Child Labour
What exactly is "Child Labour"?
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Child labour refers to the employment of children in any work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful.
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Worldwide, about 217 million children work, many full-time.
Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi believes that child labour, illiteracy and poverty form a vicious circle. He reels out figures to supplement the argument about the correlation between child labour and unemployment.
Child labour is not a necessity but a design by greedy employers, Sathyarti tells Onmanorama in the second part of an exclusive interview. The man who took up a vocation as a child rights activist after being moved by the plight of a cobbler's son who couldn't attend school, opens up on a wide range of issues that usurp the destiny of millions of children globally. Excerpts. You had pointed out that 168 million child labourers and almost a similar number of unemployed people (200m) exist in the world? How can we change the situation? |
Indian Child Labour
Worldwide,
more than million children work
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Poverty, lack of good schools and growth of informal economy are considered as the important causes of child labour in India. The 1998 national census of India estimated the total number of child labour, aged 4–15, to be at 12.6 million, out of a total child population of 253 million in 5-14 age group.
Indian law specifically defines 64 industries as hazardous and it is a criminal offence to employ children in such hazardous industries. Children there mostly work : -in the Diamond industry -at the Fireworks manufacture -at the Silk manufacture -at the Carpet manufacture -at the Coal mines |
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Consequences of child labour
The presence of a large number of child labourers is regarded as a serious issue in terms of economic welfare. Children who work fail to get necessary education. They do not get the opportunity to develop physically, intellectually, emotionally and psychologically. In terms of the physical condition of children, children are not ready for long monotous work because they become exhausted more quickly than adults. This reduces their physical conditions and makes the children more vulnerable to disease. Children who work, instead of going to school, will remain illiterate which limits their ability to contribute to their own well being as well as to community they live in.
The young labourers of today, will be part of the community of tomorrow. Child labour undoubtedly results in a trade-off with human capital accumulation. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), there are tremendous economic benefits for developing nations by sending children to school instead of work. Without education, children do not gain the necessary skills such as English literacy and technical aptitude that will increase their productivity to enable them to secure higher-skilled jobs in future with higher wages that will lift them out of poverty. |
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