Understand gender dynamics in the context of India with respect to child labour

1. CHILD LABOUR

2. Introduction
• 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.
• The 2011 national census of India found the total number of child
labourers, aged 5–14, to be at 10.1 million.
• The child labour problem is not unique to India; worldwide, about
217 million children work, many full-time.

3. • Child labour refers to the exploitation
of children through any form of work
that deprives children of their
childhood, interferes with their ability
to attend regular school, and is
mentally, physically, socially or morally
harmful.
• Child labours are exploited, exposed to
hazardous work conditions and paid a
pittance for their long hours of work.
• Forced to forego education, shouldering
responsibilities for beyond their years.

4. Child labour • Such exploitation is prohibited by legislation
worldwide.
• The Indian Constitution enshrines that:
• No child below the age of 14 years shall be
employed to work in any factory or in any
hazardous employment (Article 24).
• Childhood and youth are to be protected
against exploitation and against moral and
material abandonment (Article 39 (f)).
• The state shall endeavour to provide within a
period of 10 years from the commencement of
the Constitution free and compulsory education
for all children until they complete the age of
14 years (Article 45).

5. Nature of Child Work
• A majority of the working children are concentrated
in the rural areas. Business, trade absorb and
households covers.
• In urban areas who work in canteens and
restaurants, or those in picking rags, is vast but
unrecorded.
• For instance, the fireworks and match box units in
Sivakasi in Ramanathapuram district in Tamil Nadu
employ 45,000 children.
• In the slate pencil industry of Mandsaur in Madhya
Pradesh, out of total workforce of 12,000 workers.
• In the slate industry of Markapur in Andhra Pradesh,
about 3,750 child workers are involved in a total
workforce of 15,000 workers.

6. • The lock making industry of Aligarh in Uttar
Pradesh employs between 7,000 and 10,000
children below the age of 14 years.
• In the brassware industry of Moradabad in
Utter Pradesh, about 40,000-50,000 children
are working.
• In the glass industry of Firozabad in Uttar
Pradesh, 50,000 children are working.
• Surat (Gujarat), boys in their early teens are
engaged in large numbers in diamond-cutting
operations which causes irreparable damage to
the eyes.
• In kashmir and Mirzapur, the carpet weaving
industry employs small girls in back breaking
works.
• This often leads to physical deformities and eye
problems to the working children.

7. • The surveys of the metropolitan and mega cities make
shocking revelations.
• Mumbai has the largest number of child labourers.
• In Saharanpur, 10,000 child workers are engaged in
the wood carving industry.
• In Varanasi, 5,000 children work in the silk weaving
industry.
• In Delhi, 60,000 children work in dhabas, tea-stalls
and restaurants on daily wages.
• In the mining sector, 56% of workers are children
below 15.
• Child labour is inextricably linked to bounded labour.

8. Causes of Child Labour
• In a country like India where over 40% of the
population is living in conditions of extreme Poverty.
• A large number of them do not even have families or
cannot count on them for support.
• In these circumstances, the alternatives to work may be
crime etc.
• The social scientists say that the main cause of child
labour is poverty and areas affected by natural disaster.
• The poor parents are forced to send their children to
work in factories due to famine.
• Another reason is that child labour is deliberately
created by vested interests to get cheap labour.
• Child labour is that it benefits industries.

9. Consequences
• Children who work, instead of going to school, will remain illiterate which
limits their ability to contribute to their own well being as well as to
community they live in.
• Child labour has long term adverse effects for India.
• To keep an economy prospering, a vital criterion is to have an educated
workforce equipped with relevant skills for the needs of the industries.
• The young labourers today, will be part of India’s human capital tomorrow.
• Child labour undoubtedly results in a trade-off with human capital
accumulation

10. Government Measures and National Policy of
Amelioration:
• The government believes that it is not easy to completely
wipe out child labour.
• Has only tried to improve their working conditions, reduce
working hours, ensure minimum wages and provide
facilities for health and education.
• The national policy has three main ingredients
– Legal action focusing on general welfare.
– Development programmes for the child workers and
their families.
– A project-based action plan.
• Initially ten projects were proposed to cover the areas
where child labour is prevalent.
•The union government set up a National Authority on
October 2, 1993 to eliminate child labour in hazardous
industries by the turn of the century.

11. Legislations
• he Factories Act of 1948: The Act prohibits the employment of children below
the age of 14 years in any factory. The law also placed rules on who, when and
how long can pre-adults aged 15–18 years be employed in any factory.
• The Mines Act of 1952: The Act prohibits the employment of children below 18
years of age in a mine.
• The Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of 1986: A
"Child" is defined as any person below the age of 14 and the CLPR Act prohibits
employment of a Child in any employment including as a domestic help (except
helping own family in non-hazardous occupations). It is a cognizable criminal
offence to employ a Child for any work. Children between age of 14 and 18 are
defined as "Adolescent" and the law allows Adolescent to be employed except in
the listed hazardous occupation and processes which include mining,
inflammable substance and explosives related work and any other hazardous
process as per the Factories Act, 1948.

12. • The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of Children Act of 2015:
This law made it a crime, punishable with a prison term, for anyone to
keep a child in bondage for the purpose of employment.
• The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act of 2009:
The law mandates free and compulsory education to all children aged
6 to 14 years. This legislation also mandated that 25 percent of seats
in every private school must be allocated for children from
disadvantaged groups and physically challenged children.(It is not
applied through)

13. Preventive measures
• Awareness and Advocacy
• Education
• Enforcement
• Rehabilitation
• Capacity Building