CCO107 World Histories and Issues

Tutor-Marked Assignment (July 2015 Essay)

TG04

Yong Jie Hui Jeffrey

Student ID: W1581001

Date of Submission: 16-10-2015

Word Count: 1245

Poverty and illiteracy still exist in India. These are the root causes for the massive amount of

child workers in India today. While most of us have enjoyed comfort during our childhood in

Singapore, there are many cries and sufferings from the children that have gone unheard in

India.

Child labour in India has been a major problem in India for many years, having an estimate of

18 million child workers. According to statistics from the United Nations’ Children Fund’s

(UNICEF) global database, the estimated amount of workers amount to 12% of the total child

labour in the world today (UNICEF, 2013). There are various types of child labour in India,

and one of them is domestic child labour. These children are mostly brutally tortured and

sexually exploited by their domestic employers, and they have no way to get out of this daily

vicious cycle because most of the children are illiterate and the money they have earned are

being pocketed by their “agencies”.

These agencies are the main source of recruitment for child labour in India which originate

from the western part of India’s capital, New Delhi. There are about 5,000 of such agencies

operating in a mundane neighbourhood named Shakurpur Basti. As years gone by, these

agencies thrived in their businesses, trafficking mostly minor girls and selling them as

domestic workers in the cities (Priyali Sur, 2013).

The agencies carry out their primary step of the child trafficking process by conducting their

recruitment campaigns, collaborating with natives in secluded villages, which mostly come

from the eastern part of India. These natives have betrayed their own village by becoming

“local agents”. These local agents identify extremely poor families and tempt them by

sending their children to the cities to get a “reasonable amount of income” for the family.

Unfortunately, this facade has been effective in deceiving these poor families to send their

children to the cities. This was how the trafficking of children began (Priyali Sur, 2013).

The next step of the trafficking process is the transition of these children to the cities, where

the agents will begin selling these children at around US$120 each to the agencies. These

agencies will then re-sell these children to the “employers” who are hiring domestic help,

charging at a range between US$600 to US$700 (Priyali Sur, 2013).

Both the local agents and agencies serves the role of a “middleman”, which local agents

identify poor families for the agencies, while the agencies settle the issues between the agents

and the domestic employers. In hindsight, it is not just the children from these poor families

who have been exploited. The local agents were also exploited by these agencies to search for

the children and to transit them to the cities. These exploitations are the aftermath of the

agencies’ greed.

Sadly, these children are the ones who receive the short end of the stick. They have been

exploited thoroughly by the agencies and their domestic workers, working for about 14 to 16

hours daily doing housework such as cooking, cleaning up the house, laundry and even baby-

sitting. There was a case of a 15-year-old girl who was sent to the New Delhi’s Safdarjung

Hospital because she had suffered abuse from her domestic employer, such that most part of

her head was bandaged, leaving a blue black eye and swollen lips left to be exposed. There

were burn marks everywhere from the neck and torso, and a disfigured ear which have been

severely damaged. She mentioned that her employer would hit her using brooms, stools and

heated pans every day (Priyali Sur, 2013). Such cruel acts are common in India. Many other

cases have been raised but there is little that has been done to eradicate child labour.

Child labour persists in India, and it remains as one of the biggest ordeals in the nation today.

Statistics from the International Labour Organisation have shown that domestic workers form

as the largest workforce in India, estimating to be about 2.5 million workers while non-

governmental organisations estimate to be around 20 million workers. The India government

has been taking measures to counter this problem, however, child labour has become a

massive socio-economic problem which has plagued India through the years.

In response to child labour, India did make efforts to combat the problem of child labour.

Some major national legislative developments include, “The Child Labour (Prohibition and

Regulation) Act” in 1986, “The Factories Act” in 1948, “The Mines Act” in 1952, “The

Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of Children Act” in 2000, “The Minimum Wages Act”

in 1948 and “The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act” in 2009. In

addition, India have adopted conventions such as the “International Labour Organisation

(ILO) Forced Labour Convention” (No. 29), “ILO Abolition of Forced Labour Convention”

(No. 105) and the “UN Convention on the Rights of the Child” (CRC) (ILO-IPEC, 2009).

A notable effort made by the India government was the movement to abolish all forms of

child labour in the country by approving the “Child and Adolescent Labour Act” on the 28

August 2012 (Bachpan Bachao Andolan, 2012). However, there is no specific law which

protects the domestic workers, which makes them easily exploited.

Besides the development of laws to combat child labour in India, The (ILO) International

Program on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) was setup in 1992, a movement to

combat the widespread of child labour in the world. This is the largest program of its kind on

the international level and the biggest operational program of the ILO, which takes in

concerted efforts to eradicate sources of child labour. Today, 96 countries are currently

participating in this scheme.

Although the effectiveness of ILO’s IPEC on India has not been evaluated yet, the IPEC

certainly had an impact on the world. There is a decline in the number of children affected by

child labour since 2000, from 246 million to 168 million children. In addition, the child

labour among girls fell by 40% since 2000, while 25% for boys. These are encouraging

figures, in which the policies devised by the ILO have been effective.

Although there have been encouraging results from the decline of child labour, there are still

challenges in the fight against child labour. The goal of the ILO is to “eliminate the worst

forms of child labour by 2016”, but with the results the ILO have given, it shows that child

labour is declining, but at a slower pace. Warnings have been raised from the ILO indicating

the crisis for the increase in children in child labour, especially for girls, just like what the

agencies are doing in India.

The main challenge India is facing from child labour originates from the India’s caste system

which has been in the Indian culture for 1500 years. The caste system divides different

groups into the categories, with the infamously known “Untouchables” as the most

discriminated group in India. As long as such systems exist, there can never be equality, thus

it is difficult for India to eradicate child labour. (Jay Elwes, Alexander Brown, 2013)

Fortunately, the ILO knows the key problem of child labour, and that is poverty. In addition,

they have a clear strategy to combat the problem, which is education and creating social

protection systems that supports the vulnerable families. Their leadership in the fight against

child labour is critical, because they can gel countries together to have a common goal to

combat against child labour today. With this attitude in fighting against child labour, the

ILO’s goal in 2016 is still achievable.

Bibliography

- How does India’s caste system work? | Prospect Magazine. (n.d.).

http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/features/how-does-indias-caste-system-work

- Silent slaves: Stories of human trafficking in India. (n.d.).

http://www.womenundersiegeproject.org/blog/entry/silent-slaves-stories-of-human-trafficking-in-india

- India's worst forms of Child Labor. (n.d.).

http://www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/child-labor/india.htm

- Child Labour in India. (n.d.).

http://labour.nic.in/content/division/child-labour.php

- Statistics by UNICEF. (n.d.).

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/india_statistics.html

- India moves to ban all forms of Child Labour. (n.d.).

http://bba.org.in/?q=content/india-moves-ban-all-forms-child-labour

- National Legislation and Policies against Child Labour in India. (n.d.). https://www.ilo.org/legacy/english/regions/asro/newdelhi/ipec/responses/india/national.htm

- The global challenge of child labour: Going for the goal. (2010, August 1).

http://www.ilo.org/global/publications/magazines-and-journals/world-of-work-magazine/articles/WCMS_143787/lang--en/index.htm

Note: Some figures do not have citations because it is taken directly from the ILO website