Sir,

It is said that Children are  valuable assets of any country as they are its future citizens. In India, people hold the belief that children are a boon of God but,  the thriving child labour is a bane of the Indian society. Children are employed in various odd jobs such as lifting up heavy bricks, washing plates or serving food in a restaurant, cleaning or sweeping manholes or streets respectively, and so on. The reason behind the thriving child labour in the country is illiteracy, coupled with ignorance and poverty.

It is not only the Government that ignores it, but we citizens also nourish such immoral act. We see children, well below the prescribed age, being employed in risky and extremely difficult jobs. The employers find it profitable to employ children as they would work for longer hours at less wages than adults. Moreover, the parents of the children also want them to work ; they don’t realize that they are taking away the precious tenure of childhood from their lives.

In Article 24 of the Indian Constitution, it is provided that no child below the age of 14 years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any hazardous employment. But such rules are ignored and exist merely as official statutes. We can often see the protests against child labour by students of schools or colleges but this hardly makes any difference in our society. I, myself have protested against it during school days but the response I got from passers-by was highly commendable. One of them said, “ Yeh sab kya hai? Aap sabhi ko in faltu kaam mein samay gawane ke bajaye padhne-likhne ke liye nahin hai kya?” [What are all these? You all don’t have to study rather than wasting time on such stupid things?] Now, we can easily sort out where the problem exists! It is in the mind of commoners who ignore these issues which leads to the defects of our country.

Government have initiated several schemes like Right to Education, MNREGA, Mid-day meal which give children an incentive to study and several campaigns are also working against child labour but it is not enough, until and unless, the people and parents are not aware of the demerits of child labour.

According to a Census report, there are over 82 lakh child labourers in India. The Government could work towards the setting up of special schools which would provide children with academic and technical knowledge. Manufacturing of soft toys, cards, candles, book printing, etc. are some of the fields where they could excel and also supplement their family’s income.

Hence, with the Government working for children or economically weaker sections on the whole, and people changing their mindset, we can achieve a better India.

Yours Truly,

Bhwya Sriya, Communicative English with Media Studies – II, Patna Women’s College.

  Child labour, letters