The salt in your food...the sweat of a child labourer?

Did you taste a tinge of salt in the rice, chappathi or bread you ate today? Did the juice, coffee or tea you drank today have more salt than sugar? May be you didn't. But I'm sure it's there…the salt from the sweat of a little child who toils in the agriculture field, especially in plantations.

We do not bother much because it is traditional and cultural for us to have children working in the field without having their minimum needs met. These children, not being able to attend school and their families in many cases working as bonded labourers doesn't bother us much.

The Indian law (The child labor prevention and regulation Act-1986) and the article in the constitution (Article 24) on child labor, draw a line between 'hazardous' and 'non-hazardous' child labor. Child Labour in Agriculture is deemed 'non-hazardous.' Probably from the point of view of the nature of labor and the process involved it can be differentiated hazardous and non-hazardous. But is that right?

We are talking about children here. And the distinction should be made from the perspective of children and no one else. Then I'm sure, we all will come to the consensus that any form of Child Labour is 'hazardous'.

Another interesting issue in the Child Labour Act (section 3) is that a particular work done in a factory is hazardous while the same is done in the house hold it is not hazardous. What is the standard to decide this?

There is a dent in the legal system, information and knowledge management system, and social system where the vulnerable children never attend school and gender biases add to the plight of girl children.

We need a multi faceted approach to solve the problem of child labor - social action, legal and judicial action and development action. The country needs to accept this as a priority by saying 'NO to Child Labor' and not 'No to Hazardous Child Labour,' because there simply cannot be a non-hazardous form of Child labor. Every form of Child Labor is hazardous and should not be debated.


Reni Jacob is the Advocacy Director of World Vision India.