Vol: 3, Issue: 4 2013

Page: 36-42

Child Labour in India

Radhika Kapur

Children are the greatest gift to humanity and childhood is a very crucial stage of human life where all the development takes place. When children are brought up in an environment which is favorable to their physical, intellectual, social and emotional growth and development, they become responsible and productive members of the society. In India, it is strongly believed that children are the future citizens of the country and their status, capabilities and wisdom will create the country’s future. When they are engaged in labor activities at a young age, their present welfare and the future income generating capabilities get reduced. Normally, when there is extreme economic distress, then the children relinquish their educational opportunities and get employed in exploitative and hazardous jobs. Poor parents do send their children to work because of their poor economic conditions and this is done at the expense of education. Due to child labor the attendance of the children within the schools is low, children’s safety and health gets affected by child labor and on the whole working in early years may give them some financial assistance but the intellectual, emotional and social development of the child gets adversely affected (CL, 2013).