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World Food Programme - India the food aid arm of the United Nations |
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Food Insecurity and Child
Work in Rural India workshop
Food Insecurity and Child Work in Rural India A Concept Paper The term child work encompasses all children who are denied their right to childhood in all its connotations – the freedom to play, to learn and to develop to their fullest potential. However, both international and country concerns remain focussed on a small segment of this group – the child labourer. The continued prevalence of child labour in India, as in other developing countries, is, no doubt, a matter of great concern. Despite concerted efforts by the Government, Non-Government Organisations and International Agencies, the phenomena of child labour persists across the country, and in the case of certain states, has even recorded a resurgence between the early eighties and the nineties. Conventional approaches to the issue centre on legal action, provision of non-formal education and vocational training to the child worker, adult education and awareness campaigns, as well as support to vulnerable families in child labour - prone areas. The NGO initiative has largely focussed on weaning children away from work and into formal schooling through bridge courses and transit camps. While these efforts are certainly laudable and have succeeded in making a dent in the institution of child labour in specific micro situations, what perhaps, is needed now is a wider perspective and a broader strategy which could bring in sweeping changes across the country. Rehabilitating child labourers in isolation from the millions of other out of school children, who are not formally identified as workers, cannot succeed. The narrow focus on child labour must broaden to encompass all children who are denied their right to childhood. If all such ‘deprived children’ are to be brought into the mainstream and allowed to develop to the fullest of their capacities, one must first seek the reasons for them not being in school, whether or not they qualify for the tag of child labour. A review of child labour eradication efforts in the country reveals that a two- pronged approach comprising of anti-poverty strategy and the universalisation of education underlies both Government and International efforts. An essential part of both these strategies is food-based interventions. The utilization of food based interventions implicitly acknowledges the significant role that food security plays in the prevention of child labour. The success of the Tamil Nadu Mid-day Meals Programme as an incentive to school enrolment and retention is often quoted. NGO experience has also revealed that the food component of child labour rehabilitation packages overrides all other incentives. While food is the most basic of all needs and knows no regional boundaries, the role of food insecurity in the incidence of child labour or the importance of food assistance in its eradication have not been researched or formally stated. This paper seeks to identify the factors, which deprive this group of children of their normal childhood and in doing so, highlight the importance of food security as an explanatory variable, as also the possible basis of a common countrywide approach to the issue. The attempt is exploratory in nature and it is hoped, will indicate directions for short- term interventions as well as policy formulation. Who are the Food Insecure? Food insecurity may be
defined as, the "present or potential inability to consume adequate,
balanced diet, complete in all the nutrients essential for a healthy and
productive existence, either temporarily or for long periods of time. Food
insecurity has a time dimension. It may be present or potential. A state
producing sufficient food per capita at present may not be able to produce
the same per capita production in future, due to land degradation or lack of
incentive price. A person consuming inadequate calories has food insecurity
at present. However, if he is faced with uncertain income flows, he has
potential food insecurity. In poor societies, food insecurity and livelihood
insecurity go together. Further, potential food insecurity is related not
only to existing malnutrition, but also to poor sanitation and health
conditions. The likelihood of a person falling ill or consuming diet, which
is unbalanced, has potential food insecurity. Thus potential food insecurity
can occur either due to potential lack of availability or potential lack of
livelihood or potential threat of disease and lack of absorption. Food
insecurity may be chronic or transitory. Chronic food insecurity refers to a
situation of persons, consistently consuming diets inadequate in calories and
essential nutrients. This often happens due to the inability to ‘access’ food
either by production, purchase, gift or aid. Transitory food
insecurity is a temporary short fall in food availability and consumption. A
fall in income, increase in food prices, shortage of production, a temporary
short- fall due to floods, droughts, and other natural calamities, etc. lead
to temporary food insecurity. "(WFP). Defined as such, food insecurity,
either chronic or seasonal remains a condition in which over 200 million
people in India still exist. The threat of potential food insecurity affects
many more. On the food production front, the country, pursuing a focussed agricultural policy of self-sufficiency in food, has made the breakthrough into a surplus food (essentially, cereals) producing economy. However, despite the known commitment of every Government, cutting across political affiliations, to ensuring food security, coupled with the existence of some of the largest food assistance programmes in the world (the PDS, the ICDS, the Mid-day Meals Scheme, Food For Work, etc) and backed by huge subsidies, the goal of a hunger free society is still far from being realised. Repercussions lie not only in under- nourishment, ill- health and a diminished ability to work and to learn, but a denial of access in terms of purchasing power to subsidised food, health care and education programmes instituted for the very same target groups. What is perhaps of greater significance is that children from such households become from early childhood, paid or unpaid workers, some engaged in hazardous occupations and all denied the right to schooling, thus perpetuating the poverty syndrome. It is being increasingly recognised that a food security approach to development planning can be more effective than the conventional one, as food security indicators such as amount consumed or nutritional status reflect geographical, intra-household and inter-temporal variations in the accessibility of food, better than the standard per capita income estimates, and as poor people spend a high proportion of their income on food, using food security yardsticks would lessen the risk of overlooking the poor.(Dearden and Cassidy,1990). The National Sample
Surveys (NSS 46th round, 1990-91) revealed that chronic food
inadequacy affected as many as 11 percent of rural and 3 percent of urban
households in the country. Region-wise, some of the worst affected states are
Orissa with 37 percent of its rural households facing food shortages, Bihar
with 26 percent and West Bengal with 19 percent. While urban households in
the same states also face the problem of food scarcity, in all cases, it is
in the rural areas that the problem is more acute. Vulnerability Analysis
Mapping carried out by the WFP (WFP,2000) used four aspects of food security,
i.e., food availability, food access, food utilisation and vulnerability to
identify the most vulnerable states in the country and at a more
disaggregated level, the most vulnerable districts within them. The states
identified as most vulnerable were Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh,
Chhatisgarh, Gujarat, Orissa, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh (WFP,2000). In terms of caste and class distinctions, it is the agricultural labourer in rural areas and the casual labourer in urban areas who spend the largest proportion of their income on food (67 percent and 64 percent respectively) and are thus most susceptible to even a day’s loss of income. Both in urban and rural areas, social class contrasts persist even within occupational classes, with the scheduled tribes expending the largest proportion of their income on food both in rural and urban areas (69 percent and 66 percent respectively) (Ramachandran, Nira.1995). As has been often stated, in India, hunger is not a result of lack of food, but of lack of entitlement or in other words, purchasing power. Apart from the backward states of the country with a large proportion of the population below the poverty line where chronic food shortages prevail, even households not normally deprived of food are rendered vulnerable in regions prone to natural disasters like droughts, floods and cyclones. A case in point is the coastal belt of Orissa where the current drought has reinforced the deprivation existing in the wake of the recent cyclone. In Bangladesh which is prone to frequent natural disasters because of its location in the cyclone belt, the majority of working children are migrants forced into the cities for survival in the aftermath of disaster (Sumi Krishna,1996). Hunger, insufficient food or seasonal food distress, affect the lives and social behaviour of families hovering on the edge of the poverty line. A study undertaken in two Himalayan villages of Uttaranchal reveals that seasonal food distress is a very real phenomenon, even in regions, which are not classified as food distress areas. In the case of these remote mountain villages, characterised by marginal landholdings and low productivity, the two major crops of wheat and rice provide food for about ten months. Paddy is harvested in October and lasts till about May, when the wheat crop is ready for harvesting. Wheat supplies provide food for only about two months. The months of August and September are critical for the region, as not only do the food grain stocks run out, but this period also coincides with the monsoons, consequent landslides and the cutting - off of the region from the plains, and access to out side food supplies. While government efforts in the form of stocking three months supplies of PDS foodgrain in local godowns have done much to ensure the availability of food in the region, for landless labourers and marginal farmers, this period remains critical. This is because their source of income which is derived from agriculture or other manual work like construction, also stops during the monsoons (Ramachandran, Nira, 2000). Not only actual food distress, but even the threat of future food shortages can become a powerful instrument shaping the behavioural patterns of those affected by it. SEWA, an organisation focussing on the general empowerment of women, goes so far as to state in one of its documents that ‘for poor women the process of liberation begins when they are able to feed their children and other dependents through productive work’ (Jhabvala,1991). Food insecure people devise their own coping mechanisms, the most basic of which is to have as many hands to work and earn as possible, furnishing a kind of insurance against future hunger. The direct result is large families and the induction of children into the labour force. Government estimates place the number of working children in the country at 11.3 million (Census of India, 1991). The rural areas account for nearly 91% of the total child labour in the country or about 11.4 million child workers. Taking the country as a whole, about 4% of the rural workforce is comprised of children below the age of 15. However, there are large-scale, inter- regional variations in the incidence of child labour. It varies between 0.45 percent in Kerala to 6.25 percent in Andhra Pradesh. The proportion of child workers in Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Orissa, and Rajasthan is also above the national average. Even within the child labour endemic states, there are pockets of concentration, where perhaps agriculture or industries heavily dependent on child labour are located. However, other estimates place the number of child workers much higher. A recent study, using both Census and NSS data estimates the number of working children (full time workers alone) in the country as 12.7 million in 1991. If estimated figures for marginal child labour (using 1981 proportions) are added to these, total child labour in the country stands at 23.2 million or an increase of 160 percent from 14.5 million in 1961(Chaudhri, 1996). While the absolute number of male child workers working as cultivators has declined, the number of full time male child agricultural labourers has increased. This is also evident in the case of girl child workers. Thus the impression that the problem has been solved in the agricultural sector and is now concentrated in manufacturing and trade and commerce is erroneous. The major part of NGO efforts and International concerns about child employment concentrates on non-agricultural sectors. However, in terms of sheer numbers alone, the significance of the agricultural sector is enormous. In 1991, the number of full-time child agricultural labourers was 3.1 million, while those in manufacturing (both rural and urban) totaled only about 0.5 million. Child Labour, Child
Work and Deprived Children A child in the age group of 5-14 who undertakes paid work is defined as a child labourer. However, even a cursory glance at the statistics reveals that of the 230 million children in the 5-14 age group, only around 61% attend school. Thus the remaining 39 percent or a total of 90 million children in the school going age group are out of school. If only 11.3 million are recorded as child workers, the remaining 79 million ‘nowhere children’ make the issue assume alarming proportions. There are two complementary points of view regarding these unaccounted for children – one that in the rural situation, ` a child who does not go to school is a working child. Collection of water, fuel, maintenance of the house and taking care of younger siblings, all constitute an important element of the child’s life. While these activities do not necessarily fall under the definition of hazardous activities, inasmuch as they interfere with the normal development of the child and the child’s ability to reach his/her true potential, they constitute exploitation of the child. In the context of rural India, therefore, a non-working, non -school going child simply does not exist. (Sinha, 1996). The other that looks at the continuing phenomenon of child labour from the supply side (Chaudhri, 2000). Sources of supply of child labour do not arise directly from increase of child population. These arise from a large pool of nowhere children augmented by dropouts from school who also join this category. Estimates of out of school children in 2000 are recorded as 72.63 million or 30 percent of the school going population (5-14 years). While there has been a significant decrease in the proportion of out of school children from 50 to 30 percent in the decade 1991-2000, a significant number of children are still out of school, particularly in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The significance of this becomes enormous when one takes into account the fact that these states together contain nearly 51 percent of the total child population. (Zutshi, 2000). Thus the issue is not one of main and marginal child workers alone, but more correctly, it is the issue of all children in the school going years who are out of school. Children who are denied their right to childhood and the opportunity to acquire skills and achieve a better quality of life as adults. In the broader context of deprived children, therefore, the importance of schooling becomes paramount. The Special Problem of
the Girl Child Worker While the incidence of child labour has shown a steady decline at national level, an analysis of the trend for the rural girl child worker brings out the growing rates of girl -child work participation in rural areas. While it may be argued that this trend can be attributed to definitional differences between Censuses, the fact remains that the upward trend in the incidence of child labour can be seen only in the case of girl child workers and only those living in rural areas.
An analysis of census data from 1971 to 1991 (see Table) clearly reflects the increase in girl-child work participation rates in thirteen of the twenty-one states for which data was available. In some of the backward states like Orissa, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, girl child participation rates have doubled between 1981 and 1991. What is even more disturbing is the one hundred percent increase in developed states like Punjab and Gujarat. States like Bihar and Gujarat, which recorded a fall in rural girl child work participation between the seventies and the eighties, have again recorded an upward trend in the 1991 Census. In absolute terms, the number of girl child workers has increased from 2.8 million to 3.5 million since 1971. Over 80 percent of these girls are still caught up in the agricultural sector, mostly as full-time agricultural labourers. Ignoring their plight is socially inappropriate and an economic disaster because of its implications for the pace of demographic transition. (Chaudhri, op. cit). Another important aspect is the gender - based division of labour in rural India. Like adult labour, child labour is unevenly distributed with the more time consuming, arduous and low-skill tasks reserved for the female. According to a recent survey of 15 villages in Bihar, very few tasks are gender-neutral: only six out of fifty eight activities are performed by both boys and girls. Boys’ activities in agriculture are restricted to ploughing and carrying paddy seedlings – both highly seasonal activities. The major share of agriculture related work is done by girls. In silk production, boys learn the more valuable skills – collecting wild cocoons is 66 percent of the value added and weaving is 20 percent, both done by boys. Spinning, which accounts for only 14 percent of the value added, is done by girls. The above analysis clearly indicates that general trends in the reduction of child labour, do not hold true for the girl child. In fact, the work undertaken by the girl child worker has been grossly underestimated (Sohoni, 1994) In consequence, therefore, current policies directed at rehabilitating the child worker may not suffice to address the problem of the girl child, which may require special focus. Causal factors and
Correlates The underlying cause of child labour is undoubtedly poverty, but poverty alone is not a sufficient explanatory factor. Other socio-economic factors like food insecurity, adult literacy in general, and female literacy, in particular, fertility rates, family size, adult wage rates, diversification of the rural economy and female labour participation rates to name a few, all have a role to play. Food insecurity as an explanatory variable has emerged in the last few years as a result of the experiences of both government and non-government agencies involved in food assistance to school going children. The Tamil Nadu Mid-day Meals experience coupled with the provision of effective schooling facilities which has been successfully implemented over two decades, is a case in point. The impact of the scheme can be seen in the high enrolment rates (86 percent) in the state, as also the minimal gender differences in retention rates. The success of the experience led the Central Government to introduce a mid-day meals programme in several states. A similar spurt in school enrolment and attendance has been witnessed in almost all the states where the programme has been implemented. The Tamil Nadu intervention was in the form of a hot meal cooked and served to the children in school. This pattern has been, perhaps, somewhat less successfully, followed in other states like Orissa and Gujarat. However, in the case of states, where the logistics of serving a hot meal could not be met, food assistance in the form of 3 Kg. of rice or wheat per child distributed on the basis of 80% attendance have also contributed to achieving the same purpose. It has been seen that the assurance of a daily meal for the child in the form of school lunch or adequate foodgrain tends to outweigh other considerations, which force the family to set their children to work. Another side benefit of food aid is derived from the positive impact of a full meal on the attention span and consequently, the cognitive development of a child used to functioning on an empty stomach. Hunger contributes to a child’s distractibility, inattentiveness to environmental stimuli and adaptive behaviours of passivity and inactivity. These effects are more apparent when the child who is hungry is also malnourished. The response to hunger directly impinges upon the development of a child’s active learning capacity. Exploratory activity is likely to be shunned rather than sought after by the hungry child (Levinger, Beryl.1996). Education, as has been noted, has both direct and indirect impact on child labour. In so far as children in school are kept away from the labour market, the relationship is obvious. A survey of 500 households with child workers in Karachi, Pakistan (PILER and SEBCOM, 1990) revealed that 58 percent of the children covered by the survey were working to supplement the family income, while 23.4 percent were working because they did not want to go to school (given the extremely inadequate and irrelevant nature of education in ordinary schools). However, the role of education in creating awareness among parents to choose school as against work for their children is equally important. This is particularly so in the case of women. A recent study analysing the relationship between female literacy and the incidence of child labour at district level in rural areas, revealed that a significant negative relationship exists between the two variables. The elasticity co-efficient of - 0.595 implies that an increase in female literacy by one percent would reduce the incidence of child labour by 0.59 percent (Haque, 2000). The same study brings out the close links between female labour participation and child labour. In homes where the mother works, older children are often kept away from school to help with the housework and look after younger siblings. In the case of a home – based industry, the children are actually involved in the mother’s work, particularly if the employment is on a piece rate contract basis. An NGO initiative in Uttar Pradesh focuses on providing worksheds with proper facilities at the village level for women piece rate workers in order to avoid the involvement of children in their mother’s work (Gupta, Manju). It is well known that low wage rates of adult male workers tend to force women and children into the work force in an attempt to supplement the family income. A study on child labour in Sivakasi, the centre of the match and fireworks industry of Tamil Nadu reveals that 17 percent of the households get more than half of their income from child work, 40 percent get one-third to half their income, while in the remaining households, children contribute from 20-30 percent of the family income. (Gupta and Voll). In the hybrid cottonseed cultivation of the Telangana and Rayalseema regions of Andhra Pradesh which employ nearly 2.5 lakh girl children, nearly 30 percent of the household’s income is contributed by their children. The low wage rates paid to child workers further depress the market wage rate thus perpetuating the cycle of poverty and child labour. In the hybrid cottonseed cultivation areas of Andhra Pradesh, referred to above, child workers are paid about 70 percent of the adult female and 45 percent of the adult male wage rates. Haque’s study underlines this relationship with the top twenty districts with high incidence of poverty and child labour also recording low wage rates for adult labour, and the reverse picture emerging in districts which have relatively high wage rates (Kerala and parts of Punjab). The implication would be that policies aimed at the reduction of child labour would need to go into the issue of fixing adult wage rates at levels high enough to maintain the whole family. The relationship between family size and the incidence of child workers is part of the complex of poverty, food shortages and the effort to eke out a livelihood. Child labour eradication efforts must necessarily reinforce population control measures in rural areas. The diversification of the rural economy may also play a role by providing job opportunities and higher wage rates for adults, which in turn make it unnecessary for children to contribute to the family income. The perpetuation of child labour has often been attributed to socio-cultural factors. However, irrespective of socio-cultural differences, child labour has been a part of strenuous social and economic evolutionary phases, with all their immanent contradictions, towards a fully industrialised and modern society (Voll, 1999). Child labour, therefore, is more a manifestation of the culture of poverty, rather than the reflection of a socio-cultural value system. The Food Based
Approach Underlying the explanatory factors discussed above runs the common thread of food insecurity and lack of education. Whether one seeks an explanation for child labour in low wage rates, female work participation, an undiversified rural economy, farm productivity, level of technology or family size, it is essentially the issue of inability to access sufficient food for the family. Other basic needs like shelter, health care and education do not have the same immediacy. On the other hand, the importance of education both in terms of keeping children in school and away from work and in reinforcing the parent’s determination to provide their children with education cannot be underplayed. With this in mind, the role of food aid in reducing the incidence of child labour on the one hand, and increasing school enrolment and retention on the other, can be reviewed. The Case for Food
Based Interventions The foregoing analysis has brought out the complex interrelationships between a host of factors which underlie child labour, prevent even non-working children from going to school and eventually draw them into the labour market, thus perpetuating the vicious cycle of poverty and child work. Underlying these complex linkages are the twin parameters of food insecurity and lack of basic education. In this background, it becomes important to review international and country experience of food-based interventions aimed at bringing children into schools and retaining them there. Several research studies have attempted to assess the impact of school feeding programmes on enrolment and retention rates. The techniques adopted vary from comparative studies of similar schools with and without a school feeding programme, measuring changes in enrolment and attendance when a school feeding programme is interrupted or terminated, and assessing changes in enrolment and retention after the introduction of a school feeding programme. Methodologies vary from simple comparisons to sophisticated regression analysis permitting the assessment of the relative importance of each variable including school feeding as an explanatory factor (This section draws heavily from the document entitled 'The Operational Guidelines for WFP Assistance to Education’). The Tamil Nadu Mid-day Meals Programme evaluation in 1984 (Babu and Hallam, 1989) used household surveys, school records and ICDS registers to assess changes in children’s education resulting from the introduction of the scheme. The study found a highly significant increase in school enrolment and retention due to school nutrition. The impact of the programme clearly extended to middle school level, but the results suggested that a stronger incentive was needed to support high school education which involves a higher opportunity cost. The income transfer effect was found to be most significant amongst agricultural labour households (i.e., low income, food insecure, relatively higher opportunity cost associated with sending children to school). A free mid-day meals scheme for all school children in Sri Lanka also showed encouraging results. A survey of 50 rural schools revealed that attendance increased by 54 percent because of the mid-day meal. Attracted by the scheme even those children who had dropped out returned to school (Vishwa Yuvak Kendra, 1991). A similar study in Morocco (Ministry of Education, 1993) covering 1600 households assessed the influence of the availability of a school canteen on child enrolment and retention. It was found that the likelihood of children (aged 7-12 years) enrolling at primary school was significantly higher if at least one of the schools in the catchment area was equipped with a full-scale canteen. The findings also indicated that the functioning of a full-scale canteen was a positive factor for retention. The implication being that a full-scale canteen provides more and better food and thus higher income transfer. This was particularly true for the girl child who is more likely to be kept from school to help with domestic chores or to earn money. The United States Bureau for Food for Peace and Voluntary Assistance in a review of US bilateral food aid programmes (PL 480 Title II) spanning the years 1980-85, came to the conclusion that several studies presented evidence of improved enrolment and attendance due to school feeding. A study from Tamil Nadu found a positive association between school feeding and enrolment as well as retention, especially for girls and scheduled caste children, and particularly, in those areas which were poor, but not too poor. Levinger’s review (Levinger, 1986) of studies on the educational effects of school feeding programmes in developing countries substantiates these findings. She concludes that School Feeding Programmes do probably make a difference in enrolment and attendance if their design takes into account the environment in which they operate. SFPs should be targeted to poor, but not too poor, stable, rural areas where enrolment and attendance are relatively low. Where poverty and the need for child labour are particularly high, the financial value of school meals needs to be very significant to offset the opportunity costs of schooling. This focus on borderline communities in economic and educational terms is based on the outcome of several studies from countries such as Kenya, the Philippines, Columbia and Guatemala. A 1982 evaluation of the PL 480 Title II Programme in the Dominican Republic revealed that the abrupt interruption of a school lunch programme due to non-availability of donated commodities resulted in the dropping out of about one-quarter of the enrolled children. This happened despite the fact that the programme had been successfully run for a period of seventeen years starting in 1962. Girl’s enrolment declined more drastically than that of boys, and the decline in enrolment was found to be highest in the higher grades. School Feeding and
Learning Achievement Apart from the impact on enrolment and attendance, School Feeding Programmes have also been seen to have considerable impact on learning capacity. A study comparing test scores in French and Mathematics at the beginning and end of the school year for children in grades two and five was undertaken for primary students in Benin (Jarousse and Mingat, 1991). Results revealed that learning achievement was much higher in schools that had a school canteen. This relationship remained significant even when controlling for all other variables. Similar results were obtained by the authors in Burkina Faso and Togo. The possible explanation for such a positive relationship could lie in the improved nutrition levels of the children or the fact that they attended school more regularly. A similar study evaluating the school lunch programme in Orissa, (Roy and Rath, 1970) compared the academic performance of boys participating in the school-feeding programme with those not participating. Examination scores revealed no significant difference between the two groups. Levinger, however, points out that the study did not provide sufficient control for the socio-economic status of the test group. As SFP schools had more children from a lower socio-economic status (SC and ST children), it could be argued that the SFP actually helped to bridge the gap between better-off non-SFP schools and lower status SFP schools. A review of existing research in this area (Pollit, 1990) cites studies from North America and Jamaica where various tests were administered to assess the cognitive functions of two sets of school children – one group who were given breakfast, the other who were not. Results revealed that temporary hunger caused children to be more easily distracted and become inattentive in class. Children with a previous history of undernourishment were particularly vulnerable to missing breakfast and scored lower in most cognitive tests. While the results of research on the relationship between school feeding, nutritional status, cognitive function and learning achievement is not always conclusive, there is significant evidence that short term hunger affects children’s cognitive function and the effects of missing breakfast, particularly, in already undernourished children who may have to walk a long way to school, should not be dismissed lightly. Some conclusions that can be drawn from the above review are as follows:
Food interventions must be designed with a specific objective in mind. A snack to offset short-term hunger, may not be a financially sufficient incentive to encourage enrolment and attendance. A better alternative in such cases may be take-home rations. A careful case by case assessment of needs should, therefore, precede the decision on objectives and possible interventions. In the Indian situation, food based interventions could be targeted at the child in school or at households prone to child labour. In the case of such a household-based approach, food assistance must compensate for the opportunity cost of the child’s labour. It must also necessarily be linked with withdrawing the child from work and sending her to school. This would necessitate an effective monitoring system. On the other hand, the case for SFPs seems more conclusive as a single programme would achieve two objectives – one, bringing the child to school and out of the labour pool, and two, impacting positively on the child’s learning achievement. The choice of approach could vary from region to region. The foregoing
conclusions do significantly strengthen the case for food based interventions
as incentives for school enrolment and retention and under certain
conditions, as an assurance of more effective learning. However, the case for
targeting the source of child labour by ensuring food security at the
household level, remains at best, a tenuous one. The above review, does
however, raise a number of issues, the answers to which need further
discussion:
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Child Labour, Mosaic Books, New Delhi. 25. World Food Programme (2000)
Country Strategy Outline – India. 26. Zutshi, B. (2001) Research Report
on A Situational Analysis of Education for Street and Working Children in
India, UNESCO, New Delhi.
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World Food Programme 2 Poorvi Marg, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi - 110057India Tel:91-11-26150000, Fax:91-11-26150019
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