Does Poverty Alone Explain Unending Child Labour in India?

Faruq (name changed) walked into the pediatric outpatient clinic with the complaint of a cough. This was what most OPD visits constituted at that time of the year. But as I started examining him, I noticed that his hands had calluses, which was not common to note in a ‘regular’ 12-year-old boy. As we got to talking, Faruq revealed that he had been working as an assistant to a carpenter ‘kaka’ (uncle) in the outskirts of Delhi for the past two years.

Hailing from Bihar, Faruq had come to the city with the promise of easy money for ‘light’ work. Being the eldest of three with an ailing mother, Faruq had taken up the job to make ends meet hoping his youngest sister could go to school someday. He eventually admitted to having more than just a cough. 

“I used to be able to sprint 200 m races in school two years ago, but these days I am not able to walk beyond a few meters. I feel out of breath and tired easily,” said Faruq. I immediately understood that his lung function had probably worsened after being exposed to sawdust at work for the past couple of years. “Do you wear a mask while working with wood?”, I asked. “Haan rumal baand leta hun. Kaka-ji bolte hain (I tie a piece of cloth around my mouth. ‘Uncle’ asks me to).”

It struck me then, that this 12-year-old child had come to a healthcare facility unaccompanied by any adults hoping that I would write him a syrup that would reduce his cough. That was all he expected from our healthcare system. He had resigned to the prospect that he must be content with not attending school or playing with his friends and siblings. As children are the product of the circumstances they grow up in, what Faruq has become sheds light on how dire those circumstances are for innumerable children in India.

Status of child labour in India

India has the largest population of children (between 5 and 14 years) in the world. As per the 2011 census, out of the 26 crore children in our country, 43 lakhs were child ‘workers’. The International Labour Organisation and Indian Law define child labour as any work that is mentally, physically, socially, or morally dangerous and harmful to children and/or interferes with a child’s ability to attend and participate fully in school. If we consider the state-wise distribution, as per the 2011 census, the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan together accounted for more than 50% of all of our nation's child labourers.

While the proportion of children involved in child labour reduced between 2001 and 2011, from 5% to 4%, further gains in this respect, stalled with the pandemic hitting us. The social and economic disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic ensured that for the first time in 20 years, since 2000, the number of child labourers increased to almost 8 crore.  

These statistics are important as they point to the intermingled causes that push children to child labour. It is not an isolated problem, which can be tackled by cracking down on employers or occupiers. It is a symptom of societal decay caused by poverty, inequality, poor school education, and loss of livelihood. 

Children in India work across broad categories -  agricultural work, domestic help, and industrial services. Considering the agrarian majority amongst our population, the sector of agriculture, cultivation, and processing employ almost 50% of these children. The other common areas where children are employed include weaving, toy making (ironically), and carpet making among others. Many children also are displaced to various parts of the country either alone or with their parents who are in search of better employment opportunities. 

India has enacted stringent laws prohibiting child labour while not addressing the root causes of the problem. This means that these children remain out of the purview of law enforcement agencies and are denied constitutionally enshrined worker rights and protection.

How is India legally protecting its children?

In 1979, the government of India recognized the gravity of the problem which eventually led to the formulation of the the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, and the National Policy on Child Labour in 1987. These policies envisioned a phased elimination of child labour across the country. Work was done to foster inter-ministerial collaboration and to introduce rehabilitation facilities and monetary support to the families of the child labourers. 

Since the implementation of these measures in 1988, in 2014 it was reported that about 9 lakh children had been mainstreamed into society through rehabilitation, alternative jobs, and education. While this might seem phenomenal, it isn’t quite the success story it sounds like. 

For context, as per the last census, the state of Uttar Pradesh alone was reported to have a child labourer population of about 9 lakhs. Considering the total population of child labourers in India, rescuing 9 lakh children translates to a tiny fraction of those who need help. Similarly, in the year 2020-21, the Delhi police rescued only about 331 children from child labour from the entire union territory of Delhi. This number is minuscule compared to the more than 1 lakh children that were reported to be at risk of child labour in Delhi in 2016. This highlights that the existing policies, even though formulated in good faith, have proven to be very ineffective. 

Why does child labour continue to exist?

According to two economists, Emerson and Knabb, poverty alone is not the important factor determining why families are forced to send their children to work. Poor school quality, and societal discrimination in terms of caste, gender, and religion causing inaccessibility to high-paying jobs lead to a perception among parents that education does not yield returns in the future. This perception, when present along with poverty, is the primary driver for persistent child labour. This paper also argues that in societies where such opportunity differences exist, laws that ban child labour or make education compulsory in actuality worsen poverty and exacerbate income inequality.

The recent Periodic Labour Force Survey reported that people’s perception of the lack of employment opportunity is right. For every three unemployed youths in our country, one of them has completed their 12th-grade education. If viewed with a gender lens, girl children in our country majorly fall prey to the perception that investment in education will not translate to returns. This perception too, is partially accurate as data shows that Indian women’s employment is more vulnerable to their personal life changes such as marriage as well as economic shifts in the country. Hence, these girl children are then forced into domestic labour work or even into child marriages.

The way forward

While addressing this issue is not easy, this is a reminder that holistic policymaking is of utmost importance. There is a need to implement policies that penalise child labour and formulate policies that also address the root causes of this issue. Improving employment opportunities in adults will make people realize the importance of education and will help in addressing the issue of child labour. 

India needs to become a country where the returns to education are high. While increasing access to education is important, we must also ensure that education translates to employment with fair pay. Only when families are able to see concrete proof that education leads to breaking the cycle of generational poverty and upliftment of their families will they be willing to prioritize the education of their children instead of supplementing their daily livelihoods with their children’s labour.  With concerted efforts towards breaking generational poverty cycles via education leading to meaningful employment, hopefully, we wouldn't have to wait for decades to witness tangible results.

Edited by Christianez Ratna Kiruba.

Image by Janvi Bokoliya.