FACT SHEET ON CHILD LABOR IN INDIA

• Presently there are 20 million child labor in India, and out of this 85% belong to rural areas or unorganized sectors
• India's child labor policy is consistent with the International Labor Conference Resolutions,1979
• It is a socio cultural menace 
  
• Article 24 prohinits employment of children in mines or other hazardous activities
• Child labor( Prohibition and Regulation) act, 1986 seeks to regulate employment of children in hazardous activities
• The Directive Principles of Sate Policy also seeks to regulate Child Labor in India
• India is signatory to 36 conventions of ILO on Child Labor
• India adopted its first policy on Child Labor in 1974 in consonance with the UN Declaration on Child Rights,1959
• To monitor the working of various rules and regulations on Child Labor, National Authority for elimination of Child Labor was established under the chairmanship of the Union Labor Minister
• However despite all such efforts real scenario is gloomy as there have been hardly any efforts to regulate unorganized child labor
• Of the total workforce in India, share of child labor is 12.1%
• In the carpet industry of Mirzapur, more than 25,000 children are employed in hazardous occupatios
• In the matchstick industries of Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu around 40,000 children are employed
• The efforts of the girl children in hazardous occupations are rarely counted as they are considered as mere helpers not workers

"RACIAL" ATTACK ON THE INDIANS-THE LESSON

The so called "Racial" attack on the Indians by the Australians presents a perfect case where much energy is wasted in blame game and debating while very less is used in action.Over the last few months there has been much debate over whether such attack is racial or not and analyzing the history of Australia to add more spices in the story line,while very few people have come up with constructive suggestions on what ought to be done.

The Government of India has done what it should have done.Criticizing the act while asking their Australian counterpart to take necessary action to check further occurrence of such untoward incident.However, we must not forget the fact that India has a lot of leverage in her diplomatic relation with Australia.Presently India is the fourth largest export market of Australia.Moreover, the defense and strategic tie between the two nations have also seen positive changes in the recent past.India therefore has to be a bit sharper in her tone while asking Australia to take immediate action to curb the menace.

The government of Australia too has to be pro active rather than just giving lip service.It must initiate some dialog process with the protesters there in Australia and come up with some ideas to arrange for the security of the Indian students therein.

However what disgusts an educated mature Indian is the role of Indian media in handling the situation.Our media has yet to learn to present news items in mature way.Very often news items are presented very much in the manner of a "Saas Bahu" serial with over dramatization of the events.The emotional quotient in most of the presentation is so high that audience is very often deprived of the real flavor of any incident.The media has been over zealous in presenting this event in such a way as if it is a war between India and Australia, especially because racism (since Shilpa Shetty-Jade Goody episode) and war are two most favorite topics of our media .It is indeed a serious issue and should be handled with more caution and sensitivity.,without any bias or prejudice as that would leave millions of Indians misinformed.and misguided.Blaming the entire nation for the mistakes of a few thugs tantamounts to foolishness to the highest extent.

Last but not the least, the incident presents before us an opportunity to introspect.It is when our students are being beaten up in a foreign land, we are awakening and protesting in every nook and corner of the country.Where was this sympathy when our students were being beaten up in our very own country, in state like Maharashtra?If we don't realize our folly and don't care for our integrity, our very own people, India might go down the history as a nation that failed as it did not care for the endearing values.

Note:This should be read as my opinion on the topic, not as an answer to any probable question.if any question on this topic is asked , I would suggest you to be bit more polite in your tone.Regards, Saptarshi.