1. Problems of Children: Girl Children and Deprivation
Core Concept / Simple Definition
The lesson begins with the idea that the foundations for life-long learning and human development are laid in early childhood. The development of children affects the present and future of a nation. The Constitution of India has laid down specific safeguards for their survival, protection and development.
Children from families below the poverty line may not go to school because food is treated as more important than education. These children struggle to maintain themselves and to support their families.
Girl Children: Clear Explanation
A girl child suffers discriminatory behaviour in society and may be deprived of educational opportunities. Especially in rural areas, girls may be kept away from school and trained for household work. They may become an assistant to their mother in the father’s house and later perform the role of housewife in the husband’s house.
One belief mentioned in the chapter is that a daughter should be married before puberty. This belief encouraged child marriage. Child marriage deprives girls of educational rights and leads to motherhood at an early age, creating health problems including early motherhood and maternal mortality. Another belief in rural India is that girls’ education creates difficulty in arranging marriage, so some parents marry their daughters soon after matriculation.
Key Characteristics and Problems
- Discrimination in food, education and health care.
- Girls from poor families may have to work at home and also earn wages as maid servants or child labourers.
- They may face physical and economic exploitation by masters, contractors and agents.
- In poor families, girls are described as being sold; affluent people may purchase girls for domestic work, as kept women, and in some cases as marriage partners.
- Neglect of health is highlighted: medical help may be sought only when a problem becomes acute.
Chapter emphasis: For rural girl children, childhood may become a period of neglect, abuse, exploitation and oppression rather than a period of pleasure and development.
2. Street Children and Child Labour
Street Children: Core Idea
Street children are children from poor families who come to towns and cities in search of work. They may work as boot polishers, garage helpers and newspaper hawkers. They also take up work that needs little or no capital, such as rag picking and begging.
Because they cannot afford the high rent of houses or rooms in big cities, they may spend day and night in streets and public places such as railway stations, bus stands, gardens and parks. The chapter gives an estimate of five lakh street children in Bangalore, Mumbai, Calcutta, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kanpur and Madras.
Problems and Consequences
Street children often have no guardian to guide or control them. The chapter states that they may become victims of intoxicants such as biri, cigarettes, tobacco, ganja, bhang and liquor. They may also face sexual exploitation and come into contact with criminals, becoming involved in picking pockets and stealing goods. When caught, they may be sent to jail and may come into contact with experienced criminals there.
- They may be run-away, orphaned or trapped children.
- They may be separated from their families.
- They are described as victims of poverty, illiteracy and malnutrition.
- Their work is disorganized and episodic, and they generally perform unskilled labour.
- They may encroach upon government land and be uprooted from time to time.
- Bad company may lead them toward intoxicants and crime, damaging their health and life.
Child Labour: Meaning, Causes and Health Problems
Child labour refers in the chapter to children who earn wages at the age when they are expected to attend school. The children are generally in the 5–14 years age group and often come from families below the poverty line. Parents without sufficient means to feed and clothe their children may send them to earn wages rather than school.
The chapter lists employment areas such as hotels, domestic service, carpet, dye, bangle, lac, foot-bread, leaf-plate, papad and flour industries, biri industry, mines, fireworks, garages and ceramic industry.
Main reasons include poverty, illiteracy, absence of an earning member, landlessness, low and irregular family income, exploitation and oppression, inhuman treatment by parents, temptation to earn more money and buy consumer goods, and low payment or absence of regular work for parents.
Child Labour Act: Main Textbook Provisions
The chapter states that the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 treats a child labourer as a person below 14 years who earns little wages. The Act prohibits child labour in several listed occupations, including railway premises, biri making, carpet making, cement production, weaving, dyeing and printing clothes, preparation of explosives, lac, soap, leather industries and building construction.
- Maximum service: 6 hours per day, with a half-hour rest period.
- No service between 7 P.M. and 8 A.M..
- One day holiday per week.
- Employment register and age certificate are mandatory.
- Offenders may face fine and imprisonment; the chapter gives separate punishment ranges for first and second offences.
The chapter also states that child labourers face unhygienic working conditions, asthma, T.B., respiratory tract infection, burns, arthritis, eye and ear diseases, skin disease, silicosis, neurological and sexual diseases, and situations involving accident and death. Physical and sexual abuse is also discussed.
3. Problems of Women
Core Position of Women in Society
Women constitute nearly half of the population. The chapter gives the 1991 male-female ratio as 929 and states that women are denied equality with men and deprived of rights and freedom. Women are described as custodians of family traditions and culture and mothers as the first teachers in the family; however, the chapter contrasts this ideal role with deprivation of inheritance and property rights, torture and violence.
Gender Discrimination
The chapter explains that sex is natural and that both sexes are equally important for family, lineage, inheritance, succession and community. Yet sex becomes a basis of discrimination. A majority of communities are described as patrilineal, meaning lineage, clan, inheritance and succession follow the male line. The son continues the family name, while a girl may be treated as Parayadhan, or “other’s property.”
Gender discrimination is linked with unequal values attached to sons and daughters. The birth of a son is generally celebrated. The chapter also notes a difference in social prestige after widowhood: a widow may lose prestige, whereas a widower does not lose the same status.
Domestic Violence
Domestic violence occurs within the husband-wife relationship and is described through torture, beating, poisoning, burning, drowning and rape. It is not restricted to rural areas or to particular castes, religions or regions; the chapter states that it is also prevalent in urban areas and among SCs, STs, OBCs and upper castes.
The chapter cites the Human Development Report 1995 as saying that two-thirds of married women faced domestic violence, while a UNICEF report of 2002 put the number even higher. It also states that domestic violence in India increased by 278 percent from 1989 to 1999, and connects the recent increase with greater temptation toward consumer goods.
Dowry
Dowry is defined as payment in cash and kind by the father of the bride to the family of the bridegroom at the time of marriage. The chapter says that the practice, once prevalent in upper castes, has entered almost every section in one form or another. It also states that modern education has played a significant role in increasing the rate of dowry and that the demand may increase with the education of the boy.
The problem becomes oppressive when the demand exceeds the family’s marriage budget or continues even after marriage. The chapter reports dowry deaths rising from 4,215 in 1989 to 6,699 in 1999, and states that about seven thousand married women meet dowry deaths each year in the country. The Anti-Dowry Act, 1976 made giving and taking dowry punishable by fine and punishment, but the chapter says dowry was not eradicated.
Exploitation of Women
Women are subjected to exploitation because of socio-cultural practices and poverty. The chapter discusses exploitation in inheritance, possession and disposal of property, ornaments and modes of payment. It describes situations in which widows may receive only food from the husband’s brothers and may be abused or beaten if they ask for a share in the husband’s property.
Women from ST, SC and some OBC families form a major workforce in agricultural and unorganized sectors but may be discriminated in payment. The chapter states that they do not receive equal wages for the same type and hours of work and may receive less than male counterparts. The minimum wage provisions are also mentioned.
Awareness of Legislation
The chapter records several legal measures: Sati was prohibited in 1829, slavery was banned in 1843, widow remarriage was legalized in 1856, and child marriage was forbidden from 1929. After independence, the Special Marriage Act 1954, Hindu Marriage Act 1955, Hindu Succession Act 1956, Termination of Pregnancy Act 1971 and Anti-Dowry Act 1976 were passed.
The Hindu Marriage Act is described as allowing marriage among Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and Jain communities, permitting inter-caste marriage and providing divorce rights to the wife equally. The Hindu Succession Act provides equal inheritance rights to daughters. The chapter also states that marriage of a girl before 18 is punishable and sexual harassment at the workplace has been banned by the Supreme Court.
Despite these measures, the chapter states that the majority of women do not have knowledge about these Acts. Some know only limited provisions, and the attitude toward the Acts is also described as not positive. Lack of timely knowledge is identified as a factor that allows continued exploitation.
4. Problems of Other Backward Classes (OBCs)
Meaning and Position in the Caste System
Other Backward Classes (OBCs) are described as castes whose position in the caste system was in the middle, between higher and lower castes. Most had traditional occupations and rendered service to other castes under the Jajmani system. They included agricultural, trading and artisan castes. Following the Mandal Commission, castes below upper castes but above lower castes were termed OBCs politically and constitutionally.
Mandal Commission and Reservation
Before this, only Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes received a 22.5 percent reservation in Central Government jobs. The demand for OBC reservation gained momentum in the early seventies. The B.P. Mandal Commission was instituted in 1979 to identify OBCs and suggest reservation. Its report was submitted in 1980, recommending 27 percent reservation in Government jobs and identifying 3743 castes as OBCs.
The chapter states that the Mandal Commission report was implemented in 1993 with the concept of the creamy layer. It also describes OBCs as emerging as a powerful political force and becoming influential in states such as U.P. and Bihar. In 1999, the Vajpayee Government added 127 more castes under OBCs; the chapter states that the total number then went up to 3920.
Main Problems of OBCs
- 1. Lack of interaction: In villages, OBCs may live in separate hamlets. Limited interaction with higher castes can create conflict as younger OBC generations become more advanced economically and educationally.
- 2. Dependency on higher castes: The more advanced OBCs are less dependent, but extremely backward OBCs remain dependent on higher castes for livelihood, especially in rural areas, working as casual labourers or through the Jajmani system.
- 3. Problem of share-cropping: Many Annexure-I OBCs are marginal or small farmers who take land from higher castes for share-cropping. Family labour and exchange of labour are used, while tenancy may have to be renewed every year. The chapter also links this problem with backward-forward caste conflict.
- 4. Indebtedness: Poor OBC families may borrow from landowners or moneylenders for marriage, festivals, death rituals and feasts. Heavy interest makes repayment difficult, and unpaid loans may lead to bonded labour.
- 5. Health and nutrition: Many Annexure-I OBC families live in unhygienic houses without proper urinals, latrines, kitchens, drains, windows, clean wells or hand pumps. Some live in the same room as cattle. Poor economic conditions also limit proper nutrition, and many are described as below the poverty line.
Chapter conclusion: The chapter contrasts the growing political strength of OBCs with continuing economic and educational disadvantages among many Annexure-I groups. It also summarizes women’s deprivation and children’s problems of street life and child labour.