The Invisible Child Labourer - Instablogs
The Invisible Child Labourer
veena , delhi: Jun 13 2009
Made Popular Jun 15 2009
India :

The Invisible Child Labourer

Every time I go out to the market place, I see small rag pickers, with their torn dresses, unwashed hair, a big dirty bag, shooing off the street dogs barking at them, sometimes munching some goody found in their daily scourging of garbage.

A walk in the market place I can see a small boy washing big utensils used for cooking food by the restaurant and being cursed by the owner for being slow, eating too much and not being his worth.

I see children minding the vegetable stalls for their parents or owners whether it is scorching hot or if raining taking shelter under a leaking umbrella or a tree, waiting the rain to get over so that they can continue with their work.

I see so many children working as the delivery boys. When someone places an order for home delivery they carry heavy bags sweating to the house and looking hopefully for the meagre tips which if they are lucky they get otherwise, nothing.

The ones who are kept as domestic helps are the ones who are under constant supervision. Despite being hungry themselves they are expected to feed the infant they are caring for, who by the way is in no mood to eat but to kick a ball which he expects the young help to bring it back immediately.

There are some ultra rich who have kept young ones to look after their dogs, their daily walks, their cleanliness everything to be managed by these youngsters.

Young girls are in double danger, God Forbid if they have to guard themselves against the lecherous men of the family and also from the male staff.

At every red light you can see young boys and girls thrusting their goods,offering to clean your cars,or simply begging sometimes holding an infant.

Every where one can see a child working. As per the law anyone who keeps a child as a labour can be imprisoned for three months to one year, and can be fined for 10,000/- to 20,000/- rupees.

When I as a commoner can see them how can any Government official who has the power to take action against such people not see them, the Police, the Child Welfare Department Officials they too have to visit all these places some time or the other.

Perhaps these children are not visible to all those who really matter

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1 Stars
Ken
Ottawa, Canada
Do people envision children being abused any time the term 'child labor law violation' comes up? Some young people actually want to work and earn a living, and its immoral to force other people to do something just because you say so
1 Stars
Jerome
Denver, United States
The proper amount of blame needs to be placed on the subcontractors and the parents of these children as well, but the fact remains that corporations need to keep tabs on the activities of their partners and ensure things like this are not happening. It's sad that they are so eager to take the "don't ask, don't tell" approach when it comes to these subcontractors, many times in third-world countries.
1 Stars
Aged
Philadelphia, United States
i think that the children should work because its what most people do . you need to no how to work.
1 Stars
Janise
Miami, United States
i think that child labor was and still is so stupid and was not right children should have gotten to be children and not be treated like adults so young... they will all be adults soon they deserve to be a kid for a while...
1 Stars
Salil
Kochi, India
Child labor also exposes children to physical and mental hazards endangering their lives. This in turn affects thier life morally.it makes the child develop mentally fast which is a dangerous sign for youths. This can lead them to becoming gangsters and bad people of the society.
1 Stars
Alaa
Amman, Jordan
children should never be pushed into organised labour, hazardous or otherwise.
i somehow feel, behind every working child is an alcoholic father.
1 Stars
Sukhbahar
Ludhiana, India
Indians are so used to their 'chhotus' and 'gudiyas' that they cannot let them go
1 Stars
Swati
Amritsar, India
Its the sheer numbers involved in the problem that make it seem unsolvable and overwhelms people who then choose to become part of the problem instead of the solutions. It is estimated that there are over 50million children in India alone who are employed in hazardous, harmful and illegal work being exploited by corrupt businesses.
1 Stars
Ollie
Liverpool, United Kingdom
It saddens me that in India, more people will jump up to fight a business that pollutes the environment than to fight a business that exploits child workers illegally and ruthlessly. They want to save trees but not the children. Weird.
1 Stars
Hemant
Varanasi, India
thanks for raising such topics… its very bad to see small boys working under inhuman condition of Bangles factory, brick making factory etc in TV… but the origin of the problems lies in the society where we cannot give proper education when a boy can earn money and help his family in need.
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