Amity Law School -

Topic Child Labour

Name- Shrey Tiwari

Course BBA- LLb (H)
Enrollment No : A3221514088

What is Child Labour

Child labour typically means the employment of
children in any manual work with or without
payment. Child labour is not only limited to India,
it happens to be a global phenomenon.
As far as India is concerned, the issue is a vicious
one as children in India have historically been
helping parents at their farms and other primitive
activities. Another concept that needs explanation
is the concept of bonded labour which is one of the
most common forms of exploitation. Bonded
labour means the children are forced to work as
employees in lieu of payment of debt by the
parents due to exorbitant rates of repayment of
interest.

India is sadly the home to the largest number of

child labourers in the world. The census found an
increase in the number of child labourers from
11.28 million in 1991 to 12.59 million in 2001.
M.V. Foundation in Andhra Pradesh found nearly
400,000 children, mostly girls between seven and
14 years of age, toiling for 14-16 hours a day in
cottonseed production across the country of
which 90% are employed in Andhra Pradesh. 40%
of the labour in a precious stone cutting sector is
children. NGOs have discovered the use of child
labourers in mining industry in Bellary District in
Karnataka in spite of a harsh ban on the same. In
urban areas there is a high employment of
children in the zari and embroidery industry.

Poverty and lack of social security are the

main causes of child labour. The increasing
gap between the rich and the poor,
privatization of basic services and the neo-
liberal economic policies are causes major
sections of the population out of employment
and without basic needs. This adversely
affects children more than any other group.
Entry of multi-national corporations into
industry without proper mechanisms to hold
them accountable has lead to the use of child
labour. Lack of quality universal education has
also contributed to children dropping out of
school and entering the labour force. A major
concern is that the actual number of child
labourers goes un-detected. Laws that are
meant to protect children from hazardous
labour are ineffective and not implemented
correctly.

A growing phenomenon is using children as

domestic workers in urban areas. The conditions
in which children work is completely unregulated
and they are often made to work without food,
and very low wages, resembling situations of
slavery. There are cases of physical, sexual and
emotional abuse of child domestic workers. The
argument for domestic work is often that families
have placed their children in these homes for care
and employment. There has been a recent
notification by the Ministry of Labour making child
domestic work as well as employment of children
in dhabas, tea stalls and restaurants "hazardous"
occupations.
Bonded child labour is a hidden phenomenon as a
majority of them are found in the informal sector.
Bonded labour means the employment of a
person against a loan or debt or social obligation
by the family of the child or the family as a whole.
It is a form of slavery. Children who are bonded
with their family or inherit a debt from their
parents are often found in agricultural sector or
assisting their families in brick kilns, and stone
quarries. Individual pledging of children is a
growing occurrence that usually leads to
trafficking of children to urban areas for
employment and have children working in small
production houses versus factories. Bonded
labourers in India are mostly migrant workers,
which opens them up to more exploitation. Also
they mostly come from low caste groups such as
dalits or marginalised tribal groups. Bonded child
labourers are at very high risk for physical and
sexual abuse and neglect sometimes leading to
death. They often are psychologically and
mentally disturbed and have not learnt many
social skills or survival skills.

Causes of Rising Instances of Child Labour

Over population, illiteracy, poverty, debt trap are
some of the common causes which are
instrumental in this issue.
Overburdened, debt-trapped parents fail to
understand the importance of a normal childhood
under the pressures of their own troubles and thus
it leads to the poor emotional and mental balance
of a childs brain which is not prepared to
undertake rigorous field or domestic tasks.
National and Multinational companies also recruit
children in garment industries for more work and
less pay which is absolutely unethical.

Child Labour Laws in India

The problem of child labour in India had become
an issue of concern for one and all post
Independence. The drafting committee of the India
constitution wanted to formulate laws on their own
without seeking recommendations from other
countries with this regard. Since, India had been
under the exploitative regime of the British, it only
made sense that the provisions were devised
keeping in mind the forms of exploitative labour
that India had witnessed under the atrocious
regime.
The primitive laws that were formed to prohibit
child labour in India were when the Employment
of Children Act, 1938 was passed. But this act
failed miserably because it failed to address the
cause of poverty as it is poverty that drives
children into forced labour.
The Indian Parliament time and again has passed
Laws and Acts to ensure the protection of children
from child labour. The Fundamental Rights
enshrined in our Constitution prohibit child labour
below the age of 14 years in any factor or mine or
engaged in any hazardous employment under
Article 24. Apart from this, it is also provided
under Article 21-A that State shall provide
infrastructure and resources for free and
compulsory education for children of the age six
upto 14 years.
There exists a set of laws which under the
Constitution govern the protection of children
from child labour. The Factories Act of 1948
prevents the employment of children below 14
years in any factory. The Mines Act of 1952
prohibits the employment of children below the
age of 18 years. The Child Labor (Prohibition and
Regulation) Act of 1986 prevents the employment
of children below the age of 14 years in life-
threatening occupations identified in a list by the
law. Further, the Juvenile Justice (Care and
Protection) of children Act of 2000 made the
employment of children a punishable offence.
Ironically, despite this huge array of laws, there
seems to be no improvement in the working
conditions of the child labourers and employers
also freely flout the provisions of the Act covering
the prohibition of child labour.
It nee
ds to be highlighted that the violation of these
provisions means a deprivation of the basic human
rights and demeaning the childhood of the
children. The law also isnt very clear as to how
where can the children work. The Acts covers only
10 percent of the total working children and thus
not applicable to the unorganized sector. The Act
also exempts the family of the child labourer from
its purview if they all are working with the same
employee as that of the child. Although the Act
prohibits the employment of children in certain
hazardous industries and processes, it does not
define what constitutes hazardous work. It only
provides a list of hazardous occupations