Child Labour and Exploitation~ Are you aware of it?

A neighboring family in the apartment building we reside has employed a teen-aged girl named Bharathi to do house hold chores and take care of their toddler too. Coincidentally, my Maternal Aunt shares her name with the girl. I am not aware of what the family is doing in terms of the teenagers education and future as a conscientious citizen of India, in terms of educating her and make her aware of her privileges and responsibilities towards her family and the country at large. When ever I chance upon the scrawny little teenager girl with the baby in her arms, trying to take care of it, I feel that we have stolen her freedom as a teenager and all the rights due to her as an Indian national.I am told that there are 50 million child laborers in India.

I even chanced upon a group of ladies in the locality we resided in, Cuttack, Orissa who planned to the women and children from the nearby slum on hygienic living and civic sense. They formally invited the slum dwellers to the venue, distributed clothes along with food packets and tool kits to be used to clean the slums they inhabited. The attendance of the slum dwellers was overwhelming when were to them, but their number petered down to merely five or six to actually get trained on the methods of cleaning the immediate localities and environments of the slum. Even the volunteers were hell bent to train the ladies and then use them as peer volunteers in the locality to encourage other inhabitants to adopt methods of hygiene and cleanliness. How effective the project was, I really have to find it out from my friend who had volunteered in the project.

Shall mention yet another project initiated by my Aunt and other members of "Saroj Nalini Nari Mangal Samiti", a voluntary organization working for the uplift of the destitute women and girl child working as domestic help in wealthy households. They conduct open school classes in the evening for these women and train them to appear in West Bengal Board for Secondary School Exams through Open School Schemes and to their delight, many girls have successfully cleared the Board exams and are undergoing vocational training in weaving, tailoring, block printing and many such creative vocational skills to be self employed and above all, to form an independent identity of their own and earn their livelihood with due self respect. Kudos to the volunteers who are trying to help those aspiring to find their unique identity and use it for not only their own uplift, but also that of the others too, this is really a source of inspiration for many of us!

Often I have asked many of these children working as domestic help or at construction site, whether they would like to study and improve their life-style on the long run. Surprisingly, they prefer to work and be independent rather than go to a Government school for free mandatory education for, that does not catch their imagination, nor does it provide them the challenge and adventure they face in earning their daily wages. They rather look down upon their friends who lug their heavy school bags to school. We cannot blame them for it. They are practically better equipped to face the drudgery of life and avoid the useless formats and formula the formal education provided by rote in the form of three 'R's (Reading, Writing & 'rithmetic) that are of no consequence when it comes to facing the harsh realities of life they live as members of B.P.L. (Below Poverty Line) or lower income group.

"Mid-Day Meal" or free compulsory education is not the solution to this problem. We need to organize the unorganized sector, that is nearly three fourth of the industry our country in the form of Domestic helps; workers in the construction sites, matchbox, handicraft makers viz. bangle and jewelery makers, small hotels and restaurants; workers in the agriculture fields or in trading or cottage industries. These children to whet their curiosity and to find and answer to the remain unanswered by their parents are lured into the world of crime and black market; where their imagination is wrongly used by the perpetrators of crime, terror and destruction for anti social activities.

Lion's share of Indian Industry is unorganized. Unless we organize the unorganized sectors of the industry, child labour will persist and stare hard into our face asking the same old question? Why don't we belong to the previliged group of the society too?

The next factor we need to look into is Education". Our Macaulay form of education will not help in solving this problem.
In the B.P.L. or lower income groups, children are not considered as an extra mouth to feed and an added responsibility of bringing up responsible citizen of the nation, but as an "earning member of the family"; we need to provide education in its holistic approach: i.e. not a theoretical education, where a student commits learning to memory and regurgitates, without being aware of how to apply it in ones own life.
We need to provide vocational training in the apprentice pattern of learning with a token stipend. The vocational training with basic education and above all: emotional education, should be provided according to a child's interest and aptitude, so that the parents will understand and appreciate the significance of formal education. This will also go a long way in merging division of labour with dignity of labour and also strike at the root of casteism and socio-political along with sectarian aggression rife in the society. This will help in paving the way and defining each child's life according to what he or she imagines and likes to work upon.

Following are the facts drawn from UNICEF data, which makes it evident that we have miles to go before we as Indians can say like the protagonist of the Hindi film: "Three Idiots" can say "All is Well!"

Child Protection	to the top
Child labour ; (5–14 years) 1999–2007*, total	12
Child labour ; (5–14 years) 1999–2007*, male	12
Child labour ; (5–14 years) 1999–2007*, female	12
Child marriage ; 1998–2007*, total	47
Child marriage ; 1998–2007*, urban	29
Child marriage ; 1998–2007*, rural	56
Birth registration ; 2000–2007*, total	41
Birth registration ; 2000–2007*, urban	59
Birth registration ; 2000–2007*, rural	35
Female genital mutilation/cutting 2002–2007*, women (15–49 years) , total	-
Female genital mutilation/cutting 2002–2007*, women (15–49 years) , urban	-
Female genital mutilation/cutting 2002–2007*, womena (15–49 years) , rural	-
Female genital mutilation/cutting 2002–2007*, daughtersb, total	-
Attitudes towards domestic violence 2001–2007*, total	54
Child disability?; 1999–2007*, total	-
Child discipline 2005–2007*, total	-
Definitions and data sources

The Rate of Progress	to the top
Under-5 mortality rank	49
Under-5 mortality rate, 1970	190
Under-5 mortality rate, 1990	117
Under-5 mortality rate, 2007	72
Average annual rate of reduction (%)T, 1970–1990	2.4
Average annual rate of reduction (%)T, 1990–2007	2.9
Reduction since 1990 (%)T	38
GDP per capita average annual growth rate (%), 1970–1990	2.1
GDP per capita average annual growth rate (%), 1990–2007	4.5
Total fertility rate, 1970	5.4
Total fertility rate, 1990	4
Total fertility rate, 2007	2.8
Average annual rate of reduction (%), 1970–1990	1.5
Average annual rate of reduction (%), 1990–2007	2

Child protection

Definitions of the indicators

Child labour – Percentage of children aged 5 to 14 years of age involved in child labour activities at the moment of the survey. A child is considered to be involved in child labour activities under the following classification: (a) children 5 to 11 years of age that during the week preceding the survey did at least one hour of economic activity or at least 28 hours of domestic work, and (b) children 12 to 14 years of age that during the week preceding the survey did at least 14 hours of economic activity or at least 42 hours of economic activity and domestic work combined.

Child labour background variables – Sex of the child; urban or rural place of residence; poorest 20% or richest 20% of the population constructed from household assets (a more detailed description of the household wealth estimation procedure can be found at www.childinfo.org); mother’s education, reflecting mothers with and without some level of education.

Birth registration – Percentage of children less than five years of age that were registered at the moment of the survey. The numerator of this indicator includes children whose birth certificate was seen by the interviewer or whose mother or caretaker says the birth has been registered.

Female genital mutilation/cutting – (a) Women – the percentage of women aged 15 to 49 years of age who have been mutilated/cut. (b) Daughters – the percentage of women aged 15 to 49 with at least one mutilated/cut daughter. Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) involves the cutting or alteration of the female genitalia for social reasons. Generally, there are three recognized types of FGM/C: clitoridectomy, excision and infibulation. Clitoridectomy is the removal of the prepuce with or without excision of all or part of the clitoris. Excision is the removal of the prepuce and clitoris along with all or part of the labia minora. Infibulation is the most severe form and consists of removal of all or part of the external genitalia, followed by joining together of the two sides of the labia minora using threads, thorns or other materials to narrow the vaginal opening. A more detailed analysis of these data can also be found at www.measuredhs.com and www.measurecommunication.org

Main data sources
Child labour – Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) and Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS).
Birth registration – MICS and DHS.
Female genital mutilation/cutting – DHS conducted during the period 1996-2001 and MICS conducted during the period 1999-2001.
Notes
Only countries whose adult prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS is 1% or higher and/or where 50% or more of the population lives in malaria–endemic areas are included.
-	Data not available.
x	Indicates data that refer to years or periods other than those specified in the column heading, differ from the standard definition, or refer to only part of a country.
*	Data refer to the most recent year available during the period specified in the column heading.