Hyderabad: With the country toiling hard to match its pace with the other developed countries around the world, a major chunk of India's population continues to be deprived, despite the promises made by the policymakers. While today's children are seen as India's development indicators, the fact that the future of a decisive 10.1 million children is entangled in the vicious web of 'child labour' poses a major threat to the country's rapid growth.
As people observe 'World Day Against Child Labour' on June 12, the global issue of child labour has acted as a parasite by weakening the country's child-oriented policies.
According to reports, the menace is most prevalent in Uttar Pradesh where a staggering 2.1 million children are subjected to work not permissible under the law. Bihar follows up with 1 million, while Rajasthan trails Bihar with 0.84 million.
The other states where child labour is dominant are Madhya Pradesh (0.7 million) and Maharashtra (0.72 million).
As per the 2011 census, 4.5 million of the total 10.1 million are girls, the remaining 5.6 million are boys.
In 2001, UNICEF in a report claimed that child labour contributes 13 per cent of the total workforce in India.
In a recent development, the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) report on child labour stated that of the total 152 million children involved in child labour worldwide, 73 million perform hazardous work.
The concerns aggravated further after ILO recently claimed that the number of children between the ages of five and 11 involved in hazardous labour increased to 19 million.
An Overview of India's response to child labour:
- 23 million children between 15-18 years of age in India are working
- 19 million have dropped out of school
- 9.2 million children in the age group of 15-19 years are married, claims Child Rights and You (CRY)
- 2.4 million girls in the age group of 15-19 are mothers
Under Kailash Satyarthi's leadership, a massive movement under the name 'Bachpan Bachao' was launched to end the cycle of child labour.
The 'Andolan' has so far liberated over 87,000 children from exploitation.
