Journal #1

Alyssa Masman                 Child Slavery                            Oct. 3 

This article is about child labor and slavery in India’s society. The title of this article is, “Child Slavery: India’s Self-Perpetuating Dilemma.” The article begins with a story about a little girl of seven years of age, Yeramma, who works in a silk factory. Her parents had to sell Yeramma’s labor to a factory owner in order to pay for Yeramma’s sick sister’s hospital bills. She doesn't eat because it is noted and taken from the money she is supposed to being repaying. The article indicates that Yeramma will now work the entirety of her life to repay this debt of thirty-five American dollars. In India there are between sixty and hundred and fifteen million children working in conditions similar to Yeramma. The article goes on to mention that it may be hard to fight against child labor and bondage because of cultural reasons. In India the caste system is what allows for and prolongs child slavery and labor. The article makes the heavy statement that to end child labor would mean going up against large established power and the only way would be to reduce poverty significantly. The article also addresses ways to move forward and help to reduce child labor and servitude. The article suggests ways to improve upon by trying to offer stable economic jobs for children who are trying to support their families and then to promote education for all children.

            This article has given me new ideas and questions to ponder regarding child slavery. For example today you don’t hear or see the term slavery used very often. The key words I noticed in the article were “bonded to factory owners” and servitude. I think this article has helped me narrow my idea to specific child slavery/labor in India. I found their statistical numbers overwhelming. There are 217.7 million child laborers globally and 115 million alone in India. I find this rather interesting, especially because the article briefly mentioned the caste systems large involvement in the matter of child labor. The article showed good ways of trying to address the issue politically but made the point sometimes the government and laws don’t reach the ones in the most need of it. I noticed that people could judge this issue from an economically perspective instead of an ethical view point because of the large amount of revenue that is produced each year from child labor. From a business stand point the companies are maximizing their profit margins. What I found most interesting was that this particular article stated that in order to end child labor you need to solve/reduce poverty. Solving a global issue like that will not be easy and will happen slowly. Many people work towards solving just large global issues but will it ever end? It makes one ponder that maybe child labor will be an inevitable fact amongst our world.

            This article has definitely made me think deeper about this topic. A question that immediately came to my mind is if there are bigger problems of child slavery around the world that are just not documented or have gone unknown? I think if there is a mass amount of child labor in India there are probably third world countries with a similar problem that just go unreported. But I have decided to strictly keep research based in India. The idea of other “hidden” slavery problems really interests me though. Another question that came to mind is that of if the Indian government will effectively help to pursue and end this problem or if since it would disrupt their century long caste system they will continue has they have been? I think that is a question that needs to researched to see if the government has made any recent strides. The next step will be to learn more about child bondage in India. After I understand the subject more concretely then I will research how the government has, is or is planning to help this situation. The only thing now is to research more!