Shikha Singh Bandral
The Child Labour Act which was implemented but is still unsuccessful at the ground level because it is being seen everywhere in everyday life that children who are cleaning utensils in restaurants and sweeping in some shops and it very unfortunate which we are seeing even today at everywhere in our surroundings even today.
Ofcourse, we are talking about modernity, modern citizenship, modern technology and development but why we all are ignoring this biggest issues within our sociery, which is among us all in all these years.
The government enforces strict laws and rules regarding child labour life in Factories Act, 1948, Mines Act,1952, and The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986-( CLPR Act ), but at the ground level, all these laws and rules are only in the law books, because even today Child labour is done and not considered as major crime for children in our country and even taken many strict steps, but somewhere even today we are see child Labour at everywhere. If we talk about of poor families, who do not even have money to educate their children, they are forced to take child labour from their children as in option to make more money. As far as we talk about our society, even today our society accepts child labor, it was never seem rejected and children are forced to work.
The big question rise from this that why does this happen? Why the government is unable to stop this crime against the children, rather than giving them the free educational system under the Act- Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, where they can get free admission in government schools so that they can take new steps towards their future and see their future in a different way.
Every child does not want to do child labour but under compulsion their own family members make them do child labour for some money after the COVID-19 pandemic which led the scale of child labour raised more above than 2011. According to a new report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNICEF, the number of child labour has risen to 160 million worldwide with millions due to the impacts of COVID-19.
As far as we have seen that there are some families whose living expenses are good but still they forces their children in the greed of money, they get their children to work. It is the responsibility of our central government that they should strictly implement all the rules and acts like Right to education Act(2009)-Article 21A,Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act (1986),The Factories Act (1948),National Policy on Child Labour (1987),National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme-Launched by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Ratifying conventions of the International Labour Organisation, Pencil portal, The minimum age convention (1973)-No.138, The worst forms of child labour convention (1999)-No.182.
They have to make these laws and acts to reach in the society with strictly working conditions on ground levels at each and every state’s and UT’s of India to prohibit the child Labour from all over India and these laws and acts should be implemented in the whole country with immediate efforts because if we delay this time then there is no hope left for these many innocent children suffering from child labour whose childhood is being snatched away and they will end up becoming a criminal mindsets which will increase the crime ratio.
The root of the crime start to built up in the childhood when these innocent children were traumatized through child labour from their owners and in their 20’s they put their feet in the world of crime because they are being pushed into these heinous crimes by the society.
Child labour is not a small crime, it is a big crime according to its own words. The central government will have to pay necessary and needful attention and look into the child labour and consider it as a heinous crime.
Our Ministers from every states of all over India should conduct a meeting or a press conference should be held so that strict arrangements should be made on this kinds of vast issue so that the people should be aware of prohibition of child labour and also should be afraid of the laws and So that they don’t think to force any child to do child labour and will not be done in future and the parents who involves their own children into child labour, should also have the fear that strict actions will be taken against them if they did not stop this child Labour can be uprooted and in order to give a better future to the children doing child labour.
The government should make their admission free in both govt. as well as in private schools for these children. It is the duty of the govt. to provide such kind of facilities that the people will understand that the education of a child is more important and understands that their children can get a good future by being educated and also understands that if their children do child labour like them and will only become labourers and earn for living by having wages, then their future will never become better ever.
Only education can make a hope for their betterment of future for generations.
