Child Labour

"Child labor" is, generally speaking, work for children that harms them or exploits them in some way (physically, mentally, morally, or by blocking access to education).
There is no universally accepted definition of "child labor". Varying definitions of the term are used by international organizations, non-governmental organizations, trade unions and other interest groups. Writers and speakers don’t always specify what definition they are using, and that often leads to confusion.

Causes for Child Labour : Poverty The cultural explanation is not necessarily distinct from the poverty explanation. It has often been argued that child work was essential to the survival of the children and their families. It indeed is obvious that, by and large, poverty is an important reason why children work. If they were not to work, survival of the entire family could be at stake. Child labour as a matter of fact can be beneficial to the child, not only in terms of the preparation for the tasks of adulthood, but also in terms of direct improvement of health condition. With these considerations in mind, it is not uncommon to divide child labour in four categories, from intolerable to hazardous and neutral and ending up with varieties of child work, which even may have a positive impact on the future adult. Acute poverty is usually advanced as a reason for sending children to work.  This obviously is an explanation, which hardly requires neither substantiation nor verification. It is common sense to accept that the poorer the family, the poorer the district, the poorer the country, the Higher the incidence of child labour.

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Can we eliminate child labour? Though it is a desirable goal the fact remains that in the given socio-economic scenario that is prevalent in our country, it is virtually impossible to do away with child labour. One cannot dispute the fact that employers exploit children by paying them much less than what they would pay in adult and the future of the working children is ruined as they will not be able to attend schools and get educated for a better future. But when one considers the economic compulsions of the families which force the children to work, one will be compelled to admit that elimination of child labour will be a distant dream as long as the socio-economic status of these families is not improved. Though elimination of child labour is an impossible task in the current socio-economic scenario, the Indian government is committed to the task of ensuring that no child remains illiterate, hungry and without medical care. When this ideal will be achieved is a million dollar question.

(This Article is written by Mrs. Sarita Sharma, Faculty- Dept. of Management Studies, NIMS)