Child labour
Children aged 8 to 12 are often seen engaged in manual labour. Many of them work as domestic servants and maidservants. Sometimes they are engaged to work in the fields as well as in shops, hotels, restaurants, and small factories. They polish boots, sell chanachur, badam and vegetables. They also work as porters. Though labour is sacred, child labour is a crime. The people who engage them take full advantage of their minor age and helplessness. The children engaged as servants or maidservants have to work from early morning to late hours at night-- fifteen to eighteen hours a day, so to say. They are not allowed any recess and recreation. Moreover, they are always dealt with harshly. Very often they are punished mercilessly. They are often compelled to take rotten and inferior food. In fact, they are not treated as human beings. They face similar ill treatment in the hotels, shops and factories. They work for a longer period with less wages.
Minor boys working as rickshaw-pullers and factory-workers often face accidents, lose their limbs and pass their days as disabled. Then they have to live as beggars. As a nation, we cannot remain silent observers. We should realise that the future of the country depends upon the children. A country of children having poor and ill health will expedite the degeneration of the nation. So, all sections of the people as well as the government should give a serious thought to this problem.
-- Child labour should be stopped by law.
-- Education should be made compulsory for the children.
-- Poor parents should be paid allowances to supplement their income and be asked to send their children to madrasas and schools.
-- Above all, the children coming from poor families should be given free books and kits to continue their studies.
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