Chotu, 1 Chai La : A Tragedy Called Child Labour

On a normal day, a guy sitting on a bench of a small tapri frustrated with his annual appraisal or break-up wants another cup of tea so he calls "chotu" 1 aur chai la.

The above scenario is not new to many of us and millions of such "chotus" are living near us. We encounter them daily when they bring us tea, provide sutta near college campuses, clean the table at restaurant, iron clothes in hostel, repair punctures etc. but we tend to accept their horrible state very easily. On seeing them work, some people sympathize and some tends to ignore but very few people actually take any step to improve their condition. Did we ever realize why these chotus are here and if we can do anything to improve their conditions?

As per the child labour law(Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016) in India, any child of age less than 14 cannot work in any occupation (hazardous or non-hazardous). The only exceptions are 1)if the work location is a family enterprise or 2)if the child is working as artist. If you observe, most of the locations where these children work are neither their family enterprises nor they are working as artist, hence the employers are violating the law. Secondly, as the law says even if the child is helping a family enterprise then also he/she should do without affecting the school hours. 
These kids lose their childhood to earn their livelihood and are exposed to abuse, exploitation, criminal activities, trafficking, begging etc. They are bound to these situations due to different factors. 

Children begging at traffic signals is a common site in most of the cities and people have actually accepted this disaster. This is also one of the most prevalent activity of child labour and police officials have caught number of rackets running this as a planned/organised business. We have already seen glimpse of this in Oscar winning film "Slumdog Millionaire".

As a part of my community surveys under SNEH Foundation (www.snehfoundationindia.org), I can list the below reasons for child labour:

• Poverty: Probably the most important factor that lead to child labour is Poverty. Children born in BPL(Below Poverty Line) families sometimes have no options but to work to sustain livelihood. These kids are also more prone to abuse both mental and physical. 
• Lack of family planning in underprivileged families: It is observed that in underprivileged families with more number of kids, one or two kids are always working for livelihood and also to sustain educations for their siblings. A reason which can be related to Poverty as well. 
• Parents Mindset: Sometime parents have the mindset that education will make their kids aggressive, mindful and they will not stick to their family enterprises. Hence they engage their kids in their family enterprise early. This is mainly observed in families involved in waste picking, potters who makes idols, brick kiln workers etc. These people are not aware of the other benefits of education that are not measurable. 
• Child Trafficking: A major cause of child labour mainly in work like begging, child laborers in farms, child prostitution, bonded labour, domestic work is "Child Trafficking". Lot of kids are trafficked from one part of the country and forced to work in hazardous circumstances in other part of the country and also in other countries. As per my discussion with Child line officials, lot of times they get calls by girls trafficked from other parts of the country and deployed as bonded workers. And it needs to kept in mind that child trafficking is more prevalent in poverty stricken areas.
• Migration:  Another major cause which I observed is migration of people in lieu of work to other parts of the country. These people mainly belonging to professions like pottery, construction laborers, sugarcane farmers find it difficult to provide quality lifestyle to their kids and as a result kids take up small jobs to assist in bread and butter. Migratory people are always skeptical of their tenure at the work location which make them reluctant to take strong decisions for their kids. 
• Poor Quality of primary education: This factor may not be directly related for accelerating child labour but lack of quality education in government schools discourage parents to continue studies and as a result children chose easy earning options.This also results in higher school dropout from government schools. All parents cannot afford private schooling for their kids and government bodies should plan to focus to improve quality of government schools.  
• Abandoned kids: Lot of kids abandoned by their parents are generally secluded by the society and they take shelter in orphanages or rehab centers. These kids are prone to taking up jobs early than expected as they often feel dejected by the society. 
• Increasing demand for domestic help/babysitters: This factor is mainly related to demand of domestic help, babysitters in metro cities. During my community visits, I observed that lot of girls of age 11-14 work as house maids, babysitters in nearby developed localities. One common view these days is the availability of an urban slum around a big developed locality. Such urban slums are mainly set up to cater needs of developed localities. 

All the above factors can be easily mitigated if we consider this as a national issue and works unitedly to eradicate this evil.

Any case of child labour can be easily notified to Child line at 1098 (India Toll free) and team can take necessary actions. So next time if you see any "chotu", please do not ignore and ask him why he is there, what are the reasons and if you can do anything to help him. You can also get in touch with me at iliveforthenation@gmail.com. A small act of kindness can change the life of the child and the future of our lovely nation. 

People like Kailash Satyarthi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kailash_Satyarthi) have given their whole life against child labor and his initiative Bachpan Bachao Andolan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachpan_Bachao_Andolan) have been acclaimed all over the world. 

So let's come forward and do our bit to make this country child labour free.

Please refer to below link for complete illustration of "Child Labour Act". 
http://labour.tripura.gov.in/sites/default/files/child-labour-act-2016.pdf 

Regards
Live For The Nation