Child Labour

Child Labour in India

central question: To what extent are the indigent people in India dependent on child labour?

Child labour (in general):

The term is used for illegal constant employment of children beneath the age defined by law. For most countries including India this limit is set to the age of 14.
"Child labor" is work for children that harms and exploits them in a physical, mental and moral way. They work under conditions that are considered illegal, hazardous, and extremely unequal.

These conditions can be:

-long working days (12-16 hours) with very short or no breaks.
-endangering working conditions in physical and psychical regard, for example in stone quarries, in manufacturing or on the streets
-low rewards for the work
-absence of protection and compensation from an illness or work-related accident
-Mistreatments by the employer by means of malnutrition, harsh punishments, intimidation and sexual abuse

Across the world, millions of children do dangerous work in harmful conditions putting their health, education, personal and social development, and their lives at risk.
Underage children work at all sorts of jobs around the world, usually because they are extremely poor.
Poor living conditions have forced millions of young children out of school and into the work force.
Children are cheap labourers who help to improve the life of their families.
Moreover, children are estimated as skillful and smart workers.
The International Labor Organization estimates that 215 million children working all over the world.

The worst form of child labour is called "bonded labour.”
A person becomes a bonded labourer when his or her labour is demanded as a means of repayment for a loan. It is also known as debt slavery.
Children are delivered by their parents as a gage for borrowed money from big landowners or money lenders. Thus, the children work off the debts of their parents.
Once a bonded labor situation has been created, it is almost impossible to ever break out of it, because the parents cannot repay the interest.
A bonded labourer is usually an illiterate child. They agree to and sign credits and employment contracts that they do not even understand. The money lender simply adds 2 zeros, thereof from the borrowed 100 euros originate, 10,000 euros, without that they note the deception.
For them, it’s a good way to survive. They simply send their children into other cities, which mean that there is one less mouth to feed and one more moneymaker in the family.

Causes of child labour (Situation of India):

Many Indian families send their children to work, with some living away from home.
Reasons are often associated with poverty, keeping up with the large-size family subsistence and a flawed public education infrastructure.

Reasons:
India is plagued by the problem of widespread illiteracy. It is difficult for uneducated parents to fully realize the importance of education for their children.

When they were asked between sending their children to school and sending them to work, they often chose the one with the more immediate benefits.
Many parents see no relation to the local needs in the school lessons.
Also, a child's willingness to learn is influenced by the attitudes of those around him. In the absence of an environment that encourages him or her to study, the child loses interest.

That’s why child labour in India is largely due to the failure of the educational system.
The incidence of child labour is closely related to the rate of school drop-outs.
Poor children and their families rely upon child labor in order to improve their chances of attaining basic necessities.
Attending school also means sacrificing a source of income for the family.
This is a common problem, especially in the low caste and minorities of India.
Moreover, families are unable to afford their children's education.
Even if the attendance of national school is free, some charges still come up, like expenses for books, writing utensils, school uniforms and the transportation to and from school.

Aside from that, the lesson plan followed in most schools is not designed to grab the attention of the student. With a heavy emphasis on rote learning, children are bored very soon and the opportunity to go out and work somewhere seems to be more appealing.
Even after devoting many years of their lives to school, the child is not equipped with any technical skills that will fetch him a decent reward in the market.
Without some immediate benefits occurring to the children due to their education, the incitement to work is increased.
On top of this there are many deficiencies in the Indian school system like caste discrimination, and lack of classrooms, absence of blackboards, drinking water and toilets.

The Indian government has announced that a binding and free education should be enforced, but this is only in 14 of the 24 Indian provinces.
92% of the boys and 87% of the girls are sent to school but about 13% of the children do not visit the school regularly. The below-average school visit of the girls is explained by the absent interest of many families to invest in their female brood.

Children receive less than the half from that what an adult earns on average. This is a big advantage for the employers. On top of this, children are better and smarter workers.

Lack of Social Security:
India's poor are mostly self-employed or work in unorganized sectors which do not provide their employees with any sort of a pension. Once they are out of their jobs or death overcomes a member of the family, the households have no choice but to force their children to work.

Bonded Child Labour:
As I explained to you before, there are many cases of child labor where a child has to work for the repayment of a loan which was taken by his parents who were unable to pay it off. This is called 'bonded child labour'

Orphans:
Orphans cannot find anyone to support them. Thus they are forced to work for their own living.

Although India had a strong economic growth in the last decade, the big inequalities which are based on caste affiliation and gender discrimination are still up-to-date.

OVER POPULATION: Due to limited resources and more mouths to feed, children are employed in various forms of work.

Number of child labourers in India:

It is difficult to quote a current figure for the number of children engaged in child labour.
This difficulty is attributed to the fact that the Indian Government has been negligent to collect and analyze current and relevant data regarding the incidence of child labor.
This universal difficulty in obtaining accurate data may be that individuals fail to report child labour participation during surveys, for fear of persecution. http://www.youjizz.com/videos/perfect-babe-fucked-very-hard-2215257.html

But so far, according to the Indian government there are 20 million working children in the country, which makes India home to the largest number of child labourers in the world.
The Centre of Concern for Child Labour estimated that there are nearly 70 million school-aged children in India who are out of schools.
So the total number of working children in India is much higher than the government estimates.

Child labour is estimated to be as large as 70 million in India, because many children are "hidden workers," working in homes or in the underground economy.
India has the highest number of labourers in the world who are under 14 years of age.

Total population: 1,205,073,612
0-14 years: 29,7%1
12% of the children between 5 and 14 years work.
12% of all boys and 12% of all girls in India are child employed.

Although the figure for the number of child labourers varies, they are all significantly high considering that the Child Economic Activity rate for 1990-1991 was 13.5% for males and 10.3% for females
In comparison, other developing countries such as Sri Lanka and Malaysia have lower activity rates: 5.3% for males and 4.6% for females in Sri Lanka, and 8.8% for males and 6.5% for females in Malaysia

localities of child labour:

Child workers are engaged primarily in agriculture and similar activities in rural areas and in a variety of industrial and informal sector activities in the urban areas.
Beside the agricultural sector, Indian child workers are mostly occupied in carpet factories, in firework and match manufacturing, production of copper and glass products, and in clothing-, shoe and silk manufacture.
Hundred thousands of street children in the cities also pick garbage off the street or work for domestic services or at stone quarries.
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Damages caused by child labour:

If you deal with the damages caused by child labour, you have to understand that it is about young people in a phase of intensive physical and mental development.
Many children work in places which are marked by long working hours without enough rests and are exposed to many injury-prone dangers, for example, the chemicals and colours they deal with while working at polish processes or casting metal.

Most rooms have insufficient lighting and are very poorly ventilated which causes a build-up of dust particles in the air. In many cases, there are no toilets and washing possibilities are rare. Also, the nutrition is often inadequate.

For the reason of their surroundings and working conditions, the children show symptoms of diseases of the respiratory passages, bronchitis, TB and asthma. They also get eye and skin diseases, such as postural defects and growth retardations, stunting their premature growth.

The vast majority of the children have no access to medication.
In spite of that, most would not dare to announce themselves as ill.
Since they cannot work, they would receive no money.
The daily production standards, efficiency controls, monotonous working processes and punishments lead many children to stress and psychic stress/problems.

Besides individual physical and psychic damages the children lose because of the lacking school education, the essential prerequisite to improve their economic and social situation as adults. Therewith the base is created that wide shifts of the population will also live in future in poverty.

According to information sources, there are between 60 and 100 million children who do not go to school because of their work. This is not only a personal problem for the affected person, but also a heavy handicap for the further development of the complete Indian economy.

Measures against child labour:

There are plenty of laws which were remitted toward the fight of the child labour. Nevertheless I will present to you the most important ones. (In my opinion)

Constitution, laws, international conventions:

National Policy on Child Labour:

In 1979 the Indian government formed the Gurupadaswamy Committee to study the issue of child labour and to suggest measures to tackle it. It observed that as long as poverty continued, it would be difficult to totally eliminate child labour. The Committee suggested that in the circumstances, the only alternative left was to ban child labour in dangerous areas and to regulate and mend the conditions of work in other areas. It also recommended that a multiple policy approach was required in dealing with the problems of working children.

Based on the recommendations of Gurupadaswamy Committee, the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act was enacted in 1986. The Act prohibits employment of children in certain specified hazardous occupations and processes and regulates the working conditions.

In addition, the Government of India announced the National Policy on Child Labour in 1987 which provided for taking up projects in areas of child labour concentration. These projects are meant to get children away from these industries and to supply them with basic needs like non-formal education, vocational training, health care etc.
The projects are at Sivakashi, Jaipur and Mirzapur

Experiences so far:
Over the last ten years the academic percentage rate has risen. Additionally, the alphabetization rates have improved.

By the fact that the exploitation of the children takes place particularly in carpet factories, the trade mark RUGMARK was invented.

RUGMARK is a labeling system which certifies that illegal child labor was not used in the manufacturing of handmade rugs.

Carpet manufacturers who want to join the trademark initiative and become certified must:
1) produce carpets without any child labor involved
2) pay at least the minimum wages fixed by the government to their employees
3) agree to allow access to their looms for unannounced inspections

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The condensed form of the most important starting points of the child labour elimination in India:

- combats against the poverty
- Securing of a general state basic education for all children and mobilization of the underprivileged sections of the population against social and economic discrimination.

CHART WITH PROS & CONS: (3 most important ones)

Although there is no reason to approve child labour, some negative aspects are that it is unhealthy for the child , the child doesn't get the necessary education, thus they have no valuable future and it is also a matter of respecting the rights of children.
Still, the children are dependent to work otherwise they would not survive.
Considering child labor as a topic for discussion let us consider the pros and cons of child labor.
The following chart will show you to what extend they are dependent on child labour.

Pros:
-Children earn money for the delivered work and can survive. If they shouldn't work, they could die because their parents can't afford to buy food for everyone.
-A child who is recruited or employed in a business at a young age learns the nuances of business and gains organizational skills. It helps the child to become an entrepreneur when he or she comes of age.
-Children who are orphans have a chance to eke out their livelihood decently by earning through child labor.

Cons
-Child labor is unhealthy and can lead to diseases. They often have to work hard in harsh working circumstances.
-Children engaged in child labor at a young age are deprived of their legitimate right to education during their childhood. By engaging in child labor, they permanently become illiterate and therefore, have no future.
-Going to school means forgoing a source of income, lose lots of money and see at first no benefits Moreover there are no enough schools for everyone.

Answer of the central question:

The people in India are so poor that everyone in their family needs to work to survive. That implies that child labour in India is mostly a consequence of the poverty in India. If the children went to school, they and their families would not have enough money to eat, thus to survive. So although there are plenty of measures and forbiddances taken against child labour, the problem isn´t solved yet. Only if the state can guarantee that every child has enough to eat, they can forbid the child labour.
Unfortunately, until then, the children need to work.
This will only occur if India achieves a sustainable economic growth rate.
To reach this, an efficient system of the higher education, oriented on the necessities of the economy and the society is required.
Since currently the biggest problems consist therefrom.
Furthermore, more laws are necessary and certainly more inspection if laws are followed.