Child Exploitation

Children are tomorrow’s world.Children,many of them just six months are being sold by their hungry parents in the poverty stricken tribal areas for a paltry sum of Rs20 per child. Children between ages of 2 and 4 are being sold to Arabs for being used in inhuman camel races for their entertainments. It is an insult to India. The elder, by their thoughtless action, very often subject children to gruesome experiences.

Children work as bonded labours in India. Greedy employers and corrupt officials form a nexus to exploit the helpless innocent children who work more, charge less and meekly obey whatever there employers order them to do and offer no resistance to verbal and physical abuse. Child marriage is prohibited in India but still thousands of children below the age of ten are married every year. Our ministers attend these marriages but the culprits are never punished.

The whole country stands to lose if children do not grow well and are not properly educated . The selfish and anti social element in our society certainly stand to gain if children are left at their mercy .It is up to the society to make the choice . The child labour act has to be enforced and made a reality rather than remain on paper. Some European countries have brought about legislations to stop the import of products like carpets made by our children .Our union labour minister recently said that the govt would wipe out the system of child labour within three years .But his claim seems to be an eyewash .

Poverty forces parents to send their children to work in industries that manufacture match boxes, carpets, fireworks, locks, slates, brass, diamond polishing etc.More than 17 million child labourers are employed in agriculture, factories, industries, quarries, brick kilns, building sites, hotels and restaurants.47% of the children are sent out to work not because of poverty but to feed their father’s vices(e.g. drinks, drugs etc.)