CHAPTER-II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
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In the past numerous research studies had been carried on to
define the theoretical framework on child labour and their related
issues. The present chapter attempts a broad discussion of the socio-
economical background of the children engaged as child labour with
comparative analysis. Reference has been given to the different stages
of their development following different Govt. schemes launched for
the eradication of child labour.
In 2001 the World Health Organization (WHO), advocated that
child labour is concentrated among those who live in poverty. Child
Labour can be witnessed in various types of workplaces. They are
employed in various kinds of works as brick – making, food
processing, handicrafts and carpet manufacturing; as waiters;
sweepers or rag pickers in big cities. Physical and Psychological
neglect and abuse are particularly evident in the case of bonded
labours. Children in this work suffer from fatigue and exertion and
their employment will remain low. They are likely to spend the entire
life time as the bonded labour.
Child labours are children who are not properly educated.
Children were basically tortured in various forms as physically,
mentally, spiritually and economically. The United Nation then
granted 2021, as the international year for the elimination of child
labour. UNICEF made research and found that about 152 million are
in different forms of child labour, 30 million children live outside their
hometowns, increasing their threat of trafficking for sexual abuse.
Children being treated as paid and unpaid labour. Activity of children
can be divided as domestic non-monetary work, non-monetary and
non-domestic, non-agrarian work and bonded-labour (Chandra,
1998).
In its global march against child labour, an organization headed
by Nobel Peace Prize Winner Kailash Satyarthi has been involved since
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1980. In 1987 Human Dignity Foundation (HDF) granted funding to
the campaign against child labour. It leads to adoption of crucial child
labour amendment bills.
In the context of, Against Child Exploitation (ACE), 2020
Philippines found the worst problem about child labour as inadequate
implementation of labour laws and policies; and the lack of assistance
and forced labour create vulnerabilities leading to exploitation.
Exploitation can be in many forms as is reported in FINDINGS ON
THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOUR (2018). It was reported and
observed that in Philippines, children are included in commercial
sexual exploitation, the performance of dangerous work like
agriculture and gold mining, debt bondage, prostitution, and
pornography.
Eliminating child labour in Tobacco-growing foundation (ECLT)
is a Swish-based non-profitable organization. Its basic foundations are
causes and issues related to child labour in tobacco growing regions.
Findings are made available to International bodies concerned with
child labour and to national government. It also focuses on Pathways
to sustainability and togetherness to eradicate child labour in
agriculture (2015). Young children are working for 10 to 14 hours with
minimal breaks during the shift. Mostly children work as unpaid
family members. It is leading to tobacco sickness and chronic health
issues.
In the Indian Sub-continent, the ‘Bachpan Bachao Andolan’ as a
movement against child labour has played a very crucial part. In the
past, it has helped over 82,500 victims (endslaverynow.org) deployed
in various sectors as child labour. Established in 1980, the
organization works towards rescue and rehabilitation of child labour.
Kailash Satyarthi (2021) along with his team members basically
concentrate upon rescue and rehabilitation of bonded labourers. This
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was the first rehabilitation of its kind meant for bonded labourers in
India. In a mass protest outside the parliament the team demanded
modification in labour laws that include a ban on child labour till the
age of 14 years.
Child Labour Coalition (2021), advocates and looks after local
organizations in Asia and African countries. Their research mostly
implied upon children recruited by abduction or coercion, children are
terrorized into obedience and deployed in direct combat. The
recruitment of children under 18 is forbidden by international law. It
is very difficult to examine the condition of children who are living on
the street and facing several challenges related to food, shelter,
employment, security and also medical care.
Naresh Kumar Gupta (2015), reports how India ranks among
top nations where the percentage of child labour is at high rate.
Children work under very critical conditions and are subjected to
abusive and exploitative conditions. India has got various socio-legal
legislatures and its implementation at the ground level but still the
reform has to go a long way.
According to Humanium (2018), an unorganized NGO defined
child labour as work that deprives children of their childhood, their
potential and dignity and that is harmful to their physical as well as
psychological growth. They are obliged to leave school permanently
and mostly required to combine school attendance with extremely long
and strenuous work.
Suresh Lal (2019) said child labour is a common phenomenon,
found throughout the whole world. It is found more dominantly in the
developing countries as compared to the developed ones. Due to
poverty of their families they belong to they need an urgent source of
income which forces them to work for getting at least some pocket
money. As Galli (2001) observed on the microeconomic level of things,
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child labour becomes a necessity when parents feel like what will their
children do by going to school or it’s far better to make children
involved in some work for money.
Dr. L. N. Mitra (1998) in one of his articles shows concern over
the matter. In a research named “Juvenile Justice Law” the author
has explained the major changes accomplished by Juvenile act, 1986.
Under this act offences such as cruelty to Juvenile using child as a
beggar, giving intoxication of narcotic drugs to Juvenile, exploitation
of Juvenile employee, have been treated as punishable offences to
protect children from exploitation and torture. As mentioned by the
author, even today 25% of the population in prison is that of Juvenile
offenders. They are made to stay with the hard core criminals.
Juvenile justice court and board are not consulted everywhere and
people have no training regarding the correctional method of a
treatment.
Indian constitution made provisions for children as Article 24
mentions that the child below the age of 14 years shall not be made to
work in any factory or mine or engaged in risky jobs. They are often
treated badly and are compelled to work for very long hours in
extremely bad condition. This can ruin their health physically,
mentally and economically. Manjula Upadhyaya (2019), worked on it
and found that India had a major number of children working in
factory earlier but now there has been a decline in it.
Professor S. C. Srivastava (2017), from Calcutta university
broadly studies on prohibition of child labour as a concept, as
recognized and incorporated in part 3 and part 4 therein in the
fundamental rights and directive principles of state policy,
respectively. Some major initiatives have also been taken on the
legislative front, the latest being the enactment of child labour
(Prohibition and Regulation) amendment act, 2016. However, as a
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nation, we are still too far from realizing this objective as there is a
severe requirement to strictly implement this law.
Ali Hasnaim and Khan Samsuddin (2012) conducted significant
research on national policy on children and states that there should
be adequate service towards children and full support should be
provided during the stages of growth for their physical, mental and
social development. Similarly, it deals with problem of child labour
and also the schools /training centres functioning in carpet producing
districts of India. Elementary education through Right to Education
has been made a fundamental right and NCLP (National Child Labour
Project) initiated with 12 districts extended to different parts of the
country covering 271 districts in 21 states of the country for
elimination of child labour which is successfully propagated.
The major sectors absorbing children in urban areas are
manufacturing, transport, trade and other services, while they are
employed in agricultural works and brick kiln industries in rural
areas. As an agrarian country, the huge ratio of children have their
role in agricultural sectors like cultivation, forestry, dairy and poultry
farming helping their parents for their livelihood (Khan 2000). The
household decision is one of the basic tools to analyses the supply
side of child labour. Household always considered child labour as
consumption good to increase income level as (Basu et. al 2010), in
his study found positive correlation between household decision and
child labour. The study basically focused on the household conditions,
parental characteristics and the interaction between the child labour
and that of adults.
Poverty is the most important and well-known supply-side
determinant of child labour. Researchers point out that neediness
might be dissected in connection to social and sex factors, in
opposition to that, a considerable measure of studies by Edmond and
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Pavcnik (2005) presume that destitution is a casual factor in the kid
work. In any era, the youngsters who do not go to class and do not
get any aptitudes, after becoming guardian themselves, they send
their own youngsters to work and constitute endless process
(Akabayashi & Psacharopoulos 1999).
Karim (1995) has examined parent’s decisions about their
children and has observed the reasons for which parents compel their
children to work. The results confirmed that small income and big
family size act as the major factors in this regard. This kind of issue is
also found by Cain (1981) who explores these issues in his study of
three Indian villages and one village in Bangladesh. He finds children
to be redundant as a source of insurance when alternative means of
adjusting are available. In harsh risk environments also, children do
work.
Rosenzweig and Evenson (1977) in their study of rural India
found land size to be complementary with child labour in that it had
significant effect on fertility. More children result in more household
production. Likewise, Sharma and Mittar (1990) found that when
child labour income is excluded, 22.2 per cent of household falls
below the poverty line. Parents send their children to work out of
economic hardship.
Swaminathan (1998) presents a case in Bhavnagar, Western
India, where he stated that the persistence and an increase in the
incidence of child labour over a fifteen-year period. Ownering of land
and physical assets are often related to higher fertility among
agricultural populations, particularly among small-scale farmers.
Rita Rani (2008) in a case study at Dhuri, Punjab found the
majority of working children belonged to 10 – 14 years age group. The
medium sized families worked as regular and earned Rs. 200 to Rs.
700 per month. Basically, it is a small amount and as Rao (1996) also
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reported that one – third among the children were working to
supplement the parental income. Singh (1990) found in a study
conducted in Varanasi, Bandhoi and Mirzapur belt that employers
prefer children because they work very hard, the cost is cheaper and
can be employed in any job and can work for very long hours and
lastly children create less trouble in workplace.
Studies made by Trade environment Development (2003) found
that in many cases there are many govt. officials who personally
benefit from child labour. Upper caste people do not consider the use
of children of lower castes and classes as labour to be wrong. 80 per
cent of working children in India are children from dalit communities.
Basu and Van (1998) examined the child labour in India in
between the time periods (1997-98), the major variables used are
poverty, illiteracy, income, standard of living and unemployment. They
found that parents compel the child to work only when the family
cannot otherwise arrange enough for livelihood.
Mr. Prasant Kumar Behera and Subhasmita Dash (2016) found
that more than 20% of children are forced to work in risky
atmosphere. They also do more duty and get no incentives. If they
protest, they are severely beaten and tortured by their employers.
Girls do equal amount of work like boys do but they are paid very less.
Girls and boys are never treated equally in work aspect. Radhika
Kapur (2018) in her study in India found that the employments of
children were mostly in ordinary jobs of the unorganized sectors,
which contain various hazards. The term child labour therefore does
not generally apply to children between the age group 15 – 17 who are
employed in non-hazardous occupations.
Augendra Bhukuth (2005) carried a study in brick – kiln
industry in Tamil Nadu, India and showed that parents use their
children to gain more productivity. Human Rights Watch (1996, 2003)
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found how children are involved in industries of carpet, brick kiln and
sportswear. They face a lot of problems in these fields which are
unbearable. Mohd. Jafar (2018) did a case study in a brick kiln
industry in Moraddabad and found that unorganized sector consists
of 94% of informal economy and consists mostly of workers who are
either contract workers or daily labourers. Mittal (1994) reported how
children are working in various non – industrial areas. In most cases
agents are involved in putting children to work and gaining a lot of
profit from it.
Neelam and Kiran (2012) found how child labourers are forced
to live in different industries and factories. Many reports are found out
by various researchers as we can see Nilangekar S.S. (2013) found
various types of work fields such as small-scale industries, crackers,
factories, open stone mines, agriculture and household works are
preoccupied with lots of child labours. These children work more than
12 hours a day. They also lack security. It has also opined that
children are somehow forced to do various kinds of works under worse
conditions without any appropriate safety conditions. They have been
figured helpless. Being helpless is becoming a challenging situation
for the small children. It must be adequately addressed.
Dr. Philip K Amoo (2008) researched and found in Ghana how
children are involved in various works such as preparing the stove ,
foundries work ( Lead and Aluminium smelting and blacksmithing ) ,
corn mill , chain saw operation , grinding mills and spraying work and
are continuously facing dangers like poor ventilation , working long
hours , jobs insecurity , exposure to molten wax and wax smoke with
prolonged awkward posture and proposed that safety measures must
be taken immediately and children must be helped .
Becky Karter with Keetie Rollen (2017) reported that 60% of
girls and boys (aged 5 – 17 years) worked in hazardous conditions in
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agriculture. Potential hazards are multiple in number and level of risk
very high depending on specific farming environment. Thomas (2014)
almost found same approach of how specific attention is not given to
the child labour working in sub – sectors of agriculture such as cattle
raising, vegetable cultivation, wood production or the production and
processing of staple foods (fish, rice etc.)
Guarcello et al (2016) found job held by adolescent males (15 –
17 years old) in all three sectors as agriculture, service and industry –
are more likely to be hazardous in nature than the jobs held by their
female peers in the same sector in most of the countries. De Lange
(2009) found that in rural Africa any ownership over livestock can
increase the number of hours children spend on household work,
because their labour makes the work more productive. Boys are
somewhere struggling more than the girl child. It is a kind of partiality
act which is creating a bad impact and here muscular power is used
but for their own benefit. Child labour task force (2016) stated how
children involved in illicit work are often exposed to risky conditions
and the vulnerability factor can be heightened by natural disaster and
conflict situation and estimated 200 million children may be affected
by climate change in the upcoming decades. As per reported by the
news paper (The Indian Express) reporting it has been observed that
most of the parents of poor families have forcefully got their girl child
marry during this Covid-19 lockdown and cyclone like Amphan and
Alia due to financial crisis they are unable to feed their children. They
also said that fear of trafficking, was also another factor of the early
marriage of the minors during the lockdown Mitra et.al (2020).
Similarly, in such marriages, young girls undergo exploitations,
abuse, marital rape and quarantine by their husband and in-laws. As
a result, to this, Child trafficking for marriage and labour is highly
rampant (Sen, 2020). The Covid- 19 has distinguished the structural
gap between rural and urban areas. This pandemic affected the
education of children heavily. Though the Govt. has launched a
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programme “Odisha Shiksha Yojana” to provide online classes during
the pandemic is beneficial for rural children than Urban. Adequate
education is only a hope for the vulnerable children of rural areas.
Thus, children who are staying at home for a long period are pulled
into labour market or child marriage and they are facing life risk
problems like abuse, exploitation, harassment etc. (Pujari, 2020).
Dammert et al (2017) observed poverty can be the only reason
for driving children out of school to do work. This does not take place
in case of formal school students. Poverty had always become a source
for cutting off children from their basic amenity. As in a small study
by Kim (2009) he also showed how Poverty is the key factor, arguing
that for quite a few reasons the employment of children in work need
to be understood in a far better way to eradicate child labour from
society helping children in shaping their bright future as formal
school students have. Brown (2012) and Chuta (2014) observed
economic uncertainty which is mostly created by natural calamities as
droughts, floods, many a times food price rises. There occur certain
unnatural deaths; many families are striked by illness. Quatri and
Watkins (2016) observed how children are usually forced to work by
their parents which is termed as distress choice. Other literature also
suggested that inaccessible, irrelevant and unaffordable education
results in only dropping of memory in some cases. It does not provide
children what they need and mostly found in rural areas. Tafere and
Pankhurst (2015) argued on this behalf and gave the same statement
of how it is true that when children need to work to support their
families, how can they afford to go to school.
Pereznieto et al (2016) reported in many cases schooling has
increased more pressure or burden on children and how it has
become an awkward situation. It has created pressures of a competing
level at work and formal education. Morrow (2015) and Brown (2012)
also observed that the choice is not between either school or work,
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rather how much time and effort should be given to each activity.
Quatri and Watkins (2016) said hard physical labour that often
characterizes children’s work alongside the costs and inflexibility
show cased by the school system which combines to create
complicacies for working children who also wished to attend the
school but in formal school students there is no risk of this kind of
situation. Some Researches also clearly point out how external shocks
from elderly members could disrupt educational trajectories. Boyden
et al (2016) found how in Ethiopia children did not attend school
regularly and how they attend school only when it is possible.
Hodue Shamsul (2010) found almost many non-attending
children are tribal children from developing countries. They are mostly
child labourers very seriously affected in a negative way the school
achievement and their decreasing rates of graduation. Kolke
Siddheswar (2020) also in one of his reports distinguished formal
school students from child labour students and said this problem is
more serious in many of the developing states of the country.
Education is the powerful tool which should be handled by both
classes of students and they should not be devoid of their childhood
rights at least.
Vocational education programme sometimes referred as bridge
schools UNESCO (2015) reported that this aim to help those working
children who are engaged as working labourers those who are not able
to go to school due to some reasons or are drop outs. ILO (2016)
observed that mostly vocational training does not look at some
grounds such as having missed years of schooling, consisting low
literacy and learning levels, being more mature than their actual age,
or trying their best to address family requirements and continue the
work. The ILO international programming on child labour (IPEC)
emphasizes that vocational programmes can not be an alternative to
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the regular or formal education but a mechanism to take out children
from work and leading them to the mainstream system.
Morrow and Boyden (2018) stressed how children will know the
significance of education which also prepares them with specific skills
for the local market providing labours. This mostly constitutes
vocational training which empowers the child labourers to take part in
it and mostly who have dropped out of school. Arko (2014) suggested
the idea of “education with production” which basically gives the
framework where adults and youth can learn vocational and practical
subjects such as plumbing, carpentry, brick laying, growing
vegetables and rearing cattle. The author believes that it can be
replaced particularly in rural communities. Aufeeser (2014) says how
vocational training gives other spaces for learning. It can support
those children who do not continue formal schooling. Informal
learning specially targets those children who do not get experience of
formal schooling. Corcoram and Lewis (2017) explained how non-
formal learning projects can assure child labourers in providing many
such ways out of various situations like the challenges of daily
livelihood, prejudice, substance abuse and involvement in Juvenile
crime. Morrow (2015) reported how family enterprises provide ample
opportunities for poor challenging children to convert themselves into
high standard persons and preparing a space for themselves. Morrow
also talked about 2 different considerations about education as in
positive case like learning, integration, interdependence, stability in
society with negative prospective such as risk of injury, exhaustion,
interference with schooling. It also represented which space will be
perfect for a young person to grow and work. Dammer et al (2017) also
suggested and supported vocational education which facilitates the
working children to regularly attend school.
Yang (1998) highlighted how there could be substantial
decrease in number of child labour. It can be done by reducing the
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gap between Vocational training and academics. Generally, education
is meant for those who are formal and can easily afford studying but
vocational education has got an aim for applied and skills. Dearden et
al (2002) estimates higher earnings from vocational education mostly
in case of child labourers. According to Ryan (2001) vocational
training can give ample of opportunities to work. Hence it will act as a
boon for the child labourers as they can find work very easily and
somewhere it also reduces the burden of heavy work. Bolino et al
(2008) found in a study that vocational trainings provide more
productivity in every field.
Nagati et al (2003) found that in formal school children are paid
much more attention than child labour special schools. The mid-day
meal introduced by govt. is good no doubt but it has to become more
productive. He found that under nutrition is most significant and
common which is found when good nutritional value is combined with
poverty, food insecurity, lack of knowledge and lack of distribution of
adequate resources and hence they are less benefitted from schooling
as compared to the formal school students. Srivastava et al. (2012)
also found out that there is a vast gap between formal school students
and child labour special school students where he found chronic
under nutrition which is in fact a greater attribute behind slower
cognitive development and serious health impairments for all time to
come which is mostly a serious fact to think upon. Caulfield et al
(2004) found that under nutrition in young children is not a good
aspect which is mostly resulting in increasing global burden of
disease. The consequences, if we, count would be enormous. If we
come to its conclusion there is a ridge between child labour special
school and formal school.
Miller (2010) made a contribution on making research upon
child labour and pointed out how children suffered from health
problem where there is no chance of their mental and physical
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development. A good nutritional value is mostly needed for
development of children. Satyanarayana K (2002) conducted a case
study of Hyderabad and found that due to under-nutrition most of the
children had undergone growth retardation. Growth of child labour
students when compared with the formal school students found to be
that working children lost in considerable ground and suffered
significant growth deficits. Smritikana Ghosh (2020) did research and
found that mal-nutrition children were not a problem for the present-
day society but for future also. Children are helped in many ways by
govt. still they are not getting adequate amount of nutrients which is
at any cost required by body. This deficiency leads to several health
issues which increase in mortality rate. There is always a long-term
impact which is not found in case of formal school children.
The literatures that have been reviewed above find child labour
as an endless issue. It has seen this problem in social, cultural,
environmental and economic and dimension. Various family problems,
large family size, low income, poor education of parent as well as the
child etc are comes under the social dimension. Though the
researchers have also defined child labour in cultural prospective like
negligence of the children has become a tradition. It becomes a
practice in the poor families that the children adopt the profession of
the parents or prefer to go with the parents. Migration of the children
also take place along with the parents, so that they are bound to do
the work that the parents are imposing upon them. Beside these,
different calamities like drought, flood, cyclones, covid pandemic too
adds to the reason behind the rapid growth of the child labour. In
such situation, children are count as an economic asset of their
families. There are made to engaged in different establishment like
brick kiln, carpet industries, small scale industries etc. These children
work in a live risk condition which hampers their growths.
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Thus, a conceptual clarity regarding child labour can be
presented in the following flow chart.
2.1. Conceptual Frame Work regarding Child Labour
Less opportunities for
survival in a good
environment
Poor Education
Various Family Problems like
Poor Health Low income, huge family size,
poverty, poor standard of
living etc.
Domestic Worker Impact
Street Children Unemployment
Bonded child labour CHILD Illiteracy
Types Factors
Children used for LABOUR Push and pull factors
Prostitution
Eradication
Lack of Awareness
Migrant child
labour Inadequate implementation
of Labour Laws and Policies
Enactment of Various Implementation of Awareness among
Acts Schemes and Projects people and Society
Like NCLP
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