Some Social Problems of India
- Problem of Child Labour
Most of the developing countries of the world including India are facing a social tragedy found in the form of child abuse and child labour. A larger number of children below the age of 12-14 are made to work as labourers in many places especially in the agricultural and industrial areas. The physical, emotional, educational and medical needs of these working children are conveniently ignored. These children are made to work for long hours. They are often battered by the employers and harassed by their senior colleagues. Unlike the adult labourers, these child labourers do not have a labour union of their own to fight for their rights and safeguard their interests. Hence, their exploitation continues without any protest. Neither the government nor the public is serious enough to make organised efforts to combat this problem. Even the sociologists and the psychologists have not taken much interest in highlighting this grave problem. The nation is also not aware of the gravity of the problem.
What is Child Labour - ?
The term 'child labourer' is considered equivalent to the term "working child" or "employed child".
1. According to the Constitution of India, child labourer may be defined as a person who is below the age of 14 years and is working for an earning. 2. According to The Concerned for Working Children (CWC) of Bangalore, - a child labourer is "a person who has not completed his/her fifteenth year of age and is working with or without wages/income on a part-time or a full-time basis". 3. According to Home Folks, "child labour is any work by children that interferes with their full physical development, their opportunities for a desirable minimum of education or their needed recreation."
1. Nature of Child Labour
Magnitude of the Problem The problem of child labour has become a colossal one. India has the largest number of child labourers in the world who are engaged in both organised and unorganised sectors. According to the Planning Commission estimate, there were around 15.70 million child labourers in the age-group of 10-14, as early as in 1983. Of these, 14.03 million were working in rural areas and 1.67 million were engaged in urban areas. As per 1990-1991 estimate, India had 827 million population out of which children below 14 years constituted 298 million (36%). At the time there were about 11.29 million child labourers in the country who constituted 1.34% of the total population. Around 45% of them were girls. In March 1995, the number of employed children below 14 years of age and engaged in various economic activities constituted 17 million (9.5 million males and 7.5 million females). A large majority of these child labourers are engaged in agriculture and allied sectors, while others are found in urban semi-urban and industrial areas. Different Facets of the Problem Child labour is a social problem of far-reaching consequences. No outside observer can imagine and understand the complexity and the magnitude of the problem. The problem has different facets also. Without a proper appraisal of the problem its seriousness cannot be understood. The economic, social and the legal facets of the problem may be briefly examined here. 1. Economic Face of Child Labour In most of the underdeveloped and the developing countries, children of inappropriate age are forced to take part in productive activities due to economic distress. Parents of poor class send their children for work to increase family income while the employers of various business establishments employ children to maximise their profits. The result is economic exploitation of children. This economic exploitation continues both in the organised and unorganised sectors. (A) Child Labour in Unorganised Sector In the unorganised sector, child labour is mainly found in the rural areas, tea and coffee estates, mining sectors and even in urban areas. (a) Child Labour in Rural Areas : A large number of children are found to be working in rural areas. It is estimated that more than 60% of them are below the age of 10 years. A study conducted in Western U.P. has revealed that almost 35% of the girls in 6-11 age-group were engaged in some economic activity. Similarly, over 52% of the girls in the age-group 11-18 were involved in economic pursuits. • In Tea-gardens and Coffee Estates children below 12 years are made to work much against the law. Girls who bring food to their working mothers are often encouraged to stay back and help in the work. • In the Mining Operations also, boys below 12 years are preferred to carry things inside the tunnels without bending their head. It is said that in the mining sector, 56% workers are children below 15 years. (b) Working Children in Urban Areas : It is difficult to estimate the number of children struggling to live in urban areas as child labourers. Sizeable number of them work in city canteens, petty shops, restaurants, garages, work shops, etc. For example, in Delhi alone, 60,000 children work in dhabas, (roadside canteens)tea-stalls, restaurants and small eating places on a daily wage of Rs. 8 to 10. They are also found to be picking rags, hawking goods, cleaning private cars, trucks, selling fruits, vegetables, icecandy, news paper, etc., loading and unloading goods for the tempos and trucks, etc. Some of them are working in private houses as domestic servants. (c) Child Labourers Working as Bonded Labourers : Child labour is also associated with bonded labour. It is said that out of the total number of bonded labourers in Karnataka, 10.3% are found to be children. The figure stands at 8.7% for Tamil Nadu and 21% for Andhra Pradesh. (B) Child Labour in Organised Sector Studies conducted in several mega cities have revealed some of the shocking facts about child labourers. For example, Mumbai has the largest number of child labourers. In Varanasi, more than 5000 children are found working in silk weaving industry alone. Child labourers are found to be working in many factories in several cities much against the prevailing law. The poor economic conditions of the child labourers are such that they are found even in the so called organised sector that is, in factories and various industrial units.
(c) Working Children in Industrial Units : The most pitiable working children are those employed in hazardous industries. Some examples of such industries employing children may be cited here. (i) In the glass industry of Firozabad in U.P., out of 2 lakh workers, 50,000 (25%) are found to be children. (ii) In the brassware industry of Moradabad. (U.P.) about 40000-50000 children (27 to 30%) are working. (iii) In the fireworks and match box units in Sivakasi (Tamil Nadu) 45000 children are employed for work. (iv) In the slate industry in Markapur (Andhra Pradesh), out of 15000 , around 3750 are child workers. (v) In the carpet-weaving industry around Bhadohi (U.P.), 12500 out of 50000 employees, are children. (vi) In and around Surat (Gujarat) many young boys in their teens are engaged in diamond cutting operations. (vii) Small girls are made to work in the back-breaking carpet weaving industry in Kashmir and so on.
2. Social Face of Child Labour The social face of child labour is a horrible one. It leads to several consequences also. (a) parent-Child Relations Become Commercial : Child labour tends to distrub the normal family life. It spoils the emotional ties between parents and children and converts them into commercial. Parents tend to look at their children as income-fetching objects rather than as individuals with tender emotions and feelings.
(b) Child Labour – An Unhealthy Social Practice : Compelling the children of inappropriate age to work for a petty amount is a very unhealthy social practice. Because, child labour adversely affects the children's balanced physical growth, spoils their education, and deprives them of their needed recreation. Child labour will have disastrous consequences on the spiritual, moral and emotional make-up of the children.
(c) No Hope of a Promising Future : Child labour makes the future of the children very bleak. It disturbs their family life, hampers their socialisation and stunts their creative ability. Children caught in the vicious circle of working at such tender age can hardly lead a healthy social life in their later adult life.
3. Child Labour and Legal Face The problem of child labour in India is such that it flourishes in spite of the Constitutional provisions and legislations made against it. For Example : (i) As per Article 24, no child below the age of 14 years shall be employed to work in any factory or in any dangerous employment ; (ii) According to Article 39 (f), childhood and youth are to be protected against exploitation and moral and physical vices and ; (iii) According to Article 45, the state shall endeavour to provide within a period of 10 years from the commencement of the Constitution free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of 14 years.
2. Causes of Child Labour
Various factors have contributed to the problem of child labour among which the following may be noted.
1. Economic Causes (a) Extreme Poverty : Child labour is commonly found in all the developing countries where poverty is usually found. India is a country in which more than 26% of the people are living below the conditions of poverty as per 2001 estimate. Many families with extreme poverty are compelled to send their children for work who contribute something for the family income. Children of poor families are forced to work particularly when the working adult members of the family become disabled due to physical and mental deformities, diseases or accidents.
(b) Possibility of Extracting More Work for Less Wages : Employers of many enterprises search for child labourers because they can extract more work from them by giving less wages. Child labourers neither have a "labour union" of their won, nor the "bargaining power" to demand more wages. It is observed that child labourers are employed in mining, glass-making. carpet-weaving and leather industries mainly with this intension.
(c) To Secure More Profit for Factories : Some industrialists (owners of fireworks, match0box units, glass and brassware industries, etc. believe that their units are able to maximise profits because of the appointment of child labourers whose labour is very cheap. For example, the carpet industry of U.P. which employs 75000 children earns about Rs. 150/- crore, a year in foreign exchange. In 1993, its export earnings were estimated to be about Rs. 350/- crore. These industrialists put forward their own arguments in favour of appointing little children.
2. Familial Factors
Family disorganisation often leads to child labour. Extreme poverty and economic necessity of the family as it is already mentioned, is one of the factors favouring child labour. Divorce, desertion, rigid family relations, cruelty at home, parent child conflicts, criminal tendencies of the parents often compel children to run away from the unpleasant family environment. In order to while away their time such children wander here and there as street children and finally get into some jobs. Example : According to one estimate, of the more than 4 lakh working children in Delhi ; nearly 1.5 lakh children are found to be "street children". A larger number of such working children neither have families nor can rely on family support. In these circumstances, if the children do not go for work the alternative left for them is idleness, destitution, or crime.
3. Social and Other Factors
(i) Temptation of Bad Habits : Children belonging to the poor families often become the victims of certain bad and costly habits such as smoking, gambling, purchasing lottery tickets, seeing the movies regularly, consuming alcoholic drinks, etc. When they don't get enough pocket money from home they often resort to outside work to earn money to satisfy their bad habits.
(ii) Justification of Employers of Child Labourers : Some employers justify their act of employing little children for work. They argue that work keeps poor children away from starvation. They even say that they are rendering a service to the society by providing some jobs to the wandering children who would otherwise have become criminals or joined the rank of anti-social elements.
(iii) Failure of Government Machinery and Legislative System : Though the Government has a constitutional obligation and a moral responsibility to promote the welfare of the children, it is not serious about the problem of child labour. The half-hearted legislations undertaken in this regard, are a big failure. The government bureaucracy is also indifferent to the problems of the working children.
Lack of Public Awareness : Children constitute the treasury of future wealth of any nation. But unfortunately in India, public awareness is not there regarding the social evils such as child abuse and child labour. No organisation has launched an effective movement at the all India level to rouse the consciousness of the public regarding its responsibility towards children. Kidnapping and blackmailing of Children : There are also anti-social forces which often kidnap children and take them to a different place for selling them to some employers who are in search of cheap human labour.
Kaushalesh Gurjar (talk) 06:52, 10 January 2019 (UTC)Kaushalesh Gurjar