Child Labour in India

compiled by Yogesh L. Simmhan

* Definition
  Bonded labour system: 
  - system of forced labour
  - person enters into an agreement with a creditor 
  - loan taken by him or by any of his ascendants or descendants (even
    without proof)
  - he or any member of family renders service to creditor 
  - for specified/unspecified period with/without wages
  - forfeits: freedom to employment, right to move freely, right to sell
    product of his labour

  Bonded child labour: children working in conditions of servitude in order
  to pay off a debt. Debt incurred by relatives, parents or guardians.

  
* Magnitude and demography
  13.6 million (Indian census) [1981]
  20 million children in hazadrous condition (Labour Ministry) [1994]
  77 million computed on basis of # below poverty line (Commision on Labour
  Standards, GoI) [1995]
  60-115 million (Human Rights Watch) [1996]
  Child Economic Activity rate: 13.5% {Male}  10.3 {Female}%  (Int'l Labour
  Org'n) [1995]
  Largest number of working children in the world!
  Child labour accounts for 20% of our Gross National Product


* Types of labour
  - 85% of rural child labourers work in cultivation and agriculture
  - 40% of urban child labourers work in manufacturing and repair
  - carpet making, tea platations, gem polishing, fireworks


* Causes
  - Poverty (in some cases 1/3 of family income from children)
  - Absence of social welfare scheme and easy access to loans
  - Caste system (higher proportion of scheduled caste children work at a
    younger age)
  - Lack of access to schools
  - Attitude of parents that skills more important than education
  - Child labour is 80% cheaper (sometimes around Rs.3 per day)

* Case study
  Stitching football in Jalandar
  - 10,000 children working in production of football
  - 1350 are only working, rest working and studying
  - 1/3 are less than 12 years old
  - work 7-9 hours a day
  - adult earns less than Rs.20 a days. children much lesser.
  - 90% are dalits

  Sivakasi match stick and fireworks
  - 50,000 children work with explosive and toxic material
  - work with fake birth certificates and within household
  - paper tube rolling, filling of aluminium powder, powdering, sticking
    labels and paper cutting
  - industry supposedly has eradicated child labour per ILO convention but
    continues to do it through agents

  Child trafficking 
  - 30% of the country's estimated 9 million prostitutes are children
    (ECPAT Int'l) [1999]
  - around half of them have been smuggled in from Nepal and Bangladesh
  - 5000 to 7000 girls barely 10 years old are trafficked from Nepal each
    year sold, for about Rs.1000 each 
  - devadasi tradition, deception in the name of marriage or employment and
    families who sell the children account primarily for this
  - tourism and fear of STDs and local demand have contributed to its
    growth

  Police abuse of street children
  - 100,000 street children in Calcutta
  - used as scape-goats by police and viewed as criminals or
    criminals-in-waiting
  - detained in police custody illegally and abused and made to perform
    services for the cops
  - there have been numerous cases of custodial deaths

* The law
  - Article 23 of Constitution of India [1954] prohibits all kinds of bonded
    labour
  - Article 24 of Constitution of India [1954] prohibits employment of
    children below the age of 14 in hazardour conditions
  - Bonded Labour System Act [1976] frees all bonded labourers and cancels
    all outstanding debts
  - Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act [1956] ammendment provides for 7 years to
    life imprisonment for recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring
    or receipt of a child (below 18 years) for the purpose of exploitation
  - Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act [1986] regulates working
    hours and wages of children < 14 years working in non-hazardour
    employment (ILO suggests 15 years as the limit)
  - Juvenile Justice Act [1986] prohibits detention of juveniles for more
    than 24 hours and requires then to be sent to their parents or to a
    remand house upon identification


* Solutions
  - compulsory education (~ reduced by half in Sri Lanka after
    implementation ~ less than 1/3 of national average in Kerala)
  - child worker union and reglation
  - minimal social security
  - mass lobbying
  - enforcing laws

Links and Resources

Some AID projects related to Child Labour