Reading Comprehension CBSE Class XII

 For many years now, the governments have been promising the eradication of child labour in hazardous industries in India. But the truth is that despite all the rhetoric, no government so far has succeeded in eradicating this evil, nor has been able to ensure compulsory primary education for every Indian child. Between 60 and 100 million children are still at work instead of going to school, and around 10 million are working in hazardous industries. India has the biggest child population of 380 million in the world, plus the largest number of children who are forced to earn a living. We have many laws that ban child labour in hazardous industries. According to the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, the employment of children below the age of 14 years, in hazardous occupations, has been strictly banned. But each state has different rules regarding the minimum age of child employment. This makes implementation of these laws difficult.

Also, there is no ban on child labour in the non-hazardous occupations. The Act applies to the organised or factory sector and not the unorganised sector where most children find employment as cleaners, servants, porters, waiters, etc., among other forms of unskilled work. Thus, child labour continues because the implementation of the existing laws is lax. There are industries which have a special demand for child labour because of their nimble fingers, high level of concentration and capacity to work hard at abysmally low wages. The carpet industry in U.P. and Kashmir employs children to make hand-knitted carpets. Industries like gem-cutting and polishing, pottery and glass-making want to remain competitive by employing children. The truth is that it is poverty which is pushing children into the labour market. We have 260 million people below the poverty line in India, a large number of them are women. Poor and especially woman-headed families, have no option but to push their little ones into this hard life in hostile conditions, with no human or labour rights. 3 There is a lobby which argues that there is nothing wrong with children working as long as the environment for work is conducive to learning new skills, but studies have shown that the children are made to do boring, repetitive and tedious jobs and are not taught new skills as they grow older. In these hell-holes, like the sweet shops of the old, there is no hope. Children working in hazardous industries are prone to debilitating diseases which can cripple them for life. By sitting in cramped, damp and unhygienic spaces, their limbs become deformed for life. Inside matchstick, fireworks and glass industries, they are victims of bronchial diseases and T.B. Their mental and physical development is permanently impaired due to long hours of work. Once trapped they cannot get out of this vicious circle of poverty. They remain uneducated and powerless. Finally in the later years, they too are compelled to send their own children to work. Child labour perpetuates its own nightmare. 

If at all the governments were serious about granting children their rights, an intensive effort ought to have been made to implement the directive of the Supreme Court which recommends punitive action against employers of child labour. Only compulsory primary education can eliminate this child labour. If 380 million children are given a better life and elementary education, India’s human capital would be greatly enhanced. But that needs, ‘a second vision’, as said by former President, Sh. Abdul Kalam.

On the basis of your reading of the above passage, answer

the following questions by choosing the best answers from the given options : 

(a) Our Government promises to uproot

(i) drug abuse.

(ii) dowry system.

(iii) child abuse.

(iv) child labour.

(b) Work in hazardous industries is against

(i) moral laws.

(ii) social norms.

(iii) Child Labour Act.

(iv) human resources.

(c) In India, the number of children going to work instead of school is

(i) 10 million.

(ii) 60 – 100 million.

(iii) 380 million.

(iv) 80,000.

(d) Industrialists prefer to employ children because they

(i) are the only bread winners.

(ii) need more care.

(iii) demand less wages.

(iv) lack training in skills.

(e) The carpet industry employs children because they

(i) have nimble fingers.

(ii) need money for their education.

(iii) like to be financially independent.

(iv) are good designers.

(f) The health of child workers suffers because

(i) they are paid meagre wages.

(ii) employers do not give them good food.

(iii) they work under unhealthy conditions.

(iv) they are completely careless.