The Exploitation of Child Labor in India

What brand of clothing are you wearing right now? Where was your shirt made? Do you know what went into the making of your clothes? It could be the blood of a child, the sweat of a child, the tears of a child, or simply the life of a child. India is a major home to child labor. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), an estimated 120 million children from the ages of five to fourteen work fulltime or more; of these, India is responsible for about 44 million. (International Labor Organization) These children have been deprived of their basic rights to education, have poor health conditions, and have completely lost their childhood for good. Can you imagine not being able to attend school, not learning anything except to work till your arms fall off? In cultures where job opportunities sometimes can be less based on education (as in developing countries such as India), working in a factory or mine is a way to learn a skill or trade or is it? Lewis Hine says otherwise, according to this statement he made in 1908; "There is work that profits children, and there is work that brings profits only to employers. The object of employing children is not to train them, but to get high profits from their work”(Lewis Hine). Children in India such as a 14-year-old boy by the name of Mohammad Manan Ansari says “I’ve never stepped foot inside of a school, I want to know what it’s like to learn” (Mohammad Manan Ansari). In India children do not have the option to go to school. Attempts to attend school are met with protest and physical violence by their employers. Children tend to be sometimes beaten, burned or severely bruised. Their adulthood is impoverished, illiterate and damaged because of the lack of education due to these so called “jobs”. Without education the freedom of thought and opinion becomes rather academic since thought and opinion requires a certain level of education. Political participation without literacy is also very difficult.