Write a letter to the editor of the daily newspaper telling him your ideas on Child Labour.

Write a letter to the editor of the daily newspaper telling him your ideas on Child Labour.

To

The Editor,

“The Times of India’,

New Delhi.

Sir,

The United States has launched a campaign against India and other Third World nations, seeking to ban their goods manufactured through child labour. This is to safeguard their own commercial interests. However, one cannot wish away the plight of children employed in several industries, notably carpet manufacturing, beedi and glass industries in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. Child labour is also employed in metropolitan cities for hazardous jobs in chemical industries.

Children provide cheap labour and they work long hours to support large families. They work and live in sub-human conditions and are ill-treated. They are not paid their proper wages and often suffer from such debilitating diseases as tuberculosis while working in factories and industries. No healthcare facilities are available to them and they face a wage cut if they absent themselves from work even for a day. Their plight is, indeed, miserable.

The Constitution of India bars children under 14 years of age from working in the industrial establishments. But economic compulsions force them to drop out of school and help their families make both ends meet. To stop the rampant practice of child labour, it is essential that voluntary organisations come forward to highlight their sufferings and initiate steps to ameliorate their lot. Mere legislation is not enough to eliminate child labour.

Feb. 8,

Yours etc.,

(X)