The law makes the employment of a child in any occupation, a punishable offence. However, exceptions have been made for children who are helping their family enterprise after school hours or during vacations, and for children who work as artistes in the entertainment industry or in some sporting activities, subject to conditions of safety.
On the 12th of June, every year, 'World Day Against Child Labour' is observed across the globe. World Day Against Child Labour was introduced by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in the year 2002, to highlight the issues of children who are engaged in any form of labour. As per ILO and UNICEF, approximately 160 million children are engaged in the labour industry and are subjected to various forms of violence and abuse across the globe. In India, there are 10.1 million children, between the age group of 5 to 14, who are engaged in the worst forms of child labour (as per census data 2011) and whose voices are seldom heard.
As a civil society organisation, working on the issue for over a decade, it is crucial for us to discuss some of the important aspects related to the child labour problem in India.
So what are some of the reasons that compel children to work as a child labourer?
The reasons for child labour are complex as they are varied. The most commonly known reason is of course economic poverty. In 2019, the UN estimated that 28 per cent of the Indian population lives in poverty. Economic shocks, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, have massively increased the percentage of India's poor. Most families, in rural as well as informal urban settlements (as is evident from our field practice) are also large-sized. Under the cloud of chronic poverty, coupled with the need to feed a greater number of hungry mouths, families are often left with no other option than to engage their children in some kind of income generating activities. Another reason for the child labour problem is linked with gender discrimination. Gendered prejudices often keep girl children out-of-school, compelling them to enter the workforce as child labourers.
Moreover, mundane school routines (with no play or extra-curricular activities) or a school environment that is rife with corporal punishment, forces children to drop-out. Drop-out children look for alternative engagements through early enrolment into the economic workforce. Children, who run away from homes, for reasons connected to domestic violence or violent-parenting methods, often end up in street situations. Street children too are pushed into the informal workforce, for the sole purpose of survival. An often-overlooked factor (related to chronic ill-health of parents) also compels children to work, in order to head and sustain the family.
There is a demand-side to the child labour problem as well. Upper class families, are often on the lookout for tender and young children from faraway villages to care for their newly born babies. Jewelry industries look out for child employees, as only the nimble hands of a child can give perfect shape to the gemstones that sell in the marketplace. An unscrupulous mining baron, seeks small children to crawl into tiny rat holes to work in deep, underground, two-feet high tunnels. Children are always preferred choice for any employer who wishes to save money (as children have no bargaining powers), to extract overtime work (as children are not aware of labour laws) or to exploit and abuse (as children do know about their protection rights). Predators target vulnerable children for forced labour and sexual exploitation, in the globally lucrative human trafficking trade.
What is the legal framework for Child Labour?
As per Article 32 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (in short UNCRC), every child has a right to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.
Article 24 of the Indian Constitution prohibits the employment of children below the age of 14 to work in any hazardous employment. Articles 39 (e) and (f) of the Directive Principles of State Policy provides that the tender of age of children should not be abused, that citizens should not be forced to enter vocations unsuited to their age.
The Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 (in short, CALPRA), is the primary Indian law that deals with the subject of child labour. As per CALPRA, the age of "child" is defined as anyone who has not completed the age of 14, and age of "adolescent" as anyone who is between the age of 15 to 18 years old.
The law makes the employment of a child in any occupation, a punishable offence. However, exceptions have been made for children who are helping their family enterprise after school hours or during vacations, and for children who work as artistes in the entertainment industry or in some sporting activities, subject to conditions of safety. Adolescent children, are allowed to work in vocations barring mines, inflammable substances/explosives related work or any other hazardous process. Hazardous processes are listed in the Factories Act of 1948, examples of some of which would be fertilizer industries, petroleum industries, paints industry and power generating industries, among others.
Employment of child labour, or of adolescent labour in any hazardous vocation, is an offence of cognizable nature and the police can arrest employers and initiate action.
How is child labour harmful?
Education helps children develop knowledge, skills and life lessons, which aids in securing a stable future. Child labour violates a child's right to education. Children who are employed as child labour, seldom have the opportunity of experiencing a joyful childhood. Stressed with workload, under the constant control of employers, working children are deprived of freedom, playtime or leisure. Nutritious food is essential for healthy development of a child. Employers often serve child employees with leftovers or with lesser quantity of food. Children, especially those employed as domestic child labour, often suffer from severe malnutrition. Children employed as child labour are also subjected to various forms of discrimination. Unlike their own children, employers make child employees sleep on floors, eat in different old utensils and bathe in different bathrooms.
Pouring of hot water on skin, immolating, caning, forceful cutting of hair, cigarette burns and iron burns are some forms of physical violence that children have to suffer at the hands of employers. Locking up in a room for long hours and constant verbal abuse are examples of emotional violence that children have to constantly face from employers. Sexual assault is yet another form of abuse that children have to encounter in child labour situations. Mental health traumas, arising out of such abusive situations often lead to long-term Post-Trauma Stress Disorder (PTSD) and depression.
What can be done to address the problem of child labour?
Reporting, timely rescue, conviction of employers and rehabilitation of children in child labour situations is surely one way to address the child labour problem. Conscious citizens can help rescue a child by reporting through 1098 Childline Services; the Police can arrest and charge an employer; and the Child Welfare Committee can chart out a pathway for the rehabilitation and reintegration of a rescued child.
However, the theme of this year's World Child Labour Day - Universal Access to Social Protection – suggests prevention as an effective method to address the child labour problem, sustainably. In India, there are several child-related social protection schemes that form a larger social protection system for children. Implementation and access, of communities and children, to children-focused policy programmes like the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, Mission Poshan; along with others like the Public Distribution Scheme (PDS), National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP), National Rural Livelihood Mission(NRLM), National Health Mission(NHM) and the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), can create a robust economic and social safety net, that would protect children from falling into the cracks that finally result in exploitation and abuse.
The immediate community context determines whether a child would enter the economic workforce or not. If the context is poverty-free, violence-free, ill-health-free, illiteracy-free, discrimination-free and hunger-free; there is a possibility of preventing children from being pushed into the labour force, from the source itself.
Written Jointly by:
Miguel Das Queah,
Founder UTSAH Child Rights Organisation, Assam
And
Syed Tazkir Inam,
Programme Manager,
UTSAH Child Rights Organisation, Assam
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