CHILD LABOUR
- PROBLEMS AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
Dr.
Sahib Singh *
UNICEF, in one of
its annual reports, has evocatively observed, "The day will
come when nations will be judged not only by their military or
economic strength, nor by the splendour of their capital cities
and public buildings but by the well-being of their people;…..by
the provision that is made for those who are vulnerable and disadvantaged
and by the protection that is afforded to the growing minds and
bodies of their children."
India fully subscribe
to this universal aspiration. Our Constitution makers had known
that India of their vision would not be a reality if the country’s
children are not nurtured and educated. Article 24 dealing with
prohibition of employment of children in factories and Article
45 relating to provision of free and compulsory education for
children bear testimony to this realisation. The other provisions
relate to prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour
(Article 23) and certain principles of policy to be followed by
the State stipulates that children be secured against exploitation.
Problem
Child labour in India
is more of a rural than urban phenomenon. Approximately, 90 per
cent of the working children in the rural areas are employed in
agriculture and allied activities. The unorganised and informal
sectors, both in urban and rural areas, account for almost the
entire child labour force. The distribution of child labour in
various States appears to indicate certain correlations. States
having a larger population living below poverty line have a high
incidence of child labour. Similarly, high incidence of child
labour is accompanied by high dropout rates in schools. The incidence
of child labour is partly linked to the level of socio-economic
development of an area and partly to the attitude and approach
of parents of the child labourers as a result of socio-economic
compulsions. According to the 1991 census, the number of working
children in the country was11.28 million.
In order to assess
the ground situation, the Labour Ministry appointed a 16-member
committee under the chairmanship of Shri M.S Gurupadaswamy. In
its report the committee has observed, "Extreme poverty,
lack of opportunity for gainful employment and inter-mittancy
of income and low standards of living are the main reasons for
the wide prevalence of child labour. Though it is possible to
identify the child labour in the organised sector, which form
a minuscule of the total child labour, the problem relates mainly
to the unorganised sector where utmost attention needs to be paid.
The problem is universal but in our case it is more crucial."
One frequently comes
across dismal reports on the lives of working children, especially
in highly exploitative and hazardous occupations such as match
factories, lock and brassware industry, diamond cutting jobs,
gem polishing works, carpet weaving and beedi making job.
The Ministry of Labour
has considered these problems of child labour. It recognises the
need to protect child labour from being forced to work in hazardous
conditions that endanger their physical and mental development.
It addressed the need to ensure the health and safety of children
at the work place recognising that they must be protected from
excessively long working hours. All working children should be
provided with sufficient weekly rest periods and holidays.
Apart from the Child
Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986, there are legal
provisions for working children in other laws such as the Factories
Act, 1948, the Mines Act, 1952, the Motor Transport Worker’s Act,
1961, the Beedi and Cigar Workers (Conditions of Employment) Act,
1966, the Plantations Labour Act, 1951 and the Minimum Wages Act,
1948. The Child Labour Act prohibits employment of children (under
14 yrs) in 13 occupations and 57 processes contained in Part A
& B of the schedule to the Act. It also lays down penalties
for employment of children in violation of the provisions of this
Act and regulates the employment of children with respect to working
hours, number of holidays, health and safety in work place.
International Commitment
India has accepted
the Convention on the Rights of the Child concluded by the UN
General Assembly on November 20, 1989. The International Labour
Organisation has been playing an important role in the process
of gradual elimination of child labour and to protect the child
from industrial exploitation. It has focussed on five main issues
- prohibiting child labour, protecting child labour at work, attacking
the basic causes of child labour, helping children to adapt to
future work, and protecting the children of working parents.
Government
Initiatives
The Government
has been alive to the need for release of these children from
hazardous work and for their rehabilitation – physical, emotional
and economic- through education. With this end in view, the National
Policy on Child Labour was formulated in August, 1987. The National
Child Labour projects were conceptualized and launched around
the same time. Later on this was reinforced and strengthened for
the total liberation of all children in the age group of 5 to
14 employed in hazardous work and for their physical and emotional
rehabilitation through a composite package under the National
Child Labour Projects which are to be administered by the District
Child Labour Project Society registered under the Societies Registrtion
Act, 1960. Under the scheme 12 National Child Labour Projects
(NCLP) were started in Andhra Pradesh (Jaggampet and Markapur),
Bihar (Zarwah), Madhya Pradesh (Mandsaur), Maharashtra (Thane),
Orissa (Sambalpur), Rajasthan (Jaipur), Tamil Nadu (Sivakasi)
and Uttar Pradesh (Varanasi-Mirzapur-Bhadoi, Moradabad, Aligarh
and Ferozabad). A major activity under the NCLP is the establishment
of special schools to provide both non-formal and formal education,
vocational training, supplementary nutrition, stipend and health
care to children withdrawn from employment.
As a follow-up,
a series of steps have been taken by the Government. A high-powered
body, a National Authority for Elimination of Child Labour (NAECL)
was constituted under the chairmanship of the Union Labour Minister.
The function of NAECL include laying down policies and programmes
for elimination of child labour particularly in hazardous industries,
to monitor the progress of implementation of programmes, projects
and schemes for elimination of child labour and to coordinate
implementation of child labour-related projects of various Central
Ministries to ensure convergence of services for the benefit of
the families of child labour.
Secretaries to the
Government of India in the Ministries of Labour, Information and
Broadcasting, Welfare, Rural Development and Textiles and in the
Departments of Expenditure, Education, Health and Family Welfare
and Women and Child Development are members of the NAECL.
The Government intends
to implement the policies and programmes for elimination of child
labour in a more focused, integrated and convergent manner. The
Government would be first making attempts to eliminate child labour
from hazardous occupations and progressively move towards elimination
of child labour in all other areas in the coming years. For the
Tenth Plan period, the Planning Commission has allocated Rs.667.50
crore for child labour schemes.
Action
Increasing the incomes
of parents by converging various development schemes is a pragmatic
step. Efforts are afoot to establish proper coordination in the
implementation of different programmes being run by various government
departments. Presently, in more than 4,000 schools over 2 lakh
children are being rehabilitated under 100 projects.
A number of innovative
schemes have been initiated across the country for the uplift
of children. Under the grants-in-schemes, voluntary agencies are
being financially assisted to the extent of 75 per cent of the
project cost for taking up welfare projects for working children.
The Government
is determined to eliminate all forms of child labour by 2020.
Indeed, poverty eradication combined with educational reforms
to provide free or affordable access to quality education with
an interesting, innovative and job-oriented curriculum for all
can effectively eliminate child labour once and for all.
*
Union Labour Minister
