Child labour is a major issue in India, which has the highest number of working children in the world, estimated between 60-115 million. Poverty is a key driver of child labour in India, where over a third of the population lives in poverty. While India's education system aims to reduce child labour, poverty leads to high dropout rates and low literacy. Compulsory education policies show promise but India must address the root causes of child labour through strengthened policies and enforcement to make progress against this issue.

1. CHILD LABOUR

2. INTRODUCTION
• The complex issue of child labour is a developmental issue
worth investigating.
• The notion that children are being exploited and forced into
labour, while not receiving education crucial to
development, concerns many people.
• India is the largest example of a nation plagued by the
problem of child labour.
• Estimates cite figures of between 60 and 115 million working
children in India -- the highest number in the world (Human
Rights Watch 1996).

3. CAUSES OF CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA.
• The necessity of child labour to poor families, and the
role of poverty as a determinant will be examined.
• Governmental policies concerning child labour will be
investigated. The current state of education in India will
be examined and compared with other developing
countries.
• Compulsory education policies and their relationship to
child labour will be investigated using Sri Lanka and the
Indian state of Kerala as examples of where these policies
have worked.
• Finally, India’s policies concerning compulsory education
will be assessed.

4. NUMBER OF CHILDREN INVOLVED IN
CHILD LABOUR
• Although the figure for the number of child labourers
varies, they are all significantly high when considering
that the Child Economic Activity rate for 1980-1991 was
13.5% for males and 10.3% for females (International
Labour Organization, 1995, 113.
• Historical census data shows an overall child work
participation rate of 12.69% in 1961 and 7.13% in 1971
(Census of India 1971 cited in Devi 1985, 50).
• The data shows that in a span of twenty years (1961-
1981), the proportion of children who are working has not
changed significantly, but since comparisons with this
data are not valid, this conclusion is questionable.

5. ROLE OF POVERTY IN CHILD LABOUR
• The percentage of the population of India living in poverty
is high. In 1990, 37% of the urban population and 39% of
the rural population was living in poverty (International
Labour Organization 1995, 107).
• Poverty has an obvious relationship with child labour, and
studies have "revealed a positive correlation - in some
instances a strong one - between child labour and such
factors as poverty" (Mehra-Kerpelman 1996, 8).
• The attitudes of parents also contribute to child labour;
some parents feel that children should work in order to
develop skills useful in the job market, instead of taking
advantage of a formal education.

6. EDUCATION AND ITS EFFECTS ON
CHILD LABOUR
• India’s state of education lacks effectiveness in yielding basic
literacy in the population.
• It has been observed that "the overall condition of the education
system can be a powerful influence on the supply of child labour"
.
• Poverty forces high dropout rates, and thus no matter how good
schools are, school survival rates and literacy rates will still remain
low. The concept of compulsory education, where all school aged
children are required to attend school, combats the force of
poverty that pulls children out of school.
• Policies relating to compulsory education not only force children
to attend school, but also contribute appropriate funds to the
primary education system, instead of higher education.

7. CONCLUSION
• Child labour is a significant problem in India. The
prevalence of it is shown by the child work participation
rates which are higher in India.
• Child labour cannot be eliminated by focusing on one
determinant, for example education, or by brute
enforcement of child labour laws, than in other
developing countries. No matter how hard India
tries, child labour always will exist until the need for it is
removed.
• India needs to address the situation by tackling the
underlying causes of child labour through governmental
policies and the enforcement of these policies. Only then
will India succeed in the fight against child labour.