THE CHILDREN (PLEDGING OF LABOUR) ACT, 1933

ACT NO. 2 OF 1933 [24th February, 1933.]

An Act to prohibit the pledging of the labour of children.

WHEREAS it is expedient to prohibit the making of agreements to pledge the labour of children, and the employment of children whose labour has been pledged;

It is hereby enacted as follows:--

1. Short title, extent and commencement.- (1) This Act may be called the Children (Pledging of Labour) Act, 1933. (2) It extends to the whole of India (3) This section and sections 2 and 3 shall come into force at once, and the remaining sections of this Act shall come into force on the first day of July, 1933.

2. Definitions.- In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,-"an agreement to pledge the labour of a child" means an agreement, written or oral, express or implied, whereby the parent or guardian of a child, in return for any payment or benefit received or to be received by him, undertakes to cause or allow the services of the child

to be utilised in any employment: Provided that an agreement made without detriment to a child, and not made in consideration of any benefit other than reasonable wages to be paid for the child's services, and terminable at not more than a week's notice, is not an agreement within the meaning of this definition; "child" means a person who is under the age of fifteen years; and "guardian" includes any person having legal custody of or control over a child.

3. Agreements contrary to the Act to be void.- An agreement to pledge the labour of a child shall be void.

4. Penalty for parent or guardian making agreement to pledge the labour of a child.- Whoever, being the parent or guardian of a child, makes an agreement to pledge the labour of that child, shall be punished with fine which may extend to fifty rupees.

5. Penalty for making with a parent or guardian an agreement to pledge the labour of a child.- Whoever makes with the parent or guardian of a child an agreement whereby such parent or guardian pledges the labour of the child shall be punished with fine which may Collected by the All India Christian Council, www.christiancouncil.in Page 2 of 2

extend to two hundred rupees.

6. Penalty for employing a child whose labour has been pledged.-

Whoever, knowing or having reason to believe that an agreement has been made to pledge the labour of a child, in furtherance of such agreement employs such child, or permits such child to be employed in any premises or place under his control, shall be punished with fine which may extend to two hundred rupees.

Source: http://www.panjokutch. THE CHILDREN (PLEDGING OF LABOUR) ACT, 1933

Child labour in India

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Child labour in India and rest of the world, per World Bank data. India is in green with 10-20% incidence levels, along with countries in red (30-40%) and black (>40%).

Child labour is the practice of having 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.[1][2] The 2001 national census of India estimated the total number of child labour, aged 514, to be at 12.6 million.[3] The child labour problem is not unique to India; worldwide, about 217 million children work, many full-time.[4] In 2001, out of a 12.6 million, about 12 million children in India were in a hazardous job.[5] UNICEF estimates that India with its larger population, has the highest number of labourers in the world under 14 years of age, while sub-saharan African countries have the highest percentage of children who are deployed as child labour.[6][7][8] International Labour Organisation estimates that agriculture at 60 percent is the largest employer of child labour in India,[9] while United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates 70% of child labour is deployed in agriculture and related activities. [10] Outside of agriculture, child labour is observed in almost all informal sectors of the Indian economy.[11][12][13]

Companies including Gap,[14] Primark,[15] Monsanto[16] and others have been criticised for child labour in their products. The companies claim they have strict policies against selling products made by underage kids, but there are many links in a supply chain making it difficult to police them all.[16] In 2011, after three years of Primark's effort, BBC acknowledged that its award-winning investigative journalism report of Indian child labour use by Primark was a fake. BBC apologized to Primark, to Indian suppliers and all its viewers.[17][18][19] Article 24 of India's constitution prohibits child labour. Additionally, various laws and the Indian Penal Code, such as the Juvenile Justice (care and protection) of Children Act-2000, and the Child Labour (Prohibition and Abolition) Act-1986 provide a basis in law to identify, prosecute and stop child labour in India. [20] Definition The International Labour Organisation (ILO) states that child labour may be defined in a number of different ways, and a different definition yields a different estimate of child labour in India as well as other countries. According to ILO, children or adolescents who participate in work that does not affect their health and personal development or interfere with their schooling, is not child labour; rather it may generally be regarded as being something positive. These kinds of activities, suggests ILO, may contribute to childrens developmentally, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children, or work whose schedule interferes with their ability to attend regular school, or work that affects in any manner their ability to focus during school or experience healthy childhood. UNICEF defines child labour differently. A child, suggests UNICEF, is involved in child labour activities if between 5 to 11 years of age, he or she did at least one hour of economic activity or at least 28 hours of domestic work in a week, and in case of children between 12 to 14 years of age, he or she did at least 14 hours of economic activity or at least 42 hours of economic activity and domestic work per week. UNICEF in another report suggests, "Childrens work needs to be seen as happening along a continuum, with destructive or exploitative work at one end and beneficial work - promoting or enhancing childrens development without interfering with their schooling, recreation and rest - at the other. And between these two poles are vast areas of work that need not negatively affect a childs development." India's Census 2001 office defines child labour as participation of a child less than 17 years of age in any economically productive activity with or without compensation, wages or profit. Such participation could be physical or mental or both. This work includes part-time help or unpaid work on the farm, family enterprise or in any other economic activity such as cultivation and milk production for sale or domestic consumption. Indian government classifies child labourers into two groups: Main workers are those who work 6 months or more per year. And marginal child workers are those who work at any time during the year but less than 6 months in a year. Some child rights activists argue that child labour must include every child who is not in school because he or she is a hidden child worker. UNICEF, however, points out that India faces major shortages of schools,

classrooms and teachers particularly in rural areas where 90 percent of child labour problem is observed. About 1 in 5 primary schools have just one teacher to teach students across all grades.
Contents
[hide]

1 Child labour laws in India 2 Causes 3 Bonded child labour in India 4 Consequences of child labour

o o o o o

4.1 Diamond industry 4.2 Fireworks manufacture 4.3 Silk manufacture 4.4 Domestic labour 4.5 Coal mining

5 Initiatives against child labour

5.1 Non-governmental organisations

6 See also 7 References 8 External links

Child labour laws in India[edit]

Section 12 of India's Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of 1986 requires prominent display of 'child labour is prohibited' signs in many industries and construction sites in local language and English. Above a sign at a construction site in Bangalore.

After its independence from colonial rule, India has passed a number of constitutional protections and laws on child labour. The Constitution of India in the Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles of State Policy prohibits child labour below the age of 14 years in any factory or mine or castle or engaged in any other hazardous

employment (Article 24). The constitution also envisioned that India shall, by 1960, provide infrastructure and resources for free and compulsory education to all children of the age six to 14 years. (Article 21-A and Article 45).[20][21] India has a federal form of government, and child labour is a matter on which both the central government and country governments can legislate, and have. The major national legislative developments include the following:[22] The 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 1518 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 Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of 1986: The Act prohibits the employment of children below the age of 14 years in hazardous occupations identified in a list by the law. The list was expanded in 2006, and again in 2008. The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of Children Act of 2000: This law made it a crime, punishable with a prison term, for anyone to procure or employ a child in any hazardous employment or in bondage. 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. India formulated a National Policy on Child Labour in 1987. This Policy seeks to adopt a gradual & sequential approach with a focus on rehabilitation of children working in hazardous occupations. It envisioned strict enforcement of Indian laws on child labour combined with development programs to address the root causes of child labour such as poverty. In 1988, this led to the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) initiative. This legal and development initiative continues, with a current central government funding of 602 crores, targeted solely to eliminate child labour in India.[23] Despite these efforts, child

labour remains a major challenge for India.

Causes[edit]

Children around an oil press, in 1916.

For much of human history and across different cultures, children less than 17 years old have contributed to family welfare in a variety of ways. UNICEF suggests that poverty is the big cause of child labour. The report also notes that in rural and impoverished parts of developing and undeveloped parts of the world, children have no real and meaningful alternative. Schools and teachers are unavailable. Child labour is the unnatural result.[24] A BBC report, similarly, concludes poverty and inadequate public education infrastructure are some of the causes of child labour in India.[25] Between boys and girls, UNICEF finds girls are two times more likely to be out of school and working in a domestic role. Parents with limited resources, claims UNICEF, have to choose whose school costs and fees they can afford when a school is available. Educating girls tends to be a lower priority across the world, including India. Girls are also harassed or bullied at schools, sidelined by prejudice or poor curricula, according to UNICEF. Solely by virtue of their gender, therefore, many girls are kept from school or drop out, then provide child labour.[24] The International Labour Organisation (ILO) and spreading smiles through education organisation(OSSE) suggests poverty is the greatest single force driving children into the workplace. [1] Income from a child's work is felt to be crucial for his/her own survival or for that of the household. For some families, income from their children's labour is between 25 to 40% of the household income. According to a 2008 study by ILO,[1] among the most important factors driving children to harmful labour is the lack of availability and quality of schooling. Many communities, particularly rural areas do not possess adequate school facilities. Even when schools are sometimes available, they are too far away, difficult to reach, unaffordable or the quality of education is so poor that parents wonder if going to school is really worth it. In government-run primary schools, even when children show up, government-paid teachers do not show up 25% of the time.[26][27][28] The 2008 ILO study suggests that illiteracy resulting from a child going to work, rather than a quality primary and secondary school, limits the child's ability to get a basic educational grounding which would in normal situations enable them to acquire skills and to improve their prospects for a decent adult working life.[1] An albeit older report published by UNICEF outlines the issues summarized by the ILO report. The UNICEF report claimed that while 90% of child labour in India is in its rural areas, the availability and quality of schools is decrepit; in rural areas of India, claims the old UNICEF report, about 50% of government funded primary schools that exist do not have a building, 40% lack a blackboard, few have books, and 97% of funds for these publicly funded school have been budgeted by the government as salaries for the teacher and administrators.[29] A 2012 Wall Street Journal article reports while the enrollment in India's school has dramatically increased in recent years to over 96% of all children in the 6-14 year age group, the infrastructure in schools, aimed in part to reduce child labour, remains poor - over 81,000 schools do not have a blackboard and about 42,000 government schools operate without a building with make shift arrangements during monsoons and inclement weather.[27][30]

Biggeri and Mehrotra have studied the macroeconomic factors that encourage child labour. They focus their study on five Asian nations including India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines. They suggest[2] that child labour is a serious problem in all five, but it is not a new problem. Macroeconomic causes encouraged widespread child labour across the world, over most of human history. They suggest that the causes for child labour include both the demand and the supply side. While poverty and unavailability of good schools explain the child labour supply side, they suggest that the growth of low paying informal economy rather than higher paying formal economy - called organised economy in India is amongst the causes of the demand side. India has rigid labour laws and numerous regulations that prevent growth of organised sector where work protections are easier to monitor, and work more productive and higher paying. The unintended effect of Indian complex labour laws is the work has shifted to the unorganised, informal sector. As a result, after the unorganised agriculture sector which employs 60% of child labour, it is the unorganised trade, unorganised assembly and unorganised retail work that is the largest employer of child labour. If macroeconomic factors and laws prevent growth of formal sector, the family owned informal sector grows, deploying low cost, easy to hire, easy to dismiss labour in form of child labour. Even in situations where children are going to school, claim Biggeri and Mehrotra, children engage in routine after-school home-based manufacturing and economic activity.[2] Other scholars too suggest that inflexibility and structure of India's labour market, size of informal economy, inability of industries to scale up and lack of modern manufacturing technologies are major macroeconomic factors affecting demand and acceptability of child labour.[31][32][33] Cigno et al. suggest the government planned and implemented land redistribution programs in India, where poor families were given small plots of land with the idea of enabling economic independence, have had the unintended effect of increased child labour. They find that smallholder plots of land are labourintensively farmed since small plots cannot productively afford expensive farming equipment. In these cases, a means to increase output from the small plot has been to apply more labour, including child labour.[34][35]

Bonded child labour in India[edit]

Further information: Debt bondage in pakistan Srivastava describes bonded child labour as a system of forced, or partly forced, labour under which the child, or usually child's parent enter into an agreement, oral or written, with a creditor. The child performs work as in-kind repayment of credit.[36] In this 2005 ILO report, Srivastava claims debt-bondage in India emerged during the colonial period, as a means to obtain reliable cheap labour, with loan and land-lease relationships implemented during that era of Indian history. These were regionally called Hali, or Halwaha, or Jeura systems; and by colonial administration the indentured labour system. These systems included bonded child labour. Over time, claims the ILO report, this traditional forms of long-duration relationships have declined.[36][37]

In 1977, India passed legislation that prohibits solicitation or use of bonded labour by anyone, of anyone including children. Evidence of continuing bonded child labour continue. A report by the Special Rapporteur to India's National Human Rights Commission, reported the discovery of 53 child labourers in 1996 in the state of Tamil Nadu during a surprise inspection. Each child or the parent had taken an advance of Rs. 10,0000 to 25,0000. The children were made to work for 12 to 14 hours a day and received only Rs. 2 to 3 per day as wages.[38][39] According to an ILO report, the extent of bonded child labour is difficult to determine, but estimates from various social activist groups range up to 350,000 in 2001. [36] Despite its legislation, prosecutors in India seldom use the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act of 1976 to prosecute those responsible. According to one report,[40] the prosecutors have no direction from the central government that if a child is found to be underpaid, the case should be prosecuted not only under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 and the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986, the case should include charges under the Bonded Labour Act of India. The few enforcement actions have had some unintended effects. While there has been a decrease in children working in factories because of enforcement and community vigilance committees, the report claims poverty still compels children and poor families to work. The factory lends money to whoever needs it, puts a loom in the persons home, and then the family with children works out of their homes, bring finished product to pay interest and get some wages. The bonded child and family labour operations were moving out of small urban factories into rural homes.[40]

Consequences of child labour[edit]

A young fruit seller in streets of Kolkata

The presence of a large number of child labourers is regarded as a serious issue in terms of economic welfare. Children who work fail to get necessary education. They do not get the opportunity to develop physically, intellectually, emotionally and psychologically.[41] Children in hazardous working conditions are

in worse condition.[42] Children who work, instead of going to school, 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 criteria is to have an educated workforce equipped with relevant skills for the needs of the industries. The young labourers today, will be part of Indias human capital tomorrow. Child labour undoubtedly results in a trade-off with human capital accumulation.[43] Child labour in India are employed with the majority (70%) in agriculture[44] some in low-skilled labourintensive sectors such as sari weaving or as domestic helpers, which require neither formal education nor training, but some in heavy industry such as coal mining.[45] According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), there are tremendous economic benefits for developing nations by sending children to school instead of work.[8] Without education, children do not gain the necessary skills such as English literacy and technical aptitude that will increase their productivity to enable them to secure higher-skilled jobs in future with higher wages that will lift them out of poverty.

Diamond industry[edit]
Further information: Child labour in the diamond indus#america In the year 1999, the International Labour Organisation co-published a report with Universal Alliance of Diamond Workers, a trade union.[46]The ILO report claimed that child labour is prevalent in the Indian diamond industry. International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) in a separate 1997 press release observed that child labour continued to flourish in India's diamond industry.[47] Not everyone agreed with these claims. The South Gujarat Diamond Workers Association, another trade union, acknowledged child labour is present but it is not systematic, is less than 1% and against local industry norms. Local diamond industry businessmen too downplayed these charges.[48] According to the 1999 ILO paper,[46] India annually cuts and polishes 70 per cent of the worlds diamonds by weight, or 40 per cent by value. Additionally, India contributes 95 percent of the emeralds, 85 percent of the rubies, and 65 percent of the sapphires worldwide. India processes these diamonds and gems using traditional labour-intensive methods. About 1.5 million people are employed in the diamond industry, mostly in the unorganized sector. The industry is fragmented into small units, each employing a few workers. The industry has not scaled up, organised, and big operators absent. The ILO paper claims that this is to avoid the complex labour laws of India. The export order is split, work is subcontracted through many middlemen, and most workers do not know the name of enterprise with the export order. In this environment, claims the ILO report, exact number of child labourers in India's diamond and gem industry is unknown; they estimate that child labourers in 1997 were between 10,00 to 20,00 out of 1.5 million total workers (about 1 in 100). The ILO report claims the causes for child labour include parents who send their children to work because they see education as expensive, education quality offering no real value, while artisan work in diamond and gem industry to be more remunerative as the child grows up.[46]

A more recent study from 2005, conducted at 663 manufacturing units at 21 different locations in India's diamond and gem industry, claims incidence rates of child labour have dropped to 0.31%.[49][50][51]

Fireworks manufacture[edit]
The town of Sivakasi in South India has been reported to employ child labour in the production of fireworks.[52] In 2011, Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu was home to over 9,500 firecracker factories and produced almost 100 percent of total fireworks output in India.[53] The fireworks industry employed about 150,000 people at an average of 15 employees per factory. Most of these were in unorganised sector, with a few registered and organised companies. In 1989, Shubh Bhardwaj reported[54] that child labour is present in India's fireworks industry, and safety practices poor. Child labour is common in small shed operation in the unorganized sector. Only 4 companies scaled up and were in the organised sector with over 250 employees; the larger companies did not employ children and had superior safety practices and resources. The child labour in small, unorganised sector operations suffered long working hours, low wages, unsafe conditions and tiring schedules. A more recent 2002 report by International Labour Organisation claims[55] that child labour is significant in Tamil Nadu's fireworks, matches or incense sticks industries. However, these children do not work in the formal economy and corporate establishments that produce for export. The child labourers in manufacturing typically toil in supply chains producing for the domestic market of fireworks, matches or incense sticks. The ILO report claims that as the demand for these products has grown, the formal economy and corporate establishments have not expanded to meet the demand, rather home-based production operations have mushroomed. This has increased the potential of child labour. Such hidden operations make research and effective action difficult, suggests ILO.

Silk manufacture[edit]
A 2003 Human Rights Watch report claims children as young as five years old are employed and work for up to 12 hours a day and six to seven days a week in silk industry.[56]These children, claims, are bonded labour; even though the government of India denies existence of bonded child labour, these silk industry child are easy to find in Karnataka, andTamil Nadu, claims Children are forced to dip their hands in scalding water to palpate the cocoons and are often paid less than Rs 10 per day.[57] In 2010, a German news investigative report claimed that in states like Karnataka, non-governmental organisations had found up to 10,000 children working in the 1,000 silk factories in 1998. In other places, thousands of bonded child labourers were present in 1994. But today, after UNICEF and NGOs got involved, child labour figure is drastically lower, with the total estimated to be fewer than a thousand child labourers. The released children were back in school, claims the report.[58]

Domestic labour[edit]

Official estimates for child labour working as domestic labour and in restaurants is more than 2,500,000 while NGOs estimate the figure to be around 20 million.[59] The Government of India expanded the coverage of The Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act and banned the employment of children as domestic workers and as workers in restaurants,dhabas, hotels, spas and resorts effective from 10 October 2006.

Coal mining[edit]
Despite laws enacted in 1952 prohibiting employment of people under the age of 18 in the mines primitive coal mines in Meghalaya using child labour were discovered and exposed by the international media in 2013.[45]

Initiatives against child labour[edit]

In 1979, the Indian government formed the Gurupadswamy Committee to find about child labour and means to tackle it. The Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act was not enacted based on the recommendations of the committee in 1986.[citation needed] A National Policy on Child Labour was formulated in 1987 to focus on rehabilitating children working in hazardous occupations.[3] The Ministry of Labour and Employment had implemented around 100 industry-specific National Child Labour Projects to rehabilitate the child workers since 1988.[60]

Non-governmental organisations[edit]
Many NGOs like Bachpan Bachao Andolan, CARE India, Child Rights and You, Global march against child labour, RIDE India etc. have been working to eradicate child labour in India.[61] Pratham is India's largest non-governmental organisation with the mission 'every child in school and learning well.' Founded in 1994, Pratham has aimed to reduce child labour and offer schooling to children irrespective of their gender, religion and social background. It has grown by introducing low cost education models that are sustainable and reproducible.[62][63] Child labour has also been a subject of public interest litigations in Indian courts.[64][65]

Child Employment - Child below age of 14 should not be employed. [Section 67]. Child above 14 but below 15 years of age can be employed only for 4.5 hours per day or during the night. [Section 71]. He should be certified fit by a certifying surgeon. [Section 68]. He cannot be employed during night between 10 pm to 6 am. [Section 71]. A person over 15 but below 18 years of age is termed as adolescent. He can be employed as an adult if he has a certificate of fitness for a full day's work from certifying surgeon. An adolescent is not permitted to work between 7 pm and 6 am. [Section

70]. There are more restrictions on employment of female adolescent. Register of child workers should be maintained. [Section 73] factories act 1948

LAWS RELATED TO CHILD LABOUR Background The problem of child labour continues to pose a challenge before the nation. Government has been taking various pro-active measures to tackle this problem. Way back in 1979, Government formed the first committee called Gurupadswamy Committee to study the issue of child labour and to suggest measures to tackle it. The Committee made some far-reaching recommendations. It observed that as long as poverty continued, it would be difficult to totally eliminate child labour and 119

hence, any attempt to abolish it through legal recourse would not be a practical proposition. The Committee felt that in the circumstances, the only alternative left was to ban child labour in hazardous areas and to regulate and ameliorate the conditions of work in other areas. It recommended that a multiple policy approach was required in dealing with the problems of working children. Based on the recommendations of Gurupadaswamy Committee, the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act was enacted in 1986. The Act prohibits employment of children in certain specified hazardous occupations and processes and regulates the working conditions in others. The list of hazardous occupations and processes is progressively being expanded on the recommendation of Child Labour Technical Advisory Committee constituted under the Act. In consonance with the above approach, a National Policy on Child Labour was formulated in 1987. The Policy seeks to adopt a gradual & sequential approach with a focus on rehabilitation of children working in hazardous occupations & processes in the first instance. The Action Plan outlined in the Policy for tackling this problem is as follows: o Legislative Action Plan for strict enforcement of Child Labour Act and other labour laws to ensure that children are not employed in hazardous employments, and that

the working conditions of children working in non-hazardous areas are regulated in accordance with the provisions of the Child Labour Act. It also entails further identification of additional occupations and processes, which are detrimental to the health and safety of the children.

o Focusing of General Developmental Programmes for Benefiting Child Labour As poverty is the root cause of child labour, the action plan emphasizes the need to cover these children and their families also under various poverty alleviation and employment generation schemes of the Government.

o Project Based Plan of Action envisages starting of projects in areas of high concentration of child labour. Pursuant to this, in 1988, the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme was launched in 9 districts of high child labour endemicity in the country. The Scheme envisages running of special schools for child labour withdrawn from work. In the special schools, these children are provided formal/non-formal education along with vocational training, a stipend of Rs.100 120

per month, supplementary nutrition and regular health check ups so as to prepare them to join regular mainstream schools. Under the Scheme, funds are given to the District Collectors for running special schools for child labour. Most of these schools are run by the NGOs in the district. Commission for protection of rights The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) was set up in March 2007 under the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005, an Act of Parliament (December 2005). The Commission's Mandate is to ensure that all Laws, Policies, Programmes, and Administrative Mechanisms are in consonance with the Child Rights perspective as enshrined in the Constitution of India and also the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Child is defined as a person in the 0

to 18 years age group. The Commission visualises a rights-based perspective flowing into National Policies and Programmes, along with nuanced responses at the State, District and Block levels, taking care of specificities and strengths of each region. In order to touch every child, it seeks a deeper penetration to communities and households and expects that the ground experiences inform the support the field receives from all the authorities at the higher level. Thus the Commission sees an indispensable role for the State, sound institution-building processes, respect for decentralization at the level of the local bodies at the community level and larger societal concern for children and their well-being. Website: http://ncpcr.gov.in/index.htm CHILD LABOUR (PROHIBITION AND REGULATION) ACT, 1986 & THE CHILD LABOUR (PROHIBITION AND REGULATION) RULES, 1988 The Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 was enacted to prohibit the engagement of children below the age of fourteen years in factories, mines and hazardous employments and to regulate their conditions of work in certain other employments. According to the Act, no child shall be employed or permitted to work in any of the occupations set forth in Part A of the Schedule or in any workshop wherein any of the processes set forth in Part B of the Schedule is carried on, provided that nothing in this Act shall apply to any workshop wherein any process is carried on by the occupier with the aid of his family or to any school established by, or receiving assistance or recognition from the Government. Also, the Central Government may, by notification in the official 121

Gazette, constitute 'the Child Labour Technical Advisory Committee' to advise the Central Government for the purpose of additions of occupations and processes to the Schedule of the Act. The provisions of the Act in a nutshell -

number of hours, as may be prescribed for such establishment or class of establishments. The period of work on each day shall be so fixed that no period shall exceed three hours and that no child shall work for more than three hours before he has had an interval for rest for

at least one hour. to work overtime. No child shall be required or permitted to work in, any establishment on any day on which he has already been working in another establishment.

whole day, which day shall be specified by the occupier in a notice permanently exhibited in a conspicuous place in the establishment and the day so specified shall not be altered by the occupier more than once in three months. maintain, in respect of children employed or permitted to work in any establishment, a register to be available for inspection by an Inspector at all times during working hours or when work is being carried on in any such establishment showing:- (i) the name and date of birth of every child so employed or permitted to work; (ii) hours and periods of work of any such child and the intervals of rest to which he is entitled; (iii) the nature of work of any such child; and (iv) such other particulars as may be prescribed.

health and safety of the children employed or permitted to work in any establishment or class of establishments. or permits any child to work in contravention of the provisions of this Act shall be punishable with imprisonment or with fine or with both.

under this Act in any Court of competent jurisdiction. No Court inferior to that of a Metropolitan Magistrate or a Magistrate of the first class shall try any offence under this Act. 122

Maintenance of registers (section 11) Every occupier in whose establishment children are employed or permitted to work will maintain a register in form A which will be available for inspection by an Inspector at all times during working hours or when work is being carried on in any such establishment showing

a. the name and date of birth of every child so employed or permitted to work; b. hours and periods of work of any such child and the intervals of rest to which he is entitled; c. the nature of work of any such child; and d. such other particulars as may be prescribed

Form B- certificate of age (1) All young persons in employment in any of the occupations stated in Part A of the Schedule or in any workshop wherein any of the processes set forth in Part B of the Schedule is carried on, shall produce a certificate of age from the appropriate medical authority, whenever required to do so by an Inspector. (2) The certificate of age referred to in sub-rule (1) shall be issued in Form B. (3) The charges payable to the medical authority for the issue of such certificate shall be the same as prescribed by the State Government or the Central Government, as the case may be for their respective Medical Boards. (4) The charges payable to the medical authority shall be borne by the employer of the young person whose age is under question. Authority under the act Appointment of Inspectors The appropriate Government may appoint inspectors for the purposes of securing compliance with the provisions of this Act and any inspector so appointed shall be deemed to be a public servant within the meaning of the Indian Penal Code [ Section 17]. 123

Penalty 1. Section 3 of the Act states the prohibited occupations and processes, Whoever employs any child or permits any child to work in contravention of the provisions of Sec. 3 shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than, three months but

which may extend to one year or with fine which shall not be less than ten thousand rupees but which may extend to twenty thousand rupees or with both. 2. Repeat offence under section 3 is punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to two years. 3. Whoever a. fails to give notice as required by Sec. 9, or b. fails to maintain a register as required by Sec. 11 or makes any false entry in any such register; or c. fails to display a notice containing an abstract of Sec. 3 and this section as required by Sec. 12; or d. fails to comply with or contravenes any other provisions of this Act or the rules made there under, shall be punishable with simple imprisonment which may extend to one month or with fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees or with both.

Other major provisions: Hours and Period of Work: No child shall be required or permitted to work in any establishment in excess of such number of hours, as may be prescribed for such establishment or class of establishments.

The period of work on each day shall be so fixed with no period exceeding three hours and no child shall work for more than three hours before he has had an interval for rest for at least one hour. The period of work of a child shall be so arranged that inclusive of his interval for rest, it shall not be spread over more than six hours, including the time spent in waiting for work on any day.

No child shall be permitted or required to work between 7 p.m. and 8 a.m. and no child shall be required or permitted to work overtime. No child shall be required or permitted to work in, any

establishment on any day on which he has already been working in another establishment. 124

Weekly Holidays: Every child employed in an establishment shall be allowed in each week, a holiday of one whole day, which day shall be specified by the occupier in a notice permanently exhibited in a conspicuous place in the establishment and the day so specified shall not be altered by the occupier more than once in three months. Prohibition of Employment of Children in Certain Occupations and Processes No child shall be employed or permitted to work in any of the occupations stated in Part A of the Schedule or in any workshop where the processes mentioned in Part B of the Schedule is carried on. however, this prohibition is not applicable to any workshop where any process is carried on by the occupier with the aid of his family or to any school established by, or receiving assistance or recognition from, Government.[Section 3] Prohibited occupations as per PART A Any occupation concerned with: 1. Transport of passengers, goods or mails by railways; 2. Cinder picking, clearing of an ash pit or building operation in the railway premises; 3. Work in a catering establishment at a railway station, involving the movement of a vendor or any other employee of the establishment from the one platform to another or in to or out of a moving train; 4. Work relating to the construction of a railway station or with any other work where such work is done in close proximity to or between the railway lines; 5. A port authority within the limits of any port; 6. Work relating to selling of crackers and fireworks in shops with temporary licenses; 7. Abattoirs/Slaughter House; 8. Automobile workshops and garages;

9. Foundries; 10. Handling of toxic or inflammable substances or explosives; 11. Handloom and power loom industry; 12. Mines (underground and under water) and collieries; 13. Plastic units and fiberglass workshops; 125

Prohibited processes as per PART B 1. Beedi-making. 2. Carpet-weaving including preparatory and incidental process thereof 3. Cement manufacture, including bagging of cement. 4. Cloth printing, dyeing and weaving including processes preparatory and incidental thereto 5. Manufacture of matches, explosives and fire-works. 6. Mica-cutting and splitting. 7. Shellac manufacture. 8. Soap manufacture. 9. Tanning. 10. Wool-cleaning. 11. Building and construction industry including processing and polishing of granite stones (12) Manufacture of slate pencils (including packing). (13) Manufacture of products from agate. (14) Manufacturing processes using toxic metals and substances such as lead, mercury, manganese, chromium, cadmium, benzene, pesticides and asbestos. (15) Hazardous processes as defined in Sec. 2 (cb) and dangerous operation as notice in rules made under section 87 of the Factories Act, 1948

(16) Printing as defined in Section 2(k) (iv) of the Factories Act, 1948 (17) Cashew and cashewnut descaling and processing. (18) Soldering processes in electronic industries. (19) Aggarbatti manufacturing. 126

20. Automobile repairs and maintenance including processes incidental thereto namely, welding, lathe work, dent beating and painting. 21. Brick kilns and Roof tiles units. 22. Cotton ginning and processing and production of hosiery goods. 23. Detergent manufacturing. 24. Fabrication workshops (ferrous and non ferrous) 25. Gem cutting and polishing. 26. Handling of chromite and manganese ores. 27. Jute textile manufacture and coir making. 28. Lime Kilns and Manufacture of Lime. 29. Lock Making. 30. Manufacturing processes having exposure to lead such as primary and secondary smelting, welding and cutting of lead-painted metal constructions, welding of galvanized orzinc silicate, polyvinyl chloride, mixing (by hand) of crystal glass mass, sanding or scraping of lead paint, burning of lead in enameling workshops, lead mining, plumbing, cable making, wiring patenting, lead casting, type founding in printing shops. Store type setting, assembling of cars, shot making and lead glass blowing. 31. Manufacture of cement pipes, cement products and other related work. 32. Manufacture of glass, glass ware including bangles, florescent tubes, bulbs and other similar glass products. 33. Manufacture of dyes and dye stuff.

34. Manufacturing or handling of pesticides and insecticides. 35. Manufacturing or processing and handling of corrosive and toxic substances, metal cleaning and photo engraving and soldering processes in electronic industry. 36. Manufacturing of burning coal and coal briquettes. 37. Manufacturing of sports goods involving exposure to synthetic materials, chemicals and leather. 38. Moulding and processing of fiberglass and plastic. 39. Oil expelling and refinery. 40. Paper making. 41. Potteries and ceramic industry. 42. Polishing, moulding, cutting, welding and manufacturing of brass goods in all forms. 127

43. Processes in agriculture where tractors, threshing and harvesting machines are used and chaff cutting. 44. Saw mill all processes. 45. Sericulture processing. 46. Skinning, dyeing and processes for manufacturing of leather and leather products. 47. Stone breaking and stone crushing. 48. Tobacco processing including manufacturing of tobacco, tobacco paste and handling of tobacco in any form. 49. Tyre making, repairing, re-treading and graphite benefication. 50. Utensils making, polishing and metal buffing. 51. Zari making (all processes). (52) Electroplating; 53. Graphite powdering and incidental processing; 54. Grinding or glazing of metals;

55. Diamond cutting and polishing; 56. Extraction of slate from mines; 57. Rag picking and scavenging.

Ban on employment of children Ban on employment of children as domestic servants or in dhabas (roadside eateries), restaurants, hotels, motels, teashops, resorts, spas or in other recreational centers is now in force from 10th

October 2006 under the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986. The Union Ministry of Labour had earlier issued a notification giving three-month mandatory notice. The Ministry has warned that anyone employing children in these categories would be liable to prosecution and other penal action under the Act. Rehabilitating Children The Labour Ministry has sought necessary support from the State Governments in enforcing the ban on employment of children as domestic servants and also in eateries etc. In a letter to the Chief Ministers, the Minister for Labour and Employment has also sought their support in rehabilitating 128

children withdrawn from work due to this ban. The Ministry is holding zonal level meetings to sensitize the concerned state level officials, civil society organisations, NGOs and other stakeholders. The Secretary, Labour and Employment, has also written to his counterparts in several Central Government Ministries requesting them for infrastructure support by the concerned departments towards rehabilitation of the released children from work and their families as an immediate objective. He has also urged them to make specific provisions in the schemes of their Ministries for working children and their families as a long term measure. The Secretaries who have been approached include those from the Ministries of Women and Child Development, Human Resource Development, Rural Development, Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation, Social Justice and Empowerment. The views and cooperation of industrial associations and NGOs are also sought in

providing necessary support towards rehabilitation as a consequence of ban. Government servants have already been prohibited from employing children as domestic servants. Child Helpline A toll free 24-hour telephone help line 1098 for children in distress can be accessed in 72 cities of the country. This number can be available by any child or concerned adult on his or her behalf. This helpline, easily remembered in Hindi as Dus, Nau, Aath, is presently working in the following 72 cities: Agartala, Aurangabad, Chennai, Guwahati, Kanchipuram, Kozhikode, Nadia, Pune, South 24 Paraganas, Varanasi, Shimla, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Kanyakumari, Kutch, Nagapattinam, Puri, Thiruvananthapuram, Vijayawada, Ludhiana, Ahmednagar, Baroda, Cuddalore, Imphal, Karaikal, Lucknow, Nagpur, Rourkela, Thirunelveli, Vishakhapatnam, Akola, Bhopal, Delhi, Indore, Kochi, Mangalore, Nasik, Ranchi, Thrissur, Waynad, Allahabad, Bhubaneshwar, East Midanapore Jammu, Kolkata, Madurai, New Jalpaiguri, Salem, Tiruchirapalli, West Midnapore, Alwar, Chandigarh, Goa, Jaipur, Kollam, Mumbai, Patna, Shillong, Udaipur, Agra, Amarawati, Cuddalore, Gorakhpur, Kalyan, Kota, Murshidabad Port Blair, Sholapur, Ujjain and Gurgaon. National Child Labour Project (NCLP) The ban is expected to go a long way in ameliorating the condition of hapless working children. The Labour Ministry is also contemplating to strengthen and expand its rehabilitative Scheme of National Child Labour Project (NCLP), which already covers 250 child labour endemic districts in the country

Important authorities under the Labour law in India 1. Ministry of Labour and Employment , Government of India

The Ministry of Labour and Employment, a branch of the Government of India, is the apex body for formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to 181

labour and employment in India. The Ministry of Labour and Employment works out of

Shram Shakti Bhavan, Rafi Marg, New Delhi The main objectives of the Ministry of Labour and Employment are the following: Labour Policy and legislation; Safety, health and welfare of labour; Social security of labour; Policy relating to special target groups such as women and child labour; Industrial relations and enforcement of labour laws in the Central sphere; Adjudication of industrial disputes through Central Government Industrial Tribunals cum Labour Courts and National Industrial Tribunals. A. Main Secretariat of Ministry of Labour and Employment i. Industrial Relations division ii. Child and Women Labour Division iii. Directorate General, Labour Welfare iv. Economic and Statistics Division v. International Labour Affairs Section vi. Labour Conference Section

B. Attached Offices

i. Office of the Chief Labour Commissioner ( Central), New Delhi (Also known as Central Industrial Relations Machinery) ii. Directorate General, Employment and Training, New Delhi iii. Labour Bureau, Chandigarh iv. Directorate General, Factory Advice Service and Labour Institutes, Bombay

C. Subordinate Offices

i. Directorate General, Mines Safety, Dhanbad ii. Office of the Welfare Commissioner, Allahabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Calcutta,

Hyderabad, Jabalpur, Karma(Bihar) and Nagpur 182

D. Adjudicating Bodies Central Government Industrial Tribunal-cum-Labour Court No.1 Dhanbad (Bihar) and No.1 Mumbai and at Asansol, Calcutta, Jabalpur, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Kanpur, and Bangalore. E. Arbitration Bodies Board of Arbitration (JCM), New Delhi F. Autonomous Organizations i. Employee Provident fund Organisation, Head Office - New Delhi ii. Employee State Insurance Corporation, Head Office - New Delhi iii. V.V.Giri National Labour Institute, NOIDA, (U.P) iv. Central Board for Workers' Education, Nagpur 2. Organisation of the Chief Labour Commissioner (CLC) The Organisation of the Chief Labour Commissioner(C) known as Central Industrial Relations Machinery was set up in April, 1945 in pursuance of the recommendation of the Royal Commission on Labour in India and was then charged mainly with duties of prevention and settlement of industrial disputes, enforcement of labour laws and to promote welfare of workers in the undertakings falling within the sphere of the Central Government. Presently there are 18 regions each headed by a Regional Labour Commissioner (C) with Headquarters at Ajmer , Ahmedabad, Asansol, Bangalore, Bombay, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Cochin, Calcutta, Gwahati, Hyderabad, Jabalpur, Madras, New Delhi, Patna, Nagpur, Dhanbad and Kanpur. Out of these, 14 regions have been placed under the supervision of three zonal Dy.CLCs (C) and 4 regional offices are supervised directly by headquarters office of CLC(C). The Central Industrial Relations Machinery is the enforcing agency for the following Acts: 1) Payment of Wages Act 1936. 2) Minimum Wages Act, 1948

3) Payment of Bonus Act 1965 4) Equal Remuneration Act 1979 5) Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 6) Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act,1986 7) The Industrial Employment (standing orders) Act 1946 8) Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 183

9) Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 10) Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 Apart from the Chief Labour Commissioner, the Central Industrial Relations Machinery consists of the following officers: i. Assistant Labour Commissioner (Central) - Assistant Labour Commissioners have been declared inspectors under all the enactments enumerated above, except Equal remuneration Act, 1979 and Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972. They are conciliation officers under the Industrial Disputes Act (Section 4). They intervene and prevent the industrial disputes and maintain harmonious Industrial Relations. A.L.Cs(C) are also controlling authorities under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 (sec.3), Authorities under the Equal remuneration Act, 1979 (Sections 7) and Registering and Licensing Officers (Sections 6 and 11 respectively) under the Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, 1970. As controlling authorities under the payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 (sec. 3), and Authorities under the Equal remuneration Act, 1979 (Sections 7), they decide the claim cases filed before them under these acts. ii. Labour Enforcement Officer (Central) The Labour Enforcement officer (C) have been declared inspectors under all the above enactments in the industries / establishments in the Central Sphere. All officers having independent offices are also Conciliation officers under section 4 of Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. They have also been declared supervisors of the railways employees, as per the provisions of the

Indian Railways Act. iii. Joint Chief Labour Commissioner(C)- The Jt. CLC(C) handles important Industrial Disputes of all India nature. He is also appellate authority under Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act. iv. Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner(C) - The Dy. CLCs(C), besides, coordinating, monitoring and supervising the activities of the regional offices, also handle important Industrial Disputes referred to or apprehended in the zone effectively. Dy. CLC(C)s as appellate authority under IE(SOs) Act, dispose of appeals arising out of certification of standing orders by RLC(C)s. The Dy.CLCs(C) are authority for deciding cases of same or similar nature of work and condition of wages of contract labour under Rule 25 (2)(v)(a) and 25(2) (v) (b) of CL(R&A) (Central) Rules respectively. v. Regional Labour Commissioner - RLC(C)s are the Authority under Minimum Wages Act. They decide cases of payment of wages less than minimum rate of wages fixed, filed before them, as provided under sec. 20 of the Minimum Wages Act. They are 184

certifying officers, under Industrial Employment Standing Orders Act for certification of the Draft Standing Orders, submitted under the Act. They are the appellate authority under Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 and Equal remuneration Act, 1976. They have also been declared inspectors under all the enactments enumerated in column (4), above, except Equal remuneration Act and Payment of Gratuity Act. The RLCs(C) being the head of the region is not only in charge of day-to-day administration but also has to discharge many statutory duties relating to enforcement and industrial relations, including those of Conciliation Officer under the Industrial Disputes Act

CHILD Protection & Child Rights Vulnerable Children Children's Issues Child Labour in India

"Out of school children comprise the workers and non workers. In our view they together signify a measure of deprivation among children and can be considered as a potential labour pool always being at the risk of entering the labour force" - NCEUS, 2007

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. According to HAQ: Centre for child rights, child labour is highest among schedules tribes, Muslims, schedule castes and OBC children. The persistence of child labour is due to the inefficiency of the law, administrative system and because it benefits employers who can reduce general wage levels. HAQ argues that distinguishing between hazardous and non hazardous employment is counter-productive to the elimination of child labour. Various growing concerns have pushed children out of school and into employment such as forced displacement due to development projects, Special Economic Zones; loss of jobs of parents in a slowdown, farmers' suicide; armed conflict and high costs of health care. Girl children are often used in domestic labour within their own homes. There is a lack of political will to actually see to the complete ban of child labour. 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. In 2000 the ILO estimated 5.5 million children had been forced in labour in Asia, while the Bonded Labour Liberation Front placed 10 million bonded children in India alone. In 1998 the government of India labelled bonded child labour as a marginal problem with only 3000 or so cases. A survey in Tamil Nadu in 1995 found 125,000 bonded child labourers in the state alone. Child bonded labour in India is mostly in the agricultural sector but has in recent times been moving into other sectors as well such as beedi-rolling, brick kilns, carpet weaving, commercial sexual exploitation, construction, fireworks and matches factories, hotels, hybrid cottonseed production, leather, mines, quarries, silk, synthetic gems, etc. Child labour in India is addressed by the Child Labour Act, 1986 and National Child Labour Project.

Steps to Implement The Child Labour Protection Act

By : Guest on 25 August 2012

PRO CHAT CALL

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The Ministry of Labour & Employment has carried out 13,60,117 inspections and launched 49092 prosecutions under the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act sinceare launched and 4774 employers convicted which includes enforcement data on domestic child labour. Child Labour is an outcome of various socio-economic problems such as poverty, economic backwardness and illiteracy, being addressed in the National Child Labour Policy announced in 1987. The action plan under this policy is multi-pronged and mainly consists of: and Legislative Action Plan Focus on general development programmes for the benefit of the families of child labour;

Project-based action in areas of high concentration of child labour.

In pursuance of this policy, the Government is implementing National Child Labour Project (NCLP) in 266 districts of the country for rehabilitation of children rescued/withdrawn from work. Under the Project, children rescued/withdrawn from work are enrolled in the special schools, where they are provided with bridge education, vocational training, nutrition, stipend, health care, etc. before being mainstreamed into formal education system. The Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act was enacted in 1988 which prohibits the employment of children in 18 occupations and 65 processes and regulates the working conditions of children in employment where they are not prohibited from working. The employment of children as Domestic servant and in Dhabas, restaurants, tea stalls, etc. has been banned w.e.f. 10.10.2006.

No dearth of child labour laws in India, poor implementation: minister

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According to a recent statement by the labour ministry, India has 12.6 million working children between the ages of five and 14 -- the largest number of child labourers in the world Over the past three years, no more than 13,402 cases have been registered across the country under India's anti-child labour laws, according to Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Oscar Fernandes. States like Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, West Bengal, Uttaranchal, Pondicherry, Lakshadweep, Goa, Daman and Diu, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands have in fact not registered a single case during this period.

Giving figures on a state-wise assessment in connection with prosecution of such cases, Fernandes said that more than 3,300 cases of child labour violations have been registered in Karnataka, 1,136 in Tamil Nadu, 791 in Bihar, 688 in Jharkhand and 449 in Uttar Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh registered the highest number of cases -6,082 -- while 12 cases have been registered in Assam, 185 in Sikkim, 140 in Delhi, 46 in Arunachal Pradesh, 158 in Gujarat, and 49 in Maharashtra. The government's National Child Labour Project, aimed at rehabilitating working children, is being carried out in 250 districts in 20 states, Fernandes added. Activists have long decried the fact that despite legislation, child labour continues to flourish in both rural and urban India. The labour ministry recently stated that there were 12.6 million working children between the ages of five and 14 -- the largest number of child labourers in the world. On October 16 last year, two important notifications to the existing Child Labour Prohibition (And Regulation) Act 1986 came into effect. The notifications ban the employment of children younger than 14 as domestic servants and in the hospitality trade, ie in roadside dhabas, restaurants, hotels, motels and spas. Anyone found violating the ban could receive a jail term of three months to two years and/or a fine of between Rs 10,000 and Rs 20,000. However, on March 22, Fernandes admitted that while there was no dearth of laws against child labour, what was needed was greater emphasis on implementation. He was speaking at a rally near Jantar Mantar, in Delhi, that was the culmination of the South Asian March Against Child Trafficking, organised by the Bachpan Bachao Andolan and supported by the Global March Against Child Labour, UN agencies and civil society organisations. The march, which began at the India-Bangladesh and Indo-Nepal borders, covered states such as West Bengal, Bihar, Uttarkhand and Uttar Pradesh. A core team of 100 rescued children formed part of the march. Twelve-year-old Devli -- one of the leaders of the march -- said beatings were a regular occurrence at the stone quarry in Rajasthan where she and her family worked. According to the Bachpan Bachao Andolan, traffickers promise parents a better future for their children and education, along with the opportunity to earn a decent wage. But once the child is in the custody of the trafficker, he/she is sold to employers looking for cheap, bonded labour. They are sold for as little as Rs 2,000 or Rs 5,000 and are employed at brick kilns, stone quarries, carpet-making units, hotels and restaurants.

Amendments to child labour law suggested

Realising the need for a robust child labour law and its effective implementation, a panel of stakeholders recommended that all the existing legislations for enforcement of effective law be converged into one and proper rehabilitation package for rescued child labourers be made available. The Bachpan Bachao Andolan along with major child rights advocacy organisations and academic institutions proposed these amendments to the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986, on Friday. Vocational courses The panel of stakeholders felt that introduction of a vocational stream at the secondary education level could help avoid child labour in the age group of 14 to18. Strict restriction on hazardous occupations and production of items like beedi, agarbathi, firecrackers was recommended,

stringent punishment be meted out to those who employ child labour and employment of child labour be made a cognisable offence. Among the other recommendations was a total ban of child labour of under-14s in accordance with the Right to Education Act. The panel suggested that a child be defined as one who is below 18 years and recommended that international law should not be diluted by creating definitions such as child and adolescent. These amendments have been suggested to the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986. Commissioner of Education S.R. Umashankar and Additional Labour Commissioner J.T. Jinkalappa were present at the consultation along with representatives from Centre for Child and the Law from the National Law School of India University, Citizens Voluntary Initiative for the City, South India Cell for Human Rights Education and Monitoring, Association for Promoting Social Action, Sparsha Trust, Justice and Care, International Justice Mission, Bridge Network, Radio Active and Evangelical Social Action Forum.

Compulsory implementation of ban on child labour sought

Ten-year-old Esther took up a job as a domestic help two years ago to help her ailing mother. But little did she know that she would be abused and made to work beyond the strength of her petite body. At the national convention on child rights organised here on Wednesday, she recalled with tears the struggles she endured under her employer before she was rescued by the National Domestic Worker's Movement (NDWM). More than 300 child domestic labourers like her who have been given a new life and education participated in the convention that began on Monday. Some shared their experiences of pain and torture at the hands of child traffickers and employers, while others tried to put their past behind and looked forward to a bright future. The recommendations, which were drafted at the discussions over two days with the participation of the children from 11 States, were presented to Information Minister Parithi Illamvazhuthi. In the recommendations, the NDWM appealed for a ban on the employment of children below 15 years of age and special protection to those above this age by stipulating a minimum wage. It also called for enactment of stringent laws to protect and assist domestic workers. The recommendations called for compulsory implementation of the Ban on Child Labour Act, 1985. Another recommendation called upon the government to extend support to the International Labour Organisation's Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers. The issue could be addressed only by providing social security to the parents, said NDWM National Coordinator Jeanne Devos. Pension schemes, health schemes and educational scholarships need to be made available to the family for eradication of child labour, she said. The recently introduced bill for protection of women against sexual harassment at workplace does not include domestic labourers, she pointed out. The Juvenile Justice Act should be implemented with stringent measures, said K. Sanmugavelayutham, professor, Social Work department, Loyola College. These are children in

need of care and protection, he said, adding that the Child Protection Society as envisaged under the Integrated Child Protection Scheme was yet to be implemented in the State. Virgil D' Samy, Director, Arunodaya Centre, an NGO, called for the formation of children's groups that would work together for protection of child rights and to raise their voice against injustices.

CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA-PRESENT SCENARIO

Jyoti Angrish

Every child is a gift of God a gift must be nurtured with care and affection, with in the family and society. But unfortunately due to socio-economic and cultural problems, the code of child centeredness was replaced by neglect, abuse and deprivation, particularly in the poverty afflicted sections of the society. (1) While child labour is a complex problem that is basically rooted in poverty.(2) The strategy of progressive elimination of child labour underscores Indias legislative intent, and takes cognizance of the fact that child labour is not an isolated phenomenon that can be tackled without simultaneously taking into account the socio-economic milieu that is at the root of the problem.(3). An International Moral Code of Right and Wrong Behavior said that human rights and fundamental freedoms are the birthright of all human beings and as a result such rights may neither be granted nor be taken away by legislation.(4) The position of India in terms of child labour is not an appreciable one; with a credible estimates ranging from 60 to 115 million, India has the largest number of working children in the world. Whether they are sweating in the heat of stone quarries, working in the fields 16 hours a day, picking rags in the city streets, or hidden away as domestic servants, these children endure miserable and difficult lives. They earn little and are made to work more. They struggle to make enough to eat and perhaps to help feed their families as well. They do not go to school. Many of them have been working since the age of four or five, and by the time they attain adulthood they may be irrevocably sick and deformed they will certainly be exhausted, and in this way they are debarred from enjoying the basic human rights, which are

essential for the advancement of ones personality. (5) According to the statistics given by Indian government there are 20 million child labourers in the country, while other agencies claim that it is 50 million. (6) Child labour is a conspicuous problem in India. Its prevalence is evident in the child work participation rate, which is more than that of other developing countries. Poverty is the reason for child labour in India. The meager income of child labourers is also absorbed by their families. The paucity of organized banking in the rural areas creates a void in taking facilities, forcing poor families to push their children in harsh labour, the harshest being bonded labour.(7) That declaration stated that all ILO members have an obligation to respect, to promote and to realize in good faith a set of fundamental rights which include freedom of associ ation the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour the effective abolition of child labour and the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation. (8) Rights of Children under International Law The concept of equality of all human beings, as embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of I948 stipulates under Article 25para 2 that childhood is entitled to special care and assistance. The above principle along with other principles of the Universal Declaration concerning child were incorporated in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child of 1959.The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights under Articles 23 and 24 and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights under Article 10 made provisions for the care of the child. (9) However the International Labour Organization (ILO) provides universal standards and guidelines. The ILO, a specialized agency of the UN, aims to provide guidance and standards for labour practices around the world. The International Convention and other international instruments, (10) which deal with the subject of child labour are as follows: 1. Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989. 2. Worst Form of Child Labour Convention, 1999; and 3. Worst Form of Child Labour Recommendation The International Program on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) is a global program launched by the International Labour Organization in December, 1991. India was the first country to join it in 1992 when it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with ILO. The MOU that expired on 31.12.1996 has been extended from time to time and has recently been extended till 31st December, 2006. The long-term objective of IPEC is to contribute to the effective abolition of child labour. (11) IPEC-India has, during the period 1992-2002, supported over 165 Action Programs. The Govt. of India and the US Department of Labour have also initiated a US$ 40 million project aimed at eliminating child labour in 10 hazardous sectors across 21 districts in five States namely,

Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi. This project, popularly known as INDUS, is being implemented by ILO. An estimated 80,000 children will be withdrawn and rehabilitated through this project. Support activities will also be directed to 10,000 families of former child workers. (12) On 20 November 2009, the global community celebrates the 20th anniversary of the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the unique document that sets international standards for the care, treatment and protection of all individuals below age 18. (13) Rights of Children under National Laws India has all along followed a proactive policy in the matter of tackling the problem of child labour. India has always stood for constitutional, statutory and development measures required eliminating child labour. The Indian Constitution has consciously incorporated provisions to secure compulsory universal elementary education as well as labour protection for children. Labour Commissions in India have gone into the problems of child labour and have made extensive recommendations. (14) The Constitution of India, too provides certain rights to children and prohibits child labour. Such provisions are as follows: 1. No child below the age of 14 years shall be employed in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous work. (15) 2. State, in particular, shall direct its policy towards securing that the health and strength of workers, men and women and the tender age of the children are not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter vocations unsuited to their age or strength.(16) 3. Children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth are protected against exploitations and against moral and material abandon. (17) 4. The state shall endeavor to provide, within the 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. (18) 5. The state shall provide free and compulsory education to all children between the ages of six to 14 years in such a manner as the state may by law determine (19) 6. Who is parent or guardian to provide opportunities for education to his child or the case may be, ward between the age of six and14years. (20) There are a wide range of laws, which guarantee to a substantial extent the rights and entitlement as provided in the constitution and in the UN convention. Some of them are given below: 1. The Apprentices Act, 1861

2. The Child Labour Act, 1986 3. The Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929 4. The Children (pledging of labour) Act, 1929 5. Children Act, 1960. 6. The Guardian and Wards Act, 1890 7. The Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956 8. The Hindu Adoption and Maintence Act, 1956 9. The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 10. Juvenile Justice Act, 1986 11. The Orphanages and other charitable Homes (supervision and control) Act, 1960 12. Probation of offenders Act, 1958 13. Reformatory schools Act, 1857 14. The womens and childrens institutions (licensing) Act, 1956 15. The young persons (Harmful publications) Act, 1956 Apart from these laws mainly concerning children, there are a host of related welfare and criminal laws, which have beneficial provisions for the case, and protection of children. Even the laws relating to commerce, industry and trade have protective provisions beneficial to children. The first Act in India relating to child labour was the Enactment of Children (Pledging of Labour) Act of February 1933. The child of today is the future of our country. So the investment made on children is an asset for the future of our country. As a child is not a vase to be filled, but a fire to be lit, they should not be exploited by engaging them in employment in tender age but they should be given all necessary amenities and support so that they become responsible citizens of the nation and make the world a happier place to live in. (21) Children under fourteen constitute around 3.6% of the total labour force in India. Of these children, nine out of every ten work in their own rural family settings. Nearly 85% are engaged in traditional agricultural activities. Less than 9% work in manufacturing, services and repairs. Only about 0.8% works in factories. (22)

In 1979, Government formed the first committee called Gurupadswamy Committee to study the issue of child labour and to suggest measures to tackle it. The Committee examined the problem in detail and made some far-reaching recommendations. It observed that as long as poverty continued, it would be difficult to totally eliminate child labour and hence, any attempt to abolish it through legal recourse would not be a practical proposition. The Committee felt that in the circumstances, the only alternative left was to ban child labour in hazardous areas and to regulate and ameliorate the conditions of work in other areas. It recommended that a multiple policy approach was required in dealing with the problems of working children. Based on the recommendations of Gurupadaswamy Committee, The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 was passed. This Act prohibits the employment of children below the age of 14 in factories, mines and in other forms of hazardous employment, and regulates the working conditions of children in other employment. Sec.3 of this Act imposes prohibition on employment of children in dhabas, restaurants, hotels, motels, tea shops, resorts, spas or other recreational centres etc. (23) Recently, child labour is totally banned by the government with free education and other facilities to the child upto the age of 14. The list of hazardous occupations and processes is progressively being expanded on the recommendation of Child Labour Technical Advisory Committee constituted under the Act. (24) According to a 2001 census, an estimated 185,595 children are employed as domestic help and in small roadside eateries. Most child domestic workers in India are trafficked by placement agencies operating in states like Orissa, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.(25) India has announced a National Policy of Child Labour as early as 1987, and was probably the first among the developing countries to have such a progressive policy. Through a notification dated May 26, 1993, the working conditions of children have been regulated in all employment not prohibited under the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986. Further, following up on a preliminary notification issued on October 5, 1993, the government has also prohibited employment of children in occupations such as abattoirs/slaughter houses, printing, cashew de-scaling and processing, and soldering.(26) Child labour would be abolished in hazardous occupations by the year 2000, reflects a national consensus and commitment. After this declaration, several far-reaching initiatives have been taken by the Government to effectively tackle the problem (27) Indias National Policy on Education, 1986 gives the highest priority to the program of universal elementary education, and recommends that free and compulsory education of sufficient quality be provided to all children up to the age of 14 years before we enter the 21st century. The present thrust is on three aspects, namely, universal access and enrollment, universal retention of children up to 14 years of age, and substantial improvement in the quality of education to enable all children to achieve essential levels of learning. All these aspects have been incorporated in the various initiatives taken up by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.(28) Role of Judiciary Indian higher judiciary has played good role in protecting rights of children and specifically in the case of child labour. The Supreme Court of India, in its M.C. Mehta Vs State of Tamil Naidu (29)

has given certain directions regarding the manner in which children working in the hazardous occupations are to be withdrawn from work and rehabilitated, and the manner in which the working conditions of children working in non-hazardous occupations are to be regulated and improved. Withdrawal of children working in hazardous industries and ensuring their education in appropriate institutions; Contribution of Rs.20,000 per child to be paid by the offending employers of children to a welfare fund to be established for this purpose; Employment to one adult member of the family of the child so withdrawn from work, and if that is not possible a contribution of Rs.5000 to the welfare fund to be made by the State Government; Financial assistance to the families of the children so withdrawn to be paid out of the interest earnings on the corpus of Rs.20,,000/25,000.00 deposited in the welfare fund as long as the child is actually sent to the schools; Regulating hours of work for children working in non-hazardous occupations so that their working hours do not exceed six hours per day and education for at least two hours is ensured. The entire expenditure on education is to be borne by the concerned employer; as a follow up of the directions of the Supreme Court, all the State Governments were sent detailed guidelines on December 26, 1996 indicating the manner in which the directions of the Supreme Court were to be implemented. A meeting of the NAECL was convened on 31st December 1996 to discuss the directions of the Supreme Court on child labour. It was decided in the meeting that the Ministry of Labour should immediately release funds to the State Governments so as to enable them to conduct surveys of working children before June 10, 1997. With child labour are filled with a high poverty level. These children have no choice but to go and work because if they dont they will starve and die. Child labour for these children is survival; there are no other chances for them. None of these children have the privilege of going to school and being able to go to a house at the end of a day. Most of these children work from the crack of dawn and dont stop working till late into the night.(30) Child labour in India is a human right issue for the whole world. It is a serious and extensive problem, with many children under the age of fourteen working in carpet making factories, glass blowing units and making fireworks with bare little hands. According to the statistics given by Indian government there are 20 million child labourers in the country, while other agencies claim that it is 50 million. (31) According to the statistics given by ILO and other official agencies 73 million children between 10 to 14 years of age reemployed in economic activities all over the world. The figure translates into 13.2 of all children between 10to14 being subjected to child labour. (32) The child labour is prevalent at a large scale in the country. In Punjab it is found in hotels, restaurant, tea-stalls, rag collecting as domestic help in brick killen etc. for which the authorities ,parents ,educationist, police and employers or responsible. There is lack of implementations of child laws .Since politicians and other authorities exert pressure not to prosecute the child law violators. There are instances of bounded child labour are found in Punjab but the authorities ignore it and the various departments for the implementation of labour laws either lack funds or lack will to prosecute the child law defaulters and the laws remain merely on the paper for which the lack of control of population and increasing unemployment or the major causes and the politicians fear to tackle these problems in view of their vote banks.

Suggestions - The Govt. should take proper effective steps to decrease the population and give the employment to the parents of child labour. Necessary practical steps should be taken to educate the children. Provided the necessary sufficient funds to the organizations working for the education and removal of child labour. There should be effective implementations of child protective laws. There should be necessary prosecution of child labour defaulters. The involvement of the religious leaders, trade unionist and non government organizations and to tackle the child labour by forming advisory committees on child labour on block level should be there. The authorities should not bend before the pressure of the politicians while tackling the problems of child labour. Conclusion- At present, inspite of policy of the government regarding removal of child labour. The various steps taken in this direction and the laws passed about it havent controlle d the ongoing child labour. This is possible only with the co-operation of all sections of the society and the law enforcement agencies and by removing or minimizing the causes of child labour. The main thrust should be on controlling the population of the country, education of the children and providing sufficient funds for its removal from the gross domestic product of India.

THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF CHILD LABOUR LEGISLATION: EVIDENCE FROM BRAZIL

Caio Piza*

*DPhil candidate in the Dept of Economics at University of Sussex, UK and currently Consultant at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington D.C. Abstract This paper looks at the impact of two Brazilian laws that changed the minimum legal age of entry into the labour market. Whereas the law of December 1998 can be seen as a ban, as it increased the minimum legal age from 14 to 16, the law of December 2000 was the opposite, permitting youth aged 14 and 15 to work as apprentices. Since these two laws set two clear cutoff points it is possible to estimate the local average treatment effect of these laws using regression discontinuity design (RD) and difference-in-differences (DD) techniques. This study uses four age groups, comparing children aged 13 and 14, and those aged 15 and 16. It looks at the impact on both work and school outcomes in order to see whether the laws had unintended consequences.

Comparing individuals aged 14 and 15 I found that the 1998 ban led to a fall of 13 pp. in boys participation rate in formal paid activities and of 7 pp. in boys labour force participation. With regard to school outcomes, the ban reduced attendance among boys and increased their schooling delay of boys and girls. The DD estimates support most of the RD estimates. With respect to the law of 2000, the estimates show an increase in childrens participation rate in formal paid work activities, a rise in boys school attendance, and a negative effect on grade transition. I also looked at the impact of the laws on the gender gap and found that after 1998 the gap between boys and girls participation rates in domestic work widened by 5pp.