CWC’S VISION

"A sustainable and ecologically balanced world where all children

are respected citizens and abled protagonists, who realise,
experience and practise all their rights through their
participation in equitable partnership with adults to establish and
maintain together a secular, equitable, just, non- discriminatory
world."
THE CONCERNED FOR WORKING CHILDREN (CWC) BELIEVES THAT THE PROBLEMS OF CHILDREN WHO WORK CAN
BE SOLVED WITHIN THE PRESENT CONTEXT

THE OBJECTIVE OF THE FOUNDING MEMBERS OF CWC WAS TO DEVELOP A PROGRAMME WHICH WOULD HAVE A
SUSTAINABLE IMPACT ON THE ISSUE

• In order to achieve this, CWC works with local governments, community and working
children themselves to implement viable, comprehensive, sustainable and appropriate
solutions in partnership with all the major actors, so that children do not have to work. It
empowers working children so that they may be their own first line of defence and
participate in an informed manner in all decisions concerning themselves.
• CWC upholds the following concerns as central to any action aspiring to improve the
quality of life of working children:
1. All actions should be child centered and in the best interest of working children.
Interventions should have a positive short term and long-term effect, first and
foremost on the children themselves.
2. All interventions should improve the quality of life for children, their families and
their communities.
3. The immediate and long-term impact of all actions on 'working children' have to
be monitored and assessed. It should be mandatory that such mechanisms are
set up before any intervention is implemented.
4. Organised representation of working children and their protagonism has to be
recognised and respected. No decisions or actions which have an impact on
working children should be taken without consulting them

Strategic Objectives of CWC

• Solve child labour problem and be able to declare areas `child labour free'
• Facilitate protagonism of working children so that they may enrich their lives and
contribute towards building a more just and equitable society
• Create the `time' and space' for children to be empowered by making an impact on
National and State policy, legislation and programmes.
• Develop theoretical and practical models that effectively and efficiently deal with the
problem and can be replicated both by the state and by NGOs.
• Influence state and National Governments and International agencies and organisations
to focus on child labour as a major part of their political agenda.
• Influence state and National Governments and International agencies and organisations
to focus on child labour as a major part of their political agenda.
• Participate and influence in National, Regional and International fora in order to bring the
issue of child labour into the political spotlight.
 • Use all forms of media, including main stream, to sensitise the public to the issue and
change perceptions in order to create a climate where child labour is not acceptable.
• Build relations with NGOS, institutions, trade unions, social and political movements and
individuals in order to build a strong lobby in support of the rights of children.
• Develop with others, an alternate agenda for India where there will be no exploitation of
children.

How We Started
The Concerned for Working Children (CWC) have been working in the field of child labour since
1980. In its early years, CWC was involved in the unionisation of the informal sector where
children below the age of 14 years comprised nearly 40 per cent of the total work force. These
children, who in many ways were more militant than the adult members were deeply disappointed
when they found that the agreements as a result of collective bargaining had not given them any
benefits as laws did not recognise them. They wanted to change the law to one that recognised
them as workers and protected them as children at the same time. The children and the members
of the union embarked on an exercise to draft an alternative legislation for working children in
1985.

The children approached the question from the premise that the reasons why they worked could
not be changed and proceeded to address the work situation. The adult office bearers of the
union approached the problem from a different angle as they were not willing to accept the
causes of children's work as given. They wanted to find ways to tackle these by inducing
structural changes. These two visions were integrated and a Draft Bill was developed.

In 1985, the Central Labour Ministry agreed to convert the draft into an official Bill of the Ministry.
In 1986 the official Bill was presented to the Central Cabinet for approval. A watered down
version of this draft was presented to Parliament and passed in October 1986. Though the
Legislation was fraught with loopholes and definition al difficulties, it did generate a major debate
on child work in independent India for the first time. The children also proved that they could
engage in policy debates and make major contributions in this area.

CWC registered as a society in 1985 and for the last decade and a half has been working on the
issue of child labour. Its objectives are to work with children, their families as well as the larger
communities so as to be able to declare areas as child labour free and also create supportive
structures that are able to sustain a child rights friendly social transformation. CWC target age
group is working children below the age of 18. Initially CWC began its operations by working with
children employed in hotels and restaurants in Bangalore, and over the years has expanded its
outreach to include working children in urban as well as rural areas in Karnataka. It is currently
working in 9 rural panchayats spread across 4 districts in Karnataka, spread across the diverse
physical and economic landscapes of coastal Udipi, mountainous Uttara Kanara, and the plains
of Bellary, and Davangere as well as the urban slums of Bangalore city. Further, drawing upon its
experiences with mobilizing children at the grassroots levels, CWC has also emerged as a vocal
child advocacy group at the state, national, and international level.

Timeline

1985 – The Concerned for Working Children registered as a Society – the main focus was on
critiquing and understanding the problem of working children and recognising the importance of
working with them and listening to what they have to say.
1986 – Launch of the urban programme – Ankur -- in Bangalore city.

1989 – Establishment of the Centre for Applied Research and Documentation in Bangalore (CARD)
in response to a need for an information base on the issue of child labour by CWC as well as other
organizations working on similar issues.

1989 – Bhima Patrike – a wall newspaper is brought out by and for working children, to give them a
voice and a forum to speak out.

1989 – Gramashrama, the rural programme, begins in Udipi.

1990 – Creation of Bhima Sangha – a union of, by and for working children. Current membership
stands at 13,000.

1991 – Varahi Parichaya, a landmark social mapping exercise by the children of Kundapur to
understand the link between their lives and environmental degradation and economic decline.

1991 – Namma Angadi – a marketing organisation managed by Bhima Sangha members (now also
by Namma Sabha members) to interface with the local market and also the outside world.

1991 – Bhima Kala Ranga – a cultural wing of Bhima Sangha that engages members in theatre,
music and folk art. Participation in these programmes not only enhances the self-esteem and self-
confidence of children, it also serves as a powerful vehicle for community education.

1992 – launch of a rural economic regeneration programme "old roots new shoots".

1992 – CWC is one of the founding members and director of the International Working Group on
Child Labour (IWGCL).

1993 – Establishment of Namma Bhoomi a residential education and training programme for working
children in Kundapur, Udipi.

1995 – Launch of the Dhudio Makkala (working children) Toofan Programme:

o Children’s Panchayat (Makkala Panchayat) – an organisation of children (school-

going and out of school) where they elect their representatives. This is positioned as
an apolitical and non-partisan structure than can interface with the government and
local bodies and give children a voice in governance.
o Panchayat-level task force (tripartite body of government functionaries, elected
representatives, local leaders and children). This is positioned as a non-partisan
body that can carry the voices of the children into structures of governance.
o Taluk-level task force (tripartite body of government functionaries, elected
representative, local NGOs and other community organisations of adults, and
Makkala Panchayat, the organisation of children.)
o Appropriate Education Programme – revitalising the existing schools by working with
teachers, alternative school (extension school) for children who cannot attend the
formal school and extension Anganwadi Programme for pre-school age children.
This is positioned as a series of interventions that enhance children’s access to
education, make the existing system sensitive and responsive to their problems and
needs, and improve the quality of education within the formal system by working with
 teachers and the educational administration.

1995 – A "working children’s forum" facilitated by CWC to enable working children across the country
to critique the CRC in India and respond to it in the form of a Working Children’s Report (1998).

1996 – Asia regional conference of 5,000 children is held in Bangalore in April 1996 followed by an
international meeting of working children in Kundapur in November-December 1996 and results in the
drafting of the Kundapur Declaration.

1997 – Working children invited as delegates to the ILO conference on child labour in Amsterdam
and in Oslo in 1998

1997 – Establishment of Namma Sabha – an organisation for Bhima Sangha members who cross the
age barrier of 18 years. This is positioned as an organisation that grows out of the Bhima Sangha,
supports children and also represents their members and gives them a collective voice.

1998 – Identification of women’s self-help groups (SHGs) as local partners in working children’s
struggle towards equality.

1999 – Balkur is officially declared to be "child labour free".

1999 – National Movement of Working Children launched

2000 - The first issue of Bhima Vani (audio magazine) is produced by the member of Namma Sabha
with assistance from CWC.

2000 – Creation of DHRUVA with its objectives of providing training, consultancy, and advocacy.

Programmes
Field Programmes

At the grassroots level, CWC has two programmes:

Ankur - Urban Programme

Gramashrama - Rural Programme

CWC's field programmes in both rural and urban areas are in partnership with:

• Working children themselves

• All children
• Women
• Communities
• Local Governments and
• Community based organisations
Our field programmes implement viable, comprehensive, sustainable and appropriate
solutions in partnership with all the major actors so that children do not have to work
and are able to realise their rights.

The scope of the two field programmes Ankur & Gramashrama includes revival of rural economy,
evolution of appropriate education systems, strengthening decentralised local governance and
empowerment of working children and their communities.

Supporting Programmes

CARD - Research and Documentation Wing

Samvada - Communication and Advocacy Wing

Dhruva

Appropriate Education Programme

Namma Bhoomi

Ankur - Urban Programme

CWC started its urban programme, Ankur in 1985. The urban programme covers 24 field areas of
Bangalore and Kundapur town in Karnataka, India. CWC's activists work towards the
empowerment of working children, their families and communities in the urban areas.

It was launched, in order to directly work with working children in the city in the hotel industry. It
aims to strengthen Bhima Sangha and to empower children to realise their rights. It has facilitated
outreach among working children through setting up of voluntary centres and contact point and by
facilitating the emergence of the Bhima Sangha (children’s union). CWC has extended a broad-
based understanding of education by addressing issues of literacy and health education among
children, giving information on tapping available local resources and infrastructure (banks, post-
office, hospitals etc.), and awareness of basic legal rights and responsibilities. Over the years
CWC has adopted a two-fold approach to tackle the issue of child labour in urban areas. The first
is the sectoral approach in order to highlight certain industries in which children are concentrated
and are particularly vulnerable to exploitation for example the hotel industry, agarbatti (incense
sticks used in prayer) factories and rag picking. Working in tandem with the sectoral focus is the
geographical approach (inspired by their rural experiences) whereby children in certain slum
developments across the city (e.g. Vandimode, Harinagar, Banashankari) were targeted so as to
enable CWC to work with the children’s families, the larger community and the municipal
corporation. The focus was on issues of child labour and social transformation

Gramashrama - Rural Programme

Gramashrama, CWC's Rural project was started in 1989 in order to address the issue of child
labour comprehensively by stemming the trend of migration of rural children to urban centres in
search of work. Gramashrama presently works in 80 villages located in four districts of Karnataka
in order to evolve a child centred, comprehensive development for its villages in order to make
villages child labour free. The task that CWC laid out for itself was to initiate a process to
understand reasons why children migrate and explore possible strategies to stem the trend of
migration of rural children to urban centres in search of work. The rural programme covers 9
Panchayats, in 4 districts. In addition to the 9 Panchayats we are working in, four other
Panchayats, including Hathiangadi Panchayat will join the Toofan programme soon. CWC’s field
programmes include both entry and exit strategies for each Panchayat.

Gramashrama has two specific strategies to strengthen the role of civil society. One is the
mobilisation and empowerment of children and all other marginalized groups. The second is to
create/re-design/re-vitalise the mainstream decision making structures so that the most
marginalized groups have a say in decision-making processes. Gramashrama facilitates the
formation of Bhima Sanghas, School Children’s Organisations, Namma Sabhas, Namma
Gumpus (A collective of artisans working in similar occupations) and Mahila Sanghas (Women’s
groups) in all Panchayats. It also facilitates the setting up of Makkala Panchayats and Task
Forces (at the Village and the Taluk levels) for effective interfacing between children and adult
members of the community and with government officials and elected representatives.

CWC already has phased out of several Panchayats. The organisations and structures that were
set up continue to function with minimal support from CWC, that is, primarily in the form of
capacity building and technical inputs on specific issues.

Children's Participation
What is Children's Participation?

Children’s Participation is not a project, it is not event based; it is a running theme through
every action or intervention and it requires a major paradigm shift. The understanding of
participation and the way it is translated into action varies and seems to be defined by the socio-
cultural context of the child and the ideological frame surrounding this understanding. However, it
is important to arrive at a culturally neutral definition of children’s participation, where the
principles are common, though the manifestations may vary according to the situation of children.

When Children’s Participation is seen within the frame of protagonism it takes on another
dimension. The right and the ability to advocate on one’s own behalf, to be in control and to be a
part of decision making processes and interventions. This form of participation of children and
youth enhances the concept of civil society participation and strengthens democratic processes.

Adults can play a proactive role if they wish to enable children’s participation. However, in order
to perform this role adequately, adults need to prepare themselves. This has to be done with
utmost seriousness and honesty. And perhaps the first lesson is that adults will have to unlearn
many things before they can ‘learn’.

To enable children’s participation to happen constructively and effectively and in a way that is
positive for children, they need to be empowered. The three essential elements of empowerment
are:

• An organisation or forum
• Access to and use of relevant information
• Access to resources (structural, material, human and financial).

For more information on children's participation, please click here: A Journey in Children's
Participation

Structures to enable children's participation as developed and now facilitated by CWC:

 • Bhima Sangha
• Makkala Panchayat
• Namma Sabha

IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY

Millions of the street children/ working children who live alone, under nourished
since birth, who are denied opportunities to earn their lively hood, social respect,
education and help, who lived without love and affection, children whom world tries to
ignore. There are reports that the globalization with its powerful market economic
equations has been marginalizing this section of the society further by pushing them to
the periphery of modern development discourse. If the management and marketing
concepts help to throw light to the efforts of NammaBhoomi and NammaAngadi, it will
help in empowering and sustaining their livelihood. In this way this project tries to make
the voice of the voiceless people heard in the society where they live.
Objectives
 To determine the attitude of the consumers towards NammaBhoomi and
NammaAngadi’s products
 To evaluate the performance of NammaBhoomi and NammaAngadi.
 To identify the weakness in the process of production and marketing and try to
find out solutions.
This chapter discusses various methodology to conduct “Empowering and
susustainability of street / working children through institutional support and marketing
activities”.
Location of the Organization and Location of the Study
Namma Bhoomi is located 4 km off Kundapur in Udupi District. The survey was
conducted in Udupi district which includes Udupi, Karkala and Kundapur.

Data Collection Method

The primary data and Secondary Data are used for the analysis and
interpretations.

The secondary information are collected from

i. Magazines, journals
ii. Various reports of the Organization.
iii. Newspapers
iv. Websites.

The data collected from primary source are

i. Observation
ii. Personal interaction/ interviews with customers
iii. The consumer survey though questionnaire
 iv. Personal interaction with the people who are involved in the
movement of abolition of child labour and activities of Namma
Bhoomi.
v. Personal interaction with training co-ordinations and others
committed employees of the organization.

Sample Size
For the consumer survey, sample size of 100 respondents were taken. These
respondents were selected from Udupi district especially from Karkala, Kundapur, and
Udupi.

The Basic Objectives of Namma Bhoomi

 Going beyond literacy and vocational training and equipping children with life
skills, which lead to empowerment.
 To develop theoretical and practical models that effectively and efficiently deals
with the problem.
 Influencing the government and international agencies to focus on child labour as
a major part of their political agenda.
 Participating in regional, national and international for dealing with the issue,
using media to sensitize public.
 Building a strong lobby in support of the right of children by networking with
NGOs, institutions trade unions, socials political movements and developing an
alternate agenda for our country, where there will be no explotation of children.

How Children Join Namma Bhoomi?

Initially, Namma Bhoomi, will announce about the training details to all
panchayats. Then working children/street children have to make an application. They
should appear for an interview along with the parents the panchayat. Preliminary
interview is conducted here. Basic criteria considered for selecting a child are,
 Child must be below 18 years.
 He/she must be a working child and not a school going child.
 There must be a real need for training and employment.
 Here priority is given to members of Bhima sanga.

Final interview is conducted in training centers by the directors of Namma

Bhoomi, panchayat members, training coordinator. Children are also selected by
child helpline. (Makkal Sahayavani) those working children who are exploited by
their owners. Children’s history and parents addresses are maintained for
communication.

Training Areas
Two levels of information is imported at the residential school:
Pre Foundation Course
During this level all general information is taught to children, including literature,
mathematics, history, geography, physical, chemistry, natural science, social and
economic analysis, gender and sex education and base skill in gardening, sewing cooking
and first aid.

Foundation Course
During this stage vocational training, includes the availability and access to raw
material, production process, design marketing, credit and management skills are also
given. Children’s areas of interest is recognized and helping them to developing
following are:

1).Wood Work and Carpentry

All the trainers are taught skills like working with wood, basic joinery used in
furniture and construction and making different products by looking at catalogs and
drawing.
2). Construction and Mansonry
Here both boys and girls are given raw materials like mud. They are also taught
about local construction techniques and methods, modern methods, and technologies of
buildings, low cost construction etc.
3). Tailoring Workshop
Both girls and boys are trained in tailoring. Inputs are given in pattern making for
shirts, blouses, Kurthas, Paijammas, Slawars and other garments of daily use in rural
areas. Students are also taught sewing techniques, button holding and hemming.
Students draw the pattern on the cemented wall of the class room with chalk and
transfer the pattern on to a newspapers, cut is out and join the pieces as a dummy
garments.
The fabric is provided to the trainees. Garment is cut and stitched under the
supervision of the teachers. Part of the garments produced during training are given to the
students freely and are also purchased by the local public at a discounted rate.
4). Motor Winding and Electrical Repairing
The students are taught theory and given practical training in electrical wiring,
motor winding, fan and mixer repair and maintenance.
5). Weaving Workshop
Both girls and boys take up training for weaving. A master weaver trains the
students in yarn winding, warping, setting up the loom drafting drawing in weaving and
all other related skills. Experts train the students in the area of dying.
6). Cane and Bamboo Workshop
Hear students are mostly girls and they are taught to split bamboo and cane, and
to work with most basic tools and marketing various products.
7). Leather Workshop
Here boys are taught to work with leather and to make products like chappals,
belts, watch straps etc. The inputs are given by the local craftsman.
In all training programs the children get the benefit of both traditional and
contemporary inputs. At the end of the training period there is a process of evaluation
 conducted by the team of professionals. This team presents each student a tool kit and a
certificate.
As a follow up, these children are helped to make a team and are provided with
necessary inputs to identify and run viable business.
Namma Bhoomi tried to being two streams of expertise together in designing this
programme. They have master crafts person from the village and academically qualified
person as instructors. Hence the children get the benefit of both theory and practice.

Namma Bhoomi, the Residential Training Center

 Namma Bhoomi is recognized as a Community polytechnic by the Ministry of
Human Resource Development.
 Namma Bhoomi has a resource panel consisting of environmentalists, economists,
theatre person, rural development experts, educationists, designers,
agriculturalists and other experts.
 Namma Bhoomi has links with the RUDSETTI which provides training in Credit
and Management Skills for the trainers.
 TA Pai Institutes BVT supports Namma Bhoomi in technology transfer as well as
identifying additional resource person as trainers.
 Cultural organization such as the Yakshagana Academy work closely with
Namma Bhoomi.

The Rationale for a Residential Programme

 During the training period, immediate burdens of the child and the family
are relieved to some extent.
 Creates an environment to break down barriers of caste and gender.
 Builds up the nutritional levels of the child.
 Provides space to the child to examine and analyse her/his society .
 Provides vocational input to the child along with other inputs.
 Child has access to both theoretical as well as practical shills.
 Child has exposure to both traditional and the modern knowledge
regarding the vocation.

After Graduation – as Young Professionals

 The graduates receive the certificates from the HRD.
 Both boys and girls are earning good and stable income.
 They have formed groups( Namma Gumpus)
 They run Namma Angadi – their co operative marketing outlet.
 They n\have the support of the Taluk level task force.
 They have the support of the Local Goverments.

After Graduation – as Agents of Change

♦ As individuals they are actively involved in taking up issues related to
children’s rights and human rights the Makkala Panchayats and the Task
Force.
 ♦ They work closely with the Task Force, the Makkala Panchayats and the
Panchayats to implement programmes, which are child cantered.
♦ As organized groups they are actively involved in influencing mainstream
politics to become more child friendly.
♦ They are a part of the supportive term for the younger graduates of
Namma Bhoomi.

Besides providing them training Namma Bhoomi also makes sure that students
have basic neducational qualification. Students are encouraged to appear for their
7th and SSLC examination since professions demand such qualifications. Fore
example, electricians require an SSLC certificate to get license practice.
Namma Bhoomi provides infrastructure for training free of cost. The
parents pay the school fee in kind, like paddy, vegetables etc. only 50% of funds
come from support groups, the rest of are local sponsorships.

Namma Angadi: (Our shop)

This is the Marketing and sales network for Namma Bhoomi’s children’s
products. Here range of products are displayed. The 3 marketing units are in,
1. Namma Bhoomi in Kanyana
2. Kundapur
3. Bangalore.

Products and Related Prices are shown Below

1. Yakshagana Baskets 2. Fish Basket(Medium) Rs. 60

3. Fishbasket (Small) – Rs. 40
5. Fruit basket - Rs. 40
7. Round Lampe Shade – Rs.
9. Keychains – Rs. 10
11. Table Lamp Shade Rs.
13. Boat Lamp Shade
15. Money box (small) Rs.70
17. files – Rs. 80
19. Panels (6*6) Rs. 12
21. Panels (12*12) Rs. 30
23.Panels (Large) Rs.
25. Siblu (One inch) -1
27. Flower basket
29. Kabi’s
31. Dustbin (small)
33. Trays
35. Bread Basket (handle)
37. Hoobutti (small)
39. Butti with Rope Rs. 40
41. Chape Bag
43. Hand Fans Es. 25
4. Pooja Basket – Rs. 30
6. Half Lamp Shade – Rs. 90
8. Umbrella – Rs. 120
10. Wal Lamp Shade - Rs
12. Hanging Lamp Shade
14. Vase Stand
16. Money box (big) Rs. 120
18. Panels (4*4) Rs. 10
20. Panels (8*8) Rs. 20
22. Panels (13*19) Rs.40
24. Purse
26. Siblu (flat)
28. Cradel box
30. Dustbins (big)
32. Sirsi Geusi
34. Bread Basket (handle)
36. Geresi Big
38. Hoobitti (Bag) Rs. 30
40. Vase with flowers Rs
42. Hair clips
44. Tray Box
45. Boats 46. Sirsi Trays
47. Pen Stand 48. Gandhi show pieces
49. Pepper and salt holder 50. Mankarike
51. Book Markers 52. Nech chain
53. Yakshagana Baskets(B) 54. Fish Basket (Large)
55. Siblu – Rs. 20

II Cloth Materials
1. Jubbas (Large) Rs. 150 2. Chudidhar sets
3. Sarees 240-360 4. Ling Shirt
5. Blouses 6. Bed Sheet Rs. 100
7. Table mats/Cloth(Brown) 8. Shawls Rs. 80
9. Rhampus 10. Hand towels
11. Shirts Rs. 130 – 170 12. Jubbas small
13. feocks 14. White towels
15. Bag with Handle (Blad) Rs. 65 16. Table Cloth (Big)
17. Heat Holder 18. Hanging Holder (Cloth)
19. Table Mat (Cloth Medium) 20. Table Mat (4*4)
21. White T Shirts 22. Floor Mats
23. Blue cloth 24. Blur Strips cloth
25. Navya Blue cloth 26. Gray cloth
27. Green strips 28. Green cloths
29. Floor Mats (Rope) 30. Duppatta

III Pottery
1. Candle Holder 2. Kuja’s
3. Show pieces 4. Garden pots
5. Madike 6. Madike (Big)
7. Madike with face 8. Cups
9. Joggery pot 10. Deepas
11. Madike (Painted) 12. Garden pots (Small)
13. Pot small (Ash tray) 14. Welcome Board
15. Pot with lid 16. Jug

IV Leather
1. Slippers Rs. 272 – 350
2. Belts
3. Letter Holder

V. Metal and others

1.Pot stand (E large) 2. Pot stand (large)
3. Pot stand (medium) 4. Pot stand (small)
5. wooden cage 6. Hats
7. Garlands 8. Vermi compose
9. Honey Bottle 10. Gini’s
11. Photo frames 12. Kokum
 13. Thene jalain (Round) 14. Thene Jalain (Flat)

VI. Window Blinds

1. table Mats Rs. 30
2. Lavancha Blinds
3. Key Holders

Marketing Techniques Adopted Namma Angadi

In the beginning Namma Angadi adopted the techniques like street play methods
to attract the people in the local market. It was successful strategy. But today people are
aware of its products in the local market.
Exhibitions are another marketing techniques are also used. It usually participates
in all exhibitions. It was recently presented in Udupi Jilla Ustav.

The Overall Analysis gives the following Conclusions

1. Namma Bhoomi is recognized for equality. It is a respectful institution where
co-education is successfully imparted and training is provided without
consideration of sex.
2. By coming together children have been able to find solution to some of their
problems.
3. They have an opportunity through Makkala panchayat to tell adults about their
problems. They gain complete knowledge about politics.
4. Skilled master craftsmen are offering training to children. Still there is a need
for well- trained trainers who can give an academic perspective to the training
programme.
5. Successful training is imparted to the children in the first year. If the duration
is increased it will improve the marketing competitiveness of children.
6. Though Namma Bhoomi is attracting customers to wards it because of its
impressive variety of products, there is a more scope for improvement in
customer relation.
7. A need is felt to start a unit in Namma Bhoomi to provide quality raw
materials for the passed out students who had started their own work outside.
This can help passed out students in getting uninterested supply of good
quality raw materials, so that the productions is mot affected.
8. Namma Angadi in Namma Bhoomi is very small. There is a need to build
large showroom which can display the products more attractively.
9. To build up the institution’s image there is a need for developing a campus
signage, literature, design, brochure, branch letter head, visiting card etc.
10. Namma Bhoomi’s students along with the management and staff supports
other working children/street children in the society who are in difficulty.
11. Namma Bhoomi is trying to stop the trend of children migrating to urban
center in search of jobs, for supporting their families.
 12. The greatest success of Namma Bhoomi lies in the fact that it gave village
girls an opportunity to learn, to undergo training in various fields and to work,
so that they attain financial independence and social security.
13. In order to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of Namma Bhoomi there
is a need to centralize production as well as training, and then the children will
understand the problem of practical life.
14. More efforts should be taken to improve student’s marketing skills because
once they pass out of the institution they to face a tough and competitive
world.
15. No one sympathize & purchase the product though they are produced by
children. So it is inevitable for Namma Bhoomi to maintain quality and
produce standard products.

V. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Situated amidst a beautiful landscape at Kanyana in Kundapur, Namma Bhoomi’s

seems to be the right place for these children to start a new life. Namma Bhoomi’s
approach to these children are very different from other organization as they support their
students till they start working.

Namma Bhoomi trains approximately hundred children in a year in various fields

like carpentry, cane and bamboo and tailoring etc. it develops theoretical and practical
model that enable them to effectively and efficiently deal with the problem. Namma
Bhoomi tried to bring two streams of expertise together in designing this program. They
have master craft persons from village and academically qualified persons as instructors.
Namma Angadi introduces children’s products to market.

The project was done to know how Namma Bhoomi is successful in empowering
and sustaining street/working children. For this the survey was conducted in Udupi
District. Information are collected from secondary like magazines, newspaper, websites
and from primary source like interview and interaction with the people who are involved
in the activities of Namma Bhoomi.

After analyzing overall performance of Namma Bhoomi and Namma Angadi it

shows that these are respectful organization in the society. People who are customers of
the organization are purchasing not just for their need satisfaction but they are involved in
the activities. They are satisfied with the products quality price, etc.

Even though their products are accepted by the society, the organizations
promotional activities are not up to the mark. The project was done by keeping in mind
the 3 objectives. The first objective is to know the attitude of the customers towards
Namma Angadi’s products. Though the number of customers are less in number they are
satisfied with the products. Reason for less sales is due to less awareness which is due to
poor promotional activities. The 2nd objective Is to analyse the performance of Namma
Bhoomi. It needs so take more steps in making its training system more productive and
enable the children to be more competitive. It is less efficient In marketing activities.
There is a need for aggressive marketing activities.

Improving awareness about child labour and their products should be given top
priority in the activities of Namma Bhoomi.

Namma Bhoomi should fine tune its training so that children will understand the
real difficulties of the world, which helps them in future. The training should equip the
students with skills and confidence to face future competition.

Presently may people are purchasing of Namma Angadi out of sympathy. Steps
should be taken to change this customer sentiment. Customer should purchase the
product to satisfy his own need and wants and not out of sympathy. Such kind of
products should be manufactured/produced. There is need to shift from production
concept to marketing concept.

Inspite of all development and legislative measures taken to prevent and regulate
the child labour in India, the problem continues to cause alarm to all the concerned as the
incidence of child labour has been increasing in the country. Therefore, there is need for
accelerating the efforts in this regard.

REGIONAL RESOURCE CENTERS

KUNDAPUR
Training program
Around 100 children were receiving training in various skills at Namma Bhoomi as of
December 2008. the sex ration marginally tilts in favour of the girls. The most popular
courses were tailoring and computer training. Of late, the computer course has been
gaining ground as most children see it as an extremely essential job skill to possess. At
the same time, many children have been compelled to pick up English, a language skill of
great importance, to understand the command and to use the keyboard efficiently.

Environmental Conservation Measures

A bio-gas plant has been constructed. It has cut down the consumption of conventional
gas by 50%. It utilises the manure of the cows tended in Namma Bhoomi as well as all
the human waste generated. There have been several initiatives to conserve rainwater.
Surface water trenches have been dug up. Provisions have been made for collection of
rainwater on the rooftops. Through these techniques, almost 75% of all rainwater that
falls in Namma Bhoomi is stored.
Waste management – All the waste generated in Namma Bhoomi is segregated into 4
groups, to be recycled for different purposes. All the paper is used as fuel for fires, all the
plastic, steel and glass is sent outside for recycling, all the toxic material is separated and
destroyed and all the vegetable and food waste is sent to the compost pit to be used as
manure for the plants.
A nursery housing 2000 different species of plants has been growing at a furious pace.
These saplings will be planted in Namma Bhoomi, the new islur training center and the
Bio-diversity park in 2005.
The curriculum is designed to include both theoretical inputs though lectures,
discussions, and different media such as videocassettes, TV programmes, books and

activity based exercises such as PRAs, trips to bio-rich environs such as beaches and
forests.
In addition to the curriculum, children also learn about the environment by planting trees,
harvesting food crops and maintaining the environmental conservation measures in place
at Namma Bhoomi.
The hospitality students of Namma Bhoomi were taught to make Jams and other fruit and
vegetable based to turn Namma Bhoomi.
The raw materials for these products are grown organically and looked after in Namma
Bhoomi by the students and the staff.
These products are a big hit in the market as organic food consumption is on the rise with
people increasingly abstaining from eating he chemical ridden produce available in
poisonous abundance in ration shops and supermarkets.

Makkala Panchayat
The relationship between the Namma Bhoomi staff and the Makkala Panchayat is an
interdependent one. The staff depends on the Panchayat to frame policies in consultation
with all the children, to manage routine affairs, to solve small problems that crop up and
to bigger ones to their attention.
The Makkala Panchayat consults the staff in case of need of information and even invites
some staff members to their meeting and to the gram sabha if they feel that adult
guidance or Namma Bhoomi Management intervention is required. The Makkala
Panchayat members are involved in the evaluation of each Namma Bhoomi staff member
and the staff regularly evaluates the performance decisions of the Panchayat.
The Namma Bhoomi Makkala Panchayat has discovered a need to take up more
responsibility and to play a more proactive role to formulate policies. The Makkala
Panchayat, the electorate and Namma Bhoomi staff is now collectively working on
defining a more meaningful role for the Makkala Panchayat.

RESERCH
Makkala Panchayat
The Makkala Panchayat is in charge of monitoring child rights and development
indicators in the Toofan Panchayats. This is possible for them because the Makkala
Panchayat council members have assigned themselves a hamlet each (about 50 to100
households) in each Panchayat. They monitor the schools, attendance of school teachers,
performance of PHC doctor/ nurse, children dropping out of schools, rights, any
community problems that exist, etc. these are reported and discussed by the member in
their monthly meeting and necessary action taken together with the gram Panchayat,
when required.
In order to facilitate this process, the Makkala Panchayat update every month the
statically information they have collected through the socio-economic survey. They
update information on school dropouts, working children, migrant child labour, disabled
children, and any other indicators that they identify as significant. The Gram Panchayat
too user this data maintained by the Makkala Panchayat for making various decisions and
preparing plans in the Panchayat.
Bhima Sanga & Namma Sabha
Member of Bhima Sanga & Namma Sabha from time to time raised concerns about the
growing number of HIV infected, wrong information being spread about the disease,
discriminatory treatment of HIV Positive persons, misconceptions and fear about the
transmission of the disease especially among youth, increased practice of female feticide
especially in certain regions of the sate, occurrence of child marriage and other forms
gender discrimination and inequality. Both Namma Sabha and Bhima Sangha have been
engaged in dealing with these issues from time to time or on a case-to-case basis.
The project started with a series of workshops wherein the participants were quipped with
information on HIV / AIDS, child marriage, female foeticide, other issues of gender
discrimination Etc.
Subsequently the group has been exposed various communication and strategy
development processes to path their strategies, plans of actions and develop tools and
materials.
The core group consists of working children and young people, both boys and girls, in the
age group of 12 to 21, all members of Bhima Sanga & Makkala Panchayat, from five
districts of Karnataka, namely Bangalore Urban, Udupi, Karwar, Davengere and Bellary.
Micro finance Project:
CWC facilitates over 131 women’s groups was to support children’s participation in the
family, community and the Panchayat.
As time went by, they also started financial activities, including savings and loading. A
few of them also focused on micro-enterprises such as dairying vegetable growing,
flower gardening umbrella making etc.
But this area of work was not our strength not had we explored our options in this area, as
the women raised this as a demand, we explode possibilities for the women’s group
members to learn about micro credit and enterprise activities and to start certain
economically viable micro projects.
At the same time it was important for the group member to understand the positive and
negative impacts of micro enterprise activities on children and women, so that they could
take measures to protect themselves against any negative impacts.
This approach was new to other partnering agencies; hence CWC’s study would be quite
unique from the studies in other countries in terms of the approach adopted,
methodology, tools used and scope of the study.
Within this framework, we identified some of the organization that ran good micro credit
programmers in Karnataka and finally chose to work with shree Kshetra Dharmasthala
Rural Development Project (SKDRDP), Dharmasthala.
Representatives from our women’s groups were identified through their federation as
researches to conduct the study. A small group from among them would make an
exploratory study tour to the SKDRDP project to get a first hand experience of the
projects, build rapport with the community groups, identify the samples and plan the
study.
A training workshop will be conducted for the researches wherein they would be trained
to conduct the research, develop certain tools to conduct the study and adapt some of the
tools that will be used in the other partner countries. Subsequently they would implement
the study.
The study will, influencing CIDA policies help the women’s groups to get a first hand
experience of running micro finance programmers, build networks with SKDRDP
women’s groups and understand the positive and negative impacts of such projects on
women and children and avoid such negative impacts when they start/ run their own
micro enterprises.
State Policy on Child labour:
CWC attended several consultations at the State and District levels that were being
formulated to address the issue of the increasing numbers of child labourers in the State.
CWC’s efforts – Endorsements by other NGO’s:
CWC sent out its own election appeal on its mailing list so that it could articulate its
demands for children as separate from Bhima Sangha’s demands, which the members of
Bhima Sangha prepared.

FINANCE
CWC has, over years, received financial assistance from several international NGO’s and
grants from the Government of India and local resources mobilized in both in cash and
kind.
CWC’s long term partners SCN and FORUT had discussions with us and visited the
programmers. We also had benefit of our coordinators receiving a fellowship from the
MacArthur Foundation.

Organization at a Glance
The Concerned for Working Children (CWC) is a secular and democratic
development agency committed to the empowerment of children, especially working and
other marginalized children and their communities through their participation in decision
marking and governance on all matters that concern them.
The CWC is proud celebrating 25 meaningful years as a pioneering organization
in the field of children’s right and civil society participation with an emphasis on
children’s participation. As a secular democratic, national, private development agency,
CWC is the first organization in India to work exclusively on issues of child labour and
children’s rights. Over the years it formed very strong partnerships with children’s own
organizations, local governments. National and international agencies to create, nurture
and environment where children are citizens of today.

Issues we are engaged with

THE CONCERNED FOR WORKING CHILDREN

CHILDREN LABOUR CIVIL SOCIETY

CHILDREN’S HUMAN PARTICIPATION
RIGHTS RIGHTS
 DEMOCRACY AND HEALTH EDUCATION ALCOHOLDRUGS
PARTICIPATION AND DEVELOPMENT

VOCATIONAL EMPOWERMENT APPROPRIATE MIGRATION COMPREHENSIVE

TRAINING OF YOUTH EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT

2008 at a Glance

CWC’s field programmes are located in 4 rural districts and one urban district of
Karnataka in Southern India. During the year 2008 CWC, through its rural program in 56
Panchayats in Udupi Kanara, Bellary and Davenegeri Districts, CWC directly reached
57,200 school going children, 1600 working children, 500 youth, 19,000 adults and 2500
members of migrant families.
Its regional Resource Center, Namma Bhoomi has gained academic as well as
aesthetic acclaim and is seen as a role model for the entire state. 5000 individual
representing various institution have visited Namma Bhoomi in 2008 to gain an exposure
to its philosophy and functioning. This year, Namma Bhoomi effectively hosted 36
workshop and training programmes during the year on wide range of issues for local,
district, state, national and international participants and is well established as a resource
center not only for the region, but for the country.
The information management, communication, advocacy and capacity building
aspects of CWC’s work have National, Regional and international reach through policy
interventions, campaigns, media interventions as well as collective action. The program
report reflects this.
Dhruva, a consultancy and capacity building unit of CWC, was set up, precisely
to meet these and other challenges facing society in the translation of participatory
democratic principles into action. It is committed to children and people’s participation in
governance processes and the realization of their rights.

Programmes at a Glance

Ankur: CWC started its urban programme, Ankur in 1985. Ankur works in three major
sectors and in over 30 wards of the Bengalore city. Ankur’s activities work towards the
empowerment and mobilization of working children, their families and communities in
the urban areas. This programme is actively engaged with appropriate education that is
children’s rights oriented. It is increasingly involved in countering the ill effects of the
present model of globalization through enhanced civil society participation of the most
marginalized communities.
Gramashrama: CWC’s rural project was started in 1989 in order to address the issue of
child labour in a holistic and sustainable manner by stemming the trend of migration of
rural children to urban centers in search of work, Gramashrama presently works in 4 rural
districts and in 70 Panchayats in order to evolve a child centered, comprehensive
development paradigm in partnership with children, women and other stakeholders.
CWC’s Regional Training Center: Namma Bhoomi provides vocational training for
former child workers in order to empower them and to enhance their professional skills.
Their training includes inputs in rights and life-skills as well as opportunities to peruse
formal education. CWC’s regional resource centers are located in Udupi, North Kanara
and Bellary districts to cater to the needs of the three regions it works in. these centers are
also the venue for capacity building programmes for a wide range of stakeholders who
include member of the Education Department, Panchayat members, Police, media
persons etc.
CARD: the Center for Applied Research and Documentation (CARD) was established
(1989( in response to the need for a sound information base on the issue of children’s
rights. CARD aims to consolidate the work experience of the CWC, its constituencies
and other grassroots organizations into transferable forms of information, to forge links
with other organization for the purpose of advocacy and to provide the information base
required to make interventions at the national level and state levels.
Samvada: in order to place increased emphasis on advocacy and communications, the
programme, Samvada was established 1999, Samvada aims at advocacy and policy
intervention by CWC and its constituencies, primarily, children. It enables the children to
access the spaces and tools to advocate for their issues. It also attempts to keep all the
issue that are central to CWC alive in the public domain in order to inform and influence
programmes and policies.
Dhruva: the training and consultancy unit of CWC, Dhruva was set up in 1998, to meet
the challenges involved in translating the principles of rights into practice. It is committed
to enabling organizations, institutions and persons concerned with children’s
participation, protagonist, governance and related issues to perform their roles effectively
through training and consultancy.
The prime objective of Dhruva is to enable the participation of children and adults in
democratic processes to take decisions on all matters that concern their lives.
Based on extensive experience in several countries of the world and that of the concerned
for Working Children’s fieldwork for over 25 years and other successful examples in the
area of children’s participation, protagonist and governance, Dhruva has been a global
actor in the area of children’s rights.
DHRUVA offers a wide range of consultancy services to Governments, international Non
Governmental Organizations, Children’s organizations and corporate bodies. Our
expertise includes field visits to countries to facilitate assessments, facilitating strategic
planning processes in collaboration with children and a wide range of stakeholders,
conduction capacity building and planning workshops designed and tailor made to the
needs and context of specific countries.
HIV AIDS:
Children’s campaign in temple against the practice of devotees piercing them with
used needles (Sutra) followed by thread that binds many of them. In the villages of
Bellary and Davanagere members of Bhima Sangha have carried out a campaign against
 HIV/AIDS in village festivals and in weekly markets. Though creative means we have
been able to raise the issue for discussions and awareness building.
Alcohol, Drug and Development (ADD)
Prior to our intervention in our field programme areas, alcohol and substance
abuse were not issue that was discussed openly in the public domain. Problems associated
with alcoholism and substance abuse was considered as a problem of the family. Hence
those who had to live with affected people had to suffer and bear with it at a personal
level. This phenomenon was not viewed as a problem linked to larger policy and fiscal
matters. It’s impact on the development of the village was not recognized. In a nutshell,
the causes that created and perpetuated problem related to these abuses and their social
and political impact were not viewed and understood in totality.

THE CONCERNED FOR WORKING CHILDREN

INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31.03.2008

EXPENDITURE AMOUNT(R INCOME AMOUNT(

S) RS)
Programmewise Expenditure
(As per Annexure 7)
Regional Resources Centre 3814267.75 FORUT Receipts 8360835.00
Card 1302365.14 SCN Receipts 4337500.00
Samvada 2248202.14 Indian American Foundation Receipts 174884.00
Ankur 861154.25 Namma Bhoomi-Germany receipts 99000.00
Appropriate Education Programme 80757.00 Ankur Receipts – As per Annexure-1. 92550.00
Central Administrative Expenses 3458495.18 CARD Receipts - As per Annexure-2. 15592.00
Organizational Sustainability 499587.00 CORE Receipts - As per Annexure-3. 1503897.41
Bellary Field 364385.53 GRAMA Receipts - As per Annexure-4. 719015.50
Community Development 326039.50 SAMVADA Receipts - As per Annexure-5. 328102.00
Risk Management Programme 397177.00 RMP Receipts - As per Annexure-6. 500000.00
Kundapur Field 2781697.00 Dhruva Receipts - As per Annexure-7. 2453780.00
Panchayat Raj Hakkottaya Andolana 324542.00
Namma Nalanda 126485.00
Sirsi Field 310809.00
Depreciation 1506106.57

Excess on Income over Expenditure 183085.85

for the year

18585155.91 18585155.91
 No. of children graduated from Namma Bhoomi

Sl.No Trade 1993 to 98 1998 to 03 2003 to 07 2008 Total

1 Construction 32 16 6 2 56
2 Carpentry 12 18 22 5 57
3 Garments 30 27 48 20 125
4 Bycle 8 0 0 0 8
5 Electrical 24 30 37 30 121
6 Weaving 32 30 16 0 78
7 Cane 20 6 0 0 26
8 Pottery (Aloor) 17 19 11 0 47
9 Learther 5 0 0 0 5
10 Agriculture 7 0 0 0 7
11 Winding 8 0 0 0 8
12 Screen Printing 9 9 0 0 18
13 Umbrella Assembling 0 9 0 0 9
14 Auto Rickshaw 0 6 0 0 6
15 Non Electric Appliances 0 2 0 0 2
16 Hospitality 0 0 19 1 20
17 Home Nursing 0 0 6 3 9
18 Computer 0 0 20 25 45
Total 204 172 185 86 647

No. Adult and Children Trained under short term course

Sl. No Trade No’s
1 Construction 50
2 Cane 20
3 Coir 34
4 Pottery 48
5 Agriculture 70
6 Umbrella Assembling 15
Total 237

Introducing Child Labour in India,

with special reference to the hazards child labourers
face
Clarence James Coonghe
Scarica l'articolo in Zip

According to a recent estimate of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), more than
120 million children between the ages of 5-14 are employed as full time labourers around
the world1. A good number of such children labour in the most hazardous and dangerous
industries. In India itself, it is estimated that there are at least 44 million child labourers in
the age group of 5-14.2. More than eighty percent of child labourers in India are employed
in the agricultural and non-formal sectors and many are bonded labourers. Most of them
are either illiterate or dropped out of school after two or three years.

1. What is child labour?

Child labour is not child work. Child work can be beneficial and can enhance a child’s
physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development without interfering with
schooling, recreation and rest. Helping parents in their household activities and business
after school in their free time also contributes positively to the development of the child.
When such work is truly part of the socialisation process and a means of transmitting
skills from parents to child, it is not child labour. Through such work children can
increase their status as family members and citizens and gain confidence and self-esteem.

Child labour, however, is the opposite of child work. Child labour hampers the normal
physical, intellectual, emotional and moral development of a child. Children who are in
the growing process can permanently distort or disable their bodies when they carry
heavy loads or are forced to adopt unnatural positions at work for long hours. Children
are less resistant to diseases and suffer more readily from chemical hazards and radiation
than adults. UNICEF classifies the hazards of child labour into three categories, namely
(i) physical; (ii) cognitive; (iii) emotional, social and moral:

I. Physical hazards

There are jobs that are hazardous in themselves and affect child labourers immediately.
They affect the overall health, coordination, strength, vision and hearing of children. One
study indicates that hard physical labour over a period of years stunts a child's physical
stature by up to 30 percent of their biological potential3 . Working in mines, quarries,
construction sites, and carrying heavy loads are some of the activities that put children
directly at risk physically. Jobs in the glass and brassware industry in India, where
children are exposed to high temperatures while rotating the wheel furnace and use heavy
and sharp tools, are clearly physically hazardous to them.

II. Cognitive hazards

Education helps a child to develop cognitively, emotionally and socially, and needless to
say, education is often gravely reduced by child labour. Cognitive development includes
literacy, numeracy and the acquisition of knowledge necessary to normal life. Work may
take so much of a child’s time that it becomes impossible for them to attend school; even
if they do attend, they may be too tired to be attentive and follow the lessons.

III. Emotional, social and moral hazards

There are jobs that may jeopardise a child’s psychological and social growth more than
physical growth. For example, a domestic job can involve relatively ‘light’ work.
However, long hours of work, and the physical, psychological and sexual abuse to which
the child domestic labourers are exposed make the work hazardous. Studies show that
several domestic servants in India on average work for twenty hours a day with small
intervals4. According to a UNICEF survey, about 90 percent of employers of domestic
workers in India preferred children of 12 to 15 years of age. This is mostly because they
can be easily dominated and obliged to work for long hours and can be paid less than
what would have to be paid to an adult worker.5 Moral hazards generally refer dangers
arising for children in activities in which they are used for illegal activities, such as
trafficking of drugs, the sex trade, and for the production of pornographic materials.

2. The Extent and General Pattern of Child Labour and its Hazards in India

Researchers give a range of incidence of child labour in India from about 14 million to
about 100 million. Some studies show every fourth child in the age group of 5-15 is
employed. It is estimated that over 20% of the country’s GNP is contributed by child
labour6. The figures released by the non-governmental agencies are much higher than
those of the State. UNICEF cites figures from various resources that put child labour in
India at between seventy-five to ninety million7. For some observers, the exact number of
child labourers in India could be as high as 150 million. In brief, India is the largest
producer of child labour and illiteracy on this earth8. According to at least one study, a
quarter of the world’s total number of child labourers are in India and every third
household in that country has a child at work9.

Children in India are employed in almost all the activities of the non-formal sector.
However, most of them are employed in the agricultural sector or in jobs closely related
to agriculture, as is the pattern in many developing countries. A unique factor in India is
that a significant number of these children are bonded labourers.

I. Bonded child labour

Slave labour or bonded labour is one of the worst forms of labour not only for children
but also for adults. In India, bonded labour has been illegal since 1976 when Parliament
enacted the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act. However, the practice is still
widespread. Even conservative estimates suggest that there are at least 10 million adult
bonded labourers in India. 89 percent of adults in debt bondage belong to scheduled
castes and tribes and 89 percent of those who control them are agricultural landlords.
Most of the work carried out by bonded labourers is hard manual labour in the fields or
brick kilns. Children or adults are bonded in order to pay off debts that they or members
of their families have incurred. They toil all their lives and endure physical attacks that
often amount to torture10.

There are thousands of bonded child labourers in India. They are also mostly the children
of parents who belong to scheduled castes and tribes. Young children are sold to
employers by their parents to pay back small loans that they have borrowed. Such
children are made to work for many hours a day over several years. According to one
study, there are about 10 million bonded child labourers working as house servants in
Indian families11. Varandani recently estimated that there were nearly 55 million children
in India working as bonded labourers in agriculture, mining, brick-kilns, construction
work, fishing activities, carpet weaving, fireworks, matches, glass moulding, bidi-making
(cigarettes), gem-cutting and polishing work, electroplating, dyeing, washing and
domestic work. About 20 percent of these bonded child labourers were sold to cover
some small debts obtained by their parents, usually for some social celebration like a
wedding in the family12.

One of the most notorious forms of bonded-labour is found in the carpet industry of
India. A study undertaken in Kashmir shows that over 80 percent of child labourers in
carpet making work as bonded labourers13. These young labourers, many of them 8 or 9
years old, are made to work for 20 hours a day without a break. They have to crouch on
their toes from dawn to dusk which stunts their physical growth. Some of the children
start to work when they are only 5-6 years of age, and by the time they are 20 they are
burnt out.. They are physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted so that they are no
longer able to work and are doomed to unemployment even in cases when employment is
available. The vicious cycle restarts when they want their children to work for them.

II. The agricultural sector

A recent ILO report states that in some developing countries nearly one third of the
agricultural workforce is comprised of children. According to a survey of 1989, about 82
percent of the 6.1 million fully economically active children in Bangladesh worked in
agriculture14. Similarly, in India about 80 percent of child labourers are employed in
agriculture and allied occupations15. Studies also reveal that about 86 percent of bonded
labour is found in India’s agricultural sector16.

III. Street work

There are thousands of children who live and work in the city streets of India. According
to a study conducted among the street children in the city of Chennai (Madras), about
90% of them live with their parents in the streets. The same study also revealed that the
largest group of street children in Chennai work as coolies (22%). About 10.4% of them
work in hotels (small restaurants and snack bars), 9.6% do rag picking, 8% pull
rickshaws, and 7.1% sell flowers. A smaller percentage of children are employed in other
areas of work, including prostitution (0.3%). They work for 10-12 hours a day and at the
end of the day what they earn is barely enough for their survival. About 32% of them
receive less than 100 rupees (about 2.5 U.S. dollars) per month as wages17.

Contrary to the general conception that many street children are delinquents, the study
revealed that only 6.6% of the total sample had served time in juvenile homes or
correctional institutions18. Studies in a few other Indian cities showed that the majority of
the street children were doing rag picking for their living. Usually, these children are
unable to submit references or pay deposits to their employers to obtain any work. They
choose rag picking as it is the most convenient way of earning something for their living
that does not require much experience and investment.

Scavenging is the work that faces children with the most extreme risk. As many of them
work with bare feet, they get cuts; they are also exposed to extreme weather conditions,
sunstroke, pneumonia, influenza and malaria. They have to carry heavy loads, which
stunts their physical growth. They face digestive disorders and food poisoning as they eat
thrown away or left over food. A recent study conducted in Delhi found they were at risk
of catching Aids, as they may accidentally come into contact with infected needles
deposited in the refuse. Since animals scavenge in the same heaps of refuse, dog bites are
quite common among these children.

The local police and even the municipal cleaners create great difficulties for the street
children in India. For any petty thefts, they are the first ones to be accused by the police.
The local municipal cleaners, in turn, demand money and labour from them. If the
children refuse to comply, they are threatened with the police, who will compel them to
pay even more. A memorandum presented at a 'street children’s rally' in Bangalore
alleged that the police extorted about half the earnings of the rag pickers as commission.
The children also had to pay some staff members of the municipality to ease the way for
rag picking19.

IV Some other of most hazardous form of child labour in the manufacturing sector
of India

A. Glass factories

Firozabad, an administrative unit in Agra district of Uttar Pradesh is the home of glass
bangle and glassware industry in India. It is estimated that about 50,000 children below
the age of 14 work in this industry. This is one of the highest concentrations of child
labour in the world20. According to forecasts, if the child labour were eliminated,
production in the glass and bangle industry would go down by 25 percent.

Children are used in all the various phases of bangle making and glass blowing. About 85
percent of them are employed in carrying molten glass on a seven-foot iron rod called
labya from the furnace to the adult worker and back to the furnace. They sit in front of
furnaces where the temperature is said to be 700 degrees centigrade. Children, as they are
small in stature have, to go close to the fire when they collect molten glass from the
furnace. In her field research in the glass industry in India, Dr. Burra Neera notes that the
children’s faces were only about six to eight inches away from furnaces that were burning
at 1500-1800 centigrade.

As they work with fire in these factories, accidents are also common. When children
carry moulded glasses up and down, pieces fall on the floor and unless the children are
very careful they can get burn injuries quite easily. In the long-term, the continuous
exposure to high temperature harms their health permanently.

B. Match factories

For more than seven decades, thousands of children have been working in the match
factories at Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu. The total labour force in this industry is estimated to
be 200,000, with about 35 percent being children21. Some of these children are bonded
child labourers. Factory owners send their vehicles to collect these children from villages.
Many of them start their day as early as 4 a.m. and some even work until 10 p.m. At
times they are made to work for 14 hours a day for a few more rupees on their wages;
observers state that they work even during national holidays. Children are generally paid
on a piece-rate basis. Payment for a piece is very low and thus they are indirectly forced
to work faster and longer.

Respiratory diseases, eye infection, and exposure to chemical agents are the major health
hazards in the match and fireworks industries. Researchers accuse the employers of not
taking any precaution for fire safety in such workshops where even a small crack could
start a fire. They found several children with burn scars on their hands, thighs and legs
and 80 percent of the children interviewed in such workshops reported cases of
accidents22.

The Indian government has recognised that Sivakasi is an area with a high concentration
of child labour and tries to implement some rehabilitative programmes there. However,
child labour is still very much alive in this sector. Any attempt to remove child labour is
met with stiff resistance by the interested parties. One study suggests that it would cost
the employers Rs.32.8 million per annum if the children were to be replaced by adult
workers. Unless and until the government acts with firmness, there is little possibility of
‘redeeming’ these children.

C. Carpet industry

An ILO study estimates that there could be 420,000 child labourers in India employed in
the carpet industry23. According to some NGOs, between 1979 and 1993 the value of
export earnings in the hand-knotted carpet industry in India grew tenfold. They also claim
that the number of children working at the looms has increased from 100,000 in 1975 to
300,000 in 1990. The Indian ‘carpet belt’ is found mostly in Uttar Pradesh stretching over
a vast area. There are usually about 20 or so loom sheds in each village. Some children
work as bonded labourers; others are kidnapped from their poverty-stricken home
villages, including villages in Bihar, the neighbouring state24.

Since the carpet industry is labour-intensive, entrepreneurs try to reduce labour costs by
employing child labour. Under the pretext of getting practice, children are introduced into
the sector as early as the age of five. Though initially the children find it difficult to sit in
the particular posture required for weaving, they gradually adapt to it.

There is a new awareness at present in the international media about child labour
exploitation in the South Asian carpet industry. This is partly due to 12 year-old Iqbal
Masi, a bonded carpet weaver in Pakistan who was later killed for his anti-child labour
campaign. At present, genuine efforts are made by some humanitarian agencies in the
carpet importing nations to reduce or eliminate child labour in the sector.

D. Brass industry

According to the researcher Burra Neera, about 40,000-45,000 children are employed in
the brass industry in India. Children in the brass industry are employed in different
sectors. Moulding is one of the activities, which is very hazardous and dangerous both to
adults and children. More than 15000 children are employed in this sector. If the child is
a new recruit, he is given the work of rotating the wheel that fans the underground
furnace. Other children in the moulding section must heat the oblong ingot on top of the
furnace, break it into small pieces with a hammer and then melt the required amount of
brass. When the molten brass is ready, they have to pass the graphite crucible with the
raw material to an adult worker holding it with long tongs. Sometimes they themselves
have to pour the brass into the moulds and replace the crucible into the furnace. At times,
children have to rotate the fan, remove the crucible and replace it in the furnace. They
also may be asked to grind a hot black mixture into a fine powder with their hands and
help the adult worker to remove the hot moulded metal from the moulds. These activities
have to be done continuously and children in the moulding section would always be
engaged in one or other of these activities. They may not receive any breaks in a ten-hour
working day, even though a slight distraction or lapse of concentration may cause the
child life-long injuries. The temperature in the furnace is about 1100 centigrade. If a drop
of molten metal falls on the child’s foot, it will create an immediate hole.

Neera observes in her study that the life span of children employed in the brass industry
is quite brief. During her fieldwork she visited about 600 box furnace workshops, and
noticed that all moulders were less than 30 years of age. She was told that children who
work in such workshops either do not survive as adults or become too ill to work.
Tuberculosis seems to be an unavoidable consequence for child labourers in the brass
industry.

Even though these children work sacrificing their own lives for the brass industrialists,
what they get in return is very little. In her research Burra Neera noticed that no child
under 14 was paid more than 200 rupees per month, irrespective of the type and duration
of the work25.

E. Lock industry

The lock industry is mostly concentrated in the Aligarh district of Uttar Pradesh. Studies
reveal that more than 60 percent of the workers in this sector are children under 14 years
of age. Children do polishing, electroplating, spray painting and working on hand presses.
They cut different components of locks for nearly 12-14 hours a day with hand presses.
Exhaustion causes accidents; many lose the tips of their fingers, which get caught in the
machines.

The most hazardous job for children in the lock industry is polishing. The boys who do
polishing stand close to the buffing machines. The buffing machines that run on electric
power have emery powder coated on bobs. While polishing the locks, they inhale emery
powder with metal dust and almost all polishers suffer from respiratory disorders and
tuberculosis. In the small units, about 70 percent of the polishers are children26.

Similarly, electroplating is another extremely hazardous process in which more than 70

percent of workers are children below the age of 14 years. Children work with naked
hands in dangerous chemicals such as potassium cyanide, sodium phosphate, sodium
silicate, hydroelectric acid, sulphuric acid, sodium hydroxide, chromic acid, barium
hydroxide, etc. Children, besides being affected by the usual consequences of chemical
substances, are also at risk of shocks as these substances also produce electricity and the
floors are usually wet. The children have their hands in these solutions for the better part
of the twelve-hour-day. Some cases of electrocution have been due to illegal electric
connections obtained by some of these units from streetlights27.

About 50 per cent of the workforce in the spray-painting sector of the lock industry is
comprised of children. While at work, these children inhale large quantities of paint and
paint thinners, leading to severe chest disorders. They suffer from breathlessness, fever,
tuberculosis, bronchitis, asthma, and pneumoconiosis and from such symptoms and
diseases. Work in the lock industry is dangerous and very hazardous for all employees,
but is especially so for children.

Thus, in India children do all kinds activities, from household work to brick making,
from stone breaking to selling in shops and on streets, from bike repairing to garbage
collecting and rag-picking. Most children work on farms and plantations or houses, far
from the media scrutiny and the reach of a labour inspector.

There is no product that has not been scented by the sweat of a child labourer. India
today has earned the dubious distinction of having the highest child labour force in the
world.28

Conclusion

This article has only highlighted the plight of millions of children who are employed in
various activities often as bonded labourers in India. It does not discuss the question of
solving or reducing this problem which I hope to do in subsequent issues of
OIKONOMIA.

Often, child labour is considered to be a "necessary evil" in poor countries such as India
for the maintenance of the family. In that context, some consider it virtuous to give a job
to a child. In fact, some academics and activists campaign not for the reduction of child
labour but only for a reduction in the exploitation of children. However, the question has
to be asked whether it is justifiable to allow children from poor families to undergo
physical, cognitive, emotional and moral hazards because they must help their families. Is
the joy of childhood reserved only for some, privileged, children?

Note

[1] ILO, Child labour: Targeting the intolerable, International Labour Office, Geneva, 1996, p. 7.

[2] Debi S.Saini, "Children of a Lesser God, Child Labour Law and Compulsory Primary Education",
Social Action, July-September 1994, Vol.44. No.3, p. 2.

Dr. Narendra Prasad, "Child Labour in India", Yojana, Vol.34, No.8, May 1-15, 1990, p.12-13, 19.p. 12.

Mahbub ul Hag., Human Development in South Asia 1997, Human Development Centre, Oxford University
Press, Karachi, Pakistan, 1997.p. 19.

Burra Neera, Born to work. Child Labour in India, Oxford University Press, Oxford, New Delhi, 1995, p
xiii.
Nazir Ahmad Shah, Child Labour in India, Anmol Publications, New Delhi, 1992 (Reprint 1997), p. 12.

[3] UNICEF, The State of the World’s Children 1997, p.25

[4] Nazir Ahmad Shah, Child Labour in India, p. 99.

[5] UNICEF, The State of the World's Children, p. 32-33.

[6] Joseph Putty, The Fair Deal - A Resource Book on Value Educational in Social Justice, Kristu Jyoti
College, Bangalore, 1993, p. 304; S.N Tripathy, Migrant Child Labour in India, Mohit Publications, New
Delhi, 1997, p. 2.

[7] Human Rights Watch, The Small Hands of Slavery - Bonded Child Labor in India,
Human Rights Watch, New York, 1996, p. 122

[8] In India according to the Census of 1981, nearly 40 percent of the population was under 14 years of
age. About 78 percent of these children were found in the rural and 22 percent in urban areas. The number
of about 271.0 million children of less than 14 years in 1981 was expected to reach 370.0 million in the
year 2001 A. N. Singh, Child Labour in India. Socio-Economic Perspectives, Shipra Publications, Delhi
92, 1990, p. 24.

[9] Putti Joseph, The Fair Deal - A Resource Book on Value Educational in Social Justice, p. 304.

S.N Tripathy, Migrant Child Labour in India, Mohit Publications, New Delhi, 1997, p.2.

[10] "Nobody is free until everybody is free", Anti-slavery reporter, Anti-slavery

International, London, October 1999, p.9.

[11] UNICEF, i bambini che lavorano, Rome, 1999, p. 11.

[12] Dr. G. Varandani, Child Labour and Women Workers, p .42.

[13] The same study also states that 70 percent in hotels and dhabas (small restaurants) and about 60
percent in domestic services worked as bonded labourers. Nazir Ahmad Shah, Child Labour in India, p.
105.

[14] UNICEF, The State of the World’s Children 1997, p. 38.

[15] Dr. G. Varandani, Child Labour and Women Workers, p. 54.

[16] "Nobody is free until everybody is free", Anti-slavery reporter, October 1999, p.9.

[17] Child Labour Cell, Street Children of Madras - A situational Analysis, (Study conducted by Joe
Arimpoor), National Labour Institute, Noida, Ghaziabad, U.P., 1992, p. 9.

[18] Ibid, p. 11-12.

[19] Ibid, p. 52.

[20] Burra Neera, Born to work, Child Labour in India, p. 42-3.

[21] Child Labour Cell, Child Labour in the Match Industry of Sivakasi, National Labour Institute, Noida,
India, p. 1.

[22] Child Labour Cell, Child Labour in the Match Industry of Sivakasi, p. 12.

[23] UNICEF, The State of the World’s Children 1997, p. 68.

[24] Janet Hilowitz, Labelling Child Labour Products, A Preliminary Study, p. 15.

[25] Burra Neera, Born to work, Child Labour in India, p. 168.

[26] Child Labour Cell, Child Labour in the Lock Industry of Aligargh, p. 10.

[27] Ibid, p. 8.

[28] Joe Arimpoor, "Profile of the Child Worker", Social Action , July-September 1994,
Vol.44. No.3. p. .59.
Child Labour in India

Millions of children in today's world undergo the worst forms of child labor
which includes Child Slavery, Child prostitution, Child Trafficking, Child
Soldiers. In modern era of material and technological advancement, children in
almost every country are being callously exploited. The official figure of child
laborers world wide is 13 million. But the actual number is much higher. Of the
estimated 250 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 who are
economically active, some 50 million to 60 million between the ages of 5 and
11 are engaged in intolerable forms of labor. Among the 10 to 14year-old
children the working rate is 41.3 percent in Kenya, 31.4 percent in Senegal,
30.1 percent in Bangladesh, 25.8 percent in Nigeria, 24 percent in Turkey,
17.7 percent in Pakistan, 16.1 percent in Brazil, 14.4 percent in India, 11.6
percent in China.
ILO estimated that 250 million children between 5 and
14 work for a living, and over 50 million children under
age twelve work in hazardous circumstances. United
Nations estimate that there were 20 million bonded child laborers worldwide.
Based on reliable estimates, at least 700,000 persons to 2 million, especially
girls and children, are trafficked each year across international borders.
Research suggests that the age of the children involved is decreasing. Most are
poor children between the ages of 13 and 18, although there is evidence that
very young children even babies, are also caught up in this horrific trade. They
come from all parts of the world. Some one million children enter the sex
trade, exploited by people or circumstances. At any one time, more than
300,000 children under 18 - girls and boys - are fighting as soldiers with
government armed forces and armed opposition groups in more than 30
countries worldwide. ILO estimates that domestic work is the largest
employment category of girls under age 16 in the world.
India has the dubious distinction of being the nation with the largest number of
child laborers in the world. The child labors endure miserable and difficult lives.
They earn little and struggle to make enough to feed themselves and their
families. They do not go to school; more than half of them are unable to learn
the barest skills of literacy. Poverty is one of the main reasons behind this
phenomenon. The unrelenting poverty forces the parents to push their young
children in all forms of hazardous occupations. Child labor is a source of
income for poor families. They provide help in household enterprises or of
household chores in order to free adult household members for economic
activity elsewhere. In some cases, the study found that a child's income
accounted for between 34 and 37 percent of the total household income. In
India the emergence of child labor is also because of unsustainable systems of
landholding in agricultural areas and caste system in the rural areas. Bonded
labour refers to the phenomenon of children working in conditions of servitude
in order to pay their debts. The debt that binds them to their employer is
incurred not by the children themselves but by their parent. The creditors cum
employers offer these loans to destitute parents in an effort to secure the labor
of these children. The arrangements between the parents and contracting
agents are usually informal and unwritten. The number of years required to
pay off such a loan is indeterminate. The lower castes such as dalits and tribal
make them vulnerable groups for exploitation.
The environmental degradation and lack of employment avenues in the rural
areas also cause people to migrate to big cities. On arrival in overcrowded
cities the disintegration of family units takes place through
alcoholism, unemployment or disillusionment of better life etc. This
in turn leads to emergence of street children and child workers who
are forced by their circumstances to work from the early age. The
girls are forced to work as sex -workers or beggars. A large number of girls
end up working as domestic workers on low wages and unhealthy living
conditions.
Some times children are abandoned by their parents or sold to factory owners.
The last two decades have seen tremendous growth of export based industries
and mass production factories utilizing low technologies. They try to maintain
competitive positions through low wages and low labor standards. The child
laborers exactly suit their requirements. They use all means to lure the parents
into giving their children on pretext of providing education and good life. In
India majority of children work in industries, such as cracker making, diamond
polishing, glass, brass-ware, carpet weaving, bangle making, lock making and
mica cutting to name a few. 15% of the 100,000 children work in the carpet
industry of Uttar Pradesh. 70-80% of the 8,000 to 50,000 children work in the
glass industry in Ferozabad. In the unorganized sector child labor is paid by
piece-by-piece rates that result in even longer hours for very low pay.
Inadequate schools, a lack of schools, or even the expense of schooling leaves
some children with little else to do but work. The attitudes of parents also
contribute to child labor; some parents feel that children should work in order
to develop skills useful in the job market, instead of taking advantage of a
formal education. From the time of its independence, India has committed
itself to be against child labor. Article 24 of the Indian constitution clearly
states that "No child below the age of fourteen years shall be employed to
work in any factory or mine or employed in any hazardous employment" The
Bonded Labour System Act of 1976 fulfills the Indian Constitution's directive of
 ending forced labour A Plethora of additional protective legislation has been put
in place. There are distinct laws governing child labour in factories in
commercial establishments, on plantations and in apprenticeships. There are
laws governing the use of migrant labour and contract labour. A recent law The
Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation law) of 1986 designates a child as a
person who has not completed their 14th year of age. It purports to regulate
the hours and the conditions of child workers and to prohibit child workers in
certain enumerated hazardous industries. However there is neither blanket
prohibition on the use of child labour, nor any universal minimum age set for
child workers. All of the policies that the Indian government has in place are in
accordance with the Constitution of India, and all support the eradication of
Child Labor. The problem of child labor still remains even though all of these
policies are existent. Enforcement is the key aspect that is lacking in the
government's efforts.
Child labor is a global problem. If child labour is to be eradicated, the
governments and agencies and those responsible for enforcement need to start
doing their jobs. The most important thing is to increase awareness and keep
discussing ways and means to check this problem. We have to decide whether
we are going to take up the problem head-on and fight it any way we can or
leave it to the adults who might not be there when things go out of hand.

Status of children in India

Some findings from NFHS- 3

As India races towards achieving superpowerdom, its children are

still far behind in terms of healthcare, education and other
facilities. Children especially girls are faced with lack of
educational opportunities, malnourishment, infant mortality and early marriages. According
to the latest data collated by the National Health Survey 2005-06 the all India average for
malnourished children is 47%.Every second child under 5 years is malnourished. Even the
prosperous states like Gujarat and Kerala there is rise in the number of malnourished
children. Both states saw an increase of 2% between 1991-2001.Other states for instance
Madhya Pradesh registered a rise from 54% in 1991 to 60% in 2001.
Nearly 3/4ths of all infants between 6-35 months of age are anemic in the 19 states for
which NFHS -3 data are available. Among all the children up to 3 years age over 1/3 are
stunted and more than 1/6th are wasted. Two out of five children are underweight. This
state of the youngest Indians point towards pervasive malnutrition. For most of these
infants, malnutrition would have started in the womb itself. This is apparent from the data
on married and pregnant women. An astounding 54% of pregnant women and nearly the
same proportion of married women were found anemic. Infact the Body Mass Index (ratio
of weight to height- a measure of nutritional availability) of nearly 1/3rd of all women was
below normal.
What is alarming that the situation is worsening or at best not improving over the years.
Comparison with NHFS-2 carried out five years ago shows that the proportion of wasted
children has increased while underweight children are only marginally less. Similarly the
proportion of anemic infants has marginally increased. The number of pregnant women
who are anemic has jumped from about 49% to over 54% in these five years in these 19
states. The prevalence of anemia among infants has declined in several states but it has
not improves or even worsened in AP, Assam, Karnataka, Kerala, Meghalaya, Orissa,
Punjab and UP. In no state has the proportion fallen below 50%.Up, Rajasthan, Punjab,
Haryana, Karnataka, Gujarat and Assam all have shockingly high proportions of anemic
infants-80% or above.
Incidentally nearly a third of married men in the eastern states of W.Bengal,Orissa,Assam
and Meghalaya and in highly advanced Gujarat are anemic and have lower than normal
BMI.Chattisgarh has the highest number of underweight children closely followed by
Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. However while the numbers have declined in the former, they
are increasing in the latter two over the past five years.
Another indicator is high infant mortality rate where India is bettered by Pakistan, China,
Brazil and even Nigeria. The all- India average is 58 infant deaths for every 1000 live births
and states like Uttar Pradesh (73), Rajasthan (65), Arunachal Pradesh (61) and Gujarat
(50) top the list.

An immunization level is one of the indicators which show serious concern. The NFHS
shows that only in six of the 19 states for which data has been made public are more than
60% of children fully immunized. In 8 states the proportion of fully immunized children is
less than half.
Not only do children have fewer chances of surviving and are underfed they also lack
educational opportunities. Literacy rate among girls from scheduled castes and scheduled
tribes is 42% and 35% respectively, much lower than Muslim girls who have a
literacy rate of 50%.In general too only 30 of 100 girls who enter school
complete their primary education. The worst offenders in lack of educational
opportunities for girls are Bihar (33%), Arunachal Pradesh (33.4%), Sikkim (37.2%) and
Rajasthan (38.2%) as opposed to an all India average of 55.6%.Meghalaya is an exception
where female literates are actually much more than their male counterparts.
Early marriages are far from being eradicated. In Rajasthan, 41% girls get married
between 15-19 years of age while in Punjab; the proportion of girls being married before
18 has risen from 12% to 19% in seven years, between 1998-99 to 2005-06.

Table -1: Immunization

State Kids below 2yrs fully immunized

UP 22.9

Rajasthan 26.5

Arunchal 28.4

Assam 31.6

Meghalaya 32.8

Gujarat 45.2

Andhra Pradesh 46.0

Chattisgarh 48.7

Orissa 51.8

Karnataka 55.0

Table- 2: Anemia
 Anemic pregnant
Anemic infants
women

States NFHS-3 NFHS-2 NFHS-3 NFHS-2

Assam 76.7 63.2 72.0 62.3

Karnataka 82.7 70.6 59.5 48.6

Kerala 55.7 43.9 33.1 20.3

Arunchal 66.3 54.5 49.2 49.2

Uttar
85.1 73.8 51.6 45.8
Pradesh

AP 79.0 72.3 56.4 41.8

Gujarat 80.1 74.5 60.8 47.4

Orissa 74.2 72.3 68.1 60.5

Meghalaya 68.7 67.6 56.1 58.6

Punjab 80.2 80.0 41.6 37.1

Some of the harsh facts

• Every second child under 5 years is malnourished.

• 1 in 4 adolescent girls between 15-19 years is married.
• 30 of 100 girls who enter school do not complete primary –level education
• 50% of new AIDS infections are between 15-24 years.
• Worst offenders are Bihar ,Arunchal Pradesh,Sikkim and Rajasthan

The status of children in India- Findings of UNICEF 2005 report

According to the recent UNICEF report titled "Childhood under Threat" over one
billion children have been denied their childhood. Many factors including
widespread poverty and AIDS have failed to fulfill the goals on their
improvement. Their right to a healthy life has remained a distant dream by the
failure of governments to carry out human rights and economic reforms. It is
reported that some 640 million children lack adequate shelter; 400 million
have no access to safe drinking water; 270 million lack health care amenities
and 140 million especially girls have remained outside the ambit of formal
schooling. More than 150 million children are malnourished worldwide. This
2005 report reveals startling facts about children in India. According to it
 Indian children are deprived of their rights to survival, health, nutrition,
education and safe drinking water. About 63 per cent of them go without food
and 53 per cent suffer from chronic malnutrition. About 147 million children
live in kuchcha houses, 77 million do not have access to drinking water from a
tap, 85 million do not get immunized, 27 million are severely underweight and
33 million have never been to school. India continues to have the highest
number of malnourished children under five in the world. Every third new-born
child in India is under-weight having the risk of impaired health and brain
development.
The Supreme Court under a previous ruling had said
that children's right to dignified existence must be
protected. The court also directed the government to
work out a welfare scheme for the children working in pathetic conditions in
hazardous industries. According to the Child Mortality Evaluation Committee's
report around 160,000 infants died every year in Maharashtra owing to
malnutrition particularly in the rural, tribal and urban slum areas. Other states
like Orissa, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh is facing a similar situation
where a number of starvation deaths among children took place. India has the
largest number of illiterates in the world, two-thirds of whom are girls. There is
no doubt that the overall literacy rate in India has increased to 65.4 per cent
from 52.2 per cent in 1991. Even then, 72 million children in India between
five and 14 years do not have access to basic education. Their number was
105.7 million in 1991 which has increased to manifold times in next decade.
UP, Bihar, MP, Orissa and Rajasthan have a higher proportion of out-of-school
children.
Children in developing countries are the worst victims of ill-health owing to
infectious diseases. Over eight million children in the world die every year from
the five killer diseases - pneumonia, diarrhea, measles, tetanus and whooping
cough. UNICEF Report says that despite the immunization programme against
these diseases, 2.4 million Indian children perished in states like Rajasthan, UP
and MP which accounted for more than 50 per cent of infant deaths. The rate
of infant mortality (IMR) reflects on the general health and economic
conditions of a country. It represents the number of babies who die before the
age of one out of every 1,000 live births.
UNICEF's report ranks India 49th in child mortality. Poverty, unhygienic
environment and malnutrition among women in the reproductive age group are
the main contributing factors for India's high rate. Around 25 to 30 million
children in India spend their lives on the streets in a poisonous
environment. Street children suffer neglect and are often abused and
exploited. They suffer from ill-health and become victims of
infectious diseases. The UNICEF report says that 26 million children in the
world suffer from brain damage due to iodine deficiency. In India, there are
6.6 million children having a damaged brain from iodine deficiency.
The National Family Health Survey has revealed that over 70 per cent of the children in many
states suffer from iron deficiency. In India, 1.5 million children suffer from Vitamin A
deficiency against 40 million the world over. Children of poor socio-economic groups mostly
suffer from this affliction, and the incidence is higher in remote tribal and rural areas and
urban slums. A girl child is the worst victim as she is the one who is often neglected and
discriminated against because of the preference for a boy child in traditional Indian society.
Many of them in the low social status group die of malnutrition while many suffer from
infectious diseases. Child marriage is another social evil. Early marriage causes early child
bearing, resulting in physical stress on the teenage mother and underweight babies. This in
turn accounts for a high infant mortality rate. Children are considered an asset of a nation,
and their welfare reflects the nation's prosperity and economic development. However this
report presents the darker view of conditions of millions of children in India. No wonder the
Delhi High Court has criticized the central government for utilizing hardly 10 per cent of the
funds provided under ICDS for the benefit of under-privileged children.

The problem of unemployment has becoming a colossal. Various problems

have caused this problem. There are individual factors like age, vocational
unfitness and physical disabilities which restrict the people. External factors
include technological and economic factors. There is enormous increase in the
population. Every year India adds to her population afresh. More than this
every year about 5 million people become eligible for securing jobs. Business
field is subject to ups and downs of trade cycle and globalization. Economic
depression or sick industries are often close down compelling their employees
to become unemployed. Technological advancement contributes to economic
development .But unplanned and uncontrolled growth of technology is causing
havoc on job opportunities. The computerization and automation has led to
technological unemployment. Strikes and lockouts have become inseparable
aspect of the industrial world today. Due to these industries often face
economic loses and production comes down. Since workers do not get any
salary or wages during the strike period they suffer from economic hardships.
They become permanently or temporarily unemployed. Today young people
are not ready to take jobs which are considered to be socially degrading or
lowly. Our educational system has its own irreparable defects and its
contribution to the unemployment is an open truth.Our education does not
prepare the minds of young generation to become self-employed on the
contrary it makes them dependent on government vacancies which are hard to
come. Our State right from the beginning of Five year plans has introduced
several employment generating schemes and programmes over the years but
in the absence of proper implementation and monitoring have failed to achieve
the required targets. Recently UPA Government has come up with Rural
Employment Guarantee program which aims to provide minimum days of
employment to people living in the villages. This is a laudable programme if
implemented sincerely because it will provide employment to people during
natural calamities like drought, floods etc. The remedial measures for reducing
unemployment may lay greater emphasis on creation of opportunities for self
-employment, augmentation of productivity and income levels of the working
poor, shift in emphasis from creation of relief type of employment to the
building up of durable productive assets in the rural areas and instead of
attempting to revert somewhat to protectionist policies the pace of
privatization may be accelerated.

Poverty in India

Poverty is one of the main problems which have

attracted attention of sociologists and economists. It
indicates a condition in which a person fails to maintain
a living standard adequate for his physical and mental efficiency. It is a
situation people want to escape. It gives rise to a feeling of a discrepancy
between what one has and what one should have. The term poverty is a
relative concept. It is very difficult to draw a demarcation line between
affluence and poverty. According to Adam Smith - Man is rich or poor
according to the degree in which he can afford to enjoy the necessaries, the
conveniences and the amusements of human life.
Even after more than 50 years of Independence India still has the world's
largest number of poor people in a single country. Of its nearly 1 billion
inhabitants, an estimated 260.3 million are below the poverty line, of which
193.2 million are in the rural areas and 67.1 million are in urban areas. More
than 75% of poor people reside in villages. Poverty level is not uniform across
India. The poverty level is below 10% in states like Delhi, Goa, and Punjab etc
whereas it is below 50% in Bihar (43) and Orissa (47). It is between 30-40%
in Northeastern states of Assam, Tripura, and Mehgalaya and in Southern
states of TamilNadu and Uttar Pradesh.
Poverty has many dimensions changing from place to place and across time.
There are two inter-related aspects of poverty-Urban and rural poverty. The
main causes of urban poverty are predominantly due to impoverishment of
rural peasantry that forces them to move out of villages to seek some
subsistence living in the towns and cities. In this process, they even lose the
open space or habitat they had in villages albeit without food and other basic
amenities. When they come to the cities, they get access to some food though
other sanitary facilities including clean water supply still elude them. And they
have to stay in the habitats that place them under sub-human conditions.
While a select few have standards of living comparable to the richest in the
world, the majority fails to get two meals a day. The causes of rural poverty
are manifold including inadequate and ineffective implementation of anti-
poverty programmes.The overdependence on monsoon with non-availability of
irrigational facilities often result in crop-failure and low agricultural productivity
forcing farmers in the debt-traps. The rural communities tend to spend large
percentage of annual earnings on social ceremonies like marriage; feast
etc.Our economic development since Independence has been lopsided .There
has been increase in unemployment creating poverty like situations for many.
Population is growing at an alarming rate. The size of the Indian family is
relatively bigger averaging at 4.2.The other causes include dominance of caste
system which forces the individual to stick to the traditional and hereditary
occupations.
Since the 1970s the Indian government has made poverty reduction a priority
in its development planning. Policies have focused on improving the poor
standard of living by ensuring food security, promoting self-employment
through greater access to assets, increasing wage employment and improving
access to basic social services. Launched in 1965, India's Public Distribution
System has helped meet people's basic food needs by providing rations at
subsidized prices. Although it has affected less than 20% of the Poor's food
purchases, the system has been important in sustaining people's consumption
of cereals, especially in periods of drought. It has provided women and girls
with better access to food and helped overcome the widespread discrimination
against female consumption within households. It has also reduced the burden
of women, who are responsible for providing food for the household.
The largest credit-based government poverty reduction programme in the
world, the Integrated Rural Development Programme provides rural
households below the poverty line with credit to purchase income-generating
assets. Launched in 1979, the programme has supplied subsidized credit to
such groups as small and marginalized farmers, agricultural laborers, rural
artisans, the physically handicapped, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
Within this target population, 40% of the beneficiaries are supposed to be
women. Although the programme has reached 51 million families, only 27% of
the borrowers have been women. The programme has significantly increased
the income of 57% of assisted families.
Rural poverty is largely a result of low productivity and unemployment. The
Jawahar Rozgar Yojana, a national public works scheme launched in 1989 with
financing from the central and state governments, provides more than 700
million person days of work a year about 1% of total employment for people
with few opportunities for employment. The scheme has two components: a
programme to provide low-cost housing and one to supply free irrigation wells
to poor and marginalized farmers. The public works scheme is self-targeting.
Since it offers employment at the statutory minimum wage for unskilled
manual labor, only those willing to accept very low wages the poor are likely to
enroll in the scheme. By providing regular employment and thereby increasing
the bargaining power of all rural workers, the public works scheme has had a
significant effect in reducing poverty. It has also contributed to the
construction of rural infrastructure (irrigation works, a soil conservation
project, drinking water supply). Evaluations show that 82% of available funds
have been channeled to community development projects. Targeting was
improved in 1996 when the housing and irrigation well components were
delinked and focused exclusively on people below the poverty line.
TRYSEM (Training rural youth for self employment) was started to provide
technical skills to the rural youth and to help them to get employment in fields
such as agriculture, industry, services and business activities. Youth of the
poor families belonging to the age-group of 18-35 are entitled to avail the
benefits of the scheme. Priority is given to persons belonging to ST/SC and ex-
servicemen and about 1/3 seats are reserved for women. Minimum Needs
Programme was taken up as an integral part of the 5th Five Year
Plan and it was intended to cater to the minimum needs of the
people such as rural water supply, rural health, road building, adult
education, primary education, rural electrification and improvement
of the urban slums etc.With the intention of removing urban unemployment
some schemes such as SEPUP (Self-employment programme for the urban
poor); SEEUY (Scheme for self-employment of the educated urban youths)
.These schemes gives loans and subsidies for the urban unemployed youths to
create or to find for themselves some jobs. The SEPUP had provided financial
help for about 1.19 urban unemployed youths in the year 190-91.
The participation of civil society organizations in poverty reduction efforts,
especially those directed to women, has increased social awareness and
encouraged governments to provide better services. Cooperatives such as the
Self-Employed Women's Association provide credit to women at market rates
of interest but do not require collateral; they also allow flexibility in the use of
loans and the timing of repayments. These civil society organizations have not
only contributed to women's material well being; they have also helped
empower them socially and politically. Such credit initiatives, by bringing
women out of the confines of the household, are changing their status within
the family and within village hierarchies. The demands of civil society
organizations for better social services have spurred the government to launch
campaigns to increase literacy and improve public infrastructure. And their
calls for greater accountability and real devolution of power are increasing the
 likelihood that expenditures for poverty reduction will reach the needy,
especially women.
The Indian state has undoubtedly failed in its responsibilities towards its
citizens over the last 50 odd years. There is a need for the state to move out of
many areas and the process has been started with economic liberalization. The
process of decentralization should devolute lot more powers, both functional
and financial, to panchayats. The lack of transparency and accountability has
hampered our economic development at all levels. The problem of poverty
persists because of a number of leakages in the system. New laws have to be
evolved to ensure more accountability. Bodies like the Planning Commission
should be modified into new constitutional bodies that can hold governments
accountable for their failure to implement development programmes. A strong
system of incentives and disincentives also needs to be introduced. The
encouragement of non-governmental organizations and private sector
individuals in tackling poverty is imperative, as the state cannot do everything.

Child labour in India

At least 13% of the world’s children are working, 94% of those are in the developing
world. This scheme of work examines how and why this practice happens and the
difference between young people in the UK and India.
Young people are encouraged to examine statistics and case-studies as well as conducting
their own research into the area. Using these resources they will use various techniques to
present the information, including graphs, histograms, role-play and presentations.

The materials are developed through a scheme of work for key stage 3, consisting of 4
lessons with accompanying resources. The lessons are all clearly mapped to national
curriculum attainment targets.
Please use the links below to access the resources.
 `

PLAN UK | LEARNING CENTRE | ABOUT PLAN UK | GET INVOLVED | IN THE

NEWS

Child labour in India

At least 13% of the world’s children are working, 94% of those are in the developing
world. This scheme of work examines how and why this practice happens and the
difference between young people in the UK and India.
Young people are encouraged to examine statistics and case-studies as well as conducting
their own research into the area. Using these resources they will use various techniques to
present the information, including graphs, histograms, role-play and presentations.

The materials are developed through a scheme of work for key stage 3, consisting of 4
lessons with accompanying resources. The lessons are all clearly mapped to national
curriculum attainment targets.

Please use the links below to access the resources.

 PLAN UK | LEARNING CENTRE | ABOUT PLAN UK | GET INVOLVED | IN THE
NEWS

Child labour in India

At least 13% of the world’s children are working, 94% of those are in the developing
world. This scheme of work examines how and why this practice happens and the
difference between young people in the UK and India.
Young people are encouraged to examine statistics and case-studies as well as conducting
their own research into the area. Using these resources they will use various techniques to
present the information, including graphs, histograms, role-play and presentations.

The materials are developed through a scheme of work for key stage 3, consisting of 4
lessons with accompanying resources. The lessons are all clearly mapped to national
curriculum attainment targets.
Please use the links below to access the resources.
 Child Labour in India: Causes, Governmental Policies
and the role of Education

By Dr. Mitesh V. Badiwala, M.D.

Introduction

The complex issue of child labour is a developmental issue

worth investigating. The notion that children are being
exploited and forced into labour, while not receiving education
crucial to development, concerns many people. India is the
largest example of a nation plagued by the problem of child
labour. Estimates cite figures of between 60 and 115 million
working children in India -- the highest number in the world
(Human Rights Watch 1996, 1).

What are the causes of child labour in India? How do

governmental policies affect it? What role does education play
in regard to child labour in India? A critical analysis of the
answers to these questions may lead in the direction of a
possible solution. These questions will be answered through an
analysis of the problem of child labour as it is now,
investigating how prevalent it is and what types of child labour
exist. The necessity of child labour to poor families, and the
role of poverty as a determinant will be examined.
Governmental policies concerning child labour will be
investigated. The current state of education in India will be
examined and compared with other developing countries.
Compulsory education policies and their relationship to child
labour will be investigated using Sri Lanka and the Indian state
of Kerala as examples of where these policies have worked.
Finally, India’s policies concerning compulsory education will
be assessed.

The problem of child labour in India

How many children are involved?

It is difficult to cite a current figure for the number of children

engaged in child labour. This difficulty is attributed to the fact
that the Indian Government "has been negligent in its refusal
to collect and analyze current and relevant data regarding the
incidence of child labor. As of 1996, official figures continue to
be based on 1981 census figures" (Human Rights Watch 1996,
122). The 1981 Indian census reports that there were 13.6
million child labourers in India (Census of India 1981 cited in
Weiner 1991, 20). Indian government extrapolations of this
1981 data place the current number of child labourers at
between seventeen and twenty million (Human Rights Watch
1996, 122). This extrapolation seems highly unlikely as "The
Official National Sample Survey of 1983 [of India] reports 17.4
million child labourers, while a study . . . sponsored by the
Labour Ministry, concluded that the child-labour force was 44
million" (Weiner 1991, 20-21). UNICEF "cites figures ranging
from seventy-five to ninety million child laborers under the age
of fourteen" (Human Rights Watch 1996, 122). A universal
difficulty in obtaining accurate data may be that individuals
fail to report child labour participation during surveys, for fear
of persecution.

Although the figure for the number of child labourers varies,

they are all significantly high when considering that the Child
Economic Activity rate for 1980-1991 was 13.5% for males and
10.3% for females (International Labour Organization, 1995,
113). In comparison, other developing countries such as Sri
Lanka and Malaysia (where data is available), have lower
activity rates: 5.3% for males and 4.6% for females in Sri
Lanka, and 8.8% for males and 6.5% for females in Malaysia
(International Labour Organization, 1995, 113). Historical
census data shows an overall child work participation rate of
12.69% in 1961 and 7.13% in 1971 (Census of India 1971 cited
in Devi 1985, 50). This data is misleading because the
definitions of child labour are different in the two censuses
(unpaid workers are not included in the 1971 census), thus a
comparison cannot be completely valid (Devi 1985, 37). The
data shows that in a span of twenty years (1961-1981), the
proportion of children who are working has not changed
significantly, but since comparisons with this data are not
valid, this conclusion is questionable.

What are children doing in terms of work?

The 1981 Census of India divided child labour into nine

industrial divisions: I. Cultivation, II. Agricultural Labour, III.
Livestock, Forestry, Fishing, Plantation, IV. Mining and
Quarrying, V. Manufacturing, Processing, Servicing and
Repairs, VI. Construction, VII. Trade and Commerce, VIII.
Transport, Storage and Communication, and IX. Other Services
(Census of India 1981 cited in Nangia 1987, 72). Table 1.1
shows the percentage distribution of child workers by these
industrial divisions in 1981. From this table it is observed that
the majority of rural child workers (84.29%) are employed in
cultivation and agricultural labour (divisions I and II). Urban
child labourers are distributed differently, as table 1.1 shows
39.16% of them are involved in manufacturing, processing,
servicing and repairs. Although more children are involved in
agriculturally related jobs (table 1.1 shows a total of 78.67%
for divisions I and II), human rights organizations tend to focus
on the manufacturing types of child labour because most
children in these situations are bonded labourers. Bonded
labour "refers to the phenomenon of children working in
conditions of servitude in order to pay off a debt" (Human
Rights Watch 1996, 2). Estimates place the number of bonded
child labourers in India at close to one million (International
Labour Organisation 1992, 15).

Causes of child labour in India and governmental policy dealing

with it

How necessary is child labour to families in India?

Child labour is a source of income for poor families. A study

conducted by the ILO Bureau of Statistics found that
"Children’s work was considered essential to maintaining the
economic level of households, either in the form of work for
wages, of help in household enterprises or of household chores
in order to free adult household members for economic activity
elsewhere" (Mehra-Kerpelman 1996, 8). In some cases, the
study found that a child’s income accounted for between 34
and 37 percent of the total household income. This study
concludes that a child labourer’s income is important to the
livelihood of a poor family. There is a questionable aspect of
this study. It was conducted in the form of a survey, and the
responses were given by the parents of the child labourers.
Parents would be biased into being compelled to support their
decision to send their children to work, by saying that it is
essential. They are probably right: for most poor families in
India, alternative sources of income are close to non-existent.
There are no social welfare systems such as those in the West,
nor is there easy access to loans, which will be discussed.

What is apparent is the fact that child labourers are being

exploited, shown by the pay that they receive. For the same
type of work, studies show that children are paid less than
their adult counterparts. Table 2.1 shows a comparison of child
wages to adult wages obtained by a study of child workers in
the Delhi region of India. Although 39.5% of employers said
that child workers earn wages equal to adults, if the
percentage of employers admitting that wages are lower for
children are added up, a figure of 35.9% is found. This figure is
significant when taking the bias of employers into account.
Employers would have been likely to defend their wages for
child workers, by saying that children earn the same wages as
adults. The fact that no employers stated children earned more
than adults, should be also be noted. Other studies have also
concluded that "children’s earnings are consistently lower than
those of adults, even where there two groups are engaged in
the same tasks" (Bequele and Boyden cited in Grootaert and
Kanbur 1995, 195).

What role does poverty play?

The percentage of the population of India living in poverty is

high. In 1990, 37% of the urban population and 39% of the
rural population was living in poverty (International Labour
Organization 1995, 107). Poverty has an obvious relationship
with child labour, and studies have "revealed a positive
correlation - in some instances a strong one - between child
labour and such factors as poverty" (Mehra-Kerpelman 1996,
8). Families need money to survive, and children are a source
of additional income. Poverty itself has underlying
determinants, one such determinant being caste. When
analyzing the caste composition of child labourers Nangia
(1987) observes that, "if these figures are compared with the
caste structure of the country, it would be realised that a
comparatively higher proportion of scheduled caste children
work at a younger age for their own and their families’
economic support" (p. 116). Scheduled caste (lower caste)
children tend to be pushed into child labour because of their
family’s poverty. Nangia (1987) goes on to state that in his
study 63.74% of child labourers said that poverty was the
reason they worked (p. 174).

The combination of poverty and the lack of a social security

network form the basis of the even harsher type of child labour
-- bonded child labour. For the poor, there are few sources of
bank loans, governmental loans or other credit sources, and
even if there are sources available, few Indians living in
poverty qualify. Here enters the local moneylender; for an
average of two thousand rupees, parents exchange their
child’s labour to local moneylenders (Human Rights Watch
1996, 17). Since the earnings of bonded child labourers are
less than the interest on the loans, these bonded children are
forced to work, while interest on their loans accumulates. A
bonded child can only be released after his/her parents makes
a lump sum payment, which is extremely difficult for the poor
(Human Rights Watch 1996, 17). Even if bonded child labourers
are released, "the same conditions of poverty that caused the
initial debt can cause people to slip back into bondage"
(International Labour Organization 1993, 12).

Even though poverty is cited as the major cause of child

labour, it is not the only determinant. Inadequate schools, a
lack of schools, or even the expense of schooling leaves some
children with little else to do but work. The attitudes of
parents also contribute to child labour; some parents feel that
children should work in order to develop skills useful in the job
market, instead of taking advantage of a formal education.

Indian Government Policy on Child Labour

From the time of its independence, India has committed itself

to be against child labour. Article 24 of the Indian constitution
clearly states that "No child below the age of fourteen years
shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or employed
in any hazardous employment" (Constitution of India cited in
Jain 1985, 218). Article 39 (e) directs State policy such "that
the health and strength of workers . . . and the tender age of
children are not abused and that citizens are not forced by
economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age
or strength" (Constitution of India cited in Human Rights
Watch 1996, 29). These two articles show that India has always
had the goal of taking care of its children and ensuring the
safety of workers. The Bonded Labour System Act of 1976
fulfills the Indian Constitution’s directive of ending forced
labour. The Act "frees all bonded laborers, cancels any
outstanding debts against them, prohibits the creation of new
bondage agreements, and orders the economic rehabilitation
of freed bonded laborers by the state" (Human Rights Watch
1996, 30). In regard to child labour, the Indian government
implemented the Child Labour Act in 1986. The purpose of this
act is to "prohibit the employment of children who have not
completed their 14th year in specified hazardous occupations
and processes" (Narayan 1988, 146). ILO convention No. 138
suggests that the minimum age for employment should not be
less than fifteen years, and thus the Child Labour Act of 1986
does not meet this target (Subrahmanya 1987, 105).

A recent advance in government policy occurred in August of

1994, when then- Prime Minister Narasimha Rao announced his
proposal of an Elimination of Child Labour Programme. This
program pledges to end child labour for two million children in
hazardous industries as defined in the Child Labour Act of
1986, by the year 2000. The program revolves around an
incentive for children to quit their work and enter non-formal
schooling: a one hundred rupee payment as well as one meal a
day for attending school (Human Rights Watch 1996, 119-120).
Where the funds for this program will come from is unknown.
The government needs eight and a half billion dollars for the
program over five years, and yet "about 4 percent of the five-
year estimated cost was allocated for child labour elimination
programs in 1995-1996" (Human Rights Watch 1996, 120).

All of the policies that the Indian government has in place are
in accordance with the Constitution of India, and all support
the eradication of Child Labour. The problem of child labour
still remains even though all of these policies are existent.
Enforcement is the key aspect that is lacking in the
government’s efforts. No enforcement data for child labour
laws are available: "A glaring sign of neglect of their duties by
officials charged with enforcing child labor laws is the failure
to collect, maintain, and disseminate accurate statistics
regarding enforcement efforts" (Human Rights Watch 1996,
131). Although the lack of data does not mean enforcement is
nonexistent, the number of child labourers and their work
participation rates show that enforcement, if existent, is
ineffective.

Education and its effects on child labour

What is the current state of education in India in comparison

to other developing countries?

India’s state of education lacks effectiveness in yielding basic

literacy in the population. It has been observed that "the
overall condition of the education system can be a powerful
influence on the supply of child labour" (Grootaert and Kanbur
1995, 193). The 1991 Census of India shows that 64% of males
and 39% of females are literate (The World Bank 1995, 113) --
an increase of 17% and 14% respectively from the 1981 census
(Census of India 1981 cited in Weiner 1991, 11). These
increases seem significant, but India’s overall literacy rate of
40.8% lags behind other developing countries such as China
(72.6%), Sri Lanka (86.1%), and Indonesia (74.1%), all of which
have Per Capita Incomes comparable to India’s (Weiner 1991,
161). India’s primary-school survival rate of 38.0% is also
lower than China’s rate of 70.0% and Sri Lanka’s rate of 90.8%
(United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization cited in Weiner 1991, 159). This indicates that
few students are reaching fifth or sixth grade, and dropout
rates support this conclusion. Dropout rates measured by the
Department of Education show that 35% of males and 39% of
females dropout (Government of India cited in The World Bank
1995, 113). What is the reason for these high dropout rates
and poor school survival rates? One possible argument given
by Nangia (1987) is that "the pressing need for the child’s
earnings as well as low perceived advantages of school" cause
parents to withdraw children from school and deposit them in
the labour force (p.182). In this case, poverty and the
inadequacy of the school system play significant roles in
causing child labour, but also affect each other. Poverty forces
high dropout rates, and thus no matter how good schools are,
school survival rates and literacy rates will still remain low.

Compulsory Education
The concept of compulsory education, where all school aged
children are required to attend school, combats the force of
poverty that pulls children out of school. Policies relating to
compulsory education not only force children to attend school,
but also contribute appropriate funds to the primary education
system, instead of higher education.

An example of a country where compulsory education has

worked to reduce child labour is Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan
government decided to enforce compulsory education in the
1920’s and 1930’s (Weiner 1991, 173). With this compulsory
education policy, school participation rates rose from 58
percent in 1946 to 74 percent in 1963 (Weiner 1991, 173). The
literacy rate also increased from 58 percent in 1946 to 86
percent in 1984 (Weiner 1991, 172). The corresponding result
has been that the employment rate of children in the ten to
fourteen age group has shown a substantial decline from 13
percent in 1946 to 6.2 percent in 1963 (Weiner 1991, 174), and
currently stands at 5.3% for males and 4.6% for females
(International Labour Organization 1995, 113). These trends
lead Weiner (1991) to the conclusion that "Sri Lanka has
achieved a remarkably high enrollment rate, high retention
rate, and a corresponding decline in child labor" (p.175).

The Indian state of Kerala distinguishes itself from the rest of

India with its educational system. The government of Kerala
allocates more funds to education than any other state, with a
per capita expenditure of 11.5 rupees compared to the Indian
average of 7.8 rupees (Weiner 1991, 175). It is not only the
expenditure of more funds, but where the funds are used that
make the difference. Kerala spends more money on "mass
education than colleges and universities" (Weiner 1991, 176).
No correlation exists between expenditure on education and
literacy when comparing different countries because some
countries, such as India, spend more funds on higher
education than primary education (Weiner 1991, 160). Kerala’s
emphasis on primary education has lead to a dropout rate of
close to 0%, a literacy rate of 94% for males and 86% for
females (The World Bank 1995, 113), and a low child work
participation rate of 1.9% (in 1971) compared to the Indian
average of 7.1% in 1971 (Weiner 1991, 175). Weiner (1991)
points out that "The Kerala government has made no special
effort to end child labor. It is the expansion of the school
system rather than the enforcement of labor legislation that
has reduced the amount of child labor" (p. 177).
Article 45 of the Constitution of India states that "The State
shall endeavour to provide within a period of ten years from
the commencement of this Constitution for free and
compulsory education for all children until they complete the
age of fourteen years" (Jain 1985, 219). It is obvious that "the
State" has not achieved this goal, shown by the literacy,
dropout, and child work participation rates discussed
previously. A National Policy on Education was adopted in
1986, and it addresses the need to "expand and improve basic
education" (The World Bank 1995, 124). Recently, the central
government implemented The District Primary Education
Program (DPEP), in an attempt to act on the recommendations
of the National Policy on Education. The program involves the
subsidizing of approved investments, by the Government of
India. The central government will provide a grant of 85% on
expenditures by the states (The World Bank 1995, 123). Since
these measures have been implemented very recently, results
cannot be obtained and the effectiveness of the DPEP cannot
be commented on at this time.

Conclusion

Child labour is a significant problem in India. The prevalence of

it is shown by the child work participation rates which are
higher in Indian than in other developing countries.

The major determinant of child labour is poverty. Even though

children are paid less than adults, whatever income they earn
is of benefit to poor families. In addition to poverty, the lack of
adequate and accessible souces of credit forces poor parents
to engage their children in the harsher form of child labour --
bonded child labour. Some parents also feel that a formal
education is not beneficial, and that children learn work skills
through labour at a young age. These views are narrow and do
not take the long term developmental benefits of education
into account. Another determinant is access to education. In
some areas, education is not affordable, or is found to be
inadequate. With no other alternatives, children spend their
time working.

The Constitution of India clearly states that child labour is

wrong and that measures should be taken to end it. The
government of India has implemented the Child Labour Act in
1986 that outlaws child labour in certain areas and sets the
minimum age of employment at fourteen. This Act falls short of
making all child labour illegal, and fails to meet the ILO
guideline concerning the minimum age of employment set at
fifteen years of age. Though policies are in place that could
potentially reduce the incidence of child labour, enforcement is
a problem. If child labour is to be eradicated in India, the
government and those responsible for enforcement need to
start doing their jobs. Policies can and will be developed
concerning child labour, but without enforcement they are all
useless.

The state of education in India also needs to be improved. High

illiteracy and dropout rates are reflective of the inadequacy of
the educational system. Poverty plays a role in the
ineffectiveness of the educational system. Dropout rates are
high because children are forced to work in order to support
their families. The attitudes of the people also contribute to
the lack of enrollment -- parents feel that work develops skills
that can be used to earn an income, while education does not
help in this matter. Compulsory education may help in regard
to these attitudes. The examples of Sri Lanka and Kerala show
that compulsory education has worked in those areas. There
are differences between Sri Lanka, Kerala and the rest of
India. What types of social welfare structures do these places
have? What are the attitudes of the people? Is there some
other reason why the labour market for child labourers is poor
in these areas? These are some questions that need to be
answered before applying the concept of compulsory
education to India? India is making progress in terms of
educational policy. The DPEP has been implemented only four
years ago, and so results are not apparent at this time.
Hopefully the future will show that this program has made
progress towards universal education, and eradicating child
labour.

Child labour cannot be eliminated by focusing on one

determinant, for example education, or by brute enforcement
of child labour laws. The government of India must ensure that
the needs of the poor are filled before attacking child labour. If
poverty is addressed, the need for child labour will
automatically diminish. No matter how hard India tries, child
labour always will exist until the need for it is removed. The
development of India as a nation is being hampered by child
labour. Children are growing up illiterate because they have
been working and not attending school. A cycle of poverty is
formed and the need for child labour is reborn after every
generation. India needs to address the situation by tackling
the underlying causes of child labour through governmental
policies and the enforcement of these policies. Only then will
India succeed in the fight against child labour.

Table 1.1 - Percentage distribution of child workers (in India)

by industrial divisions in 1981 (Census of India 1981 cited in
Nangia 1987, 72).

Type of Industrial Divisions (refer to text for explanation of

Worker divisions)

I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX

14.7 3.0 39.1 15.0 16.7

Urban 5.32 0.20 3.27 2.45
3 7 6 3 7

38.8 45.4 6.6

Rural 0.25 5.72 0.47 0.96 0.10 1.60
7 2 1

35.9 42.7 6.3

Total 0.24 8.65 0.72 2.19 0.30 2.93
3 4 0

Table 2.1 - Comparison of child wages and adult wages for the
same type of job. (Child workers of Delhi region -- sample
study, 1983 cited in Nangia 1987, 198).

Child wages compared to adult wages

One-
Less
third
Half to than
Equal to Uncertai
Equal One- One-
to Half One- n
third quarte
quarte
r
r

Percent according
to employers’ 39.5 19.1 7.0 3.7 6.1 24.7
response
 References

Devi, R. 1985. Prevalence of Child Labour in India: A Secondary

Data Analysis. In Child Labour and Health: Problems &
Prospects, edited by U. Naidu and K. Kapadia. Bombay: Tata
Institute of Social Sciences.

Grootaert, C., and R. Kanbur. 1995. Child labour: An economic

perspective. International Labour Review 134:187-201.

Human Rights Watch. 1996. The Small Hands of Slavery -

Bonded Child Labor in India. New York: Human Rights Watch.

International Labour Organisation. 1992. World Labour Report.

Geneva: International Labour Organisation.

International Labour Organization. 1993. World Labour Report.

Geneva: International Labour Organization.

International Labour Organization. 1995. World Labour Report.

Geneva: International Labour Organization.

Jain, S. N. 1985. Legislation and Government Policy in Child

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Mehra-Kerpelman, K. 1996. Children at work: How many and

where? World of Work 15:8-9.

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Delhi: Janak Publishers.

Narayan, A. 1988. Child labour policies and programmes: The

Indian experience. In Combating Child Labour, edited by A.
Bequele and J. Boyden. Geneva: International Labour
Organisation.

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Weiner, M. 1991. The Child and the State in India. Princeton:
Princeton University Press.

Content Copyright ©1998 Mitesh Badiwala

After nearly 59 years of Independence and over a decade after India became a signatory to the United
Nations Convention on Child Rights, our children continue to be the most neglected segment. Statistics
reveal that India has 17 million child labourers -- the highest in the world. Lack of awareness about the basic
rights of a child has lead to easy violation of laws meant to protect and empower children. In homes, on the
streets and in sweatshops, children are being exploited by the thousands.

Where do these children work?

Over half of the working children (54%) are in agriculture, and most others are employed either in
construction (15.5%) or in household work (18%). About 5% are in manufacturing jobs, and the remainder
(about 8%) are scattered across other forms of employment. The table below provides a gender-wise
breakup of working children, and their schooling status. Please note that the data are for children in the age
group 5-14 years