Razia Sultan, a rescued underaged worker from India was conferred with the first United Nations Malala Youth Leadership Award for spreading education among child laborers on July 12, designated as Malala day to mark Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai’s memorable struggle to achieve her right to education.
Razia helped transform the lives of at least 48 children trapped in the vortex of child labor in her native place. But will this honor change anything on the ground in a country where vulnerable children from deprived backgrounds are treated as the principal component of a cheap work force even though the federal government has prohibited engagement of children below 14 years of age in any kind of jobs, going to the extent of prescribing harsh punishment for violators?
Unfortunately, an increasingly rich and materialistic India, finding itself in the midst of a maddening rush for embracing consumerism of the highest order has little time to spend for the juveniles who are often seen toiling as domestic or commercial help. The country, sadly, is home to one of the largest number of child laborers on earth and though the latest national sample survey figure shows some marginal decrease in number, the harrowing reality of millions of children, mostly school dropouts, being engaged in some form of income generating activity or other cannot be ignored.
In 2001, as many as 12.6 million children between five to 14 years of age were working full time as laborers in India though experts with extensive on-the-ground experience have always considered it to be a rather conservative estimate and pegged the actual figure at a much higher level since 85 percent of the working children are employed in the huge unorganized sector that remains outside the purview of labor laws, virtually undetected. What intrigues many is the impunity with which children in this country are thrust into servitude under the very nose of the administration. India, one must remember, has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child way back in 1992 and incorporated a clause in her constitution whereby the government has undertook to progressively ban all forms of child labor. That such effort did not bear fruit can be gauged from the drastic rise in the number of child laborers from 11.28 million in 1991 to 12.6 million in 2001, a decade after India officially took up legal cudgels against the evil of child labor. The National Policy for Children, 2012 also outlines the necessity of protecting children up to the age of 18 years and provide them with all the facilities associated with healthcare, nutrition, education as well as physical and psychological security. Yet, too little has changed with the practice of child labor in spite of all the tall promises.
Many believe that the abnormal rise in child labor is linked to the neo-liberal economic policies that India adopted in the 90s. Since it is an established fact that poverty and absence of social security contribute to a spurt in child labor, unrestrained globalization therefore is playing havoc with the lives of children more than any other group.
In the post economic liberalization era, India has witnessed significant job losses resulting in large number of school dropouts as parents are compelled to send their children to work in slave-like conditions for making both ends meet. Ultimately, these poor children are not only robbed of their childhood happiness but also forced to forego their right to have proper education, mental and physical growth as well as enjoy a dignified existence. These young kids are exploited in an extremely dehumanized manner and ends up doing all sorts of hazardous activities. They are virtually forced to work in completely unregulated conditions and even go without nutritious food for days and months. The wages are pathetically low as millions continue to sweat in fields and factories, on street corners, in garbage dumps, private households and elsewhere.
These children, unless given an equal opportunity to prosper according to their potential, will certainly pose a threat to the society in future. As cases of physical, sexual and emotional abuse of child workers grow day by day, the tendency to drift away from the mainstream, toward the dark alley of crime gets a boost. But nothing worthwhile can be done unless a positive change in social psyche and public attitude is brought about sooner than later. The government too needs to chip in with some effective measures that diminish inequality in society, especially the yawning gap between the haves and the have-nots.
It is officially documented that incidences of child labor is highest among the marginalized scheduled caste and tribes, other backward classes and Muslim community. As pressure mounts, one hopes that the lawmakers can come up with a bold change in statute keeping in mind the ground realities. With video evidence of underaged children working in government flagship program aimed at generating rural employment coming to the fore, the big question is whether enforcing a blanket ban on child labor can end such miseries. Forcefully de-linking these children – who are working to counter the economic hardship faced by their families – from any income source might create social tension in the subaltern strata. Therefore, bestowing on them the right to support their family without being treated like slaves might be a viable alternative option. Laws should be enacted in tune with the socio-economic reality of present day India, which calls for ensuring that these young workers undergo appropriate skill and personality development training because at the end of the day they represent a vital piece of the nation’s future economic growth.
• Seema Sengupta is a Calcutta based journalist and columnist.
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