Child labor in India

This Blog is written By Miss. Anshita Kohli Student of School of Law, Manipal University Jaipur

Introduction

“Child labor is devastation; children should be made to centralize their attention in acquiring knowledge and education instead of working in hazardous places.”

Child labor is the act where a child is engaged in economic activities on a part-time or on a full-time basis or to pay debt taken by their parents. Child labor is a worldwide problem and an estimated 150 million children are engaged in paid and non-paid forms of child labor. UNICEF has also acknowledged the issue and has categorized child work into three categories. These are as follows –

1. Children who are engaged in domestic household tasks without pay within the family?
2. Children who are engaged in work within the family but outside the home?
3. Children who are engaged in work outside the family. Example- commercial shops in restaurants and jobs, prostitution.

Child labor is a matter of concern in India too, as more than 5 million children are engaged in child labor which has proved to be an obstacle in the country’s growth. Lamentably, India has the second-highest number of child laborers in the world. The problem of child labor has existed and prevailed in India since the post-independence. The government of the country has tried to obliterate the problem by constituting several laws. Despite all the endeavors undertaken by the government, the problem still prevails. Child labor deprives a child engaged in it to enjoy his childhood and forces the child to work at hazardous places.

Causes of child labor

Several surveys have postulated that extreme poverty, lack of access to primary and providential education, increased population, greediness of the parents, demand for child labor due to their compatible body structure, growth of the informal economy, ignorance of rules and laws by the citizens, proliferating demand of child labor at low payment and unawareness of children engaged as laborers about their rights are the main causes of child labor in our country. Often, the parents of the children do not understand and are not aware of the effects of child labor on the children and engage them in the hazardous work which can affect them mentally and physically both. 

Consequences of child labor

Child labor acts as a hindrance to the country’s development. If the children or youth of the country are not secure, not healthy, and are uneducated, then it will ultimately lead to affect the country’s growth and development. It infringes children from exercising their birthright to get an education, playing and enjoying their childhood. Child laborers are often denied primary school education which is their fundamental right conferred by article 21A of the constitution of the country, normal social interaction, personal development, and emotional support from their families. The children working as laborers also encounter physical problems which can also lead to death. The underdeveloped children engaged in performing manual labor result in an exhausted and malnourished population. These children work for hours in unbearable conditions and are not able to feed themselves.

Laws concerning child labor in India

The problem of child labor has prevailed regardless of the attempts made by the government to eliminate it. The primitive law which deals with this issue was Employment of Children Act, 1938 which deliberated to prohibit child labor, but it failed miserably as it was impuissant to discern poverty as the root cause of forced labor. The Factories Act, 1948 ensures the prohibition of employment of children below 14 years in any factory. The Mines Act, 1952 proscribes the employment of children below 18 years. The Child Labour Act, 1986 obstructs the employment of children below 14 years in life-threatening occupations; it also identified a list of occupations that are considered hazardous.  

Apart from this, fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution play an imperative role in the protection of the basic rights of children. Article 24 manifested in the constitution also prohibits the employment of children below the age of 14 years in any factory, mine, or hazardous place. Article 21A ensures that every child between the age of six to fourteen years shall be endowed with proper infrastructure and resources for attaining free and compulsory education.

Child labor (prohibition and regulation) amendment act, 2016

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016 which was passed by the Parliament prohibits the engagement of children below 14 years in all occupations and prohibits the engagement of adolescents in hazardous activities, where adolescents refer to those below the age of 18 years. The act also punishes the employment of children and adolescents.

The act consists of several flaws as it incorporates only mining, explosives and occupations mentioned in the Factory Act and completely slashing the list of 83 hazardous occupations. Moreover, Section 3 in clause 5 sanctions the engagement of children in family or family enterprise, and also allows children to work in the audio-visual entertainment industry. This clause is menacing as it fails to determine the hours of working and only articulates that a child may work after school hours or during vacations. The act also controverts the Juvenile Justice Act of 2000 which punishes the employment of children in any hazardous occupation.

Conclusions and suggestions

“Children should be dealt with care and affection, and it is the duty of the parents and the government to ensure that they are not indulged in activities unsuitable to their age.”

The problem of child labor can be elucidated by taking several steps by collective endeavors of both citizens and government. This issue can be curbed by taking certain steps like employment should be generated in the country so that every individual is able to fulfill the needs of their family and there is no requirement for their children to earn money, free education should be bestowed to the poor sections of the society in order to comprehend the significance of education, people should be made aware of the consequences and ill effects of child labor and children should be made aware of all of their rights so that their rights are not violated.