Child protection

C15-226

CHILD Protection & Child Rights » Vulnerable Children » Children's Issues » Child Labour in India

"Out of school children comprise the workers and non-workers. In our view they together signify a measure of deprivation among children and can be considered as a potential labour pool always being at the risk of entering the labour force" - NCEUS, 2007

India is sadly the home to the largest number of child labourers in the world. The census found an increase in the number of child labourers from 11.28 million in 1991 to 12.59 million in 2001. M.V. Foundation in Andhra Pradesh found nearly 400,000 children, mostly girls between seven and 14 years of age, toiling for 14-16 hours a day in cottonseed production across the country of which 90% are employed in Andhra Pradesh. 40% of the labour in a precious stone cutting sector is children. NGOs have discovered the use of child labourers in mining industry in Bellary District in Karnataka in spite of a harsh ban on the same. In urban areas there is a high employment of children in the zero and embroidery industry.

Poverty and lack of social security are the main causes of child labour. The increasing gap between the rich and the poor, privatization of basic services and the neo-liberal economic policies are causes major sections of the population out of employment and without basic needs. This adversely affects children more than any other group. Entry of multi-national corporations into industry without proper mechanisms to hold them accountable has led to the use of child labour. Lack of quality universal education has also contributed to children dropping out of school and entering the labour force. A major concern is that the actual number of child labourers goes un-detected. Laws that are meant to protect children from hazardous labour are ineffective and not implemented correctly.

A growing phenomenon is using children as domestic workers in urban areas. The conditions in which children work is completely unregulated and they are often made to work without food, and very low wages, resembling situations of slavery. There are cases of physical, sexual and emotional abuse of child domestic workers. The argument for domestic work is often that families have placed their children in these homes for care and employment. There has been a recent notification by the Ministry of Labour making child domestic work as well as employment of children in dhobis, tea stalls and restaurants "hazardous" occupations.

According to HAQ: Centre for child rights, child labour is highest among schedules tribes, Muslims, schedule castes and OBC children. The persistence of child labour is due to the inefficiency of the law, administrative system and because it benefits employers who can reduce general wage levels. HAQ argues that distinguishing between hazardous and non-hazardous employment is counter-productive to the elimination of child labour. Various growing concerns have pushed children out of school and into employment such as forced displacement due to development projects, Special Economic Zones; loss of jobs of parents in a slowdown, farmers' suicide; armed conflict and high costs of health care. Girl children are often used in domestic labour within their own homes. There is a lack of political will to actually see to the complete ban of child labour.

Bonded child labour is a hidden phenomenon as a majority of them are found in the informal sector. Bonded labour means the employment of a person against a loan or debt or social obligation by the family of the child or the family as a whole. It is a form of slavery. Children who are bonded with their family or inherit a debt from their parents are often found in agricultural sector or assisting their families in brick kilns, and stone quarries. Individual pledging of children is a growing occurrence that usually leads to trafficking of children to urban areas for employment and have children working in small production houses versus factories. Bonded labourers in India are mostly migrant workers, which opens them up to more exploitation. Also they mostly come from low caste groups such as Dalit’s or marginalised tribal groups. Bonded child labourers are at very high risk for physical and sexual abuse and neglect sometimes leading to death. They often are psychologically and mentally disturbed and have not learnt many social skills or survival skills.

In 2000 the ILO estimated 5.5 million children had been forced in labour in Asia, while the Bonded Labour Liberation Front placed 10 million bonded children in India alone. In 1998 the government of India labelled bonded child labour as a marginal problem with only 3000 or so cases. A survey in Tamil Nadu in 1995 found 125,000 bonded child labourers in the state alone. Child bonded labour in India is mostly in the agricultural sector but has in recent times been moving into other sectors as well such as beady-rolling, brick kilns, carpet weaving, commercial sexual exploitation, construction, fireworks and matches factories, hotels, hybrid cottonseed production, leather, mines, quarries, silk, synthetic gems, etc

Important to save & educate girl

C15-226

Why it is important to save and educate girls

In order to achieve true women empowerment, it is important that we begin with the girl children. This is because girls of today are the women of tomorrow. The role of social welfare organizations is critical here as it is not  possible for the government to reach every nook and corner of the country. As the aware citizens, we can support organizations which work for the eradication of female infanticide and women empowerment. Donations to them serve two purposes: driving change in the society and providing tax benefits to the donor.
Some yardsticks of women empowerment are:

• Helping women carve a positive self-image and increase their confidence level
• Enabling them to develop the ability to think critically.
• Ensuring that they have equal participation in decision making, whether it’s in the family or at the community level
• Providing economic independence to women

The mind-set that a girl is a liability needs to be changed and this  requires happening at the grass root level. While spreading awareness is critical, there is a need of stricter laws in place which deter people from resorting to female foeticide.

The role of education is extremely important here and goes a long way in empowering women. And the process of education has to begin early in life. More and more girl children need to be sent to school,  provided quality and holistic education. Numerous benefits come with educating girls the right way. Educated girls are able to take the right decisions in life. For example, when an educated girl falls sick, she will have better understanding and awareness to avail proper healthcare services. At the same time, a society in which girls are educated will see less child marriages, decreased levels of poverty and heightened participation of women in socio-economic processes. Educating a girl has far-reaching impacts. It is rightly said that when a woman is educated, an entire generation benefits from it.

Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao Scheme (BBBP) of the Indian Government
Literally meaning ‘Educate the Girl Child, Save the Girl Child’ the Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao Scheme  is an ambitious scheme of the Government of India which is intended to generate massive awareness, improvement  of quality of welfare services for females and helping them (girls and women) access these services better. Introduced in October of 2014, the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Scheme goes on to address the declining Child Sex Ratio in the country. The scheme is being rolled out through pan-India campaigns with focus on 100 worst-performing districts in terms of CSR. It is a joint initiative of three important Central Government ministries – the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Human Resource Development.

Conclusion 
There is an urgent need to change this archaic mindset of the patriarchal Indian society which views girls as  liabilities. It needs to be established that girls are in no way less than boys. When given the right chances to nurture their talent and skills, they have it in them to excel in different areas of life. It is therefore imperative that both government and non-government organizations work in cohesion to spread the message of saving and educating the girl child. You candonate online to NGOs to lend your support to this movement

Women safety in India

It is very true that women in India are given a place of Goddess Lakshmi in the Indian society however we also cannot ignore the negative aspect of women position in India. Every day and every minute some women of all walks of life (a mother, a sister, a wife, young girls, and girl baby children) are getting harassed, molested, assaulted, and violated at various places all over the country. Areas like streets, public spaces, public transport, etc have been the territory of women hunters. Girl students studying in the schools or colleges have to shield themselves through books or bags or they have to wear clothes which can cover them completely. In some cases a girl child is sale by her parents just to earn some money. Girls generally face acid attacks on the streets and kidnapping for the sex purpose by strangers. According to the statistics, it is found that a woman is raped in India every 20 minutes.

In the rural areas, women are still being raped by a family member, beaten by husbands or parents-in-law, burned for dowry, and so many cases. Nirbhaya gang-rape in the national capital of India was a dreadful event which can never be forgotten. Woman covers almost half population of the country so they are half participants in the growth and development of India. We are running in the 21st century, an advanced era however it is very shame to say about the doubtful safety of woman in India.

Some Tips Regarding Women Safety

• Self defence techniques are the first and foremost thing to which each and every woman must be aware of and get proper self-defense training for their safety. They must be aware of some effective defence techniques such as kicks to groin, blocking punches, etc.
• Generally most of the women are gifted with sixth sense which they must use whenever they become in some problem. They should at once avoid any situation which they feel bad for them.
• Escape and run is also a good way to reduce some risks of women whenever they become in problem. They should never go with any unknown person alone at some unknown places.
• Women must understand and feel their physical power and use accordingly. They never feel themselves weak than men and take some self defence training.
• They should be careful while communicating with someone on internet in the cyberspace.
• Pepper spray can also be proved as a useful self-defence tool however it has a drawback that some people cannot be harmed through it even after full-face spray. It may not stop the attacker so women should not depend on it completely and use other techniques also.
• They must have all the emergency numbers with them and whatsapp also if possible so that they can immediately tell to their family members and police.
• Women should be very conscious while driving the car and going to any trip. They must lock all the doors of car while travelling with own or private car.

Save Girl Child

Save the girl child

‘How sad, many girls missing from our country are found buried in some graveyard….

India is growing dynamically in every fields. Today, the boom in economy, innovative technologies and improved infrastructure has become nation’s pride. The country has witnessed advancements in all fields but bias against a girl child is still prevailing in the country.

This social evil is deep rooted in Indian ethos and the most shocking fact is that the innovative and hard high end technologies are brutally killing the Indian girl child. Innovative techniques, like biopsy, ultrasound, scan tests and amniocentesis, devised to detect genetic abnormalities, are highly misused by number of families to detect gender of the unborn child. These clinical tests are highly contributing to the rise in genocide of the unborn girl child.

In today’s day and age most couples prefer the process known as a planned pregnancy, because of various factors; prime amongst them being the financial well being to support the birth and nurturing of a child. In such cases, the first prenatal visit actually happens prior to actual pregnancy, to see whether one is ready to go off the contraception pills and conceive a baby.

However, in maximum conceptions, one is unaware of the pregnancy until actual realization dawns after one skips the first menstrual cycle. Normally doctors except ladies to pay their first visit anywhere between the sixth and twelfth week after conception.

Amniocentesis started in India in 1974 to detect fetal abnormalities. These tests were used to detect gender for the first time in 1979 in Amritsar, Punjab. Later the test was stopped by the Indian Council of Medical Research but it was too late. The benefits of these tests were leaked out and people started using it as an instrument for killing an innocent and unborn girl child.  Many of the traditional women organizations also took up cudgels to stop this illegal practice but all failed and with the passage of time these tests became a major contributor to bias against a girl child.

Female feticide and infanticide is not the only issues with a girl child in India. At every stage of life she is discriminated and neglected for basic nutrition, education and living standard. When she was in the womb, she was forced to miss the moment when she was supposed to enter the world. At the time of birth her relatives pulled her back and wrung her neck. After killing her she was thrown into a trash can.

During childhood, her brother was loaded with new shoes, dresses and books to learn while she was gifted a broom, a wiper and lots of tears. In her teenage, she missed tasty delicious food to eat and got only the crumbs. During her college days, she was forced to get married, a stage where illiteracy, lack of education resulted in high fertility rate, aggravating the condition of females in the country. Again if this female gives birth to a girl child, the journey begins once again. She missed all roses of life and was finally fitted to a graveyard. That’s where she got peace of mind.

The nation of mothers still follows a culture where people idolizes son and mourns daughters. UN figures out that about 750,000 girls are aborted every year in India. Abortion rates are increasing in almost 80% of the India states, mainly Punjab and Haryana. These two states have the highest number of abortions every year. If the practice continues, then no longer a day will come when Mother India will have no mothers, potentially, no life.

We all are proud citizens of India. The need of hour is to realize our responsibilities and give a halt to this evil crime. What can we do to curb the brutal and undesirable practice of mass killing girls? A determined drive can initiate a spark to light the lamp and show the world that we all are part of the great Mother India..

Gender discrimination in India

In India, discriminatory attitude towards men and women have existed for generations and effect the lives of both genders. Although the constitution of India has granted men and women equal rights, gender disparity still remains. Gender discrimination violates human rights. These are mostly seen in family land sharing among sisters and brothers.

There is specific research on gender discrimination mostly in favour of men over women.^[1] Women are perceived to be disadvantaged at work.^[2] Indian laws on Rape, Dowry and Adultery have women's safety at heart, but these highly discriminatory practices are still taking place at an alarming rate.

BirthEdit

The cultural construct of Indian society which reinforces gender bias against men and women, with varying degrees and variable contexts against the opposite sex,^[3] has led to the continuation of India’s strong preference for male children. Female infanticide and sex-selective abortion is adopted and strongly reflects the low status of Indian women. Census 2011 shows decline of girl population (as a percentage to total population) under the age of seven, with activists estimating that eight million female fetuses may have been aborted in the past decade.^[4] The 2005 census shows infant mortality figures for females and males are 61 and 56, respectively, out of 1000 live births,^[5] with females more likely to be aborted than males due to biased attitudes.

A decline in the child sex ratio(0–6 years) was observed with India’s 2011 census reporting that it stands at 914 females against 1,000 males, dropping from 927 in 2001 - the lowest since India’s independence.^[6]

The demand for sons among wealthy parents is being satisfied by the medical community through the provision of illegal service of fetal sex-determination and sex-selective abortion. The financial incentive for physicians to undertake this illegal activity seems to be far greater than the penalties associated with breaking the law.^[7]

Child marriage in India

Child Marriage India by SDRC

Child marriage in India, according to the Indian law, is a marriage where either the woman is below age 18 or the man is below age 21. Most child marriages involve underage women, many of whom are in poor socio-economic conditions.

Child marriages were prevalent inIndia. Estimates vary widely between sources as to the extent and scale of child marriages. The International Center for Research on Women-UNICEF publications have estimated India's child marriage rate to be 47% from small sample surveys of 1998,^[1]while the United Nations reports it to be 30% in 2005.^[2] The Census of Indiahas counted and reported married women by age, with proportion of females in child marriage falling in each 10 year census period since 1981. In its 2001 census report, India stated zero married girls below age 10, 1.4 million married girls out of 59.2 million girls aged 10–14, and 11.3 million married girls out of 46.3 million girls aged 15–19.^[3] Since 2001, child marriage rates in India have fallen another 46%, reaching an overall nationwide average 7% child marriage rates by 2009.^[4] Jharkhand is the state with highest child marriage rates in India (14.1%), while Kerala is the only state where child marriage rates have increased in recent years.^[4][5] Rural rates of child marriages were three times higher than urban India rates in 2009.^[4]

Child marriage was outlawed in 1929, under Indian law. However, in the British colonial times, the legal minimum age of marriage was set at 15 for girls and 18 for boys. Under protests from Muslim organizations in the undivided British India, a personal law Shariat Act was passed in 1937 that allowed child marriages with consent from girl's guardian.^[6] After independence and adoption of Indian constitution in 1950, the child marriage act has undergone several revisions. The minimum legal age for marriage, since 1978, has been 18 for women and 21 for men.^[7] The child marriage prevention laws have been challenged in Indian courts,^[6] with some Muslim Indian organizations seeking no minimum age and that the age matter be left to their personal law.^[8][9] Child marriage is an active political subject as well as a subject of continuing cases under review in the highest courts of India.^[8]

Several states of India have introduced incentives to delay marriages. For example, the state of Haryanaintroduced the so-called Apni Beti, Apna Dhan program in 1994, which translates to "My daughter, My wealth". It is a conditional cash transferprogram dedicated to delaying young marriages by providing a government paid bond in her name, payable to her parents, in the amount of 25,000(US$370), after her 18th birthday if she is not married.^[10]

How to attain gender equity in science classroom

Though the problem of science disparity may be said to have its most profound effects on students at the university level, addressing the issue requires a mix of approaches at every stage of education. Younger students must be introduced to the subjects of math and science in a way that makes it clear that they can, and should, strive to attain excellence. In high school, a greater range of scientific electives, along with a broader range of related requirements for all students and higher availability of after-school tutoring, will help to eliminate the stigma of math and science as being too difficult or irrelevant. At the college level, a well-crafted curriculum with emphasis on the scientific components of a general education will help students of all backgrounds to explore their interests in the scientific world at the stage of life most likely to kindle a new career.