The Current Indian Laws On Child Labor

Child labor is a serious problem that affects children from third-world countries all over the world. These children are exploited by multinational corporations ,for their cheap labor all over the world. People, then buy products that come at a cheaper price, from these multinational corporations.These children are often overworked and treated unfairly. People need to stop buying items from countries that endorse child labor.

In 1919, Congress passed the Child Labor Tax law otherwise known as the Revenue Act of 1919. The law stated that if a company used employees under the age of 14, there would be a tax of 10% on annual net profits. After the Drexel Furniture Company was found in violation of the act, the company paid $6,000 in taxes as a sign of protest later on suing claiming the tax was unconstitutional.

“Child Labor.” Eiu.edu. Accessed December 6,2015. http://www.eiu.edu/~eiutps/ newsletter_childlabor.php.

The first industrial revolution paved the way for new ideals, complex machinery, and scientific thought which helped to invent everyday items which we still use today. For hundreds of years, scientific thought has been used to create and restore inventions as well as plan for future ones. Its many aspects have helped to debunk theories thousands of years ago, and come up with new ones. These hundreds of theories have given the human race a reason as to why and how Earth has survived all of this time. This helps us to understand the many ways that we are able to adapt and incorporate new things into our lives. Another aspect of the industrial revolutions is the child labor and work laws. These laws were put in place to protect our children,

In present modern society, the percentage of a child worker in the United Staes is less than half compared to its start. The Laws in modern United States state, that to start working, one should be about 16 to 24 year old, and it depends on the job one takes. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) set requirements related to the employment of minors. According to the FLSA, 14 is the minimum age for work, and there are no limits to the hours they can work (“Where to Find Jobs for 14 and 15-Year-Olds.” The Balance Careers).

The United States of America has always been deeply ideologically split on the idea of child labor. On the one side, many people believe that children benefit from long hard hours at work because it prepares them for the real world unlike the ability of school. Along with the growth of the child, they also believe that it would create large economical growth throughout the nation. Among the many people that believe this are two of hour founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin and Abraham Lincoln. On the other side of the argument, many people feel that children are to innocent to work for these long hours. They also tend to express how school and learning is much more vital to the child than manual labor, for it will help them much more in the long run. For example, in U.S. Supreme Court Case, Prince v. Massachusetts, the court defended child labor laws based on these exact reasons. The question as to which of these opinions is more valid is still commonly contemplated to this very day. In my opinion, the child should not be forced to work if they would rather spend their time studying, however a child that wants to work should not be lawfully unable to do so.

Up until the 13th amendment, owning a slave had been just like owning any other piece of property. No one felt guilty about how the slaves were being mistreated. The 13th amendment was the first step in ending slavery in the United States, but no steps were taken to end slavery in other countries. Even though people believe that slavery no longer exists today, about 5.5 million children are still held captive in slavery (Anti- Slavery International 2012). Child slavery can come in many different forms.

Children in India are being forced to work many hours a day for very little pay. More than 20 % of India’s economy are child workers under the age of 14. This is a problem they operate on deadly machines and they can be harmed. They also are exposed to bad working environments and can be injured or killed. If the refuse to work they are threatened or beaten. This a problem and this needs to stop because children have the right to a child hood. (Dougall,

Every single individual experiences childhood as a part of life’s journey, yet no two individuals share the same experiences, therefore when asking people to define childhood and what is considered appropriate approaches to deal with children, perspectives and opinions vary significantly. Independently of people’s different perceptions of childhood, modern society has come to a consensus that children are different from adults and must be spared from the burdens of the labor force. However, child labor impacts the way society views children and the value it places upon them.

In the world there are about 215 million children in back breaking labor (under 18).In Africa 1 and 4 children are worked from ages 5-17, in Asia there is 1 in 8 children being worked, In Australia they import 16 million dollars’ worth of tobacco yearly! That is crazy you’re five you can’t read and can barely can talk, can’t even write, and you’re working with tobacco! Would you want your child doing that? Of course not. See, it’s just not ‘right’. Child labor is an injustice for a couple reasons First off none of the children get education, for two they get worked hard for minimum wage, for three it’s just wrong!

Have you ever wondered if there is anyone who wants child labor to be stopped? Well there is, Iqbal masih, a boy who lived in pakistan, was one of the two most famous child labor activists. There also is craig kielburger, an adult who is constantly traveling the globe to free kids from child labor. Both of these kids are against child work and in this chapter you will learn more about the activists and what they do to stop child

“Child labor usually means work that is done by children under the age of 15 (14 in some developing countries) that restricts or damages a child's physical, emotional, social and/or spiritual growth.”1

Further, complex and different child labor laws for agriculture workers and non-agriculture workers increases the chances of violations of the labor laws. It is important to consider the working environment for agriculture workers because children

In developing countries, such as in India, child are are forced to work, often as the result of a system of debt bondage where their family trades a small amount of money with an individual and in return, their child is sent away to work, and some of these families will never see their child again. Many of these children, due to the either the lack of regulation or as a result of a country simply “turning a blind eye to the reality of child labor that violates child labor laws”. As we saw in the video from class about the chocolate child labor farmers, many of these children engage in backbreaking work, from sunrise to sunset, and as a result lose their childhood, their ability to go to school, their ability to play with other kids, because of the debt bondage their family agreed to. This is what was experienced by Iqbal Masih. As a four year old boy, his parents sold him into debt bondage for 600 rupees, or less than $6, to an employer who owned a carpet weaving business. Corsaro explains that child labor is especially desired in the carpet weaving business “because they can squat easily, and their nimble fingers can make the smallest, tightest knots”. He woke up before dawn and made his way, bound in chains, down to the factory for work. He worked at that faculty for 6 years, working 12 hours a day, everyday. At the age of ten, he found out that bonded labor was illegal, and tried to escape. After escaping, he made a decision to help others like him, and as a result,

In the United States, child labor and sweatshops are illegal, and society frowns upon any business that exploits children in the production of goods. Though most would say that they would not support a company that uses child labor to produce its goods, almost everyone has, in fact, knowingly or unknowingly, supported these businesses in one way or another. Children are involved in the production of many of the everyday goods we import from overseas, including the manufacturing of clothes, shoes, toys, and sporting equipment, the farming of cocoa, cotton, sugarcane, and bananas, and the mining of coal, diamonds, and gold (The U.S. Dept. of Labor). Often, we are blinded to this fact.