Child labour in India

LOf 12.6 million children in hazardous occupations, India has the highest number of labourers in the world under 14 years of age. Although the Constitution of India guarantees free and compulsory education to children between the age of 6 to 14 and prohibits employment of children younger than 14 in any hazardous environment, child labour is present in almost all sectors of the Indian economy Companies including Gap, Primark, Monsanto etc have been criticised for using child labour in either their operations in India or by their suppliers in India.

Silk manufacture

Human Rights Watch estimates that at least 350,000 bonded children are employed by the silk industry in India. As per Human Rights Watch, children as young as five years old are employed and work for up to 12 hours a day and six to seven days a week. Children are forced to dip their hands in scalding water to palpate the cocoons and are often paid less than Rs 10 per day.

Domestic labour

Official estimates for child labor working as domestic labor and in restaurants is more than 2,500,000 while NGOs estimate the figure to be around 20 million. The Government of India expanded the coverage of The Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act and banned the employment of children as domestic workers and as workers in restaurants, dhabas, hotels, spas and resorts effective from October 10, 2006.

Construction

The misuse of adult labor can be found in the construction industry too. adults are found in construction of both home and office buildings. In 2011, for the construction of the Asian Games care house, the contractors had employed adults, for they had to be paid more, making it a small issue.

Brick kilns

Each year, thousands of children are rescued from brick kilns, working in awful conditions. Some of the children are actually sold to the brick kiln owners, and are not paid.

Initiatives against child labour

In 1979, the Indian government formed the Gurupadswamy Committee to find about child labour and means to tackle it. The Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act was enacted based on the recommendations of the committee in 1986. A National Policy on Child Labour was formulated in 1987 to focus on rehabilitating children working in hazardous occupations. The ministry of Labour and Employment had implemented around 100 industry-specific National Child Labour Projects to rehabilitate the child workers since 1988.

Beedi manufacture

A survey conducted between 1994 and 1995 revealed that child workers comprise of more than 30% of total hired workers in the beedi manufacture sector . The United States Customs Service subsequently banned the import of Beedis made in Ganesh Beedi Works of Mangalore

Diamond industry

In 1997, the International Labour Organization published a report titled Child Labour in the Diamond Industry, claiming that child labour is highly prevalent in the Indian diamond industry, as child labourers constitute nearly 3% of the total workforce and the percentage of child labourers is as high as 25% in the diamond industry of Surat. The ICFTU further claimed that child labour was prospering in the diamond industry in Western India, where the majority of the world's diamonds are cut and polished while workers are often paid only a fraction of 1% of the value of the stones they cut.Pravin Nanavati, a Surat-based diamond businessman argued that, since high cost diamonds could easily be lost or broken while cutting or polishing, employing a child labourer would mean risking "lakhs of rupees" and “Around 8-10 years back, some western countries deliberately created the impression that child labour is prevalent in the Indian diamond industry" and called the boycott for monopolising in the sector. The South Gujarat Diamond Workers Association secretary Mohan Dhabuwala, argued that while child labour is highly prevalent in the construction and hotel industries, there are few child labourers in the diamond industry of Surat, less than 1% according to their surveys, mainly because of stern punishments and penalties for violation of child labour laws.

In 1998, Madhura Swaminathan from the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research argued that economic growth in Western India was associated with an increase in the number of child workers over the last 15 years and that children work at simple repetitive manual tasks that do not require long years of training or experience in low-paying hazardous works that involves drudgery and forecloses the option of school education for most children.

Legislation

The Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act (1986) bans employment of children in occupations related to

Transport of passengers

Manufacture and selling of crackers and fireworks

Abattoirs

Carpet weaving

Manufacture of Beedi,cement, matches, explosives, soap, slate pencils, agate products, agarbatti etc

Building and construction industry

Hazardous processes under the factory act

Brick kilns etc

The violation of the act can result in punishments ranging from imprisonment for one month to two years.

Non Governmental Organizations

Many NGOs like CARE India, Child Relief and You, Global march against child labor etc have been working to eradicate child labour in India. In 2005, Pratham, an Indian NGO was involved in one of the biggest rescue operations when around 500 child laborers were rescued from zari sweatshops in North East Delhi