At the hands of labour

Introduction:

With tender yet scratched hands bearing the burden of tough metals for moulding it into cans or those tender hands which carry on the work of beautiful pot making. While those tenders hands should only have the weapon aspens in their hands. These hands are of those poor child labourers who are compelled to work for the livelihood. A boy of a mere 12 years who was sighted in a rough plastic factory where he was forced to work for earning, putting all his efforts into it. Anybody who would see him would say he shouldn’t be having to work like this at such a tender age. The dream of this boy was to become a surgeon but was there anything that could help him? Yes, it was access to education. This boy worked in the plastic factory because his parents, besides considering him as an earning hand for the family, also thought of studies as a part of luxury and only the work of the rich. The children who fall into the hands of this act of child labour have different reasons because of which they are compelled to work. It all depends on the children’s parents who want them to work. There are different types of people with different problems who let their children work. The first group consists of the people who are not economically stable and have a financial crunch because of which they want their children to be helping and thus earn. The second group of people are those who do not have proper family planning and have about 4 to 5 children and their upbringing becomes very difficult so they prefer to make their children work as child labourers. Adding to this fact is that the people falling in the second category feel that a bigger family means a larger income and better living. The third category includes those people who are not willing to work and feed their children thinking that in their childhood they have had worked enough for their parents and now it is the turn of their children to work for them and thus the children have to work for them. The fourth category is of those who think that making a child work from a tender age might develop a habit of working and thus the child will become independent and ready for the future. The fifth and the last category of people are those who send their children to work because they think that studies are a form of luxury, a waste of money and time and the work of the rich. Thus the only work left for them is labour.

Child labour is such a thing which in addition to keeping the child distant from education also develops habits that leads him to be developed as a destructive personality. Child labour has a large number of problems associated with it. It leads to premature ageing, malnutrition, depression, drug dependency, thievery, snatching off the rich developmental stage in a child etc.

Historical Background:

The history of child labour goes back to seventeenth-century Britain when we were going into the period of industrialisation and the need for young workers was needed. The Puritan work ethic of the 13 colonies of the USA thought that the child idleness, utilisation of young labour and their creativity could be used in the form of child labour. They started employing boys between the ages of 6 to 14 years in the handicraft and agricultural areas thus destroying their future. By the time the industrial revolution started reaching its peak, the idea of employing young boys into factories and industries was also blooming. They were employed in metal factories, textile factories and many other critical factories. Millions of children lost their lives or got amputated during such hazardous jobs. One example shows how in these factories the children had to work for almost 12-16 hours per day and during the day they dozed onto the machines and unconsciously cut their heads or some limbs. They were paid low wages and led miserable life. No proper nutrition was given to them and that they suffered so much due to lack of basic needs that their body only showed the composition of bones with no flesh. Most of the child labourers were the children of African slaves that were forced to work there on the British land. Slowly the idea of child labour in the 1800s was so prevalent that it became a normal norm and was seen in almost all the factories. The basic point behind this was that child labour could be easily commanded by the master and could work on even low wages. However as the various theorists and social thinkers fought for bringing social change in the society, the idea of educational importance and labour free childhood developed and various changes were welcomed. The First Act to regulate child labour was passed in Britain in 1803. A series of factory acts were passed after 1833 that aimed at reducing the working hours of children workers, supporting them with adequate food or providing them with proper clothes and living conditions. These laws started curbing the practice of child labour to a greater extent. Various laws came in which tried to make education every child’s right and after considerable time the child labour came to be considered a crime too.

Current scenario:

International Labour Organisation (ILO) defines the term child labour as, “work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development. It refers to work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children, or work whose schedule interferes with their ability to attend regular school or work that affects in any manner their ability to focus during school or experience a healthy childhood.” Organisations such as ILO, UNICEF, PLAN INTERNATIONAL, SAVE THE CHILDREN etc. aim at protecting children from any kind of labour and thus develop them into educated youth. Today all the work done by children in hazardous areas or that which comes under child labour is considered to be illegal under all laws.

In India, The Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of 1986 mentions: A “Child” is defined as any person below the age of 14 and the CLPR Act prohibits employment of a Child in any employment including as domestic help (except helping own family in non-hazardous occupations). Child labour is illegal in India and various legislations have been passed to implement the laws to the grass-root level. The employer employing any child between the ages of 14 to 18 is awarded imprisonment. The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of Children Act of 2015: The employment of children under the child labour act is considered to be a crime, punishable offence and a prison term.

India along with many other countries has done great work against child labour. A lot has been done but a lot more needs to be done. Hope we see a world where every child carries a pen in his hand and spreads the light of knowledge around him. Hope we see a world where child labor has no place and that we see a bright future for the generations coming!