Letters: Child labour menace

This refers to the editorial "Ending child labour" (November 5). The employment of children below the age of 14 is caused by poverty of their parents and the cruelty and greed of employers who exploit the poor. They do not hesitate to engage kids in risky jobs beyond their capacity such as rat-hole mining mentioned in an earlier article by Namrata Acharya ("Grey laws woe for child labour", October 20). The article also chronicles how our laws on the subject have proved inadequate to protect child exploitation. The condition of domestic help and the girl child is worse.

While stringent laws and their honest implementation is helpful, the need is for employers to spare at least children from illegal employment. Child labour is a blot on our democracy and falsifies the notion that India is on its way to becoming a dominant economy.

Y G Chouksey Pune

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