India's 60 mln child labors earn a weekly income of 8 yuan

India's 60 mln child labors earn a weekly income of 8 yuan

India, as a member of BRICs, has seen rapid economic growth and substantially strengthened its power over the past 10 years or so. Despite this, the number of the country's child labors, earning a weekly income of only 8 yuan, still ranks first in the world. They are all school age children and should have attended school, but they have become an abandoned generation.

One third of Indian's cannot read or write

Among India's current population of 1.16 billion, some one-third is under 18 years, with the number of children reaching 420 million.

According to statistics from the Indian government, more than 12 million children are engaged in various jobs, with a lot of them in the agriculture sector, because child labor is not prohibited in this sector according to India's law.

A report by British media on Oct. 14 shows that India tops the world with over 60 million child labors, who gave up going to school to earn a living. Some are servants in rich families, and some make a living in sweatshops.

India is ranked 102 out of 129 countries on the UNESCO Education for All Development Index ranking in 2009, which, along with its large number of child labors, can explain why more than one third of Indian people can not read or write.

Two weeks ago, a lot of child labors were rescued from a sweatshop in New Delhi, including a ten-year-old boy, Mohammad. After being trafficked to New Delhi from his poor hometown Bihar, Mohammad mainly produced low-cost clothing working 16 hours a day, but only earning a weekly salary of a mere 50 rupees (less than 8 yuan)

According to statistics from the India Bureau of Labor, in New Delhi there are hundred child labors rescued every year.

A large number of children die of malnutrition

India's children face not only the problem of child labor but also malnutrition.

At least of 46% of children aged under 3 years suffer from malnutrition, this number accounts for one-third of the total malnourished children in the world. On average some 3,000 children die of malnutrition per day.

Law is useless and the public is indifferent

In fact, as early as 1986, India passed a bill to prohibit the employment of various industries to employ minors aged 14 or below. Anyone who violates the bill could face a maximum two-year prison sentence and 20,000 rupees (some 3,000 yuan) fine.

However, since its enactment the bill has been useless. The Indian government has carried out almost no serious investigations on the issue of child labor and has rarely prosecuted those who employ child labors.

For example, it is well known that large numbers of sweatshops are located in Bombay, the country's economic center. But in the past a year and a half, the local government has only checked the child labor issue twice.

Despite the requirement that a specialized agency should be set up in every state to protect children's rights, only five out of India's 28 states have done it. Established in 2007, India's national committee for children's rights only has 10 employees left.

In addition, the Indian public seem indifferent to the issue of child labor, especially among middle class people.

By People's Daily Online