a. Cgfel pred AIS PV 2024-25 Presented by: DEBOJEET SHAH ANURAG GHOSH aABOUT THE AUTHOR: Anees Jung is an author. Journalist and a columnist for major newspapers of India and abroad. She was born in Rourkela in 1944 in an aristocratic family. Her father, Nawab Hosh Yar Jung, was a renowned scholar and poet. He was the advise to the last Nizam of Hyderabad princely state. Her mother and brother are also Urdu poets. Her schooling and graduation were completed from her hometown. Later she went abroad for higher studies. She did her masters in Sociology and = American studies from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, US. She started her career in literal wring with the Youth Times, a Times of India _ publication, where she worked as a journalist and editor (1973 to 1980). She has subsequently worked for The Christian Science Monitor and the International Herald Tribune. She published several books dealing with social issues including abused children and women’s problems. Jung is noted for her lively and vivid descriptions, though she rarely gives its solutions. Jung published Unveiling India in 1987. It is a travel diary focusing on interviews with women. She has written several subsequent books on the same, talking to women about their everyday lives, including Night of the New Moon: Encounters with Muslim women in India (1993), Seven Sisters (1994). Breaking the Silence (1997) is based on conversations on women's lives from around the world. HDiaSummary of the story Lost Spring: “Lost Spring’, written by Indian writer Anees Jung, is an excerpt from her book ‘Lost Spring, Stories of Stolen Childhood’. In it, she analyses the lives of children living in poverty. This chapter presents stories about two children who face poverty in all aspects of their lives and yet have the courage to dream big. The writer, Anees Jung, is the narrator in both stories in the chapter. “Sometimes | Find a Rupee in the Garbage’ The narrator talks about a boy named Saheb. He is a ragpicker whom the narrator sees every morning. She talks to him and finds out that he came from Dhaka long back when, according to his mother, his house was swept away by storms. That was the reason why his family had come here to eam a living. The narrator asks him to join a school, but he replies that there is no school in his neighbourhood. The narrator promises him that she will start a school, and he is welcome _ there. Saheb’s face lights up. A few days later, Saheb comes up to the narrator, asking her ifher school is ready. The narrator realises that promises like these are made to children like Saheb all the time, and they are never kept. The narrator goes on to talk about how children in extreme poverty live and what the conditions surrounding them are like. She talks about how children walk barefoot on the streets, and the excuse given for this is that it’s a tradition to walk barefoot. She thinks that more than tradition,it might be an excuse to justify a continuous state of poverty. She remembers another incident where a man from Udipi told her that he used to pray for a pair of shoes at a temple in his childhood. Thirty years later, when the narrator visited the temple and the town, she could see a little boy walking in his shoes. Their prayers were answered. To give us a background of Saheb, the narrator talks about Seemapuri —a place near Delhi where the ragpickers who came from Bangladesh in 1971 settled down. They have not been given any identities or permits. Only ration cards are given to them that help them eat food and vote — for politicians. They are deprived of any other rights. Over the years, ragpicking has become an art for them. To a child like Saheb, finding a rupee ora ten rupees note is a big achievement. One day, she sees Saheb wearing a pair of tennis shoes. One of them had a hole in it, and it did not seem to bother him because it was a dream come true for a child who had always walked barefoot. Later, the narrator sees Saheb with a steel canister in his hand. She learns that he has started working at a tea stall recently and is paid 800 rupees in addition to daily meals. When asked if he was happy with his new job, Saheb looked downcast. He was working under someone, and his freedom was taken away from him. He no longer had a carefree attitude, and the steel canister seemed heavier than the plastic bag that he used to carry for ragpicking.“T Want to Drive a Car’ This excerpt is about the fate of bangle makers in Firozabad. The author portrays the kind of poverty that looms over the houses and streets of bangle makers in this town. Mukesh, a young boy from Firozabad takes the narrator to his house, where she discovers the grim conditions under which the people work around furnaces with high temperatures without proper air or light. They do not know that it is illegal for children to be working under these kinds of conditions. The narrator observes that bangle-making is done by people belonging to a particular caste specialising init. The art has been passed down from parents to their children for generations Even after the whole family worked at the bangle factory, they remained _ poor. Mukesh’s family was not able to build a proper house yet. The same is the fate of other people living in this area. The sorrow and desperation of being unable to feed themselves even three proper meals daily reduced their courage to fight against the situation.When asked why they cannot form a cooperative to improve their living conditions, they said they fear being beaten and hauled away by the police for doing something illegal. Their fathers and forefathers were trapped by middlemen. The younger generations are still paying the price for that. The bangle makers are downtrodden due to the poverty and stigma of their caste. The narrator points out the presence of a vicious circle here: The involvement of sahukars, policemen and middleman who do not let these people rise up in society. Therefore no one dares to break away from this line of the profession, from this tragic world of poverty and suppression. Mukesh dreams of being a motor mechanic, and the narrator sees a flash of rebellion in his eyes. She asked him if he would like to be a pilot someday. Mukesh seemed embarrassed and replied that he was happy dreaming about being a motor mechanic. Flying a plane was a dream beyond his reach. Conclusion of Lost Spring The lost spring summary shows how we humans create a vicious circle of suppression and torture for our fellow human beings that leads to a social and cconomic imbalance in society. While onc class of human beings get to enjoy the benefits of human rights and identity, another class of human beings is subjected to fear of entrapment and iment with the wrongful use of socioeconomic politics. The most affected victims of these processes are innocent children who miss out on their rights as human beings, when they are employed before they come of age or are deprived of basic needs such as education, clothes, shelter and food. These children lead to another generation of impoverished and illiterate children a Vicious circle that keeps continuing till they are obliged to accept that it’s their fate.INTRODUCTION TO THE PROJECT: Children are the greatest gift to humanity and Childhood is an important and impressionable stage of human development as it holds the potential to the future development of any society. Children who are brought up in an environment, which is conducive to their intellectual, physical and social health, grow up to be responsible and productive members of society. Every nation links its future with the present status of its children. By performing work when they are too young for the task, children unduly reduce their present welfare or their future income earning capabilities, either by shrinking their future external choice sets or by reducing their own future individual productive capabilities. Under extreme economic distress, children are forced to forego educational opportunities and take up jobs which are mostly exploitative as they are usually underpaid and engaged in hazardous conditions. Parents decide to send their child for engaging ina job as a desperate measure due to poor economic conditions. It is therefore no wonder that the poor households predominantly send their children to work in early ages of their life. One of the disconcerting aspects of child labour is that children are sent to work at the expense of education. There is a strong effect of child labour on school attendance rates and the length of a child’s work day is negatively associated with his or her capacity to attend school. Child labour restricts the right of children to access and benefit from education and denies the fundamental opportunity to attend school. Child labour, thus, prejudices children’s education and adversely affects their health and safety. India has all along followed a proactive policy in addressing the problem of child labour and has always stood for constitutional, statutory and developmental measures that are required to eliminate child labour. The Constitution of India has relevant provisions to secure compulsory universal primary education. Labour Commissions and Committees have gone into the problems of child labour and made extensive recommendations. India’s judiciary, right up to the apex a 6level, has demonstrated profoundly empathetic responses against the practice of child labour. Despite several proactive legislations, policies and judicial prouncements, the problem of child labour persists as a challenge to the country. Magnitude of child labour in India: The magnitude of child labour in India has been witnessing enormous decline in the last two decades, both in terms of magnitude and workforce participation rates. Evidence drawn from the National Sample Survey data suggest that India’s child workforce during 2004- 05 was estimated at little over nine million (9.07 million) as against twenty-one and half million (21.55 million) in 1983. During this period, the number of child employment has declined sharply by 12.48 million. There is considerable fall in child workforce is observed among boys than girls. The corresponding fall in boys and girls workforce during 1983 to 2004-05 is observed to have decreased from 12.06 to 4.76 million, and 9.49 to 4.31 million, respectively. In effect, the gender difference that existed between boys and girls (adverse against boys) during the early 1980s has almost dissipated in recent years, the difference being slowed down from 2.57 million to roughly 0.45 million. However, in absolute numbers, the problem is large. As per the Census 2001, there are 1.26 crores economically active children in the age-group of 5-14 years. It was 1.13 crores in the 1991 Census. The number of working children in the major child labour endemic states as per the and 2001and 2011 Census is given below:State wise details of working children in the age group of 5-14 years as per Census 2001 and Census 2011 are as under: Si. No. Name of State/UT No. of working children in the age group of 5-14 years ‘Census 2001 Census 2017 ‘Andaman & Nicobar island 7360 335, ‘Andhra Pradesh 1363339 404851, ‘Arunachal Pradesh 18482 ‘5766 Assam 351416 99512 Bihar 1117500 451590 ‘Chandigarh UT. 3779 3135 Chhattisgarh 364572 eaa8a ‘Dadra & Nagar H 4274, 1054 ‘Daman & Diu U.T. 729 774 Delhi UT. 41889 26473 Goa 4138, 6820 Gujarat 485530 7250318, Haryana) 253491 53492 Himachal Pradesh 107774 15001 Jammu & Kashmir 175630 25528 sharkhand 407200, 90996, Karnataka 822615, 7249432, Kerala 26156 21757 Lakshadweep UT 27, 28 ‘Madhya Pradesh 7065259 7aea10, Maharashtra 764075, 496916, ‘Manipur 28530 11805, ‘Meghalaya 53980 18839 ‘Mizoram 26265 2793 ‘Nagaland 45874 71062 Odisha 377594, ‘92087, Pondicherry UT. 1604 1421 Punjab 177268 30353 Rajasthan 1262570 252338, Sikkim, 16457 2704 ‘Tamil Nadu 418801, 151437 Tripura 21756 2998) Uitar Pradesh 1927997 7796301, Uttaralchand 7018s 28008 ‘West Bengal 357087 234275, Total 12666377, 4353247 0s] | on] ws] BS] i ls g | | 5 Is hy Bo ely Bo yl iy ES ‘why Se 2 1 | IsAmong the states, Uttar Pradesh accounts for a larger share of close to onefourth of all child labour in India followed by Andhra Pradesh. While Maharastra and West Bengal respectively garnered nine and eight percent of India’s child employment. The share of Uttar Pradesh has dramatically shot up in the last one decade from less than 13 per cent in the mid-1990s to close to 23 per cent in 2004-05, which is a cause for serious concern. On the other hand, the share of Andhra Pradesh seems to have declined quite considerably during this period. The occupation-wise data of children in this age group of 5-14 working in the non-agricultural sector has been classified. Though these occupations in the Census data do not match with the occupations listed as hazardous under the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, a tentative segregation of data into hazardous & non-hazardous occupations gives a broad estimation of children working in different occupations. As per this data, 36.43 lakh children in the age group of 5-14 years are working in non-agricultural sector in the country, out of which 12.19 lakh children are working in hazardous occupations. Their distribution in some major hazardous occupations is given below: Number of child workers (5-14 years) engaged in Hazardous Occupations as per 2001 Census Pan, Bidi & Cigarettes 252574 Construction 208833 Domestic workers 185505 Spinning/ weaving 128984 Brick-kilns, tiles 84972 Dhabas / Restaurants/ Hotels/ Motels 70934 Auto-workshop, vehicle repairs 49893 Gem-cutting, Jewellery 37489 Carpet-making 32647 Ceramic 18894 11 | Agarbati, Dhoop & Detergent making | 13583 a 912 Others 135162 Total 1219470 As per Census 2011, the total child population in India in the age group (5-14) years is 259.6 million. Of these, 10.1 million (3.9% of total child population) are working, either as ‘main worker’ or as ‘marginal worker’. In addition, more than 42.7 million children in India are out of school. However, the good news is that the incidence of child labour has decreased in India by 2.6 million between 2001 and 2011. However, the decline was more le in rural areas, while the number of child workers has increased in urban areas, indicating the growing demand for child workers in menial jobs. Child labour has different ramifications in both rural and urban India. Year Percentage of working children (5-14) | Total number of working children (5-14) (in millions) Rural Urban Total Rural Urban ‘Total 2001 39) 2a 50 14 13| 127 2011 a3 29 39 81 20, 10d Distribution of working children by type of work in 2011 ‘Area of work Percentage Numbers (in millions) Cultivators 26.0 2.63 ‘Agricultural labourers 32.9 333 Household industry workers 52 O52 Other workers 358 362 “Major sectors for working children in India (%)STATES WITH HIGH INCIDENCES OF CHILD LABOUR Together, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh constitute nearly 55% of total working children in India. States Percentage Numbers (In million) Umar Pradesh 25 2.18 Bihar 10.7 1.09 Rajasthan 84 035 Maharashtra 72 0.73 Madhya Pradesh 69 0.70 "Source — Census 2011 Pam, Bidi Crerreen Sa aC) 7 CernyGlobal Scenario Empirical estimates of the ILO show that the number of economically active children in the world in the age group 5-14 years was nearly 191 million in 2004, with a work participation rate of 15.8 per cent. Children involved in hazardous work comprise around 38.7 per cent of global child labour population. Among the different regions, largest number of child workers, 122 million constituting 64% was concentrated in Asia and the Pacific, within which India accounts for a substantial size. In four years, from the year 2000 to 2004, the number of child labour globally fell by 11 per cent. During this period the magnitude of children in hazardous work decreased by 26 per cent. The decline was even steeper (33 per cent) for children in hazardous work in the age group of 5-14 years. The global picture shows a declining trend i.e. the more harmful the work and the more vulnerable the children involved, the faster the decline. In Latin America and the Caribbean the number of children at work has fallen by two-thirds over these four years with the child work participation rate at 5 per cent. Interestingly, the activity rate of children in this age group in India as per Census 2001 is 5%, which has come down from 5.7% in 1991, Sub-Saharan Africa observed to have made the least progress where the rates of population growth, HIV/AIDS infection and child labour remain alarmingly high. In the Global Report of the ILO, it has been highlighted that the combination of political will, effective utilization of resources and the right policy choices can definitely contribute in a great way to end child labour worldwide. 2 2082 milionGOVERNMENT INITIATIVES: » Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act(1986) to prohibit the engagement of children in certain employments and to regulate the conditions of work of children in certain other employments > Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016 :The Amendment Act completely prohibits the employment of children below 14 years. > The amendment also prohibits the employment of adolescents in the age group of 14 to 18 years in hazardous occupations and processes and regulates their working conditions where they are not prohibited. > On World Day Against Child Labour (June 12) in 2017, India ratified two core conventions of the International Labour Organization on child labour. > National Policy on Child Labour (1987), with a focus more on rehabilitation of children working in hazardous occupations and processes, rather than on prevention. > Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act2000 and amendment of the JJ Act in 2006: includes the working child in the category of children in need of care and protection, without any limitation of age or type of occupation. > Scction 23 (cruelty to Juvenile) and Section 26 (exploitation of juvenile employee) specifically deal with child labour under children in need of care and protection. Pencil: The government has launched a dedicated platform viz. pencil.gov.in to ensure effective enforcement of child labour laws and end child labour. > The Right to Education Act 2009 has made it mandatory for the state to ensure that all children aged six to 14 years are in school and receive free education. Along with Article 21A of Bthe Constitution of India recognizing education as a fundamental right, this constitutes a timely opportunity to use education to combat child labour in India. > Amendments made to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act prescribes severe punishment for people found guilty of retaining bonded labour. > The amendment stipulates rigorous imprisonment for those who force children to beg, handle or carry human waste and animal carcasses. > The draft National Policy for Domestic Workers, when goes into force, will ensure minimum Rs.9,000 salary for household helpers. » Every police station in the country has a separate cell for juvenile. women and child protection. > Many NGOs like Bachpan Bachao Andolan, CARE India, Child Rights and You, Global march against child labour, RIDE India, Child line ete. have been working to eradicate child labour in India. Elimination of Child Labour in India — Coordination with ILO The International Labour Organisation (ILO) launched the International Programme for Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) in the year 1991 with the objective to end child labour globally. India was the first country to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in the year 1992. During the 11th Plan Period, three Projects viz., INDUS Project, Andhra Pradesh Phase-I] & Karnataka Project were implemented in the country under [LO-IPEC. Jointly funded by the10 Ministry of Labour, Government of India and the Department of Labour, United States of America (USDOL), the INDUS Child Labour Project was implemented in ten hazardous sectors in 21 districts across five states viz. Delhi (NCT Delhi), Maharashtra (Districts of Amravati, Jalna, Aurangabad, Gondia and Mumbai Suburban), Madhya Pradesh (Districts of Damoh, Sagar, Jabalpur, Satna and Katni), Tamil Nadu (Districts of Kanchipuram, Thiruvannamalai. Tiruvallur, Namakkal 14and Virudhunagar) and Uttar Pradesh(Districts of Moradabad , Allahabad, Kanpur Nagar, Aligarh and Firozabad). The project adopted a participatory method to identify beneficiaries and enrolling child workers in schools, transitional education centres and vocational training centres was seen as a key strategy for rehabilitation of child and adolescent workers withdrawn from work. The project was instrumental in the operationalising the public education component in the field. The Project — also developed income generation strategies for child labour elimination by linking child labour families with the ongoing government schemes that provide access to micro credit and subsidies. The project has systematically worked at developing a comprehensive — multi- pronged communication strategy. A variety of tools have been developed to aid awareness raising efforts at the field level. Through its Action Programmes, the INDUS project worked towards sensitising and building capacities of key government agencies and civil society partners in project states on child labour. The project, through an action research to study the occupational health and safety made efforts to develop interim solutions to protect adolescents and young adults from hazards at work places. The project has also operationalised a beneficiary tracking system, for tracking and following up on the progress of all project beneficiaries. Through this project, an estimated 103,152 child and adolescent workers were withdrawn and rehabilitated. The Project was concluded in March 2009.Strategy for dealing with Child Labour during the 12th Five Year Plan Period The strategy for dealing with Child Labour during the 12th Five Year Plan Period has been formulated based on the suggestions given by the members of the working group in the two meetings conducted on 27th May and 8th July 2011 (Minutes enclosed at Annexure XIII and XIV). The broad highlights of the suggestions are: » The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act should be strengthened and amended. > The problems of working children of the migratory families should be addressed. Child labour survey should sc capture migration of children. Residential schools should be opened in each Metro and Mega cities and also in every § district. > It is important to run residential schools _ for rehabilitation of child labour. The NCLP Scheme should ~~ expand further to a large geographical coverage. Emphasis should be given to the monitoring and tracking of NCLP school children. The convergence approach should be followed to enhance social protection and welfare measures for working children. The NCLP Scheme should be realigned in the light of Right to Education Act 2009. Teachers of the NCLP Special schools should be properly trained. Three tier Monitoring Committee at the District, State and National level should be made for effective implementation and monitoring of the NCLP Scheme. Panchayati Raj Institutions should be involved in monitoring and tracking of child labour.CONCLUSION: Child labour is a serious hindrance to the social and economic development of the nation. Children employed in various sectors fail to get the necessary education, virtually forced to lead a life of hardship and poverty. It also affects the overall health of a child, as children get exhausted easily and are not physically fit to work for longer durations under difficult conditions. Children employed in glass and firecracker industries work not only for longer hours but also under hazardous conditions, seriously compromising their health. They are continuously exposed to toxic gases and substances leading to various skin and respiratory ailments. We suggest for a new approach that puts people and the work they do at the center of economic and social policy and business practice: a human-centered agenda for the future of work. This agenda focuses on three pillars of action. First, it means investing in people’s capabilities, enabling them to acquire skills, reskill and upskill and supporting them through the various transitions they will face over their life course. Second, investing in the institutions of work to ensure a future of work with freedom, dignity, economic security, and equality. Third, investing in decent and sustainable work and shaping rules and incentives so as to align economic and social policy and business practice with this agenda. By harnessing transformative technologies, demographic opportunities, and the green economy, these investments can be powerful drivers of equity and sustainability for the present and future generations.BIBLIOGRAPHY: This project would be nearly incomplete if | have not used the information given in the following websites. Fverything encircles here.. Google india The free encyclopedia Ny’ WIKIPEDIA s s/public/---ed_norm/--- ipec/documents/publication/wems_797515.pdf https://labour. gov. in/sites/defaulv files/WorkingGroup12th_plan_on_C hild_Lahour.pdf https://loksabhadocs.nic.in/Refinput/New_Reference_Notes/English/c https://ftp.iza.org/dp2606.pdf