Child Labour
CHILD LABOUR
The term “child labour” is often used interchangeably with “working child” or “employed child”.
While all these terms are defined on the basis of age of the person working.
According to the Constitution of India, child labourer may be defined as a person who is below the age of 14 years and is working for an earning. However, child labour denies children the opportunities for mental and physical development and consequently their life chances are marred. Children engaged in domestic work or helping their parents in agricultural or household pursuits do not get income but their work interferes with their childhood activities like education and recreation. Hence child labour needs to be defined in a manner which will include both paid and unpaid work. The Operation Research Group of Boards has defined a child labourer as a person who is in the age group of 5 to 15 years and who is at paid or unpaid work and remains busy for any hour of the day within or outside the family.
The Concerned for Working Children (CWC) of Bangalore defines a child labourer as “a person who has not completed his/her fifteenth year of age and is working with or without wages/ income on a part-time or full-time basis”.
Poverty and adult unemployment are the main reasons for the existence of child labour, vested interests of employers also encourage its perpetuation. The employers pay low wage to child labour for the same quantum of work that adults can do.
Types of Child Labour.
The ILO has given a typology of child work which is applicable across the countries. The categories are as follows
i) Domestic Non-monetary Work.
Children in both rural and urban areas undertake unpaid work within the family for maintenance of the household. It is self- employed and is generally “timeintensive” The activities included in the category are: caring for younger siblings, cooking, cleaning, washing, fetching water etc.
Such work in India is done mainly by girls.
The term “child labour” is often used interchangeably with “working child” or “employed child”.
While all these terms are defined on the basis of age of the person working.
According to the Constitution of India, child labourer may be defined as a person who is below the age of 14 years and is working for an earning. However, child labour denies children the opportunities for mental and physical development and consequently their life chances are marred. Children engaged in domestic work or helping their parents in agricultural or household pursuits do not get income but their work interferes with their childhood activities like education and recreation. Hence child labour needs to be defined in a manner which will include both paid and unpaid work. The Operation Research Group of Boards has defined a child labourer as a person who is in the age group of 5 to 15 years and who is at paid or unpaid work and remains busy for any hour of the day within or outside the family.
The Concerned for Working Children (CWC) of Bangalore defines a child labourer as “a person who has not completed his/her fifteenth year of age and is working with or without wages/ income on a part-time or full-time basis”.
Poverty and adult unemployment are the main reasons for the existence of child labour, vested interests of employers also encourage its perpetuation. The employers pay low wage to child labour for the same quantum of work that adults can do.
Types of Child Labour.
The ILO has given a typology of child work which is applicable across the countries. The categories are as follows
i) Domestic Non-monetary Work.
Children in both rural and urban areas undertake unpaid work within the family for maintenance of the household. It is self- employed and is generally “timeintensive” The activities included in the category are: caring for younger siblings, cooking, cleaning, washing, fetching water etc.
Such work in India is done mainly by girls.