Prohibition of child labour

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. The 1998 national census of India estimated the total number of child labour, aged 4–15, to be at 12.6 million, out of a total child population of 253 million in 5–14 age group.

Causes of child labour

Primary causes

International Labour Organisation (ILO) suggests poverty is the greatest single cause behind child labour. For impoverished households, income from a child's work is usually crucial for his or her own survival or for that of the household. Income from working children, even if small, may be between 25 and 40% of the household income. Other scholars such as Harsch on African child labour, and Edmonds and Pavcnik on global child labour have reached the same conclusion.

Lack of meaningful alternatives, such as affordable schools and quality education, according to ILO, is another major factor driving children to harmful labour. Children work because they have nothing better to do. Many communities, particularly rural areas where between 60–70% of child labour is prevalent, 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.

Cultural causes

In European history when child labour was common, as well as in contemporary child labour of modern world, certain cultural beliefs have rationalised child labour and thereby encouraged it. Some view that work is good for the character-building and skill development of children. In many cultures, particular where the informal economy and small household businesses thrive, the cultural tradition is that children follow in their parents' footsteps; child labour then is a means to learn and practice that trade from a very early age. Similarly, in many cultures the education of girls is less valued or girls are simply not expected to need formal schooling, and these girls pushed into child labour such as providing domestic services.

Macroeconomic causes

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 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 is amongst the causes of the demand side. Other scholars too suggest that inflexible 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.

Rajya Sabha passes Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2016

The Rajya Sabha unanimously passed Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2016. The Bill seeks to amend the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 to widen the scope of the law against child labour and stricter punishments for violations. 

Key Provisions of Bill 

• Prohibition of employment of children below 14 years in all occupations or processes except where child helps his family. 
• Addition of a new category of persons called “adolescent”. They are person between 14 and 18 years of age. 
• Prohibition of employment of adolescents in hazardous occupations as specified (mines, hazardous processes and inflammable substance). 
• Empowers Union Government to add or omit any hazardous occupation from the list included in the Bill. 
• Punishment for employing any child increased i.e. imprisonment between 6 months and two years (from earlier 3 months-one year) or a fine of 20,000 to 50,000 Rupees (from earlier 10,000 to 20,000 Rupees) or both. 
• Proposes penalty for employing an adolescent in a hazardous occupation i.e. imprisonment between 6 months and 2 years or a fine of 20,000 to 50,000 Rupees or both. 
• Empowers the government to make periodic inspection of places at which employment of children and adolescents are prohibited. 
• Government may confer powers on a District Magistrate (DM) to ensure that the provisions of the law are properly carried out and implemented.