The Evils of Child Labor Essay in English
Let me introduce you to Ramu. He is eight years old. His father died last year, and his mother suffers from TB. Ramu works in a roadside hotel from seven in the morning to eleven at night. He is paid only five hundred rupees a month. His work includes lifting heavy tables and chairs when the place is being washed every night.
Then there is Shaila. Daily, she helps her mother roll bidis. She rolls about four hundred bidis a day. This takes up almost the entire day. She receives a scant amount for this; but this money helps her family.
Dheeru has an even more chilling tale to tell. He was kidnapped by a man from his village and sold as a slave to a mine owner. He works sixteen hours a day deep in the mines and sleeps at night with fifty other boys in a broken-down place nearby.
In India, there are stringent laws against child labour, but they are, for the most part, broken. According to the Factory Act, children are not to be employed in factories. We also have laws that make education compulsory for children till the age of fourteen.
Still, we have four million children in India employed in the firework industries, brick-making and carpet manufacturing industries, and as domestic workers. Many employers treat these children badly, extract a lot of work from them, and give them very poor wages. These are the reasons why they prefer to employ children.
We, as caring citizens of India, have to stop this evil of child labour. How can we do so? We can begin by not buying products made by children, and refusing to accept the services of children who are below fourteen years of age.
We should stay away from restaurants employing children, and let the owners know why we are doing so. We should also stop using fireworks during Diwali and other occasions, as these are made by children working under terrible conditions.
Recently, some Western countries stopped importing carpets from India as the carpetmaking industry too employs children. The most important thing to do is to create social awareness about this problem. Poor parents send their children to work in order to supplement the family income.
To solve this problem, schools can include vocational courses that pay for the products made; thus, children can earn while they learn. And of course, the Government must be extremely strict and give out stringent punishments to those who employ and exploit children. This is the best way to cure this evil.
scant amount-तुटपुंजी कमाई. chilling-थरारक. mine owner-खाणमालक