Ban child labour , don’t just talk about it.

Recent media reports have suggested that Indian Government has been responding to the issue of child labour in fear of the backlash from US and EU on export orders. There are even reports of few families in Mumbai's posh localities being fined for engaging domestic child labour . Seems good. But is it enough?
The debate in Indian media centers around reporting which industry is hazardous and exploitative, but the need of the hour is to champion a complete ban on child labour , keeping in mind that whatever the form or industry, child labour is

exploitative and compromises on the childhood. In this issue we try to explore the much debated topic of child labour , the root causes and bringing about a holistic change. Write in to us with your point of view and feedback on the newsletter. As always, your views and opinions are welcome to alerts.takeaction@crymail.org
No right to this wrong
Over a year ago, the Indian Ministry of Labour issued a notification banning children below 14 from working in residences and the hospitality sector, for after agriculture these areas are the largest employers of child labour. It was assumed that this ban would put an end some of the most insidious forms of child labour. Yet, reports in the media and real-life experience point to the existence of ‘chottu’s’ - apprentices to electricians, mechanics, waiters etc. What are we to do about this?

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is the number of Children working in India. This is more than the population of Singapore.

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Belabouring on child labour

• Did you know that there is no definition of child labour put forth by the Indian government?
• Did you know that the Convention on the Rights of the Child is the first legally binding international instrument to incorporate the full range of human rights—civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights?

Click here to download a CRY volunteer’s work on defining child labour and the issues causing and arising out of it.

Har Bacche Ka Yahi hai Kehna...

 

A photoessay documents the efforts of a few children and CRY to get the government to act against child labour. 3 years have since gone by and the result...

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Child labour and work: Numbers, from the General to the Specific

A focus on children is important if we want to
devise practical solutions to the plight of the children of the labouring poor.
Who are these children, what are their expectations, why are they (not) in school and why are they working? And how many of them are working? Is the problem as serious as the numbers tell us? This is the problem which the author, G.K. Lieten, seeks to address in this article.

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Note: CRY does not necessarily endorse / subscribe to these views

From the horse’s mouth

Tejas and his friends, CRY Volunteers in Mumbai with the Child labour Campaign have been out gathering the response of the most common employers of child labour - jewellers, cloth merchants, hardware shop owners etc on their perspective on child labour and about the notification against child labour . What emerged were interesting perspectives, which perhaps might throw some light on the best way to tackle this problem.

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