The new law banning child labor comes into force from Today, October 10, 2006.
Child labor is a complex social issue. Partly it has been the tradition in our society to use children for domestic help, but mostly it is the economic necessity. It is a cheap and reliable labor for employers and it is an easy source of additional earnings for poor families.
Many families use children for domestic help, and some of them treat these children well. However, the Technical Advisory Committee on Child Labor found a lot of these children are subjected to "physical violence, psychological trauma and, at times, even sexual abuse". In modernizing society, this is unacceptable. So Govt. decided to put child labor used for domestic help and road-side dhabas / hotels into the banned category. In any case, these children should be learning in a school, rather than working in middle class homes.
What does it mean for those of us who employ the children under 14 in our homes. According to the new law, anyone who violates it will face a jail term of up to two years and a maximum fine of 20,000 rupees. This is an important aspect of the law that the employers of the child labor must take note of.
What happens to the child laborers and their poor families? Obviously, the child's family will suffer financially in the short term. The kids will be left on the street - no work and no school. The Labour Ministry is planning to expand its Rehabilitative Scheme of National Child Labor Project to help the affected children. It is not clear if such scheme will help all the children affected by the new law.
It is a difficult problem. There are no easy solutions. It is very easy to blame politicians. But this problem is not created by politicians.
However, our lawmakers (MPs) failed to consider the full impact of this law and did not provide necessary means to alleviate the adverse consequences of the law. First of all, they gave only two months notice. The law was promulgated in August and made effective in October. Just giving only two months time to comply with such a dramatic law which affects 11-60 million child laborers all over India is not reasonable. It will take several months for this information to reach some remote areas of the country. For some employers (like road side dhabas), more time may be needed to find substitute labor. Child laborers and their families will need more time to adjust. The expanded Rehab Scheme may not be in place yet.
There are also other questions on the implementation of the new law. Which Govt. department will implement this law? Who will catch the violators? If the child's age is in dispute, who will arbitrate? We know our judiciary is already over burdened. Do we have to build more jails to put the violators behind bars? Do we have to hire more policemen or social welfare personnel? Does the law allocate more funds to these departments (judiciary, police, social welfare) to hire more people? Also, additional funds are required to educate people about the law, and to train Government employees to implement it effectively.
It will take a lot of money to implement the law properly, and it is doubtful that the Govt. has alloted the required money for implementing this new law. If not, it it not possible to make it an effective law? It will become one of the many other ineffective, toothless laws (like anti-dowry law). Moreover, the law may be misused to harass innocent people.
In spite of the difficulties, it is a good idea to ban child labor. We should do our best to see that everyone comply with the law, and help the children who are adversely affected.
posted by Govinda Bhisetti @ 2:59 PM
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