13. Reading Skills Comprehension: Child Labour

CHILD LABOUR

1. The problem of child labour in India is a reality. Clearly, the situation of these children violates the fundamental right to education, right to childhood and equal opportunity to participate as equal citizens of this country.

2. Child labour is more or less synonymous with poverty. The only way to break the cycle of poverty that envelops the lives of little children who are employed as child labourers is to ensure that they have access to education in accordance with the 86th Amendment to the Constitution. However, today, the law allows children to work and makes no distinction between hazardous and non-hazardous child labour. There is no bar for children below 14 years to work in non-hazardous industries.

3. The legislation, therefore, condones and allows millions of children to be subjected to the hazards of not being in school and working in sometimes extremely difficult and exploitative conditions.

4. A child can either be in school at a young and tender age or be made to earn a living. The two cannot be reconciled and the present law is therefore not satisfactory. Free and compulsory education can only be a reality when all forms of child labour are excluded and when distinctions between hazardous and non-hazardous forms of labour are removed. This would, then, be in line with all international laws and conventions that India has signed.

5. It is heartening to note that the government has decided to ban the employment of children below the age of 14 as domestic help and in dhabas, teashops, restaurants, hotels and resorts.

6. As always, in our country, the new order will likely trigger many conflicting reactions. While many who have worked for years in this area are now optimistic, some civil society organisations and non-governmental organisations will be critical and sceptical.

7. There is some cause for this. There have been many failures to monitor, rehabilitate and enforce the ban where it is already in force, such as in the hazardous sector. Therefore, it would be appropriate for the government to immediately devise a mechanism for the rehabilitation of children, their admission into schools and for their ultimate employment through counselling, skill building and special educational opportunities.

8. The advantages of this new policy are that many children in urban and rural areas would now be much less exposed to psychological hurt, severe trauma, physical danger and even sexual abuse.

9. Having said this, it is still true that India is home to, perhaps, the largest number of child labourers in the world today. The estimates today are alarming, ranging from about 12 million to about 100 million children according to the government NGOs and other sources. These children are steeped in poverty and most of them are part of the informal economy, both in the agriculture and urban sectors, where the reach of the law is hardly visible.

Word-Meanings

Para 1. 1. violates (verb): to break or transgress 2. Fundamental (adjective): essential or primary

Para 2. 1. Synonymous (adjective): having the same meaning 2. Envelops (verb): to surround 3. Hazardous (adjective): dangerous 4. Bar (noun): denial

Para 3. 1. Condones (verb): overlook 2. Exploitative (adjective): treating others unfairly 3. Subjected (verb): to cause/force to undergo an unpleasant situation

Para 4. 1. Tender (adjective): immature 2. Reconciled (verb): to make consistent 3. Conventions (noun): customs or rules

Para 5. 1. Heartening (adjective): to make more cheerful 2. Resort (noun): the place for recreation

Para 6. 1. Trigger (verb): cause to happen 2. Conflicting (adjective): opposing 3. Optimistic (adjective): hopeful 4. sceptical (adjective): doubtful 5. Critical (adjective): inclined to find faults or to judge with severity

Para 7. 1. Rehabilitate (verb): resettle 2. appropriate (adjective): suitable 3. devise (verb): plan

Para 8. 1. Hurt (noun): injury, harm 2. Severe (adjective): grave 3. Trauma (noun): wound, psychological injury 4. Abuse (noun): wrong or improper use

Para 9. 1. Steeped (verb): soaked in 2. Alarming (adjective): causing fear 3. Informal (adjective): not according to the official or customary manner

Answer the Questions:

1. Choose the correct option:

(a) The root cause of child labour is…………..

(i) illiteracy (ii) population (iii) poverty (iv) absence of laws

(b) A child must get the opportunity to ……………..

(i) earn money (ii) while away time

(iii) get education (iv) visit school

(c) Which amendment to the Constitution enforces free education to children below 14 years of age?

(i) 80th (ii) 86^th

(iii) 83rd (iv) 85th

(d) In which country is the largest number of child labourers found?

(i) Pakistan (ii) Ghana