Child Labour in Rural Context : Concern Causes and Cure

Contents Preface. 1. Introduction. 2. Debate and discourse on child labour conceptualising the idea and contextualising the issue. 3. Socio economic outline of the study area. 4. Child labour and education background data set methodology and concepts. 5. Labour work and educational participation of village children the meso dimension over the six study villages. 6. Inter village variation of children participation in school and in labour activities explanatory factors in local setting. 7. Child labour context causes and narratives. 8. Summing up. Index. Child labour in India is in the main a rural phenomenon by way of sectoral distribution. Confusion pervades the discourse and there is disagreement on the definition which creates the conflict of estimates. An exaggerated statistics is detrimental for policy purposes. The present study delineates between work and labour where the latter is interpreted in terms of exploitation of children as defined in the UN convention of the rights of the child. An intensive household survey conducted in the district of Jalpaiguri West Bengal during 2003 reveals many interesting aspects of child labour and educational deprivation. Poverty and parental illiteracy are dominant causal factors. But individual case studies on labouring children expose many stark realities that are not always captured by income poverty measure single handedly. Severe disruptions in the families like death dowry disease and divorce have been found to put many children in the adult world of labour. The study insists on special social safety nets for the vulnerable within the poverty alleviation programme targeting the poor. Renewed adult education programme would fructify in enhancing school participation and thereby reduce child labour substantially. 278 pp.…