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{Child Labor.png} By Erin Summers
Child labor is an issue all over the world. India is a particular country where child laborers can be found almost anywhere. Boys and girls ages 4-14 are even kidnapped and or sold and forced to work as many as 18 hours a day. Some of these children only receive 20 rupees (about half a dollar) for these long. Not only is the pay not sufficient but also the working conditions are appalling. You can find twelve year old girls working in match factories where their job is to dip the tips of the sticks into hot sulphur. There are over 44 million child laborers in India and its difficult to get an approximate number because many work without pay or their employers do not report them to the census.
Children of the Factory
Though before daybreak, my mother shakes me awake.
She shoves bread and tea at me to take.
Get up! Get up! I drink from the cup.
No time to waste-quick wash your face.
With a nod she prods, us past the door across the moor.
We see smoke stacks while carrying our lunch sacks.
As we takeoff, thick smog makes me cough
From the entrance gate, I see a prior classmate.
No more school for me, by twelve we are all worker bees.
The foreman yells, and I hear the work bell.
He gives the orders to us all, some only three feet tall.
Every other, child hides beside their mother.
As a helper, they count never
In this arrangement, they hide from the agent.
Today I pull heavy cloth from the machine, my usual routine.
With luck at fifteen, I can work up to a sewing machine.
As the sunlight is unfolding, my stomach is rolling.
My meal gone, before the crack of dawn
Though big and strong, my muscles ache before long.
Lunch break is too short, they must exhort
So much from me, to earn more rupees
Finally, the day is done- there no longer is any sun
I drag my body, the long way avoiding robbery
A few rupees I do carry, as I tarry
Only if enough will Saturday, not be another workday!
As a girl the amount, I receive barely counts
Therefore as I walk through the door, I will have more chores.
If not born the scorned sex, I would be met.
With praise for my pays amount could actually count.
My poor mother of my caste was also so harassed
Still she cannot read, and neither can feed
Us unless we also work until we feel we’ll go berserk.
Laws For Child Labor In India
Constitutional Provisions :
Preamble Commitment: Justice, liberty, equality, & fraternity for all the citizens including children are the main purpose of the Constitution.
Article 14: Equality before law & equal protection of laws. It is available to every person including children.
Article 15 (3): empowers the State to make special legal provision for children. It makes mandate to the government to ensure children’s welfare constitutionally.
Article 21: it mandates free & compulsory education for all the children in the age group of 6- 14 yrs.
Article 23: puts total ban on forced labour & is punishable under the Act.
Article 24: prohibits employment of children in hazardous factories below the age of 14yrs.; e.g.: mine, match industries etc.
Article 51 A clause (k) & (j): the parent or the guardian to provide opportunities for education to his child or as case may be ward between the age of 6- 14 yrs.
Directive principles in Constitution of India also provide protection for the children such as, Article 39 (e), Article 39 (f), Article 41, Article 42, Article 45, & Article 47.
National Policy for Children (NCP), National Institute of public Co-operation & Child Development (NIPCCD), The Integrated Child Development Services are polices made by the government. Even NHRC & UNICEF are also an organization that is supposed to take special efforts to protect children rights. But the laws are not being enforced and children are forced to work every day in terrible conditions for horrible pay. All of the above are laws, acts, and provisions that are supposed to help these children but no one is actually enforcing them.

The labor class that work only to serve the upper classes. Cannot perform rituals. Cannot eat in company of upper classes and cannot marry their women.
A large percentage of the population was not considered part of the system. These were the Untouchables or Chandals.
all people
"impure "impure ones"
Did Did the most human waste
Considered Considered beyond the
Caste in Relation to Poverty
The traditional Caste System was a rigid system of social stratification. It refers to a hierarchical ordering of society into different castes. People were locked into their place by birth, and there was no maneuvering up. People were born, married and died in the same caste. Rules were set forth, and the system was enforced by all. The caste system was closely associated with occupation. Each caste had a traditional occupation that was followed by those born into a caste. Caste levels, therefore, were disadvantageous to those of a lower caste. The quality of a job, and the quantity of money given for said job was in direct correlation with the caste level. The worst off were the lower castes and the untouchables (now called Dalits) who were denied an education and could only perform menial jobs.
The caste system was abolished in law after India became independent from British rule and a system of “reservation” in jobs and education was put into place to rectify the centuries of social exclusion faced by the lower castes and the untouchables. However, reform in practice and beliefs followed a slower pace. Many castes are still associated with an occupation, such as high-ranking Brahmans; middle-ranking farmer and artisan groups, such as potters, barbers, and carpenters; and very low-ranking "Untouchable" leatherworkers, butchers, launderers, and latrine cleaners, though there is a lot more social mobility across caste lines. There is still some correlation between ritual rank on the caste hierarchy and economic prosperity. Members of higher-ranking castes tend, on the whole, to be more prosperous than members of lower-ranking castes. Many lower-caste people live in conditions of great poverty and social disadvantage. Despite the policy of reservations or affirmative action, the cumulative effects of generations of exclusion make it difficult for lower caste individuals to compete with the upper caste members in education and in employment.
northern states.
The discrimination as a result of the caste system has diminished over the years. Today there is no recognition of caste differences in law. But to undo the debilitating effects of generations of social exclusion cannot be undone in a couple of years or even a couple of decades. Poverty is a state that directly affects the quality of life. Ensuring a quality education for all lower caste individuals is an important first step in ameliorating their poverty. Other steps include creating more employment opportunities for the poor and modernizing the agrarian sector. It also requires a more effective implementation of the policies of inclusion that are already in place.

{Caste System.png} By Samrath Bhattacharya
One could hypothesize that the poverty levels in India could be in relation to social structure. That hypothesis is correct to a certain degree. There is no hierarchal system of social structure standing in present day India, but its adverse long term effects are still present. The rigidity of the Caste system left people in no position to work for more. Occupations were set, class rules were strictly enforced, and there was no way to move upwards. What all of this means is that, reform in practice and beliefs followed a slower pace.
Chart of Social Classes
Brahmin
Priestly Class
Study Vedas
Perform rites and rituals
Intermediary between god and man
Temple priests and invoke Gods oh behalf of others
Expected to show excellent behavior
Meant to spend their lives in pursuit of divine knowledge and preservation of traditions
Kshatriyas
Are the warrior class
Ones who are in command (Kings)
Protect the people, bestow gifts to Brahmins, offer sacrifices to gods, study the Vedas, dispense justice, and abstain from sensual pleasures
King should not be despised even if he were an infant
Authority should not be questioned unless ignored his duties in supporting and protecting the Brahmins
Would take the role of a king. Responsibility if first to the people, and preservation of ideals. Cannot be questioned unless in pursuit of protecting the Brahmins.
Vaishyas
Merchants and Peasants
Tend to livestock
Offer sacrifices
Trade and lend money
Some performance in rituals
Cannot marry women of higher class
Merchant and peasant classes. Traders and farmers. Can be part of some rituals.
Shudras
Labor Class
Cannot be a part of rituals or study the Vedas
Cannot eat with members of upper class
Cannot eat with members of upper class
The labor class that work only to serve the upper classes. Cannot perform rituals. Cannot eat in company of upper classes and cannot marry their women.
A large percentage of the population was not considered part of the system. These were the Untouchables or Chandals.
Lived away from all people
"impure ones"
Did the most demeaning jobs ex. cleaning human waste
Considered beyond the pale of the caste system
Caste in Relation to Poverty
The traditional Caste System was a rigid system of social stratification. It refers to a hierarchical ordering of society into different castes. People were locked into their place by birth, and there was no maneuvering up. People were born, married and died in the same caste. Rules were set forth, and the system was enforced by all. The caste system was closely associated with occupation. Each caste had a traditional occupation that was followed by those born into a caste. Caste levels, therefore, were disadvantageous to those of a lower caste. The quality of a job, and the quantity of money given for said job was in direct correlation with the caste level. The worst off were the lower castes and the untouchables (now called Dalits) who were denied an education and could only perform menial jobs.
The caste system was abolished in law after India became independent from British rule and a system of “reservation” in jobs and education was put into place to rectify the centuries of social exclusion faced by the lower castes and the untouchables. However, reform in practice and beliefs followed a slower pace. Many castes are still associated with an occupation, such as high-ranking Brahmans; middle-ranking farmer and artisan groups, such as potters, barbers, and carpenters; and very low-ranking "Untouchable" leatherworkers, butchers, launderers, and latrine cleaners, though there is a lot more social mobility across caste lines. There is still some correlation between ritual rank on the caste hierarchy and economic prosperity. Members of higher-ranking castes tend, on the whole, to be more prosperous than members of lower-ranking castes. Many lower-caste people live in conditions of great poverty and social disadvantage. Despite the policy of reservations or affirmative action, the cumulative effects of generations of exclusion make it difficult for lower caste individuals to compete with the upper caste members in education and in employment.
There are also regional differences in play with regard to caste rigidity and mobility. Urbanization was a factor in loosening the hold of the caste system over individual achievement and there are rural and urban differences in the strict correlation of caste with income and education. Similarly, there are regional differences too. For instance, the social reform movements and the system of “reservations” were more successful in the southern and western states of India and, as a whole; individuals belonging to the lower castes in these regions have had more access to education than those in many of the northern states.
The discrimination as a result of the caste system has diminished over the years. Today there is no recognition of caste differences in law. But to undo the debilitating effects of generations of social exclusion cannot be undone in a couple of years or even a couple of decades. Poverty is a state that directly affects the quality of life. Ensuring a quality education for all lower caste individuals is an important first step in ameliorating their poverty. Other steps include creating more employment opportunities for the poor and modernizing the agrarian sector. It also requires a more effective implementation of the policies of inclusion that are already in place.

I step inside, expecting the familiarity of a doctor’s office. Instead, I see rickety tables and a tub for water. And I realize it will be a lot harder to save the world than I had expected.
Orphan to the Killing Disease
sun pounds outsideWhyoutside
Why does it cold in here?Whyhere?
Why does she shiver?Whatshiver?
What have I sickness of sicknessThesickness
The killing diseaseThatdisease
That made her crumbleUs,crumble
Us, fall to father is goneTogone
To the dusty earthI'mearth
I'm to lost the last thingThatthing
That to me, twelve of usRangingus
Ranging from infant to manWeman
We each try to manageButmanage
But none of did my motherThemother
The strong and the braveLetbrave
Let the sickness freeze herOnher
On this hot

We jump out onto dusty ground and are immediately swarmed with grateful hands, patting our backs, offering help in carrying our bags. The people eagerly lead us to a building which has been constructed near to center of the town. It is the only vaguely modern construction in the town, a one story stucco building, shiny white and new.
I step inside, expecting the familiarity of a doctor’s office. Instead, I see rickety tables and a tub for water. And I realize it will be a lot harder to save the world than I had expected.
Orphan to the Killing Disease
If the sun pounds outsideWhy does it feel so cold in here?Why does she shiver?What have I to fear?
The sickness of sicknessThe killing diseaseThat made her crumbleUs, fall to our knees.
My father is goneTo the dusty earthI'm to lost the last thingThat to me, has any worth.
There are twelve of usRanging from infant to manWe each try to manageBut none of us can.
How did my motherThe strong and the braveLet the sickness freeze herOn this hot summer day?

Lucy and Lukesh
Lucy
shakes my house. Myhouse, my dog, Fluff, again... ever.
Lukesh
Dad
Lukesh
Dad tells me a good, servingservant wife and want this. Raaja and I have only met once, and the only thing he talked to me about was how important it is for us to only bare boys. I have heard terrible stories of men forcing their wives to have an abortin when they discover their unborn baby is a girl. I used to shake my head at these stories, now I fear I may be part of one. I am an attacker’s baby.baby.They never told us this how life would be. We were never taught. Instead, they thrust us into men’s arms and bow to them. I know if I went into the city and worked I would not be paid as much as the men. But, I want a chance. I want my chance to prove that I am a woman who can be independent and smart. Life is Life will neernever be fair. watch, and a life to as an inferior. Allinferior, all I want isin chemistry.

{Child Labor.png} By Erin Summers