Micro-Economics
Fadwa Nawari
19 March 2013
Child Labor in India
One of the most important phases in the human life is childhood. This is when human beings learn morals, values and other social norms. This is also where a person learns how to become a successful adult. This should be a fun and exciting period in life where your body and mind wants to grow and explore new things. Not all children throughout the world get to experience this kind of lifestyle. In India, children are forced to work in sweatshops and factories against their will. They would do anything to get away from the world they live in but are forced by others. The conditions that they have to work in are absolutely gruesome and are working long hours in factories. Some children are even sold to households as domestic help but if they make any mistakes, they are beaten and tortured. Children are made to starve and do not even have clothes to wear. Child labor in India is mostly in the agricultural industry but has been moving into other industries such as carpet weaving, construction, hotels, cottonseed production, leather, mining, silk, ect. According to the statistics given by Indian government there are 20 million child laborers in the country, while other agencies claim that it is 50 million. There is no true way to know how many children are actually employed in india because there are many factories and employers that have never been investigated for child labor and probably never will be.
There are two main reasons for child labor throughout the world; one being poverty and over population. Many parents give birth to children and see them as a source of income. They put their children out on the streets and make them beg for money. Once the child stops collecting enough money, they sell them to households or employers. Even though the parents know this is wrong, the are forced to send their children into dangerous situations for reasons of survival. Many of the parents are not able to find jobs because employers are able to hire children for cheaper rates.
Steps have been made to improve the problem of child labor in India by implementing laws that make the employement of chlildrn under the age of fourteen illegal, unless the business in family owned and operated and the child is related. Employers find loopholes to these laws though, many say that the children working for them are distant relatives. There are specific clauses in the draft of Indian constitution dated 26th January 1950, about the child labor policy in India. They can be found throughout different articles in the Fundamental rights and the Directive Principles of the State Policy. There are many articles to this declaration, but there are four main clauses (Child Labor)
- ( Article 14) No child below the age of 14 years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment.
- (Article 39-E) The state shall direct its policy towards securing that the health and strength of workers, men and women and the tender age of children are not abused and that they are not forced by economic necessity to enter vocations unsuited to there are and strength.
- ( Article 39-f ) Children shall be given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth shall be protected against moral and material abandonment.
-( Article 45 ) The state shall endeavor to provide within a period of ten years from the commencement of the constitution for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen years.
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