TAKING STOCK : Increase parents’ earnings, end child labour In the west, child labour in our countries is widely misrepresented. Developed nations have no understanding of why children have to work in Nepal and India. However deplorable it may be to put children to work instead of their being in schools to learn and play, the options to working, are worse. If there were better alternatives to a child working in a carpet factory, he would exercise that option and not work. Frequently, for children, factory-work is the only alternative to begging, stealing, or becoming prostitutes. The option to play and learn does not exist, as parents can’t afford even a square meal for their offspring. Does it then, make any sense to prohibit child labour? The west has forgotten its own child labour during the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries. In England, of that time, the factories offered an escape for the young from a far worse life on the farms. The proof of this was the rapid increase in life expectancy. England’s population doubled from six million in 1750 to 12 million in 1820. This increase was without precedent in mankind’s history and was an objective sign of progress. Thus, even with child labour, the condition of the working class was becoming better not worse. Nepal today is passing through the same phase as England and other western countries did 100 to 200 years ago. What was true of the west then, is true of Nepal now. Carpet manufacturers and other factory owners do not have the power to compel even one child to forcibly work for them. If children work, it is because low as their wages might be, bad as their working conditions are, they are still better off than a life of destitution and semi-starvation, which they would otherwise be subjected to. Children also frequently work as household help or as shop assistants. They do so of their own accord with their parents consent, and not because anyone catches them and forces them to do so. Stop them from doing this work, without providing an alternative, and you make their lives more miserable. Labour laws and other legislation is the wrong remedy. No action should be taken under pressure from ill-informed western powers. Instead of making the children’s lives better, these policies, if enforced, would worsen their existence by limiting their options. Children would be compelled to work in worse conditions in smaller far-off factories, which are prepared to break the law. The terms of employment, hygiene and safety would be inferior to where they may presently be employed. And if, even, these jobs are not available then the ‘streets’ would be their only, cruelest, and worst option left. Even one such child on the street, is one too many. Six years ago, the Supreme Court in India banned child labour. Did that end it? No. A survey conducted by the Karnataka government revealed 36,000 child labourers in the State. Worse, 6,000 of them work in hazardous industries. Another Indian state, Maharashtra has documented around 14,000 children below 14 who work as domestic workers in Mumbai alone. Legislation has not helped. Does that mean that we will always have to see our children suffer? Foreign aid, charity, laws have all been tried and have failed. It is time to do things differently. Let’s look to the West. Child labour ended when parents could earn enough to support their children. If you want to end child labour, wherever in the world it might be prevalent, the solution is the same: government policy must result in rapidly increasing the earnings of parents. In Nepal too, child labour will end, if economic opportunities are created for parents. This will happen with investment by businessmen and industrialists. The need of the hour is for the government to lay down policies which spur investment, both domestic and foreign. Cut taxes, eliminate regulations, provide secure property rights and new investment in Nepal will end child labour in no time. (The writer can be contacted at: everest@mos.com.np)