Child labour in India during corona
Coronavirus pandemic is forcing more and more children from the most vulnerable communities in India to leave their schools and work at farms, factories and construction sites. This has worsened the issue of child labour in the country, which is already one of the biggest child labour hub in the world.
Since schools remained close and families lost their sources of livelihood during coronavirus lockdown, parents put responsibilities on children to make up the losses and arrange for two-time meal for the households. Children lefty with no other way but leave schools and join work in the absence of a proper policy.
New vulnerabilities in India
This all coincided with the migrants workers moving towards their hometowns during coronavirus lockdown. Facing huge labour crisis, companies found children as their soft targets. Because they could be easily available for work and that also at a low cost. Corporates capitalized on new vulnerabilities without a second thought.
Families in need of money offered their children to work. Children were already free as the schools were closed since the coronavirus lockdown. Most of these households are from so much vulnerable areas and communities that they cannot arrange for, or be a help in, online studies of children. That all helped child labour taking a more dangerous shape in the country.
According to general trends, there is a correlation between, poverty and child labour. Also the trends say that in long-term crisis periods, child labour graph increases and school going children graph decreases. That is the reason why in Covid times, number of child labourers in India is going up faster than ever.
Child labour in India during corona
As per study of DHL International GmBH, around 56 million children in India were not going to schools in 2018. This number was two-times of combined number of children out of schools across Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Of total children away from schools in India, over 10 million were working, said report of International Labour Organization (ILO).
Triggered by pandemic, around 247 million children are not being able to go to schools, of which 28 million belong to pre-school levels. This has rocketed child labour figures in the country. Over 10 million children in India was in trap of child labour even in pre-corona times. These were mostly in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh, says data.
Child labourers are hired in the country mostly to work in hazardous workplaces and workshops. They work at scrap shops, cracker or brick factories and agricultural farms. Farm activities includes cattle herding and working with pesticides, dangerous for children. On one hand they have to leave their studies. On the other hand these children join work with dangerous elements and equipment in these industries.
Covid worsens the situation
India has been already struggling to keep children in schools for decades now. Same level of struggle has emerged in battle with the ill of child labour in the country. With Covid outbreak, efforts of decades to keep children in schools and abolish child labour have been mitigated, say experts. The pandemic is likely to leave its economic effects even for coming decades.
As per other estimations, nearly 120 million people have left without employment in India. This is due to mismanaged in Coronavirus lockdown and confused government policies. Most of the people who faced job loses during Covid lockdown were from the most marginalized sections of the country. Coronavirus pandemic has affected the lives of more than 40 million children, mostly from the poor families, says another study.
The worst hit children by the Covid outbreak are those who live in slums, streets, railway stations or under flyovers in the country. A World Bank report says around 12 million people may slip below poverty line in response to coronavirus-triggered laying offs. In such a trying situation, these poor families are pushing children into child labour for survival.
The pandemic has a direct impact on socio-economic status of the people. This time, the vulnerabilities of these families and children have grown at a fast pace. Most of the people, who lost their jobs belong to the vulnerable sections. We can imagine how critical has become the situation of children in these families. It’s an wake up call for politics and other stockholders to create a better world for these communities and children.
