Causes of Child Labour

Various factors have contributed to the problem of child labour among which the following may be noted.

Economic Causes

• Extreme Poverty: Child labour is commonly found in all the developing countries where poverty is usually found. Many families with extreme povert are compelled to send their children for work who contribute something for the family income. Children of poor families are forced to work particularly when the working adult members of the family become disabled due to physical and mental deformities, diseases or accident.
  
• Possibility of extracting more work for less wages : employers of many enterprises search for child labourers because they can extract more work from them by giving less wages. Child labourers neither have trade union of their own, nor the bargaining power to demand more wages. It is observed that child labourers are employed in mining, glass-making, carpet-weaving and leather industries mainly with this intention.
  
• To secure more profit for factories: some industrialists (owners of the firewoks, match-box units, glass and brassware industries etc.) believe that their units are able to maximize profit because of the appointment of child laborers whose labour is very cheap and are easily available.

Familial factors

Family disorganization often leads to child labour. Extreme povery and economic of the family as it is already mentioned, is one of the factors favouring child labour. Divorce, desertion, rigid family relations, cruelty at home, parent child conflicts, criminal tendencies of parents often compel children to run away from the unpleasant family environment. In order to while away their time and need of money for their survival such children finally get into some jobs.

Other factors

• Justification of employers of child labourers : some employers justify their act of employing little children for work. They argue that work keeps poor children away from starvation. They even say that they are rendering a service to the society by providing some jobs to the wandering children who would otherwise have become criminals or joined the anti-social elements.
  
• Lack of public awareness: children constitute the treasury of future wealth of any nation. But unfortunately in India, public awareness is not there regarding the social evils such as child abuse and child labour. No organization has launched an effective movement at the all India level to rouse the consciousness of public regarding its responsibility towards children.
  
• Kidnapping and Blackmailing of Children: there are also anti- social forces which often kidnap children and take them to a different place for selling them to some employers who are in search ohf cheap human labour.
  
• Failure of Government Machinery and Legislative system: though the government has a constitutional obligation and a moral responsibility to promote the welfare of the children, it is not serious about the problem of child labour. Half- hearted legislations undertaken in this regard are a big failure. The government bureaucracy is also indifferent to the problems of the working children.