Once Jawahar Lal Nehru said, “Children are like buds in a garden and should be carefully and lovingly nurtured as they are the future of the nation and the citizens of tomorrow.” But, are we considering them the future of the nation? Are we lovingly and carefully nurturing them? The answer is “certainly not”. In contemporary times we see the exploitation of children, which will precede us nowhere. We need to stop the exploitation of children which is being done in many ways. One is child labour often referred to as when children are driven into hazardous work which has utterly havoc ramifications like loss of dignity, violation of fundamental rights, deprivation of education and face many health issues which are at times lethal. Child labour is not confined to one country but is prevalent in the entire world. In India, we have myriad cases of child labour. According to the census 2011, the total number of child labourers in India between 5-14 years of age is 4.35 million (main workers) and 5.76 million (marginal workers) Further, the total number of adolescent labourers in India is 22.87 million collectively around 33 million quite humongous. In India several schemes, policies and strategies are formulated to eradicate child labour like the PENCIL Portal and a multitude of Child Labour Laws like The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986, The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of Children Act, 2000, The Indian Factories Act, 1948 and many others. Moreover in our Constitution, numerous articles are enshrined for child upliftment or against child labour like Article 21A and Article 24.
The pencil portal was launched by the Ministry of Labour and Employment in 2017. Its objective is “country free from child labour”. On this portal, we can register complaints if we find any case of child labour. Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986 enunciates, any child below the age of 14 working in a hazardous occupation is stringently proscribed. Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of Children Act, 2000 states if any individual hires a child in hazardous work or takes him as bonded labour will be penalized under this Act. The Indian Factories Act, 1948, states that no child should be hired in factories possessing an age below 14. Similarly, Article 21A Right to Education (Children between the age of 6 to 14 must be provided free and compulsory education) Article 24 Prohibition of employment of children in factories etc (No children below the age of 14 should be involved in any hazardous factories or industries). Amid these policies or laws, most child labour is wiped out but not to the hilt. There are many causes and reasons behind child labour some of these are poverty, which is the first and foremost reason that children face in their lives. This kind of hardship is usually faced by orphans or children whose parents are physically disabled. They need to earn by themselves and care about their family at an early rising age. They cannot afford the expenses of education like books, notebooks, pens, uniforms, etc. This also compels them to do farming and cultivate by themselves, which is also time-consuming work that not only snatches them the opportunity to receive a proper education but also impacts their physical and mental development. Secondly, the rude behaviour of teachers some children left schools at the early phase of education only because of the rude behaviour of teachers with them. When a weak student is not able to understand and comprehend things easily, the teachers get angry and beat them mercilessly. This kind of unfair behaviour compels them to leave their education knowing that it is not their cup of tea and these children are compelled then to work at an early age. Thirdly, the kidnapping of children. Kidnappers kidnap the children and then sell them to those hardhearted people who either compel them to work in hazardous places like mining, brick kilns, factories, etc. without wages or make them physically disabled by cutting their legs, arm, hand or making them blind and then sent to roads for begging. It is indeed true sporadically children want to work amid straitened circumstances but in lieu of putting them to work owners should assist children financially to eliminate such violations because to wipe out such tribulations from society is not only the responsibility of government officials but is of every citizen, therefore, we need to endeavour together to obliterate this violation in order to make this nation a developed nation.
Shahid Shafi Shah is a BSc 5th Semester student at Govt Degree College Sogam (Lolab), Kupwara and can be reached at sh***********@***oo.com. Zahoor Akbar Kumar is a BA student at Govt Degree College Sogam (Lolab), Kupwara and can be reached at za************@***il.com