Child Labour In India

You can see them working in Tea stalls, picking up garbages in streets, working in a bidi factory, working in a house or at any other such places where they are not supposed to work. As the population of India is growing day by day, Child Labour is emerging out to be a serious problem. As per the National Census Report 2001 about 12.6 million children between the age of 5 to 14 years work as Child labour in India. The figure is not only alarming but is also a shame for a rapidly developing country like India.

So, first of all let us focus on the reasons for the rising Child Labour in India

·       Poverty: It is one of the most vital reasons. A majority of the Indian population lives below the poverty line. They have a myth that; more the number of children the more are the sources of income.

·       Illiteracy among Parents: People living in rural areas are not literate enough to understand the outcomes or the impact that physical work has on the health of the child.

·       Fewer schools: There is still dearth of schools for poor children both in rural as well as urban areas.

·       Employer’s preference: We cannot blame the parents and children every time. The persons employing child labour should be dealt with strictly.

Now, as we finish discussing the causes of Child Labour in India, let us now focus on the laws that are present in India to curb Child Labour in India.

1.    Factories Act, 1948: This act restricts any children below 14 years of age from working in a factory. It also places a restriction and discloses rules regarding working of pre adults that are persons from 15 to 18 years of age.

2.    Mines Act, 1952: It puts a ban on all the children aged less than 18 years from working in a mine.

3.    The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986: This act restrains children below 14 years from working in a hazardous environment.

4.    The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2000: Any person employing a child in any hazardous environment is punishable under this act.

5.    The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009: This act makes it mandatory for children aged 6 to 14 years to have free and compulsory education. Moreover, the act also stresses on the fact that 25% of the seats in all private schools must be reserved for children suffering from any type of physical disability and backward groups.

 Inspite of these laws the Government of India has not been successful in fully eradicating Child Labour from India. The SSA or the Sarva Sikhsha Abhiyan introduced by Atal Bihari Vajpayee was introduced to make elementary education free for children in the age group between 6 to 14 years. It also focuses on the importance of girl child education in India.

Hence, in conclusion it can be said that the budgetary allocation towards the education of children should be increased, adults in the rural areas should be educated about the importance of Child Education.

The IPL Shame

India is known to be a cricket crazy nation. People here eat, live and sleep cricket. 8 to 80 years; every one is a diehard cricket fan. Cricket is more popular than the national sport of India, Hockey.

But this year the cricket crazy fans received a big blow, when three IPL players were slapped with serious charges of match fixing. It was totally unexpected that a player like Sreesanth can also be a part of this treacherous act. No one expected that the ever excited dancing cricketer talent would be involved in match fixing. The incident has not only broken the hearts of millions of Sreesanth fans but has also forced the IPL fans to think that this T20 format of the game is a paid business. Even the final match of IPL 6 was speculated to be a fixed one.

The real drama has started post IPL with the involvement of Bollywood actor like Vindoo Dara Singh, business tycoon and co owner of Rajasthan Royal owner Raj Kundra. BCCI has taken strict steps against all the players involved in match fixing and has barred them from playing any matches in the future. But the big question is what example did the whole incident portray to all those young, aspiring cricketers who dream and idolize these sportsmen? Well, the answer is certainly a negative one. It has broken the trust and faith of common man which is quite difficult to restore. Personally, I was hurt when I came to know about such a heinous crime (couldn’t give it a more appropriate term).

The title of my blog is therefore in sync to the alleged involvement of the D company in IPL 6 as it is said that the three players of the IPL was on the radar of D company since the last few years and all of them have been paid an exorbitant amount of money.

I want to conclude by saying that this incident will not in any way bring a major change in the outlook of Indians towards Cricket but will certainly change their perception that they have towards the T20 format of the game.

Union Budget- Part 2

In the second part I will discuss how is the Union Budget presented and passed. 

Presentation of the Union Budget:  First of all the Secretary General of Lok Sabha   seeks the permission of the President of India, once the speaker agrees to the date as recommended by the Government. On the Budget the Finance Minister before presenting the final Budget presents a “Summary For the Cabinet” that contains all the budget proposals. Finally the Budget is presented in the LokSabha with the key estimates and proposals.

Well, the speech of the Finance Minister is divided into two parts that is part A and part B. Part A consists of the general economic survey of the country and the policy statements where as Part B consists of the tax proposals. After the Fin Min has given the Budget Speech an “Annual Financial Statement” is given in the Rajya Sabha.

Following are the Budget Documents that are presented:

·         Annual Financial Statement.

·         Demands for Grants.

·         Receipts for Budget.

·         Expenditure Budget Vol-1.

·         Expenditure Budget Vol-2.

·         Finance Bill.

·         Memorandum explaining Finance Bill.

·         Budget at a Glance.

·         Highlights of Budget.

·         Status of Implementation of Announcements.

·         Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act.

·         Key to Budget Documents.

·         Budget Speech.

Passing of the Union Budget: After the Budget is passed, a general discussion takes place which is then followed by a detailed debate.

 The General Discussion takes place in  Lok Sabha for two to three days where a “Vote on Account” for carrying out the expenditure is obtained from the Parliament and the Finance Minister is posed with questions from all the parties regarding any amendment that is to be brought in the proposed Union Budget. At the end of the discussion the FM answers to all these questions. After this, the House is adjourned for few days.

When the house is reopened a detailed discussion takes place where the demands for grants are put by standing committees. Any member of the parliament can propose for a cut in the allocation of funds through any of the following cut motions :

1.       Disapproval of Policy Cut.

2.       Economy Cut.

3.       Token Cut.

The speaker of the Lok Sabha then puts all the Demand for Grants in the Vote of the House and an Appropriation Bill is put to vote in Lok Sabha . After the Appropriation Bill the Finance Bill is passed by Parliament. It is also known as money bill and is required to be passed by both the houses of the parliament with the permission of the President within 75 days of introducing the bill. Once the Finance Bill is passed the Budget process is over.

Union Budget-Part 1

By reading the title of this page you must be thinking that this blog is all about the estimations, highlights and projections of the Union Budget 2013 -14. Well, if you are thinking that then you are wrong because in this article I am going to discuss about who makes a budget, how is the budget made and who presented the first Budget In India. Hence, this article will give you an insight about goes behind making a Union Budget.

Every year the Finance Minister of India presents the Union Budget on the last day of February and it is implemented from April 1. All of us wait for that one day and is glued to our television sets keeping all our important tasks aside.  Well, let us begin with the history.

BUDGET HISTORY

The first budget was presented by James Wilson in the year 1860, the then Finance Minister of India. After independence Liaquat Ali khan presented the Budget in the year1947-48 and the first full fledged budget was presented by RK Shanmukham on 26^th November, 1948.

WHO MAKES THE BUDGET

The Union Budget is prepared in consultation with three departments that is the Finance Ministry, planning Commission and the spending ministries. All the states of India first present their annual demand to the Planning Commission. After this, the Finance Ministry and the Planning Commission issues all the necessary guidelines and the spending limits.

HOW IS THE BUDGET MADE

The Budget Division issues a circular to all the States, Union Ministries and the Union Territories and advises them to prepare the budget for the next year. Pre Budget meetings are made in the month of January.  A final decision is taken on the tax proposals after taking in to considerations the opinions or amendments of the Finance Minister and the Prime Minister. Subsequently, the Department of Economic Affairs and the Revenue Department officials organize a meeting with the stakeholders like FIIs, Economists as well as other civil society groups and form consent.

Given below is the image of the picture of RK Shanmukham Chetty who presented the first Budget in India post independence