Child Labour is defined as the
work done as part time or full time by the under age children to at low payment
or to pay debt taken by their parents. Child labour is the worst crime in world
which destroys children future completely and so the nation’s future too. A
Child has full right to live his childhood by playing, studying and enjoying but
due to some selfish people they are forced to do work as labour in unhealthy
environment. Sometimes their real parents became their enemies because they
force their children for labour work either due to selfishness or fulfil their
basic needs for survival in the world.
Who is Responsible for Child Labour
In India, more than 5 million children are engaged in labour work that is
completely not acceptable in order to make our country healthy, wealthy and
socially developed. Survey says that, poverty and shortage of good primary
schools are the main cause for child labour. Except that, mental state of
parents also affects this crime. Until a parent is not aware of harmful impacts
of this crime “child labour” on their children, it is almost impossible to end
this crime. Extreme poor and rural areas are the sources of this evil “Child
Labour” or “Child Slavery”. This trend has developed in rural areas to send
their kids for work instead of sending them to school to get education.
What are the workspaces for Child Labour
There are so many places in India where this crime still exists like households,
real estates, hotel and restaurants, manufacturing plants, handicraft industry,
entertainment industry, coal & mines, etc. Some of them are too hazardous and
dangerous for young ones which can physically and mentally damage them like
exploitative occupation of coal mines and industries of matchbox and fireworks,
but still children are working there in excess number.
Effects of Child Labour
Children are getting affected physically, mentally, socially, and morally due to
this unacceptable crime “Child Labour”. It has targeted many countries in the
form of undeveloped economic structure which has resulted in poverty,
illiteracy, high population, corruption, unemployment, criminal activities, etc.
Laws and action to prevent child labour
Indian Government has introduced so many rules and regulation for handling this
crime like “Factories act” in 1948, “Mines act” in 1952, “The Child Labour
(Prohibition and Regulation) act” in 1986, “The Juvenile act” in 2000 and “The
right of children to free and compulsory education act” 2009. So the percentage
of child labour is decreased in country but still we have not ended this problem
completely because there are so many firms where children are hired for labour
work for no or less pay. Many NGOs are also working for preventing this problem
like “Bachpan Bachao Aandolan”, “Child India”, “Care India”, “Talash
Association” and many more. Government has declared punishment for this crime is
50000 Rs penalty for first attempt and one to three years of imprisonment for
continuous second attempt.
Conclusion
Each and every citizen is responsible for this crime “Child Labour” either those
who are taking benefit of labour work for less pay or those who are ignoring
working children. Until we all shall not understand the harmful and dangerous
effects of child labour, we cannot get rid of this. Firstly, parents should
change their thinking about importance of education that how much is this
important for their kids. We all should avoid child labour in our domestic area
or work area and if we find this crime happening somewhere, we should take
necessary steps to stop this. “There is a power in Unity” we should follow this
rule in order to make our children happy, healthy and educated.