Socio-economic analysis of child labour as domestic servants : a case study of Bathinda district

Abstract

The problem of child labour has been prevalent in most economies, especially the developing ones. Children in the poor families are sent to work to supplement the family income and since the poor do not have resources to send them to schools so they send them to work instead of keeping them idle. Though India is signatory of various international Conventions and Agreements, there is growing number of child labour in India. Even though the magnitude of child labour in India is declining but still it exists in the society. Actually, the problem of child labour thrives within the informal economy. In India most of the working children are found in the unorganized sector. Among various sub sectors lying in the unorganized sector, the activities in the private domain of the homes go unreported and unregulated. So, our homes have a huge demand for the child labour especially the girl child labour and girls are more vulnerable in this case as compared to the boys in the family as they will be the first to leave the school and join the labour force in case of inadequate income of the family. These children work under very hard conditions. They work for long hours without adequate rest intervals. Besides, they are also paid very low amount without any regular increments in the income. Thus, for years these children are forced to work under hard conditions for meager income. Moreover, mostly these child domestic workers are not aware of existing laws regarding child labour. Since it is being observed that poverty is the major reason behind the children being forced to work, any law to prohibit child labour and the programmes to eradicate child labour must be accompanied with poverty eradication programmes. There must be emphasis on compulsory primary education and the education of the girl children needs to be especially taken care of.