![](\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/Wv2V-sIZgmpoMCkQ-PUnDWd8GH1-hzeYdxJv8Jm0d4ClgEEzN4jiKDx0NmdWNWCcNGYg-FTUM6l1r4x-dLHrf13uXgVJpSQyA7s9yaUTPXG9M8oNPbz9-STsIAdF4tCBtkiF92ve\")
<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cAs the pandemic wreaks havoc on family incomes, without support, many could resort to child labor,\u201d said Guy Ryder, Director-General of the International Labour Organization<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As this pandemic situation has led to unemployment and lowered income per capita, people around the poverty line are being forced to increase income by increasing the number of working people in the family. The only way they can achieve this is by pushing their children into child labor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As education became dependent on the internet and mobile\/computer, which are still a luxury for many students in this category, the dropout rates will increase, which will further make them vulnerable to child labor. Let\u2019s try to understand the problem and its solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not all working children can be considered child labor. Helping one\u2019s parents in the household chores or assisting in the family business, or earning pocket money outside of school hours or vacations is not considered child labor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The term \u201cchild labor\u201d<\/strong> is often defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential, and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development. It refers to work that –<\/p>\n\n\n\n Child labor has many forms, such as working in agriculture or hazardous industries such as bangle making, metal furnaces, etc. But child labor has even worse forms, such as slavery or practice similar to slavery-like debt bondage and serfdom. A large number of child labor and trafficking children end up in prostitution or pornography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the world\u2019s poorest countries, it is estimated that slightly more than 1 out of 4 children are engaged in child labor. At the same time, a total of 152 million children engage in child labor daily across the globe. If occasional light work is included, the number reaches a staggering 250+million mark. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Various wars, economic problems, and the refugee crisis in the past contributed to such a large number of child labor today. And today, we sit under another pandemic, which has already damaged the economy a lot and will have lasting effects for many years to come. From the year 2000, due to the relative stability and economic prosperity, the child labor number has decreased except a few areas due to political instability and the refugee crisis, which can be seen below. But we fear this rapid rise because of the unprecedented times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am not employing any child below the age of 18 for any kind of work. So I am not contributing to it? Right? Wrong. Many times, either directly or indirectly, we end up contributing to this social issue. Chhotu from our\u00a0galli ke doodh wale bhaiyya<\/em>\u00a0or our maid\u2019s little daughter Payal, who accompanies her to \u201creduce her work\/help her,<\/em>\u201d or even the newspaper boy who dropped out of his school to make ends meet. All these are living examples of child labor, and we turn a blind eye towards them. So how exactly, as an individual and as a society, do I help eradicate this from its roots?<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s like a vicious cycle. A kid resorts to child labor because of low family income, grows up without education, and ends up unemployed. He\/she takes up odd jobs to make ends meet, but since they\u2019re low paying, their kids are put to work as well. Then the cycle continues. This has to be broken, broken by us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One need not wait to be a part of a social service group or an NGO to make a difference; we could always start at home. With us and our near and dear ones. Together. It is us, the youth of the country, that needs to join hands and make it safe for our country\u2019s future, our children. -Article by Dhruvin Shah and SS Rakshitha, 3rd year Mechanical Engineering<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cAs the pandemic wreaks havoc on family incomes, without support, many could resort to child labor,\u201d said Guy Ryder, Director-General of the International Labour Organization As this pandemic situation has led to unemployment and lowered income per capita, people around the poverty line are being forced to increase income by increasing the number of working…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,226],"tags":[262,264,265],"class_list":["post-888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ethics","category-krutagnata","tag-child-labour","tag-impact-of-corona-on-low-income-households","tag-unemployment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitk.acm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitk.acm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitk.acm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitk.acm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitk.acm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nitk.acm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":891,"href":"https:\/\/nitk.acm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions\/891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitk.acm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitk.acm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitk.acm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Scale of Child Labor<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![](\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/Rh7YbgB_hKS68IHdlWDZMnvG3UOsPxbJjwqU0-CLGAtloRCwJLUdNOz2kWqwA8WkMi522K8tUDX3Fk6IqZlQE-IJpyYcgBqqqhg7uGPTeXNarGXCWyChOHWgAacs7BEL1nr1JeVV\")
Solutions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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