Introduction on Child Labour

Children are the greatest gift to humanity and Childhood is an important and impressionable
stage of human development as it holds the potential to the future development of any
society. Children who are brought up in an environment, which is conducive to their
intellectual, physical and social health, grow up to be responsible and productive members of
society. Every nation links its future with the present status of its children. By performing
work when they are too young for the task, children unduly reduce their present welfare or
their future income earning capabilities, either by shrinking their future external choice sets
or by reducing their own future individual productive capabilities. Under extreme economic
distress, children are forced to forego educational opportunities and take up jobs which are
mostly exploitative as they are usually underpaid and engaged in hazardous conditions.
Parents decide to send their child for engaging in a job as a desperate measure due to poor
economic conditions. It is therefore no wonder that the poor households predominantly send
their children to work in early ages of their life. One of the disconcerting aspects of child
labour is that children are sent to work at the expense of education. There is a strong effect of
child labour on school attendance rates and the length of a child’s work day is negatively
associated with his or her capacity to attend school. Child labour restricts the right of children
to access and benefit from education and denies the fundamental opportunity to attend school.
Child labour, thus, prejudices children’s education and adversely affects their health and
safety.1

India has all along followed a proactive policy in addressing the problem of child labour and
has always stood for constitutional, statutory and developmental measures that are required to
eliminate child labour. The Constitution of India has relevant provisions to secure
compulsory universal primary education. Labour Commissions and Committees have gone
into the problems of child labour and made extensive recommendations. India’s judiciary,
right up to apex level, has demonstrated profoundly empathetic responses against the practice
of child labour. Despite several proactive legislations, policies and judicial prouncements, the
problem of child labour persists as a challenge to the country.

1
Government of India, Planning Commission, Working Group for Social inclusion of Vulnerable Group like Child
Labour and Bonded and Migrant Labour in the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17)
Definition of Child Labour
The term 'child labour', suggests ILO2, is best defined as work that deprives children of their
childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental
development. Interferes with their schooling by depriving them of the opportunity to attend
school; obliging them to leave school prematurely; or requiring them to attempt to combine
school attendance with excessively long and heavy work.

UNICEF defines child labour differently. A child, suggests UNICEF, is involved in child

labour activities if between 5 and 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
and 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 week3. UNICEF in another report suggests,
"Children’s work needs to be seen as happening along a continuum, with destructive or
exploitative work at one end and beneficial work – promoting or enhancing children’s
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 child’s
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 worker4. 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.

2
International Labour Organization, 2012
3
UNICEF,2012
4
 National Advisory Council, 2011
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).

India has a federal form of government, and labour being a subject in the Concurrent List,
both the central and state governments can and have legislated on child labour. The major
national legislative developments include the following:

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 15–18 years be employed in any factory.

The Mines Act of 1952: The Act prohibits the employment of children below 18 years of age
in a mine.

The Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of 1986 : A "Child"
is defined as any person below the age of 14 and the CLPR Act prohibits employment of a
Child in any employment including as a domestic help (except helping own family in non-
hazardous occupations). It is a cognizable criminal offence to employ a Child for any work.
Children between age of 14 and 18 are defined as "Adolescent" and the law allows
Adolescent to be employed except in the listed hazardous occupation and processes which
include mining, inflammable substance and explosives related work and any other hazardous
process as per the Factories Act, 1948.

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of Children Act of 2015: This law made it a
crime, punishable with a prison term, for anyone to keep a child in bondage for the purpose
of employment.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act of 2009 : The law
mandates free and compulsory education to all children aged 6 to 14 years. This legislation
also mandated that 25 percent of seats in every private school must be allocated for children
from disadvantaged groups and physically challenged children.(It is not applied through)

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 Rs.
6 billion, targeted solely to eliminate child labour in India. Despite these efforts, child labour
remains a major challenge for India. No, child below age of 14 years shall be employed to
work in any factory or mine or engaged in any hazardous employment
Causes
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
biggest 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 also teachers are unavailable. Child labour is the unnatural result 5. A
BBC report, similarly, concludes poverty and inadequate public education infrastructure are
some of the causes of child labour in India.

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.

The international labour organisation (ILO) and Spreading Smiles Through Education
Organisation (OSSE) suggests poverty is the greatest single force driving children into the
workplace. 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 and
40% of the household income.

According to a 2008 study by ILO 6, 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 worthwhile. In
government-run primary schools, even when children show up, government-paid teachers do
not show up 25% of the time. 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.
5
 UNICEF ,2001.
6
 ILO, United Nations, 2008.
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
administrators7. 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 makeshift arrangements during monsoons and inclement weather.8

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 – 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. Other scholars too
suggest that inflexibility and structure of India's labour market, size of informal economy,

7
 UNICEF,1990
8
The Wall Street Journal, 3 January 2012.
inability of industries to scale up and lack of modern manufacturing technologies are major
macroeconomic factors affecting demand and acceptability of child labour.

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 labour-intensively 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.9

Consequences of Child Labour

9
 "Child Labour, Education and Nutrition in Rural India". Pacific Economic Review.
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. In terms
of the physical condition of children, children are not ready for long monotonous work
because they become exhausted more quickly than adults. This reduces their physical
conditions and makes the children more vulnerable to disease.

Children in hazardous working conditions are even in worse condition10. Children who work,
instead of going to school, will remain illiterate which limits their ability to contribute to their
own well being as well as to community they live in. Child labour has long term adverse
effects for India.

To keep an economy prospering, a vital criterion is to have an educated workforce equipped

with relevant skills for the needs of the industries. The young labourers today, will be part of
India's human capital tomorrow. Child labour undoubtedly results in a trade-off with human
capital accumulation.

Child labour in India are employed with the majority (70%) in agriculture 11 some in low-
skilled labour-intensive 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.

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), there are tremendous economic
benefits for developing nations by sending children to school instead of work. 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

In the year 1999, the International Labour Organization co-published a report with Universal

Alliance of Diamond Workers, a trade union. 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. Not everyone agreed with these claims. The South Gujarat
Diamond Workers Association, another trade union, acknowledged child labour is present but

10
 "Child Labour - India's Cheap Commodity". BBC News.
11
The Times of India, 22 June 2010. 
it is not systematic, is less than 1% and against local industry norms. Local diamond industry
businessmen too downplayed these charges.12

According to the 1999 ILO paper, India annually cuts and polishes 70 percent of the world's
diamonds by weight, or 40 percent 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 unorganised 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 10,000 and 20,000 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.

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%.13

Fireworks manufacture

The town of Sivakasi in South India, known for its fireworks and matchsticks industries, has
been reported to employ child labour in the production of fireworks. In 2011, Sivakasi, Tamil
Nadu was home to over 9,500 firecracker factories and produced almost 100 percent of total
fireworks output in India. The fireworks industry employed about 150,000 people at an
average of 15 employees per factory. Most of these were in unorganized sector, with a few
registered and organized companies.

In 1989, Shubh Bhardwaj reported 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

12
 "Diamond industry plays down child labour charges". Ahmedabad: Business-standard.com.
13
 "Use of child labour in gem industry lower".  The Indian Express. 14 February 2005. 
sector. Only 4 companies scaled up and were in the organized sector with over 500
employees; the larger companies did not employ children and had superior safety practices
and resources. The child labour in small, unorganized sector operations suffered long
working hours, low wages, unsafe conditions and tiring schedules.

A more recent 2002 report by international labour organization (ILO) 14 claims 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

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. 15 These
children, claims, are bonded labour; even though the government of India denies existence of
bonded child labour, these silk industry children are easy to find in Karnataka, and Tamil
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.

In 2012, a German news investigative report claimed that in states like Karnataka, non-
governmental organisations had found up to 15,000 children working in the 1,100 silk
factories in 1998. In other places, thousands of bonded child labourers were present in 1995.
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.

Carpet weaving

About 20% of carpets manufactured in India could involve child labour. He notes,
"determining the extent to which the hand-made carpet supply chain from India to the U.S.A.
is tainted by slavery and child labour requires an additional exercise in supply chain

14
 International Labour Organization, Geneva, 2002 . 
15
 "Indian silk industry employs child : Human Rights Watch" ,23 January 2003.
tracing. Kara's study also finds variation in child labour practices between ethnic and
religious groups. Kara and colleagues report highest level of child labour in Muslim
community carpet operations16, and the presence of debt bonded child labourers in Muslim
villages.

Domestic labour

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 17. 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.

Mining

Despite laws enacted in 1952 which prohibited employment of people under the age of 18,
primitive coal mines in Meghalaya were caught employing children under the age of 18. This
caught the attention of international media in 2013.

Government Initiatives
Legislation, Policy, Programmes and other Interventions

16
 Health and Human Rights (journal)|Health and Human Rights, Harvard University, page 35 - Quote:
"Muslims are the most-often exploited community that the researchers documented in this project."; Page 40 -
Quote: "Child labor was rampant, chronic, and extensive throughout this area of northwestern Uttar Pradesh,
almost entirely in deeply rural Muslim villages."
17
 "Enforcing the ban".  The Hindu. Chennai, India.20 October 2006.
  The Constitutional guarantees are reflected in the policies, plans, laws and schemes on
child labour. As per Article 24 of the Constitution 18, no child below the 5 age of 14
years is to be employed in any factory, mine or any hazardous employment. Further,
Article 39 requires the States to direct its policy towards ensuring that the tender age
of children is not abused and that they are not forced by economic necessity to enter
avocations unsuited to their age or strength. Recently, with the insertion of Article
21A, the State has been entrusted with the task of providing free and compulsory
education to all the children in the age group of 6-14 years.

 Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act (1986) was the culmination of efforts
and ideas that emerged from the deliberations and recommendations of various
committees on child labour. Significant among them were the National Commission
on Labour (1966-1969), the Gurupadaswamy Committee on Child Labour (1979) and
the Sanat Mehta Committee (1984). The Act aims to prohibit the entry of children
into hazardous occupations and to regulate the services of children in non-hazardous
occupations. In particular it is aimed at (i) the banning of the employment of children,
i.e. those who have not completed their 14th year, in 18 specified occupations and 65
processes; (ii) laying down a procedure to make additions to the schedule of banned
occupations or processes; (iii) regulating the working conditions of children in
occupations where they are not prohibited from working; (iv) laying down penalties
for employment of children in violation of the provisions of this Act and other Acts
which forbid the employment of children; (v)bringing uniformity in the definition of
the child in related laws.

 Despite several proactive legislations the problem persists as a challenge to the

country. In consonance with the above approach, a National Policy on Child Labour
was formulated in 1987, setting out objectives and priorities to eradicate child labour
and protect all children from exploitation. The three components stated in the
National Policy on Child Labour are: (a) Legislative Action Plan emphasizing strict
and effective enforcement of legal provisions relating to Child Labour, (b) Focus on
General Development Programmes for benefiting children 6 and their families, and

18
Constitution of India,1950
 (c) Project-based Plan of Action focusing on areas with high concentration of child
labour through implementation of National Child Labour Project.

 Child Labour exists in India notwithstanding the Laudable provisions of the

Constitution and laws addressing child labour. Despite the fact that a host of social,
economic and cultural factors is responsible for continuance of child labour,
Government is committed to the task of elimination of child labour in all its forms by
adopting gradual and sequential approach to address the problem in its enormity.

 To address the traditional and stereotype demand and supply factors including cheap
and docile labour, poverty, illiteracy, indebtedness, unemployment and landlessness,
that contribute to the prevalence of child labour, Government of India follows a
multipronged strategy which involves strong enforcement of legal provisions relating
to child labour with simultaneous efforts towards rehabilitation of children and by
making efforts of raising the income levels of parents through linkages with the
employment and income generation programmes and other poverty alleviation
programmes of the Government.

 With the objective to implement the multi-pronged strategy the National Child Labour
Project (NCLP) was first initiated in 1988, as a part of a larger Plan of Action arising
out of the National Child Labour Policy. The National Child Labour Project has been
strengthened by several major initiatives at national, state and district level in the
country aiming at elimination of child labour. The main thrust of this scheme has been
to reduce the incidence of child labour in the pockets of their concentration. Providing
education through special schools, and subsequently mainstreaming them in regular
schools are the major activities under the NCLP at the ground level. The working
children are identified through surveys conducted by the independent agencies, and
inspections conducted by the Labour Department. On the basis of their reports,
children are withdrawn 7 from labour force. These children are enrolled in the special
schools which provide formal/non-formal education, vocational training,
supplementary nutrition, monthly stipend, regular health check-up, etc., and are
subsequently mainstreamed in formal education or self-employment within a period
of six months to three years of their enrolment in the special schools.
 The principal agency for implementation of the NCLP is the Project Society formed at
district levels and registered under the Registration of Societies Act, 1860. The
Project Society functions under the overall chairpersonship of District Collector. The
funds under the Scheme are sanctioned by the Ministry directly to the District
Collector, who in turn, disburses them amongst the NGOs for running these Special
Schools for working children. The funds are also provided under the Scheme for
conducting regular child labour surveys, awareness generation programmes and
training of instructors/teachers, etc. The District Collector is assisted by the members
of the Project Society who could be drawn from the relevant departments of the
Government at the district levels, trade unions, employers’ associations, and voluntary
organizations. The operationalisation of the NCLP involves (a) establishing a Project
Office in each of the child-labourendemic district (b), conducting survey and
identification of child labour, particularly in hazardous occupations, (c) opening up of
special schools and supporting them, (d) enrolment of working children in the special
schools and ensuring their formal/informal education up to a maximum period of
three years, (e) providing mid-day-meals and regular health check-ups to the enrolled
children, and finally (f) mainstreaming those children and keeping track of them for
some time after mainstreaming. In addition to these, the Project Office is also
expected to (1) establish convergence of services and schemes with other
departments, and (2) implement and monitor different labour laws relevant for
abolition of child labour. All these stages are components of one integrated approach
aim at reducing the intensity of child labour and also effectively contribute to overall
development of children belonging to vulnerable section of the society in the
concerned districts and subsequently at the all-India level.

 National Child Labour Project was first launched in 1988 and the project was
implemented in nine districts. By the end of 1989, a total of 12 projects were
operational in eight states covering 13,668 working children who were employed in
hazardous industries such as Glass, Brassware, Lock, Carpet, Slate, Tile, Match and
Fireworks, Gems, Agro-Chemicals and Beedi. In August 1994, the process of
rehabilitation of Child Labour was intensified after the in-depth consultations with
District Collectors of child labour-endemic districts. Consequently, the NCLP Project
 was extended to 76 districts. The coverage progressively increased to 85 projects in
2001 and expanded to 100 districts by the end of 9th five year Plan, and further
expanded to 250 districts during the 10th Plan period and 271 districts during the 11th
Plan period. The Supreme Court had issued a number of directions to the Central as
well as state governments to eliminate child labour. Major thrust to the NCLP came
with the landmark judgement of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in December 1996 in the
case of M.C. Mehta Vs. State of Tamilnadu19 The Honourable Supreme Court gave
certain directions regarding the manner in which the children working in the
hazardous occupations were to be withdrawn from work and rehabilitated, as also the
manner in which the working conditions of the children employed in non-hazardous
occupations were to be regulated and improved upon. The Hon’ble Court specifically
ordered withdrawal of children working in hazardous industries and ensuring their
education in appropriate institutions. It also prescribed employment of at least one
adult member of the family of the child so withdrawn from work, a contribution of
Rs.20,000/- per child was ordered to be paid by the offending employer into a corpus
of fund set up for the welfare of child labour & their families. Failing which, the State
Government to contribute to this Welfare Fund Rs.5,000/- per child. The interest
earnings of this corpus were to be used for providing financial assistance to the
families of these children. The Hon’ble Court also ordered regulation of working
hours for the children engaged in non-hazardous occupations, so that their working
hours did not exceed 5-6 hours per day and that at least two hours of education was 9
ensured. It further directed that the entire expenditure on education of these children
be borne by their employers. Thus the landmark judgment of the Honourable Supreme
Court in December, 1996 in the case of M. C. Mehta vs. State of Tamil Nadu gave
further impetus to the implementation of the different poverty alleviation schemes
targeting child labour households.

 The formulation and implementation of the National Child Labour project involves
consultation with all the concerned Ministries/Departments. At the National level the
progress of the programme is being monitored by the Central Monitoring Committee
headed by Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment. A core group has been set-
up for active convergence on a sustained basis among various ministries at the central
level for rehabilitation of child labour and their families. This core group is headed by
19
AIR 1997 SC 699
 Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment comprising representatives from
concerned Ministries such as Women and Child Development, HRD, Social Justice
and Empowerment, Rural Development, Urban Housing and Poverty Alleviation. At
the national level, various activities relating to the NCLP are carried out by the Child
Labour Division in the Ministry of Labour & Employment (MoLE). Presently, the
Child Labour Division is headed by Joint Secretary. The implementation of the NCLP
Scheme is monitored by the Ministry of Labour & Employment (MoLE) through
prescribed periodical reports and regular visits of Officials of MoLE, State
Governments and Audit Departments. Funds are released based on the progress of
project activities.

Survey

Age group

9 8

13
20

15-20 20-25 25-30 30<

 Gender

20

30

Male Female

Support to Child Labour

40
40
30
20
10 10
0
Yes 0
No
Don't Know
Support to Child Labour
Social Evil that are children most vulnerable in
Child Labour

17
25

Drugs
Sexual Abuse
Violence Crime
Various diseases such as HIV/AIDS

Economy of countries when Child Labour got

abolished

40
30 35
20 5
10 10
0
Rise
Fall
Not be Affected
Economy of countries when Child Labour got abolished
Sector where the Child Labour is mostly found
7
15

22 5

Automobile industry Agriculture

Manufacturing Leather Industry

Change in growth of Child Labour due to

development in science and technology
30 28
25
20 19
15
10
5 3
0
Decrease Increase No change
Change in growth of Child Labour due to development in
science and technology
Reasons of Child Labour phenomenon
6

35

Poverty Education
Political System Culture

If children don’t work, families starve

22
28

Yes No
Child Labour serious in your hometown

25 25
20
15 13
12
10
5
0
Yes
No
Not so much
Child Labour serious in your hometown

Reasons behind putting children to work

8
13
9

20

Family needs income

Less paying capacity for child's education
Child to look after family
Child has reached working age
Child not interested in education
Laws on Child Labour are efficient to prevent it

20 17 20
15
10 13
5
0
Yes
No
Maybe
Laws on Child Labour are efficient to prevent it