"BACHPAN BACHAO DESH BACHAO"

"Child labour is often the upshoot of poverty, unemployment and illiteracy and it is, infact, the perpetrator of these maladies", was said by Anandita Chattopadhyay. She counsels, "Unless the menace of child labour is eradicated, the country's progress in the next millennium is bound to be poor".

Child Labour is one of the examples of human rights violation. it was also observed, as the anniversary of the universal declaration of human rights held seminars and pledges are taken to eradicate the menace of child labour, but the children of India languish in slavery, cramped spaces in factories, houses toiling 16 hours a day, getting little pay and more abuse. we have entered in the 21st century but still Child Labour continues as the worst form of slavery in the society.

A labourer in an industrial set up is one who sells his/her labour to an employer in lieu of wages. But the children have no identity as workers. They have to obey their masters and remain at their mercy . There are no minimum wages or working hours for them. Vulnerable to physical and mental exploitation, the children are abused, beaten and sexually exploited and more often than not such abuses go unnoticed.

The main hurdle in the abolition of Child Labour lies in the laws themselves which are full of loop holes and are more anomalous.

In 1986, a law was enacted to prohibit Child Labour under Article 39 of the Constitution, which mandates that the states make sure that the children of tender age are not forced to work. Now, by the latest amendment in the Child Labour Act, 1986, implemented from 10th October, 2006, The Supreme Court of India has decided the Child Labour as a "Criminal Offence". Likewise ILO i.e International Labour Organisation, which has its headquarters in Geneva and is an agency of United Nations, adopted a treaty meant to abolish the worst form of child labour.

Poverty can never be removed unless Child Labour is strictly abolished. An Asia Labour Monitor report says, "Children in India contribute more than 1/5th of the total GNP of the country". If the Child Labour were not there the employers will have to pay more than 5 times they pay to children.

What an irony !

Contributed by:
Tanushree Chaudhary - B.A.LL.B III Semester