During mid nineties I was given an assignment for writing a research paper regarding social evils of third world countries for a social sciences (mandatory crap course LOL) for my Engineering degree. During the research process I came across a shocking report called SMALL HANDS OF SLAVERY by Human Rights Watch pointing out nefarious events that take place in India every day in the form of vile servitude and BONDED CHILD LABOR. These children poor as job’s turkey do not amount tens, hundreds or even thousands but in fact it is a huge thraldom of hundreds of millions of innocent children who are taken into bondage for multiple reasons such as poverty, loans taken out by their parents due to their meager resources etc. I recently went through some research about this issue again ----- just out of my own curiosity this time ----- and was shocked and surprised to find out that despite of a tremendous pressure from International community India has failed to take necessary actions against this grave social evil. It is despondent indeed -----
Following are a few excerpts from above mentioned report!
**With credible estimates ranging from 60 to 115 million, India has the largest number of working children in the world. Whether they are sweating in the heat of stone quarries, working in the fields sixteen hours a day, picking rags in city streets, or hidden away as domestic servants, these children endure miserable and difficult lives. They earn little and are abused much. They struggle to make enough **to eat and perhaps to help feed their families as well. They do not go to school;
The estimate of fifteen million bonded child laborers is conservative. Anti-S**lavery International reported in 1991 that India had fifteen million bonded child laborers ****working in agriculture alone. Anti-Slavery International, *****Children in Bondage: Slaves of the Subcontinent ***(London: 1991), p. 30. Given that agriculture accounts for approximately 52 to 87 percent of all bonded child laborers (see chapter on agriculture), there could be millions more working in non-agricultural occupations. AIndians form panel to stop child labor,@ United Press International, November 18, 1994. Other activists and academics estimate that one quarter of all working children, that is, between fifteen and twenty-nine million, are bonded laborers. Based on these and other coinciding estimates, Human Rights Watch considers fifteen million to be a reliable minimum indicator of the prevalence of bonded child labor in India.
***Neera Burra, Born to Work: Child Labour in India (New Delhi: Oxford ***University Press, 1995)
***The great majority of the carpet weavers bonded brothers and sisters are ***working in the agricultural sector, tending cattle and goats, picking tea leaves on vast plantations, and working fields of sugar cane and basic crops all across the country. Apart from agriculture, which accounts for 64 percent9 of all labor in India, bonded child laborers form a significant part of the work force in a multitude of domestic and export industries. These include, but are not limited to, the production of silk and silk saris, beedi (hand-rolled cigarettes), silver jewelry, synthetic gemstones, leather ducts (including footwear and sporting goods), handwoven wool carpets, and precious gemstones and diamonds. Services where bonded child labor is prevalent include prostitution, small restaurants, truck stops and tea shop services, and domestic servitude
***In truth, the Indian government has failed to protect its most vulnerable ***children. When others have stepped in to try to fill the vacuum and advocate on behalf of those children, Indias leaders and much of its media have attributed nearly all Aoutside@ attempts at action to an ulterior commercial motive. The developed world is not concerned with Indian children, this view holds, but rather with maintaining a competitive lead in the global marketplace. Holding to this defensive stance, some officials have threatened to end all foreign funding of child labor-related projects
***My sister is ten years old. Every morning at seven she goes to the bonded labor man, and every night at nine she comes home. He treats her badly; he hits her if he thinks she is working slowly or if she talks to the other children, he yells at her, he comes looking for her if she is sick and cannot go to work. I feel this is very difficult for her ******I don’t care about school or playing. I don’***t care about any of that. All I want is to bring my sister home from the bonded labor man. For 600 rupees I can bring her home that is our only chance to get her back.
***We don’t have 600 rupees . . . we will never have 600 rupees. ***CLakshmi,1 nine year-old beedi (cigarette) roller, Tamil Nadu. Six hundred rupees is the equivalent of approximately $17.2