Presented By,

A.Yateesh Kumar Yadav

What is Child Labour ?

• Children 5 to 11 years of age, those who did at least one hour of economic activity or at least 28 hours of domestic work during the week

• Children 12 to 14 years of age those who did at least 14 hours of economic activity or at least 42 hours of economic activity and domestic work combined during the week

Child labour is the practice where children engage in economic activity, on part or full-time basis. The practice deprives children of their childhood, and is harmful to their physical and mental development. Poverty, lack of good schools and growth of informal economy are considered as the important causes of child labour in India.

According to United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF):

Child labour is a complicated and ongoing issue in the present world.

According to the statistics given by International Labour Organization (ILO) and other government agencies, more than 73 million children between 10 to 14 years of age are considered as child labour.

Asian countries occupies distinctive place with 44.6 million child labour followed by Africa with 23.6 million and Latin America with 5.1 million.

Child labour is wide spread in rich and industrialized economies than in poor countries.

Nine out of ten village children are employed in agriculture or household industries and craftwork.

To differentiate on the basis of gender, it is considered that more boys are employed in laborious activities than girls and based on the fact that it is difficult to take a count of girls working in households.

What are the Statistics of Child Labour in India?

• At present there are 17 million children labour in India.

• About 80% of child labour is engaged in agricultural work.

• Millions of children work to help their families because the adults do not have appropriate employment and income thus forfeiting schooling and opportunities to play and rest.

• 19% of children employed work as domestic help.

• 90% working children are in rural India.

• Children also work because there is demand for cheap labour.

• Large numbers of children work because they do not have access to good quality schools.

• Poor often “sell” their children to contractors who promise profitable jobs in the cities and the children end up being employed in hotels and domestic work.

• There are approximately 2 million child commercial sex workers between the age of 5 and 15 years and about 3.3 million between 15 and 18 years.

• 500,000 children are forced into this trade every year.

What are the causes of Child Labour?

Lack of elementary education at the primary level

Parental ignorance

Ineffective implementation of child labor laws

Non availability of schools in rural areas

Lack of proper guidance

Poverty

Illiterate and ignorant parents

Adult unemployment

Availability of child labour at cheap rates

Adult exploitation of children

Government of India has taken major initiatives to eradicate the child labour by passing special legislations and punishing the offenders.

Providing education to all the children is a long-term answer to this social menace. In 1979, the Indian government formed the Gurupadswamy Committee to find about child labour and means to tackle it. The Ministry of Labour and Employment had implemented around 100 industry-specific National Child Labour Projects to help back to normal life after imprisonment the child workers since 1988.

Many NGOs like Bachpan Bachao Andolan, CARE India, Child Rights and You, Global march against child labor, RIDE India etc. have been working to eradicate child labour in India.

Pratham is India's largest non-governmental organization with the mission 'every child in school and learning well.

In 2005, Pratham was involved in coordinating a child labour rescue operation with India's Ministry of Labour and police, when around 500 children were rescued from zari sweatshops in New Delhi.

• Children [Pledging of Labour] Act (1933)

• Employment of Children Act (1938)

• The Bombay Shop and Establishments Act (1948)

• Child Labour -Prohibition and Regulation Act

• The Indian Factories Act (1948)

• Plantations Labour Act (1951)

• The Mines Act (1952)

• Merchant Shipping Act (1958)

• The Motor Transport Workers Act (1961)

• The Atomic Energy Act (1962)

• State Shops and Establishments Act