INTRODUCTION:

The children of a nation are its most valuable asset and the nation’s future is very much dependent on their proper development. Therefore an investment in children is indeed am investment in a nation’s future. A healthy and educated child of the present is an active and intelligent citizen of the future.

It is for this reason that the socioeconomic development of a nation is best judged and justified only when its children enjoy constitutional rights equally and develop their full potential to grow into responsible adults of tomorrow, If they eroneglected today, tomorrow would be full of miseries.

It was rightly state that children are the worlds vulnerable resources and without them there would be no tomorrow and therefore we must give top most priority to these resources.

He can also be defined as someone who needs adult’s protection of physical, psychological and intellectual development unit he is able to become independently integrated into the adult world. The essential condition is that he cannot survive without help. On the other hand, child labour can be defined as one who is in the age group between 6 to 14 years. It is presumed here that no child below 6 years can successfully participate in painful economic activity.

Different legislations, organizations and commissions have perceived and defined child labour in different ways. A few of such definitions are presented as under. As per the children (pledging and labour) Act 1933, child means a person who is under the age of 15 years. It forbids pledging of children by their parents and guardians. Article 24 of the constitution of India states that,” no child below the age of 14 years shall be employed to work in any factory or inns or engaged in any other hazardous employment”. Thus one may broadly say that a child means a person who has not completed his 14 years of age.

According to sri V.V. Giri the former president of India, the term child labour has two basic components such as i) employing the children in gainful occupations with a view to adding to the labour income of their families and ii) purposeful oppression and exploitation of working children leading to deprivation of their legitimate opportunities for growth.

Employment of children Act 1938.this Act was enacted to regulate the employment of children in certain industrial employment and prohibit employment of children in certain occupations, the factories Act, 1948 defines child as a person who has not completed fifteenth year. It further states that “no child who has not completed his 14 years shall be required or allowed to work in any factory. This is applicable to all the factories as defined under the factories Act, 1948.Mines Act, 1952, prohibits employment of children below 18 years and further prescribe that “no child shall be employed in any mine, nor shall any child be allowed to present in any part of the mine which is below the ground or in any open cast working in which mining operation is being carried out.

The U.S. national child labour committee viewed “child labour” as any work by children that interferes with their full physical development, their opportunities for a desirable minimum education or the needed recreation. However folks, chairman of united states national child labour committee defines child labour as “any work by children that interferes with their full physical development, their opportunities for desirable minimum of education or their needed recreation working children are those children who are engaged in an economic activities but are less than 14 years of age have taken as the working children.

International labour organization (I.L.O) defines, child labour that includes children prematurely leading adult lives working long hours for low wages under conditions damaging their health and their physical and mental development, sometimes separated from their families, frequently deprived of meaning full educational and training opportunities that could open up for them a better future.

Based on the definitions given by different individuals and agencies, the characteristics of child labour can be summed up as under. a) Employing children of tender age children who have not completed the age of 14 years b) Exploitation of children adversely affecting their physical mental emotional and social development c) Deprivation of the right of the children to health, education and a happy child hood. d) Work by children in the family would be considered “child labour “if family labour interferes with the child’s education, recreation and has physical, mental or oral health.

According to an estimate by the ministry of labour and employment (www.labour.nic.in) as per the 2001 census figures there are 1.24 crore working children in the age group of 5 -14 as compared to the total child population of 25.2 crore, There are approximately 12 lakhs children working in the hazardous occupation processes which are covered under the child labour (prohibition & Regulation) Act i.e.18 occupation and 65 processes. As per survey conducted by national sample survey organisation (NSSO) in 2004-05, the number of working children is estimated at 90.75 lakh. As per census 2011, the number of working children in the age group of 5-14 years has further reduced to 43.53 lakh. It shows that the efforts of the government have yielded the desired fruits.

OBJECTIVE AND METHODOLOGY:

This chapter presents the statement of the problem, review of literature, objectives, need for the study and the other methodological of the study.

Child labour is one of the major problems of the world. It is, as matter of fact, a burning topic especially in third world countries, because of the magnitude of the child labour and problems associated especially in unorganized sector. It has attracted the attention of the policy makers, sociologists, philanthropists, government and nongovernment agencies including social science researchers owing to its contemporary relevance and social importance, there is a dire need to study the social –economic conditions and compulsion of child labour, analyze the occupational patterns of the children and the measures to the imperatively felt urgently called for with this background in mind, this chapter is palmed out accordingly.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:

Child labour is an important research issue today because its prevalence around the world is quite substantial. In India poverty is the sole reason behind child labour. The meagre income of the children is absorbed in the families. The paucity of organized banking in rural areas creates a void in taking facilities, forcing parents to push their children to harsh labour, the harshest form of labour being bonded labour. A number of scholarly works have delved into this issue because of the legal and moral concern associated with this issue. It interferes with their physical and mental health, stunts their mental growth, and hampers their basic education and violets human rights. In Britain usually thought to be a place of large-scale employment of child labour since the beginning of the industrial revolution, parliament had to interfere by limiting the working hours around 1847 (Microsoft Encarta, The scourge of child labour).

Child labours are found in various segments of the society mostly in the informal sector. They often work as domestic help. In small scale unorganized industries like fireworks, jewellery cuts in agricultural fields, car washing etc. The children are employed in various kinds of dangerous jobs in unprotected and unsupervised environments. This is not only illegal but it often causes deadly diseases.

Several other reasons exist for the occurrence of child labour. Simple greed is yet another cause of child labour. Unscrupulous employers will always be tempted to hire the group of workers that is easiest to exploit children. The most vulnerable and weakest workers children can usually be paid less than adults and are considerably less likely than adults to know their rights or to protest against working conditions.

In serial states of India, including, West Bengal. Child labour is found to be employed in abundance in the shop and hotels in many other sectors, notwithstanding the legal restrictions against employing the children.

This research is planned in order to understand the problems of employment of child labour in the shop and hotels of south 24 Parganas.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY AREA:

1. Analyze the socio- economic condition of child labour working in shop and hotels of south 24 Parganas.

2. To find out the working and living condition of child labour in the selected occupation and identify the problems faced by child labour.

3. To suggest policy measures to eradicate child labour especially in unorganized sector.

METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION:

The data for present study are collected both from primary and secondary data. Primary data are collected by an interview schedule among the selected child labour. Haw ever the secondary data are pooled from the official records of district labour office, state directorate of labour, published books journals, websites etc. Informal discussions are also made with the officials concerned as to get first-hand information on various practical problems of child labour especially in unorganized sector of shop and hotels.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITION:

Socio-economic condition of a child labour is very crucial part of this study to detect the causal factors behind their engagement in deferent kind of occupations at early age. To evaluate the origin of child labourers, the detailed study of their personal profile as well as family background is essential.

PROFILE OF CHILD LABOUR:

Child labourer’s personal profile is considered to be the most important parameter to assess the trend and present situations. Different demographic factors, educational status and some special criteria like birth order and age at starting work have also been taken as important.

DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS:

Age-in the present study, it is found that out of 123, a huge number i-e 84 child labourers are at the age group of 10 – 15 whereas only 39% belongs to 5-10 age group. It can be assumed that the trend of their age starting work is increasing day by day.

SEX: The study reveals that 99 out of 123 child labourers are male whereas only 19.21% is female. The female workers are worked as domestic help with their mother. A few of them also work at small industries.

Religion: Child labourers mainly belong to Hindu families. Almost 88.62% of the child labourers are Hindu on the other hand 11.38% are Muslim and they generally work as helpers and construction labourers.

Educational status: As per the sample survey 58.54% of the child labourers are found illiterate and never attended school there is no literate girl’s child labourers in the study area. All the rag pickers in the sample are found illiterate. Regarding the literates, 38.21% of the total sample has just primary education and remaining 3.25% has the rare experience of going secondary schools. A major part of primary school goes of the studied population are out of school at present. It is clear from the questionnaire survey that poverty is the main reason for the school drop-out. Education is luxury to them. It is more important to them and also their guardians to earn for the family, whatever the amount it is, than to spend time, labour and money for education.

BIRTH ORDER AND AGE AT STARTING WORK:

The age at the time of starting work to financially help the family is ranging from 5 to 15. Although at south 24 parganas areas poverty insists all wards of any parents to earn money, a trend is found for the first order child to start work at earlier age then younger ones. Being the eldest child of the family, the burden of responsibility becomes higher than the younger brothers and sisters. So a positive relationship is established between these criteria of the child labourers, i.e. The lower is the birth order the lower is the age at starting work. In this present study almost 47.15% of the total child labourers, being the first order child, have started work below 10 years old.

FAMILY BACKGROUND:

Parents illiteracy, sudden death, indifference bound the children to work for earning money and to meet his/her own and family members’ basic needs. The family type and migration history are also considered as secondary causal factors for the origin of child labourers.

PARENTAL FACTORS:

Parental abandonment although this criterion seems to be a vital one, but according to the study, parents abandonment is established as a less important factor behind the origin of child labourers. Among 123 samples, only 13.82%and 4.07% child labourers have joined work after the death or indifferent/unusual behaviour of father and mother respectively and 6.50% after losing both of the parents. The major portion i.e. 75.61%of the child labourers has joined work with their parents consent.

PARENTAL ILLITERACY:

Almost 83.74% of fathers and 90.24% of the mothers of the child labourers are found illiterate. They are not aware about the need of the basic education for their children. Moreover, the poverty and huge dependency ratio lead them to include their wards as earning members.

FAMILY TYPE:

Most of the child labourers (80.49%) belong to nuclear families where as only 19.51/ to the joint families. As more adult earning members are found at joint families the dependency ratio becomes low and the case of child labourers is less.

WORKING HOURS:

The child labourers are classified into three classes according to their working hours per day. Most of the frequencies are found in the second group i.e.6-10 hours of work per day. The lowest frequency is identified in the last group of labourers who work for more than 10hours per day.

SITUATION OF WORK PLACE:

It is very much essential to analyze the employment situation of the child labourers to estimate the exploitation of physical and mental health at their tender age. Various issues related to their works and works places are assessed on the basis of the interview with child labourers and direct observation

WORK STATUS:

To get a view of the miserable and hazardous working conditions of the child labourers at different work places, some factors like work type, payment, financial compensation are discussed.

TYPES OF WORK:

A major portion (24.4) of child labourers are appointed at different shop and hotels and small industries making machinery parts, plastic goods, aluminium goods, fertilizer etc.19.2% of the child labourers mainly the girls, are engaged as the domestic helpers. A few of them are not paid individually as they share their mother’s work.19 out of 123 child labourer’s work at garages. They mainly wash cars and some of them are worked as mechanics 12.3% of the child labourers are working as the helpers at different stationery shops, building materials shops, grocery shops etc. Among the remaining, 13 child labourers are hotel boys engaged in washing plates or serving food. The rest 7.3% of the child labourers are rag pickers.

REMUNERATION:

Remuneration paid on a monthly basis ranges from 0 to Rs.500/-. The child labourers are categorized into four groups. Most of the child labourers (46.34%) belong to the remuneration group of Rs.101-300.A few children (6.50%) have no remuneration, they just work as their parents helping hand at their work places or get meagre amount of food for labour.

WORKING HOURS:

The child labourers are classified into their classes according to their working hours per day. Most of the frequencies are found in the second group i.e.6 – 10 hours of works per day. The lowest frequency is identified in the last group of labourers who work for more than 10 hours per day.

LEAVE FACILITY:

The study reveals that 14.63% of the child labourers work without any recess, whereas 49.59% and 35.77% of them get half an hour and one hour Tiffin break respectively. They cannot enjoy the general holidays. Hotel boys and shops helpers get one holidays in a week. Which is the closing day for the hotels and shops. Others get few holidays only at the time of Durga puja.

WORKING ENVIORMENT:

The child labourers generally work in difficult and hazardous environment. As per the survey 46.34% of the child labourers works under open air and are exposed to sun and rain 33.33% and 87.13% of the child labourers are bound to work at ill – ventilated places and with harmful chemicals respectively.

PERCEPTION STUDY OF JOB SATISFACTION:

According to the interview 19.5% of the child labourers are quite satisfied with their job. For the rest of the cases 17.89% complain for their employers ill-treatment, 6.5% and 9.76% fell the job hazardous and shameful (mainly shops and hotels) respectively. Almost 44.07% of the child labourers are not satisfied with their remuneration.

CONCLUSION:

Government has accordingly been taking proactive steps to tackle this problem through strict enforcement of legislative provisions along with simultaneous rehabilitative measures. State Governments, which are the appropriate implementing authorities, have been conducting regular inspections and raids to detect cases of violations. Since poverty is the root cause of this problem, and enforcement alone cannot help solve it, Government has been laying a lot of emphasis on the rehabilitation of these children and on improving the economic conditions of their families.

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Received on 12.11.2019 Modified on 29.11.2019

Res. J. Humanities and Social Sciences. 2020; 11(1):29-33.

DOI: 10.5958/2321-5828.2020.00005.4