Childhood is the most innocent stage in a human life. It is that phase of life where a child is free from all the tensions, fun-loving, play and learns new things, and is the sweetheart of all the family members. But this is only one side of the story. The other side is full of tensions and burdens. Here, the innocent child is not the sweetheart of the family members, instead he is an earning machine working the entire day in order to satisfy the needs and wants of his/her family. This is what is called 'CHILD LABOUR'. There are various causes and effects of child labour. Eliminating child labour is one of the biggest challenges that the whole world is facing.

Child labour includes working children who are below a certain minimum age. This practice is going on since long and is one of the worst forms of child exploitation. Child labour not only causes damage to a child’s physical and mental health but also keep him deprive of his basic rights to education, development, and freedom. According to statistics provided by UNICEF, there were an estimated 158 million children aged 5 to 14 years in child labour worldwide in the year 2006, and this figure is continuously increasing. Child labour is not only affecting under-developed and developing countries, but developed countries are also facing this though the rate is comparatively very less. Child labor in Asia accounts for the highest percentage of child labour (61%) followed by Africa (32%).

The main causes of child labour include poverty, unemployment, and excess population. Among these, poverty is the primary cause of child labour. You must have observed that poor families have more number of children, so it becomes very difficult for them to survive on the income of only one family member which is also quite less. So they make their small children their source of income. They make their children work in factories, shops, even selling items on streets. Some parents even carry infants on the streets to earn money from begging. There are very bad effects of child labour for our society, which forces some children to steal things from others in order to satisfy their daily living. Many small girls are even made to indulge in prostitution. Some percentage of child labour also comes from harassment by parents, step-parents or relatives.

There are many cases of child labor where a child has to work against the repayment of a loan which was taken by his father who was unable to pay it off. This is called as 'bonded child labour'. Bonded child labour normally happens in villages. Such children work like slaves in order to pay the loan taken. Not only poor families, but some well established business families also put their children into business at a quite young age instead of making them complete their education.

There are various organizations which are fighting against child labour by helping children and imparting education among that part of society from where majority of the child labour comes. Poor families should be given knowledge about family planning/control so that they are not burdened by children. It would be advisable not to keep small children at home for taking domestic help in daily household chores. Let us all take some step in this direction so that we can bring smiles to many faces and make this world a beautiful place for a child to live in.