CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA

Abstract

Children in Indian society has always been a topic less spoken or discussed. Children in every society have always been taken as the greatest gift to humanity. Childhood is an important stage of human development as it holds the potential to the future development of any society. Children who are brought up in an environment, which is helpful to their intellectual, physical and social development go on to be responsible and productive part of the society.

 If we are to engage the children in to work when they are too young for the task, we are unduly reducing their present welfare or their future income earning capabilities, either by shrinking their future external choices or by reducing their future individual productive capabilities. Generally it is said that due to economic problems children are forced to forego educational and other development opportunities and take up jobs which mostly exploit them as they are usually underpaid and engaged in hazardous conditions. Parents send their child for a job as a desperate measure due to poor economic conditions. It is therefore no wonder that the poor households represent the largest segment contributor of child labour. One of the key aspects of child labour is that children are sent to work at the expense of education. There is a strong effect of child labour on school attendance rates and the length of a child’s work day is inversely associated with their capacity to attend school. Child labour restricts the right of children to access and benefit from education and denies the fundamental opportunity to attend school. Child labour, thus, prejudices children’s education and also adversely affects their health and safety.