WHAT IS "CHILD LABOR"?

Child labor is the employment of children under an age determined by law

or custom. This practice is considered exploitative by many countries and
international organizations. Child labor was utilized to varying extents
through most of history, but entered public dispute with the beginning of
universal schooling, with changes in working conditions during
industrialization, and with the emergence of the concepts of workers' and
children's rights. Child labor is still common in some places.

"Child labor" is, generally speaking, work for children that harms them or
exploits them in some way (physically, mentally, morally, or by blocking
access to education).
Not all work is bad for children. Some social scientists point out that some
kinds of work may be completely unobjectionable except for one thing
about the work that makes it exploitative. For instance, a child who
delivers newspapers before school might actually benefit from learning

how to work, gaining responsibility, and a bit of money. But what if the
child is not paid? Then he or she is being exploited.

OVERVIEW
Child Labor is very common, and can be factory work, mining, prostitution
or quarrying, agriculture, helping in the parents' business, having one's
own small business (for example selling food), or doing odd jobs. Some
children work as guides for tourists, sometimes combined with bringing in
business for shops and restaurants (where they may also work as waiters).

Other children are forced to do tedious and repetitive jobs such as:
assembling boxes, polishing shoes, stocking a store's products, or cleaning.
However, rather than in factories and sweatshops, most child labor occurs
in the informal sector, "selling many things on the streets, at work in
agriculture or hidden away in houses far from the reach of official labor
inspectors and from media scrutiny."
The most widely rejected forms of child labor include the military use of
children as well as child prostitution. Less controversial, and often legal
with some restrictions, are work as child actors and child singers, as well
as agricultural work outside of the school year (seasonal work) and owning
a business while operating it out of school's hours.

CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA

Child labor in India is a grave and extensive problem. Children under the
age of 14 are forced to work in glass-blowing, fireworks, and most
commonly, carpet-making factories. While the Government of India
reports about 20 million children laborers, other non-governmental
organizations estimate the number to be closer to 50 million. Most
prevalent in the northern part of India, the exploitation of child labor has
become an accepted practice, and is viewed by the local population as
necessary to overcome the extreme poverty in the region.

Child labor is one of the main components of the carpet industry. Factories
pay children extremely low wages, for which adults refuse to work, while
forcing the youngsters to slave under perilous and unhygienic labor
conditions. Many of these children are migrant workers, the majority
coming from northern India, who are sent away by their families to earn an
income sent directly home. Thus, children are forced to endure the
despicable conditions of the carpet factories, as their families depend on
their wages.
The situation of the children at the factories is desperate. Most work
around 12 hours a day, with only small breaks for meals. Ill-nourished, the
children are very often fed only minimal staples. The vast majority of

migrant child workers who cannot return home at night sleep alongside of
their loom, further inviting sickness and poor health.

Taking aggressive action to eliminate this problem is difficult in a nation

where 75 percent of the population lives in rural areas, most often stricken
by poverty. Children are viewed as a form of economic security in this
desolate setting, necessary to help supplement their families' income.
Parents often sacrifice their children's education, as offspring are often
expected to uphold their roles as wage-earning members of their clan.
WHO IS A "CHILD"?
A child having below the age of 18 years is termed as child. "Child" and
"childhood" are also defined differently by different cultures. A "child" is
not necessarily delineated by a fixed age. Social scientists point out that
childrens abilities and maturities vary so much that defining a childs
maturity by calendar age can be misleading.

WHO ARE CHILD LABORERS? AND HOW MANY ARE THERE?

In 2000, the ILO estimates, "246 million child workers aged 5 and 17 were
involved in child labor, of which 171 million were involved in work that
by its nature is hazardous to their safety, physical or mental health, and
moral development. Moreover, some 8.4 million children were engaged in
so-called 'unconditional' worst forms of child labor, which include forced
and bonded labor, the use of children in armed conflict, trafficking in
children and commercial sexual exploitation." -- see "Every Child Counts".
WHAT DO CHILD LABORERS DO?
Work ranges from taking care of animals and planting and harvesting food,
to many kinds of small manufacturing (e.g. of bricks and cement), auto
repair, and making of footwear and textiles.

A large proportion of children whom the ILO classifies as child laborers

work in agriculture.

More boys than girls work outside their homes. But more girls work in
some jobs: for instance, as domestic maids. Being a maid in someones
house can be risky. Maids typically are cut off from friends and family, and
can easily be physically or sexually abused by their employers.
WHY SHOULD WE CARE?
Many children in hazardous and dangerous jobs are in danger of injury,
even death. Beyond compassion, consider who todays children will
become in the future. Between today and the year 2020, the vast majority
of new workers, citizens and new consumers whose skills and needs
will build the worlds economy and society will come from developing
countries. Over that 20-year period, some 730 million people will join the
worlds workforce more than all the people employed in today's most
developed nations in 2000. More than 90 percent of these new workers will
be from developing nations, according to research by Population Action
International. How many will have had to work at an early age, destroying
their health or hampering their education?

HOW WAS CHILD LABOR REDUCED IN TODAYS DEVELOPED

COUNTRIES?

Four main changes took place:

Economic development that raised family incomes and living
standards
Widespread, affordable, required and relevant education
Enforcement of anti-child labor laws (along with compulsory
education laws)
Changes in public attitudes toward children that elevated the
importance of education

WHAT ARE SOME "MYTHS" OR MISUNDERSTANDINGS

ABOUT CHILD LABOR?
It is a myth that child labor is only a problem in developing countries. "But
in fact, children routinely work in all industrialized countries, and
hazardous forms of child labour can be found in many countries. In the US,
for example, children are employed in agriculture, a high proportion of
them from immigrant or ethnic-minority families. A 1990 survey of
Mexican-American children working in the farms of New York state
showed that almost half had worked in fields still wet with pesticides and
over a third had themselves been sprayed."

It is a myth that child labor will only disappear when poverty disappears.
Hazardous labor can, and should be eliminated by even the poorest
countries. It is a myth that most child laborers work in sweatshops making
goods for export. "Soccer balls made by children in Pakistan for use by
children in industrialized countries may provide a compelling symbol, but
in fact, only a very small proportion of all child workers are employed in
export industries - probably less than 5 per cent. Most of the worlds child

labourers actually are to be found in the informal sector - selling on the

street, at work in agriculture or hidden away in houses far from the reach
of official labour inspectors and from media scrutiny."

It is a myth that "the only way to make headway against child labour is for
consumers and governments to apply pressure through sanctions and
boycotts. While international commitment and pressure are important,
boycotts and other sweeping measures can only affect export sectors,
which are relatively small exploiters of child labour. Such measures are
also blunt instruments with long-term consequences that can actually harm
rather than help the children involved."

WHAT CAUSES CHILD LABOR TODAY?

There are many causes of child labor. However, a closer look into those
causes can help end the exploitation around the world. Businesses or
corporations around the world are one of the major causes. Due to their
influence and money driven attitudes, many factories are placed
strategically in poor areas. This is to attract cheap labor and millions of
children end up working for them. Another cause is the lack of protection
from governments. Many developing nations and some industrial countries
fail to provide millions of children proper education. Poverty may be the
biggest cause of child labor.

Poverty is widely considered the top reason why children work at

inappropriate jobs for their ages. But there are other reasons as well -- not
necessarily in this order:

Following are the main causes of child labour in India: -

1.

Poverty and unemployment levels are high.

Poor children and their families may rely upon child labor in order to
improve their chances of attaining basic necessities. About one-fifth
of the worlds 6 billion people live in absolute poverty. The
intensified poverty in parts of Africa, Asia, and Latin America causes
many children there to become child laborers.

2.

Access to compulsory, free education is limited.

Approximately 125 million children in the world do not attend
school, limiting future opportunities for the children and their
communities. The Global Campaign for Education estimates that
free, quality education for all children would cost ten billion dollars,
the same as 4 days of global military spending.

3.

Existing laws or codes of conduct are often violated.

Even when laws or codes of conduct exist, they are often violated.
For example, the manufacture and export of products often involves
multiple layers of production and outsourcing, which can make it
difficult to monitor who is performing labor at each step of the
process.

Extensive

subcontracting

can

intentionally

or

unintentionally hide the use of child labor.

4.

Laws and enforcement are often inadequate.

Child labor laws around the world are often not enforced or include
exemptions that allow for child labor to persist in certain sectors,
such as agriculture or domestic work. Even in countries where strong
child labor laws exist, labor departments and labor inspection offices
are often under-funded and under-staffed, or courts may fail to
enforce the laws. Similarly, many state governments allocate few
resources to enforcing child labor laws.

In addition to above said causes following are some more reasons for
child labour :
Family expectations and traditions
Abuse of the child
Lack of good schools and day care
Lack of other services, such as health care
Public opinion that downplays the risk of early work for children
Uncaring attitudes of employers
Limited choices for women
"The parents of child labourers are often unemployed or underemployed,
desperate for secure employment and income. Yet it is their children - more
powerless and paid less - who are offered the jobs. In other words, says
UNICEF, children are employed because they are easier to exploit,"
according to the "Roots of Child Labor" in Unicefs 1997 State of the
Worlds Children Report.
The report also says that international economic trends also have increased
child labor in poor countries. "During the 1980s, in many developing
countries, government indebtedness, unwise internal economic policies and
recession resulted in economic crisis. Structural adjustment programmes in
many countries accentuated cuts in social spending that have hit the poor
disproportionately. " Although structural adjustment programs are being
revised to spare education from deep cuts, the report says, some countries
make such cuts anyway because of their own, local priorities. In many
countries public education has deteriorated so much, the report declared,
that education itself has become part of the problem because children
work to avoid going to school.

Children do some types of low-status work, the report adds, because

children come from minority groups or populations that have long suffered
discrimination. " In northern Europe, for example, child labourers are
likely to be African or Turkish; in Argentina, many are Bolivian or
Paraguayan; in Thailand, many are from Myanmar. An increasingly
consumer-oriented culture, spurring the desire and expectation for
consumer goods, can also lead children into work and away from school."

WHAT ARE SOME SOLUTIONS TO CHILD

LABOR?
Increased family incomes
Education that helps children learn skills that will help them earn
a living
Social services that help children and families survive crises,
such as disease, or loss of home and shelter
Family control of fertility so that families are not burdened by
children
The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child calls for children to
participate in important decisions that will affect their lives.
Some educators and social scientists believe that one of the most important
ways to help child workers is to ask their opinions, and involve them in
constructing "solutions" to their own problems. Strong advocates of this
approach are Boyden, Myers and Ling; Concerned for Working Children in
Karnataka, India; many childrens "unions" and "movements," and the
Save the Children family of non-governmental organizations.

STEPS TAKEN BY GOVERNMENT TO

ELIMINATE CHILD LABOUR
Initiatives towards Elimination of Child Labour Action Plan and
Present Strategy
The problem of child labour continues to pose a challenge before the
nation. Government has been taking various pro-active measures to tackle
this problem. However, considering the magnitude and extent of the
problem and that it is essentially a socio-economic problem inextricably
linked to poverty and illiteracy, it requires concerted efforts from all
sections of the society to make a dent in the problem.
Way back in 1979, Government formed the first committee called
Gurupadswamy Committee to study the issue of child labour and to
suggest measures to tackle it. The Committee examined the problem in
detail and made some far-reaching recommendations. It observed that as
long as poverty continued, it would be difficult to totally eliminate child
labour and hence, any attempt to abolish it through legal recourse would
not be a practical proposition. The Committee felt that in the
circumstances, the only alternative left was to ban child labour in
hazardous areas and to regulate and ameliorate the conditions of work in
other areas. It 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 others.

The list of hazardous occupations and processes is progressively being

expanded on the recommendation of Child Labour Technical Advisory
Committee constituted under the Act.
In consonance with the above approach, a National Policy on Child Labour
was formulated in 1987. The Policy seeks to adopt a gradual & sequential
approach with a focus on rehabilitation of children working in hazardous
occupations & processes in the first instance. The Action Plan outlined in
the Policy for tackling this problem is as follows:
1.

Legislative Action Plan for strict enforcement of Child Labour Act

and other labour laws to ensure that children are not employed in
hazardous employments, and that the working conditions of children
working in non-hazardous areas are regulated in accordance with the
provisions of the Child Labour Act. It also entails further
identification of additional occupations and processes, which are
detrimental to the health and safety of the children.

2.

Focusing of General Developmental Programmes for Benefiting

Child Labour - As poverty is the root cause of child labour, the
action plan emphasizes the need to cover these children and their
families also under various poverty alleviation and employment
generation schemes of the Government.

3.

Project Based Plan of Action envisages starting of projects in areas

of high concentration of child labour. Pursuant to this, in 1988, the
National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme was launched in 9
districts of high child labour endemicity in the country. The Scheme
envisages running of special schools for child labour withdrawn
from work. In the special schools, these children are provided
formal/non-formal education along with vocational training, a

stipend of Rs.100 per month, supplementary nutrition and regular

health check ups so as to prepare them to join regular mainstream
schools. Under the Scheme, funds are given to the District Collectors
for running special schools for child labour. Most of these schools
are run by the NGOs in the district.
Government has accordingly been taking proactive steps to tackle this
problem through strict enforcement of legislative provisions along with
simultaneous rehabilitative measures. State Governments, which are the
appropriate implementing authorities, have been conducting regular
inspections and raids to detect cases of violations. Since poverty is the root
cause of this problem, and enforcement alone cannot help solve it,
Government has been laying a lot of emphasis on the rehabilitation of
these children and on improving the economic conditions of their families.
Strategy for the elimination of child labour under the 10th Plan
An evaluation of the Scheme was carried out by independent agencies in
coordination with V. V. Giri National Labour Institute in 2001. Based on
the recommendations of the evaluation and experience of implementing the
scheme since 1988, the strategy for implementing the scheme during the
10th Plan was devised. It aimed at greater convergence with the other
developmental schemes and bringing qualitative changes in the Scheme.
Some of the salient points of the 10th Plan Strategy are as follows:
Focused and reinforced action to eliminate child labour in the
hazardous occupations by the end of the Plan period.
Expansion of National Child Labour Projects to additional 150
districts.

 Linking the child labour elimination efforts with the Scheme of

Sarva

Shiksha

Abhiyan

of

Ministry

of

Human

Resource

Development to ensure that children in the age group of 5-8 years get
directly admitted to regular schools and that the older working
children are mainstreamed to the formal education system through
special schools functioning under the NCLP Scheme.
Convergence with other Schemes of the Departments of Education,
Rural Development, Health and Women and Child Development for
the ultimate attainment of the objective in a time bound manner.
The Government and the Ministry of Labour & Employment in particular,
are rather serious in their efforts to fight and succeed in this direction. The
number of districts covered under the NCLP Scheme has been increased
from 100 to 250, as mentioned above in this note. In addition, 21 districts
have been covered under INDUS, a similar Scheme for rehabilitation of
child

labour

in

cooperation

with

US

Department

of

Labour.

Implementation of this Project was recently reviewed during the visit of

Mr. Steven Law, Deputy Secretary of State, from the USA. For the
Districts not covered under these two Schemes, Government is also
providing funds directly to the NGOs under the Ministrys Grants-in-aid
Scheme for running Special Schools for rehabilitation of child labour,
thereby providing for a greater role and cooperation of the civil society in
combating this menace.
Elimination of child labour is the single largest programme in this
Ministrys activities. Apart from a major increase in the number of districts
covered under the scheme, the priority of the Government in this direction
is evident in the quantum jump in budgetary allocation during the 10th
Plan. Government has allocated Rs. 602 crores for the Scheme during the

10th Plan, as against an expenditure of Rs. 178 crores in the 9th Plan. The
resources set aside for combating this evil in the Ministry is around 50 per
cent of its total annual budget.
The implementation of NCLP and INDUS Schemes is being closely
monitored through periodical reports, frequent visits and meetings with the
District and State Government officials. The Governments commitment to
achieve tangible results in this direction in a time bound manner is also
evident from the fact that in the recent Regional Level Conferences of
District Collectors held in Hyderabad, Pune, Mussoorie and Kolkata
district-wise review of the Scheme was conducted at the level of Secretary.
These Conferences provided an excellent opportunity to have one-to-one
interaction with the Collectors, who play a pivotal role in the
implementation of these Schemes in the District. Besides, these
Conferences also helped in a big way in early operationalisation of Scheme
in the newly selected 150 districts.
The Government is committed to eliminate child labour in all its forms and
is moving in this direction in a targeted manner. The multipronged strategy
being followed by the Government to achieve this objective also found its
echo during the recent discussions held in the Parliament on the Private
Members Bill tabled by Shri Iqbal Ahmed Saradgi. It was unanimously
recognized therein that the problem of child labour, being inextricably
linked with poverty and illiteracy, cannot be solved by legislation alone,
and that a holistic, multipronged and concerted effort to tackle this
problem will bring in the desired results.