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Child Labour: The Real Scenario |
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Child labour is a vexed subject in India. People often think about it with their hearts rather than with their heads. On October 10th 2006, Government introduced a new amendment in Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986. According to the amendment, a ban was imposed on employment of children (less than the age of fourteen) in dhabas, restaurants and hotels and as servants or domestic help as well. Any violation of this ban would lead to imprisonment up to two years and/or fine of Rs.10,000 to Rs.20,000. However, just after two months, in December 2006, over 1,670 cases of such violation have been detected by many State Governments. It’s been more than a year now and the tragedy is that child labourers are still found all over India.
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Child labour represents a fundamental abuse of child right and a violation of various laws. Many working children are engaged in occupations that negatively affect their physical, mental and emotional well-being and are below their minimum age for employment. Moreover, very little data is provided on child trafficking and physical abuse of children in India.
Just recently, Child Rights and You (CRY) also expressed its concern over the problem of child labour in India. According to CRY, child labour is not being addressed properly and the conviction rate is also low. It’s not that only the hospitality sector is employing children as workers, but household manufacturing sector and many other sectors are doing the same.
Industry |
Locations |
Matches, Fireworks and Explosives |
Sivakasi |
Glass and Bangles |
Ferozabad |
Beedi Making |
Nizamabad, North Arcot District |
Carpet Making |
Bhadoi, Varanasi , Mirzapur , Jammu and Kashmir |
Lock-making |
Aligarh |
Brassware |
Moradabad |
Export Oriented Garment Industry |
Tiruppur |
Gem Polishing Export Industry |
Jaipur, Rajasthan |
Slate Mines and Manufacturing Units |
Markkapur |
Leather Units |
Agra , Kanpur , Durg, Rajasthan |
Diamond Industry |
Surat |
Table 1: Industries that extract child labour
Present scenario
A recent incident shows the actual picture of child labour in India. An investigation conducted by a newspaper revealed that children in the Shahpur Jat area of New Delhi had been sold for £10 (1,000 rupees) into bonded labour. It is common for children to work 16 hour days for as little as 3p., hand-sewing clothing for Gap Inc intended for Christmas 2007 sales at Gap For Kids’ European and American outlets. What does this imply??
According to the Indian census of 1991, there are 11.28 million working children under the age of fourteen years in India. Over 85% of this child labor is in the country's rural areas, working in agricultural activities such as fanning, livestock rearing, forestry and fisheries.
The world’s highest number of working children is in India. ILO estimates that 218 million children were involved in child labour in 2004, of which 126 million were engaged in hazardous work. Estimates from 2000 study suggest that 5.7 million were in forced or bonded labour, 1.8 million in prostitution and pornography and 1.2 million were victims of trafficking. In India, 1104 lakh children are working as labourers.
Nothing has changed since Oct 10 last year. Child labour is still a major problem in India. The Hindi belt, including Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, account for 1.27 crore working children in the country, engaged in both hazardous and non-hazardous occupations and processes. Over 19 lakh child labourers in the 5-14 age group are in Uttar Pradesh. Rajasthan accounts for over 12.6 lakh workers followed by Bihar with over 11 lakh and Madhya Pradesh with 10.6 lakh. However, according to the 2001 census, in state-wise distribution of working children in the 5-14 age group, Andhra Pradesh with 13.6 lakh child labour stands second in the national list after UP.
According to a UNICEF report, World's Children 2006, India has the largest number of working children and 17 per cent of them are under the age of 15. Girls aged 12-13 are the preferred choice of 90 per cent households.
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Children of Age Group (5-14 years) |
Activities |
Number of Children (%) |
Number of Children (in 100's) |
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Boys |
Girls |
Total |
Boys |
Girls |
Total |
Children engaged in "economic activities" |
4.18 |
3.86 |
4.02 |
52967 |
45618 |
98392 |
Attended domestic duties only |
0.30 |
3.15 |
1.67 |
3770 |
37208 |
40788 |
Attended domestic duties plus free collection of goods, tailoring, weaving for HH only |
0.25 |
1.92 |
1.06 |
3178 |
22693 |
25897 |
Children at Work |
4.73 |
8.93 |
6.75 |
59915 |
105519 |
165077 |
Attending schools |
72.98 |
61.45 |
67.44 |
925350 |
725964 |
1651186 |
Children neither at work nor at school |
17.26 |
20.42 |
18.80 |
218889 |
241255 |
460205 |
Child Abuse
A recent study on Child Abuse: India 2007, conducted by Ministry of Women and Child development (GOI) revealed that across different kinds of abuse, it is young children, in the 5-12 year group, who are most at risk of abuse and exploitation. The abuse involves physical, sexual as well as emotional abuse.
The study throws light on the following facts:
Physical Abuse
- Two out of every three children were physically abused.
- Out of 69% children physically abused 54.68% were boys.
- Over 50% children were being subjected to one or the other form of physical abuse.
- Out of those children physically abused in family situations, 88.6% were physically abused by parents.
- The State of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar and Delhi have almost consistently reported higher rates of abuse in all forms as compared to other states.
- 50.2% children worked seven days a week.
Sexual Abuse
- 53.22% children reported having faced one or more forms of sexual abuse.
- Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar and Delhi reported the highest percentage of sexual abuse among both boys and girls.
- 21.90% child respondents reported facing severe forms of sexual abuse and 50.76% other forms of sexual abuse.
- Children in Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Delhi reported the highest incidence of sexual assault.
- 50% abuses are persons known to the child or in a position of trust and responsibility.
Emotional Abuse and Girl Child Neglect
- Every second child reported facing emotional abuse.
- Equal percentage of both girls and boys reported facing emotional abuse.
- In 83% of the cases parents were the abusers.
- 48.4% of girls wished they were boys.
Reasons
According to UNICEF, children are employed because they are easier to exploit. Poverty is generally the first answer for why children work at inappropriate jobs for their ages. But there are other reasons as well such as population explosion, cheap labour, non-implementation of available laws, parents unwilling to send their children to schools (they would rather send them to work, so that the family income goes up) and abject poverty in rural areas. And what can one do when child labour is the only means of a family's survival?
What is being done to eradicate child labor?
To eradicate child labor, 76 child labor projects have been sanctioned under the National Child Labor Project Scheme for covering 150,000 children. Around 105,000 children are already enrolled in the special schools. The Ministry of Labour has asked the Planning Commission for about Rs.1500 crore to cover all the 600 districts under the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) as against the 250 districts at present. Children working in 57 hazardous industries, in dhabas and homes (in the 9-14 age group) would be covered under this project. Government schemes like the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan have been implemented.
Coverage under National Child Labor Project
State |
Districts |
Sanctioned Schools |
Coverage Children |
Actual Schools |
Coverage Children |
Andhra Pradesh |
20 |
807 |
43550 |
610 |
36249 |
Bihar |
08 |
174 |
12200 |
173 |
10094 |
Gujarat |
02 |
040 |
2000 |
023 |
1254 |
Karnataka |
03 |
100 |
5000 |
024 |
1200 |
Madhya Pradesh |
05 |
138 |
9800 |
087 |
6524 |
Maharashta |
02 |
074 |
3700 |
024 |
1200 |
Orissa |
16 |
430 |
33000 |
239 |
14972 |
Rajasthan |
02 |
060 |
3000 |
054 |
2700 |
Tamil Nadu |
08 |
379 |
19500 |
307 |
14684 |
Uttar Pradesh |
04 |
150 |
11500 |
105 |
7488 |
West Bengal |
04 |
219 |
12000 |
164 |
8250 |
Total |
76 |
2571 |
155250 |
1810 |
104615 |
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