The practice of child labor is going on since a long time and depriving millions of children of their basic human rights including freedom, development, education and play.

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Childhood is the most innocent and carefree phase of one’s life where all reality is just a dream, where whatever one wants; one usually gets without much difficulty. It is a time period in one’s life where there are no tensions of everyday life, all life is a ride in one’s favorite swing. But, unfortunately this is just one side of the story. The other side of the coin is full of burdens and pressures. Here the child is made to work under extreme conditions, while his body and mind are still fragile and undeveloped. Here the child undergoes severe exploitation everyday, where he has to earn for a large family bearing all the harsh conditions at work. He becomes a robot, whose sole purpose is to find more and more means of earning a better livelihood for his family. He is alone, miserable, and without support. This is what is called Child Labor. It is one of the most serious issues of the modern society and one of the challenges that demands urgent solution.

        Children, who are suffering from abusive child labor in the world, fall below a certain minimum age limit. The practice of child labor is going on since a long time and depriving millions of children of their basic human rights including freedom, development, education and play. This has been recognized as a worst form of child exploitation and though measures are being taken against it in many parts of the world, the issue remains unresolved to a great extent. The UNICEF reported about 158 million children aging between 5 to 14 years of age who are victims of child labor since an early age and this figure is continuously on the rise. (2006 statistics reported)

        The problem of child labor is not only restricted to under-developed or developing countries, even developed countries are a part of this menace. While Asia accounts for highest percentage of child labor, sources argue that its number is still on the rise and minimizing child labor will boost world’s overall economy. In the United States alone, the ever increasing gap between the rich and poor are forcing more children to abandon schools and search for jobs. The International Labor organization (ILO) states that around 246 million children are currently working under illegal, hazardous, extremely exploitive conditions at work place and are forced to perform tasks that exceed their physical and mental abilities. These children are engaged in household activities, commercial jobs, agricultural sector, manufacturing sector, mining, fishing and other such fields. Others are also involved in illegal jobs as prostitutes, drug traffickers, and serving soldiers.

        The definition and scope of Child Labor varies from society to society and depends heavily on human attitudes and behaviors associated to such a concept. In some societies, it is believed that a person’s childhood ends when he reaches sexual maturity. Hence any person beyond this phase will not be considered a child laborer. Other societies expect children to work. These perceptions, however, need to be further assessed if we are to understand child labor causes and effects. Talking about the United States, child labor was a vast phenomenon in the U.S. economy up till the early twentieth century and disappeared by 1930s.

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In the colonial period (1565- 1946) and even into the 1800s, most of the populace worked in the agriculture sector. Parents required children to work them and so the children engaged in tasks that demanded greater strength as they matured. However, these children had very low productivity levels, and parents/guardians could not make much money putting them onto work. Their cost of rising was still more than the value of their output at work. This finding helps in explaining why in 1800s to 1820s, children constituted an important share of labor in industries. In 1820, children of ages 15 years ...

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