Ù                                          The Asian and Pacific regions harbour the largest number of child workers in the 5-14 age group, 127.3 million in total. (19 per cent of children work in the region.)

Ù                                          Sub-Saharan Africa has an estimated 48 million child workers. Almost one child in three (29 per cent) below the age of 15 works.

Ù                                          Latin America and the Caribbean have approximately 17.4 million child workers. (16 per cent of children work in the region).

Ù                                          Fifteen per cent of children work in the Middle East and North Africa.

Ù                                          Approximately 2.5 million children are working in industrialized and transition economies.   

‘CHILD LABOUR’

What classifies an individual as a ‘Child’, who is by means of life a ‘Labour’ …?

According to the books of the Governments, Law and Order systems around the globe…

‘CHILD’ means a person who has not completed his fourteenth year of age…

CHILD WORK VERSUS CHILD LABOUR

Child Work: Children’s participation in economic activity - that does not negatively affect their health and development or interfere with education, can be positive.  Work that does not interfere with education (light work)  is permitted from the age of 12 years under the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 138.

Child Labour: This is more narrowly defined and refers to children working in contravention of the above standards.  This means all children below 12 years of age working in any economic activities, those aged 12 to 14 years engaged in  harmful work, and all children engaged in the worst forms of child labour..

Worst Forms of Child Labour:  These involve children being enslaved, forcibly recruited, prostituted, trafficked, forced into illegal activities and exposed to hazardous work.

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: 

·         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.
 

·         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.
 

·         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 10^TH 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 10^th 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 10^th Plan Strategy are as follows:

ü      Focused and reinforced action to eliminate child labour in the hazardous occupations by the end of the Plan period.

ü      Expansion of National Child Labour Projects to additional 150 districts.

ü      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.

ü      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 Ministry’s 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 Ministry’s 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 10^th Plan. Government has allocated Rs. 602 crores for the Scheme during the 10^th Plan, as against an expenditure of Rs. 178 crores in the 9^th 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 Government’s 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 t 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 Member’s 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. 

MY VERDICT

The Britishers had left us a long time ago.. they have changed...the entire world is changing...but the ‘ROYAL’  norms are still being followed by us ..specially by the upper middle and elite classes of the society... and we all face it... the hierarchy goes on ... To be very honest we all are so hypocrites that we boast of big talks and do the same nerdy things ourselves...

Before doing anything good... we need to remove our masks of Hypocrisy and Selfishness (specially the hidden ones) first... only then we will get the willingness to do something... until then.... its all a sound of a hollow tube... Why do you think the rate of progress in our country is so slow and classified only to a group of people... the GDP is increasing but people still die of hunger and poverty...What will the poor parents of such children then do.... they r forced to work... they have to eat after all... and how come the interest for studies come then...?? Outta question...

STEPS WE CAN TAKE (IF U WANT TO HELP…!)

1.       Stop using products manufactured by these innocent and helpless souls. The BIG Business Bosses will stop using this easy manpower then... give them a loss for their moolah and they will be on the correct tracks...

2        I once was taking the snap of a little girl who was begging to ma parents... after taking the pic.. My mom said give her some penny... I refused...SORRY! I ain't paying her anything... she is not supposed to be... I took her pic... maybe I used her situation for some purpose I am associated with... but that’s for her too... I don’t wanna waste her...

She is already wasted a lottt...

SO STOP GIVING DIMES TO THE LITTLE BEGGARS OUT THERE ON THE STREETS.  Want to help!

ü      Take them to an NGO and hand over to them.

ü      Go their homes and counsel their parents.

ü      Feed them if nothing.

ü      Find out if they come from any Criminal racket that uses children for begging purposes.  Report the matter to the authorities.  You have the ‘RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT’ to find our later if action was taken against your complaint.

ü      Use your Head and Heart.

3.       Join an NGO or Social Service Organisation.  If can then launch your own.  Just giving information to people and enriching them will bring a lot of change.

4.       DO NOT EMPLOY CHILD/MINOR SERVANTS/MAIDS IN YOUR HOME.

5.       Do not visit shops, Chai walas, places that employ children as labouers, waiters etc… If you do unknowingly, leave immediately and make sure you make a statement to the employer before leaving… not in rage but being politically decent.  The others out there will hear that… if 1 out of 10 is even affected by your words and realizes the thing… it will work. After all a bucket do gets filled drop by drop.

6. Talk to them.  Many children come out of their homes due to bad company, get lost, escape from home due to bad parents, are kidnapped and smuggled … etc...

They need shelter and counseling.  Fid out the truth and if possible take them to some NGO or Shelter home.  There are many in the country… search the web.

7.       Vocational training is a very good approach... had been thought about earlier too... but hadn't bee a success on a big scale .. Reason?? just no infrastructure...

Unill we pull the Money Builders in this, this ain’t gonna work... just voices wont give results... we need materials too... these poor kids cant do that... we have to do this... the educated and concerned class... The 'Child labour Prohibition and regulation Act 1986 and Rules' and 'Child Labour Prohibition Act 1988' (both extracted below… pls go through them) speaks a lotttt about regulations and norms for salary fixation, age barriers...work schedules..etc...in black and white but we seldom follow them...’cos we hardly know them... even the employees don’t know them… and the law enforcers are nowhere as usual... the labour class forget them... they need to eat after all... So awareness on a mass basis is the first requirement...

SOME STATISTICAL DATAS

STATE-WISE DISTRIBUTION OF WORKING CHILDREN ACCORDING TO 1971,1981, 1991 AND 2001 CENSUS IN THE AGE GROUP 5-14 YEARS

(SOURCE:          Ministry of Labour, Government of India)

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