any child

below the age of 14 years who is working to earn livelihood without attending school. Various

organisations have defined child labour in various senses. International Labour Organization

(ILO) states that child labour may be defined in a number of different ways, and a different

definition yields a different estimate of child labour in India as well as other countries.

According to ILO, children or adolescents who participate in work that does not affect their

health and personal development or interfere with their schooling, is not child labour; rather it

may generally be regarded as being something positive. Such harmless work includes activities

such as helping their parents around the home, assisting family or earning pocket money outside

school hours and over holidays. These kinds of activities, suggests ILO, may contribute to

children’s development by providing them with skills and experience, and help to prepare them

to be productive members of society during their adult life. UNICEF defines child labour

differently. A child, suggests UNICEF, is involved in child labour activities if between 5 to 11

years of age, he or she did at least one hour of economic activity or at least 28 hours of domestic

work in a week, and in case of children between 12 to 14 years of age, he or she did at least 14

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hours of economic activity or at least 42 hours of economic activity and domestic work per

week. UNICEF in another report suggests, "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." India's Census 2001 office defines child labour as 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. Indian government classifies

child labourers into two groups: Main workers are those who work 6 months or more per year.

And marginal child workers are those who work at any time during the year but less than 6

months in a year.

In 2000, the ILO estimates, "246 million child workers aged 5 and 17 were involved in child

labour, of which 171 million were involved in work that by its nature is hazardous to their safety,

physical or mental health, and moral development. Moreover, some 8.4 million children were

engaged in so-called 'unconditional' worst forms of child labour, which include forced and

bonded labour, the use of children in armed conflict, trafficking in children and commercial

sexual exploitation. 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.

CAUSES OF CHILD LABOUR

The vicious circle of poverty is considered the key cause of child labour but however there are

other reasons as well such as:

1. Parental illiteracy

2. Tradition of making children learn the family skills

3. Absence of universal compulsory Primary education

4. Social apathy and tolerance of child labour

5. Ignorance of the parents about the adverse consequences of Child labour

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6. Ineffective enforcement of the legal provisions pertaining to child labour

7. Non-availability of and non-accessibility to schools

8. Irrelevant and non-attractive school curriculum

9. Employers prefer children as they constitute cheap labour and they are not able to

organize themselves against exploitation.

THESE CAUSES CAN BE FURTHER SUBDIVIDED INTO

Primary causes

International Labour Organisation (ILO) suggests poverty is the greatest single cause behind

child labour. For impoverished households, income from a child's work is usually crucial for his

or her own survival or for that of the household. Income from working children, even if small,

may be between 25 to 40% of these household income. Other scholars such as Harsch on African

child labour, and Edmonds and Pavcnik on global child labour have reached the same

conclusion.

Lack of meaningful alternatives, such as affordable schools and quality education, according to

ILO is another major factor driving children to harmful labour. Children work because they have

nothing better to do. Many communities, particularly rural areas where between 60-70% of child

labour is prevalent, do not possess adequate school facilities. Even when schools are sometimes

available, they are too far away, difficult to reach, unaffordable or the quality of education is so

poor that parents wonder if going to school is really worth it.

Cultural causes

In European history when child labour was common, as well as in contemporary child labour of

modern world, certain cultural beliefs have rationalised child labour and thereby encouraged it.

Some view that work is good for the character-building and skill development of children. In

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many cultures, particular where informal economy and small household businesses thrive, the

cultural tradition is that children follow in their parents' footsteps; child labour then is a means to

learn and practice that trade from a very early age. Similarly, in many cultures the education of

girls is less valued or girls are simply not expected to need formal schooling, and these girls

pushed into child labour such as providing domestic services.

Macroeconomic causes

Biggeri and Mehrotra have studied the macroeconomic factors that encourage child labour. They

focus their study on five Asian nations including India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand and

Philippines. They suggest that child labour is a serious problem in all five, but it is not a new

problem. Macroeconomic causes encouraged widespread child labour across the world, over

most of human history. They suggest that the causes for child labour include both the demand

and the supply side. While poverty and unavailability of good schools explain the child labour

supply side, they suggest that the growth of low paying informal economy rather than higher

paying formal economy is amongst the causes of the demand side. Other scholars too suggest

that inflexible labour market, sise of informal economy, inability of industries to scale up and

lack of modern manufacturing technologies are major macroeconomic factors affecting demand

and acceptability of child labour.

CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA

"Out of school children comprise the workers and non workers. In our view they together signify

a measure of deprivation among children and can be considered as a potential labour pool always

being at the risk of entering the labour force" - NCEUS, 2007

India is sadly the home to the largest number of child labourers in the world. The census found

an increase in the number of child labourers from 11.28 million in 1991 to 12.59 million in 2001.

M.V. Foundation in Andhra Pradesh found nearly 400,000 children, mostly girls between seven

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and 14 years of age, toiling for 14-16 hours a day in cottonseed production across the country of

which 90% are employed in Andhra Pradesh.40% of the labour in a precious stone cutting sector

is children. NGOs have discovered the use of child labourers in mining industry in Bellary

District in Karnataka in spite of a harsh ban on the same. In urban areas there is a high

employment of children in the zari and embroidery industry. Poverty and lack of social security

are the main causes of child labour. The increasing gap between the rich and the poor,

privatization of basic services and the neo-liberal economic policies are causes major sections of

the population out of employment and without basic needs. This adversely affects children more

than any other group. Entry of multi-national corporations into industry without proper

mechanisms to hold them accountable has lead to the use of child labour. Lack of quality

universal education has also contributed to children dropping out of school and entering the

labour force. A major concern is that the actual number of child labourers goes un-detected.

Laws that are meant to protect children from hazardous labour are ineffective and not

implemented correctly. A growing phenomenon is using children as domestic workers in urban

areas. The conditions in which children work is completely unregulated and they are often made

to work without food, and very low wages, resembling situations of slavery. There are cases of

physical, sexual and emotional abuse of child domestic workers. The argument for domestic

work is often that families have placed their children in these homes for care and employment.

There has been a recent notification by the Ministry of Labour making child domestic work as

well as employment of children in dhabas, tea stalls and restaurants "hazardous" occupations. In

2000 the ILO estimated 5.5 million children had been forced in labour in Asia, while the Bonded

Labour Liberation Front placed 10 million bonded children in India alone. In 1998 the

government of India labelled bonded child labour as a marginal problem with only 3000 or so

cases. A survey in Tamil Nadu in 1995 found 125,000 bonded child labourers in the state alone.

Child bonded labour in India is mostly in the agricultural sector but has in recent times been

moving into other sectors as well such as beedi-rolling, brick kilns, carpet weaving, commercial

sexual exploitation, construction, fireworks and matches factories, hotels, hybrid cottonseed

production, leather, mines, quarries, silk, synthetic gems, etc. Child labour in India is addressed

by the Child Labour Act, 1986 and National Child Labour Project.

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CHILD LABOUR LAWS IN INDIA

After its independence from colonial rule, India has passed a number of constitutional

protections and laws on child labour.

The Constitution of India in the Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles of State Policy

prohibits child labour below the age of 14 years in any factory or mine or engaged in any other

hazardous employment (Article 24). The constitution also envisioned that India shall, by 1960,

provide infrastructure and resources for free and compulsory education to all children of the age

six to 14 years. (Article 21-A and Article 45).

India is a federal form of government, and child labour is a matter on which both the central

government and state governments can legislate, and have. The major national legislative

developments include the following:

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.

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.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act of 2009: The law mandates free

and compulsory education to all children aged 6 to 14 years. This legislation also mandated that

25 percent of seats in every private school must be allocated for children from disadvantaged

groups and physically challenged children.

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The Apprentices Act, 1951:A person shall not be qualified for being engaged as an

Apprentice . . . unless he is not less than 14 years of age.

Plantation Labour Act, 1951:"Child means a person who has not completed his 14th year."

(There is no prohibition of children. A certificate of fitness is necessary for employing a child.)

The Merchant Shipping Act, 1958: The Act prohibits Children less than 14 years of age to be

engaged or carried to sea work in any capacity in any ship, subject to certain exceptions.

The Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961:The Act prohibits the employment of Children less than

16 years of age in any motor transport undertaking. (Tamilnadu Amendment)

The Beedi and Cigar Workers (Conditions of Employment) Act, 1966:The Act prohibits the

employment of children less than 14 years of age in any industrial premises manufacturing beedi

or cigar.

The Tamil Nadu Shops and Establishments Act, 1947: The Act prohibits employment of

Children who have not completed 14 years of age

The Tamil Nadu Catering Establishments Act, 1958: The Act prohibits employment of Children

who have not completed 16 years of age

The Tamil Nadu Handloom Workers (Conditions of Employment and Miscellaneous Provisions)

Act 1981 :The Act prohibits employment of Children who have not completed 16 years of age

The Tamil Nadu Manual Workers (Regulation of Employment and conditions of work)

1982 :The Act prohibits employment of Children who have not completed 16 years of age in

any scheduled employment.

India formulated a National Policy on Child Labour in 1987. This Policy seeks to adopt a gradual

& sequential approach with a focus on rehabilitation of children working in hazardous

occupations. It envisioned strict enforcement of Indian laws on child labour combined with

development programs to address the root causes of child labour such as poverty. In 1988, this

led to the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) initiative. This legal and development initiative

continues, with a current central government funding o 602 crores , targeted solely to eliminate

child labour in India. Despite these efforts, child labour remains a major challenge for india.

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CONSEQUENCES OF CHILD LABOUR

THE VARIOUS CONSEQUENCES ARE:

1. Stunted growth of future generation

2. Inability to harness human resources

3. Inability to contribute to development

4. Inability to benefit from development

5. Citizens with accumulated frustration

6. Adult unemployment

7. Depreciation in wages

8. Perpetuation of poverty

9. Persistence of child labour

10. Perpetuation of economic inequality

11. Increased abuse of children

12. Increased illiteracy

13. Ignorant populace

14. Citizens with inferiority complex

15. Malnourished citizens

16. Sick citizens

17. Political instability

18. Early morbidity of citizens

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19. Mental deformity of citizens

20. Perpetuation of ill treatment

21. Inter generational phenomenon of child labour

22. Increased bottlenecks in the development process

23. Wasted human resources

24. Wasted human talents and skills

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CONCLUSION

The concern for children and the elimination of child labour in India continues to be an area of

great concern and article of faith and commitment for successive governments. The Common

Minimum Programme of the present government also speaks about the concern of the

Government towards the problem of child labour. It states that the Government will strive for the

elimination of child labour. Child labour is a complex socio-economic problem to be dealt

through sustained efforts over a period of time. While there could be many reasons for children

not being able to complete even their primary education or the vocational training programmes,

studies have revealed that it is poverty of the families, extent of social backwardness and an

unsuitable curriculum which have contributed to the children either not going to school or

dropping out of school even before they complete their compulsory education. As per the

provisional figures of Census 2001, there are 12.5 million working children in age group of 5-14

years as compared to the child population of 252 million. Concerted attempts have been made to

follow a pro-active policy in the matter of tackling the problem through constitutional, statutory

and developmental measures. Article 24, 39 and 45 of the Constitution consciously incorporate

provisions to secure labour protection and free and compulsory education for children up to the

age of 14 years. The number of National Child Labour Projects has been increased from existing

100 to 250 in as many districts in child labour endemic states for mainstreaming of children into

formal schooling system during the current Plan. Fifty districts have already been identified and

project launched on January 14, 2004 during the visit of Director General, International labour

Organisation in India. The process for the identification of rest of 100 districts on the basis of

2001 census data on child labour has also been completed and NCLPs in these districts are likely

to be launched very soon.

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Empirical Study 1. Name: Ramu

Age: 8

Job: Rag picker

Parents: Single Parent

Family Background: Alchoholic Father, House wife Mother

Education: 3rd standard

2. Name: Shri

Age: 6

Job: Tea seller

Parents: Married

Family Background: Tea seller, house wife

Education: No education

3. Name: Loku

Age: 10

Job: Begging

Parents: Single Parent

Family Background: Construction working, Labour work

Education: No education

4. Name: Shyam

Age: 9

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Job: Begging

Parents: No parents

Family Background

Education: No education

5. Name: Rakesh

Age: 6

Job: No job

Parents: Begging

Family Background: Lives with grandparents

Education: Only 2 years of schooling

6. Name: Kumar

Age: 11

Job: Rag picking

Parents: Parents begging

Family Background: Begging

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SOLUTIONS TO END CHILD LABOUR

The main SOLUTION to end child labour is educating the parents of such children. Child

Labour is a problem that is faced by the children; they get forced to work and are constrained

from their own freedom of will. With no one to teach them their essential knowledge and treat

them safely with dignity they will grow up with thinking that the world owed them a living and

will develop a dull, unhealthy or sometimes rogue mentality which will eventually make them

lose their self-esteem, respect and forget their responsibilities as a human. They were not taught

as how ordinary children should be taught i.e. that they have rights to their bodies, their feelings,

their property, and to be treated by other with respect as a worthy human being. This will all

ultimately point to one main cause which is; better parents .As a child learning their basic

essentials like health habit, manners, respect, etc. are needed, things that are usually taught by a

parents or in a school which also would mostly require parents.

Parents influence can arguably be the most important ingredient in a person's childhood. They

are the only trusted source that an offspring can first look up to for guidance, advice and to be

directed to the right path. Therefore, in order to have the child labourers restored back to a

classroom or have childhood life, there is the need of a parent, a parent who has the general

knowledge one would require to raise children. For this the government or even NGOs (Non-

Governmental Organizations) can implement educational programmes or institutes that grant

parents the knowledge they would need in life and to take care of their family and children. They

could more specifically do it for parents of child workers, and who lacks the knowledge about

child rights and the future consequences the child would face due to the hardships being faced at

their young age.

Through this education the parents can learn about ways to overcome these problems and the

requirements for them to succeed and pursue their goals. This can help the parents rehabilitate

themselves and care for their children, ultimately reducing the number of child labourers. It is

also important of how the parents looks after their child because sooner or later when the child

grows up and needs to raise his/her own children they will remember how they were raised by

their parents and thus the future of that child will be a result of how that child's parents were

looked after during their young age and the lessons they have learnt during their growth.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

The information presented in this project has been taken from the following sources:

1. CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA by USHA SHARMA

2. CHILD LABOUR: A TEXTBOOK FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

3. CHILD WELFARE AND LAW

4. CHILDLABOUR A BOOK BY KATHLYN GAY

5. http://in.reset.to/knowledge/child-labour

6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_labour

7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_labour_in_India

8. www.ranisvoice.org

9. www.ilo.org/childlabour

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