On October 10, 2006 the ban on child labor came into effect. There is a lot to cheer about. Right? ..... No, wrong.
My reasons for saying so is based on the certain facts that none of us will be able to contradict nor ignore. Firstly, the law is restricted to only children working in places like dhabas and homes. Children working on farms are exempted from this law. One wonders why? Are'nt they children or are'nt they entitled to the same priviliges as other children?
Maybe some people would try to justify this kind of a restriction by saying that children working in the farms help in fulfilling the basic necessties that life demands. Without them it would be impossible to keep some families above the poverty line. The age old reasoning .. more hands means more work and more work means better income.
As I see it, its a vicious circle. There is no gaurantee on the minimum wages that the adults in the family can earn. This leads to mass exploitation... economical, social, sexual. And the children are also brought into the mess. And it is much easier to exploit children. Plus, according to Maslow's theory of needs, until and unless the basic needs of food, clothes and shelter are not met the family does not think about its other needs. And the child's right to education and a playful childhood is higher up in the pyramid provided by Maslow.
It is difficult to convince a family that is struggling to gather together the basic necessities in life that educating their children will elevate their social and financial conditions beacuse the child will be equipped to get a better paying job. But the point remains that the family will only get returns 15-20 years down the line. Immediate affects of providing a child with a childhood that he deserves will not be visible to the family. Therefore, it is so difficult to convince them.
But inspite of all this the question still remains ... how right is it to exclude the farm child labor from the purview of this law. Should'nt the goverment really do something about them too?
The second reason why I dont think that the law will bring cheer is that the society has invented another proverb based on the proverb 'Where there is a will there is a way' - 'Where there is a law there is a workaround around it'. As long as the menatlity of the people who actively employ child laborers still remain intact fighting for a child's rights is really fruitless. There is a strong need to change their point of view and that would take some very bold and very drastic steps.
And I would probably choke this blog site if I start writing about the law and child sex workers. So I will simply point out that they are also on my mind when I say that this law is not something to cheer about.
It is great that the government is considering the issues ... but the laws were there and are still pending implementation. So if a strong group of people really come foward and enforce the implementation of the law then it really would be something to cheer about. Maybe.... just maybe then it can be extended to the other type of child laborers.
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2 comments:
A very nice, noble and strong thought indeed. Change in law, as is always critised, is a dead slow process. It will take its due course but yes we should be glad that atleast law has woken up to this issue and something has been done. Atleast a whole lot of children are now saved from atrocities if not all. So we have a hope that in future, people like you would prove to be the voice of nation and be heard too. Amen!!
There are laws and more laws and some more laws. You have correctly poited out that there always exists some workarounds for these laws. And implementing them is a painfully slow process. My take is that just the government forcing the law will not reap the desired benefits in a given timefame. Law enforcemnet should go hand in hand with the education of the society so that it becomes easier for them to accept the changes. Moreover every change goes through a transition period. How long the transition period is depends upon the acceptance level of the society.That is why it is so important to educate the elders to smoothen out the path for the youngsters. Another way of convining them would be that they should allow their children to continue with their studies even if they put their children to work. Yes, this would mean that there would be a loss of childhood but if they were merely earning then also the end result would be the same - loss of childhood. So, the transition period has to bear the brunt of the transition. But this would at least ensure a brighter future for the next generations.
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