Child labour is one of the oldest practices. There are lakhs of child workers in Odisha. The children are employed in many industries and trading houses including various shops, brick kilns and hotels. Many work in export oriented hazardous industries like carpet weaving, gem polishing, glass blowing, match works, brassware, electro plating, lead mining, stone quarrying, lock marketing and beedi rolling.
Many employers prefer child labour because children could be easily coerced and used for anything without opposition. The nimble finger argument is the main reason. Moreover, children are more amenable to discipline and control. They can be coaxed, admonished, pulled up and punished without jeopardizing relations. Children are not organized and thus are paid a minimum wage to work for long hours.
Children who are employed in hazardous industries work at the cost of their lives, exposing themselves to the occupational hazards. The working conditions of child labourers are mostly unhygienic and hazardous, lacking basic facilities required for their growth and development. In manufacturing units, children are exposed to adverse working condition. Children are also made to work for long time without any break. As a matter of fact bulk of the urban child labour is very lowly paid, particularly those engaged in household activities and those supporting their parents and other family members at work sites.
Children are the future of the nation. They are in fact the foundation on which a strong, vibrant and dynamic India shall be built. The problem of child labour evokes deep concern to the great vision of building a prosperous India. India’s concentration of child labour is highest in the world and it is growing at an alarming rate. Millions of children in India are forced to surrender their fundamental rights without protest including the right to life without any agency to protest them from appealing abuses.
The elimination of child labour requires a substantial recognition and strengthening of the rights of the child. Every child has a right to dignity, life and liberty, education, need for special care and protection etc. Understanding the rights of the child would vary depending on their age. According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a child means every human being below the age of 18 years. Under the Constitution of India, all children between the ages of six to fourteen years should be provided with free and compulsory education. Further, Article 24 of the Constitution prohibits employment of a child below the age of 14 years to work in factory or mine. The Child labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act,1986 defines a child as a person who has not completed 14 years of age. The United Nations Convention on the Rights for the Child confers many rights upon all children across the world.
The International labour Organisation (IlO) says child labour includes children primarily leading adult lives, working long hours for low wages under conditions damaging to their health and to their physical and mental development. The Unicef also defines child labour as (1) Starting full time work at too early an age, (2) working too long within or outside of the family so that children are unable to attend school, where it is available or to make the most of school due to fatigue or lack of time, (3) Work and life on the streets in unhealthy and dangerous conditions, (4) Inadequate remuneration for working outside of the family as in the case of child workers in carpet weaving, (5) Too much responsibility too early as in the domestic situation where children under 10 years may have to look after young brothers and sisters for a whole day thereby preventing school attendance, (6) Work that does not facilitate the psychological and social development of the child as in dull and repetitive tasks associated with industries like handicrafts, (7)Work that inhibits the child’s self esteem as in bonded labour and prostitution and in less extreme case the negative perception of street children.
The Government of Odisha has identified 3.2 lakh child labourers in different places in 30 districts. These children are harassed and exploited like anything. Sexual harassment has also come to the notice in many instances.
(The writer is faculty member, Jeypore law College, Jeypore, Koraput, Mob- 9438170563)