Ph.D.

Thesis Title Approval Presentation

CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA WITH SPECIAL

REFERENCE TO KARNATAKA STATE

SUBMITTED BY

ROLL NO.: PROV/Ph.D.-L/7-19/006

MANGALA T P
BATCH: 2019-20

COURSE TEACHER/ SUPERVISOR: Dr. SUMANT KUMAR

ALLIANCE SCHOOL OF LAW

ALLIANCE UNIVERSITY, BENGALURU
DATE OF SUBMISSION: Aug 2022
 CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO
KARNATAKA STATE

Abstract

Child labour in India is a serious problem that has been witnessed since centuries and also has
remained a challenge for many developing countries. Child labour has existed over not only in the
impoverished areas of developing countries but also in developed countries till the beginning of
the 20th century. Many nations have enacted and implemented laws in order to eradicate child
labour, but the problem still persists and is widespread throughout the world. The problem of
child labour appears in severe form and various factors are involved with it. In the context on
india, the causes and the incidence of child labour are complex and deeply rooted into the society.
Poverty seems an inescapable phenomenon that remains as the main cause, also illiteracy remains
as the second factor. Child labour can be found in both urban and rural areas, but the intensity is
much high among the rural folks. Poor families in search of better livelihood migrates as labours
in the urban areas that will further lead them to remain out of social welfare accountability by the
state and from the main stream development. Amongst the urban migrant labours, children’s are
the most affected. Children across the globe are engaged in a great number of activities classified
as work. These ranges from fairly harmless, even laudable, activities like helping out in the home,
to physicallydangerous and morally objectionable ones. Child labour is a complex issue and India
ranks among top nations where the percentage of Child Labour is high. Despite of several laws
enacted in order to eradicate child labour system, its practice in the Brick Industries in rural areas
remains a challenge due to the hidden nature of employment as compared to other sectors in
India.
I. BACKGROUND:

The involvement of child labour has been found more or less in all periods of time though varied
in its nature and dimensions, depending on the existing socioeconomic structure of the society. In
the past, the child labour had been a part of the social organization in which all members pooled
their labour to produce for the subsistence and survival. This was, and is, particularly true of rural
subsistence farming where the work of the child farmed part of the labour necessary for the
reproduction of the system and value of labour taken as part of child’s socialization for
reproduction of the labour power.

In 2011 the national census of India found the total number of child labourers, aged 5–14, to be at
10.1 million, out of the total of 259.64 million children in that age group. The child labour
problem is not unique to India; worldwide, about 217 million children work, many full-time. As
per the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, amended in 2016
(CLPR Act), 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. 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. In 2001, an estimated 1%
of all child workers, or about 120,000 children in India were in a hazardous job. Notably, the
Constitution of India prohibits child labour in hazardous industries (but not in non-hazardous
industries) as a Fundamental Right under Article 24. 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
labourers. The International Labour Organization estimates that agriculture, at 60 percent, is the
largest employer of child labour in the world, while the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization estimates 70% of child labour is deployed in agriculture and related activities.
Outside of agriculture, child labour is observed in informal sectors of the Indian economy.
II. INTRODUCTION:

Poverty continues to remain a major cause of child labour in India. Due to severe economic
hardships faced by numerous families in rural and even urban areas of India, they do not hold
their children back from picking up work so that they (children) can generate income for the
household. In several cases, parents and guardians are themselves seen pushing their children into
it picking up labour; who are viewed as a “source of income”.

Another factor fuelling the problem of child labour is the lack of quality education in various
parts of India. Many communities, particularly the rural ones, are devoid of adequate education
facilities. The number of schools is less and the student teacher ratio abysmal. In several cases,
schools are faraway, difficult to reach and unaffordable. Sometimes, the quality of education is
so appalling that the parents are unwilling to let children continue studying. This overall
prevalence of illiteracy and lack of awareness leads to rampant child labour. For many years,
child labour has been one of the biggest obstacles to social development in India. It is a challenge
and long-term goal to abolish all forms of child labour. Especially in developing countries, it is
considered as a serious issue these days. Child labour refers to children who miss their
childhood and are not able to have the basic amenities which a child should have. Recently the
International Labour Organization (ILO, 2018) estimated there are around 215 million children
between the ages five to fourteen who work worldwide. They are often mistreated and work for
prolonged hours, in very bad conditions. This can affect their health physically, mentally and
emotionally. These children do not have the basic rights like access to school or health care.
According to ILO (2018) the largest Numbers of child labourers are working in hazardous work
and the total number of child workers is increasing, even though it is forbidden by law. These
children are vulnerable to diseases and they strugglewith long-term physical and psychological
pain. The main cause that induces children to work is poverty.

The international organizations have made great efforts to eliminate child labour across the
world. Many countries have adopted legislation to prohibit child labour, nonetheless child labour
is widespread throughout the world. It is not easy task for developing countries like India to
achieve banning child labour.
 1. Meaning of Child Labour:

Child labour refers to the employment of children in any work that deprives children of their child
hood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and that is mentally, physically, socially
or morally dangerous and harmful. Defining child labour is not as simple and straight forward as
it may appear because it encompasses three difficult-to-define concepts “child”, “work” and
“labour”. In the context of child labour, a working definition of a “child” may be a person below
the general limit of fifteen years or in special circumstances fourteen years, set by the Minimum
Age Convention, 1973 (No.138). According to ILO(1983), “child labour includes children
prematurely leading adulteries, working long hours for low wages under conditions damaging to
their health and to their physical and mental development, sometimes separated from their
families, frequently deprived of meaningful education and training opportunities that would
open for them abetter future.”

2. Types of Child Labour:

Child labour is a term that needs to be unpacked: it cannot be used in a sweeping manner but
covers a range and variety of circumstances in which children work. Child labourers are those
children who are doing paid or unpaid work in factories, workshops, establishment, and mines
and in the service sector such as domestic labour. The Ministry of Labour, Government of India
has employed the term child labour only in the context of children doing hazardous work. By
implication, children who are not doing hazardous work are not considered to be child labourers
and are said to be doing child work. Child labours can be seen in the form viz. street
children, bonded children, migrant children etc.

3. Street Children

Those living on and off the streets, such as rag pickers, scavengers, beggars etc. Most of such
children have some sort living places where can they go back in the evening or nights, while street
children are completely alone and have no such arrangements, and are at the mercy of their
employers.They live on the Pavements, Bus stations, Public Places, Railway stations etc.

4. Bonded Children:

Are those who provide labour or service under the bonded labour system. Bonded Labour System
in India is characterized by a long-term relationship between employer and employee, which is
usually solidified through a loan or social obligation, and is embedded intricately in India's
socio-economic culture marked by class/caste relations. Bonded labour contracts are not purely
economic; in India, they are reinforced by custom or coercion in many sectors - Children who have
either been pledged by their parents for paltry sums of money or those work to pay off the
inherited debts of their fathers. Bonded children are in many ways the most difficult to assist
because they are inaccessible.

5. Migrant children:

Poverty has also been a key driver of child migration, particularly from rural to urban locations.
Children are also trafficked to provide labour or are forced to for various socio-economic factors.
India faces a huge challenge with “distress seasonal migration “. Millions of families are being
forced to leave their homes and villages for several months every year in search of livelihoods.
These migrations mean that families are forced to drop out of schools, something that closes up the
only available opportunity to break the vicious cycle generation after generation. At worksites
migrant children are inevitably put to work. Many industrial and agro- industrial sectors like salt
manufacture, sugar cane harvesting, stone quarrying, construction, fisheries, plantations, rice mills
and so on run largely on migrant labour. Migrant labours are more in percentile in brick making
factories compared to other sectors.

6. Children engaged in household activities:

Apart from children who are employed for wages (either bonded or otherwise) as domestic help,
there are a large number of children (especially girls) who are working in their own houses,
engaged in what is not normally seen as “economic activity”. These children are engaged in taking
care of younger siblings, cooking, cleaning and other such household activities. As seen in the
literature on women’s work, such activities need to be recognized as “work”. Further, if such
children are not sent to school, they will eventually join the labour force as one of the above
categories of child labour.
 7. Children used for sexual exploitation:

Many thousands of young girls and boys serve the sexual appetites of men from all social and
economic backgrounds. Direct links between the commercial sexual exploitation of children and
other forms of exploitative child labor are numerous. Factories, workshops, street corners, railway
stations, bus stops and homes where children work are common sites of sexual exploitation.
Children are especially powerless to resist abuse by employers, either as perpetrators or
intermediaries. The physical and psychosocial damage inflicted by commercial sexual exploitation
makes it one of the most hazardous forms of child labor.

8. Child Labour policies

Government of India has notified the amendment in the Child Labour (Prohibition and
Regulation) Central Rules after extensive consultation with the stakeholders. The Rules provide
broad and specific framework for prevention, prohibition, rescue and rehabilitation of child and
adolescent workers. It also clarifies on issues related with help in family and family enterprises
and definition of family with respect to child, specific provisions have been incorporated in rules.
Further, it also provides for safeguards of artists which have been permitted to work under the
Act, in terms of hours of work and working conditions. The rules provide for specific provisions
incorporating duties and responsibilities of enforcement agencies in order to ensure effective
implementation and compliance of the provisions of the Act.
Government has also enacted the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016
which came into force w.e.f. 1.9.2016. The Amendment Act completely prohibits the employment
of children below 14 years. The amendment also prohibits the employment of adolescents in the
age group of 14 to 18 years in hazardous occupations and processes and regulates their working
conditions where they are not prohibited. The amendment also provides stricter punishment for
employers for violation of the Act and making the offence of employing any child or adolescent
in contravention of the Act by an employer as cognizable. In order to achieve effective
enforcement of the provisions of the Act, the amendment empowers the appropriate Government
to confer such powers and impose such duties on a District Magistrate as may be necessary.
Further, the State Action Plan has been circulated to all the States/UTs for ensuring effective
implementation of the Act.
It may be also relevant to refer Article 24 of the Indian constitution which clearly states that, “No
child below the age of fourteen years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or
employed in any hazardous employment.” The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of
1986 designates a child as a person who has not completed their 14th year of age. It
aims to regulate the hours and the working conditions of child workers and to prohibit child
workers from being employed in hazardous industries.

9. Constitutional Provisions for Child Upliftment:

Article 21 A: Right to Education

The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of 6 to 14
years in such manner as the State, by law, may determine.
Article 24: Prohibition of employment of children in factories, etc.
No child below the age fourteen years shall be employed in work in any factory or mine or
engaged in any other hazardous employment.
Article 39(e): The State shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing
that the health and strength of workers, men and women, and the tender age of children are
not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocations
unsuited to their age or strength

10. Legislative Provisions Prohibiting and Regulating Employment of Children:

1. As per the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 “child” means a person who
has not completed is 14th year of age.
2. The Act prohibits employment of children in 13 occupations and 57 processes contained in
Part A & B of the Schedule to the Act (Section 3).
3. Under the Act, a Technical Advisory Committee is constituted to advice for inclusion of
further occupations & processes in the Schedule.
4. The Act regulates the condition of employment's in all occupations and processes not
prohibited under the Act (Part III).
5. Any person who employs any child in contravention of the provisions of section 3 of the Act
is liable for punishment 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 Rs 10,000
but which may extend toRs 20,000 or both. ((Section 14).
6. The Central and the State Governments enforce the provisions of the Act in their respective
spheres.
 11. ILO core conventions related to Child Labour:
International Labour Organisation is a U.N. agency that was established in 1919. ILO brings
together governments, employers and workers representatives of 187 member States, to set labour
standards, develop policies and devise programmes promoting decent work for all women and
men. The principal means of action in the ILO is the setting up the International Labour Standards in
the form of Conventions and Recommendations. Conventions are international treaties and are
instruments, which create legally binding obligations on the countries that ratify them.
Recommendations are non-binding and set out guidelines orienting national policies and actions.
There are eight Core Conventions of the ILO (also called fundamental/human rights conventions)
which are as follows.
1. Forced Labour Convention:
2. Abolition of Forced Labour Convention
3. Equal Remuneration Convention
4. Discrimination (Employment Occupation) Convention
5. Freedom of Association and Protection of Right to Organised Convention
6. Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention
7. Minimum Age Convention
8. Worst forms of Child Labour Convention

The two Core Conventions directly related to child labour are that of ILO Convention 138 and
182. International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions 138 regarding admission of age to
employment and Convention 182 regarding worst forms of Child Labour1.

1
ILO Convention No. 182 and the accompanying Recommendation No. 190 concerning Worst Forms of Child Labour
was adopted by the ILO in its 87th Session at Geneva in June, 1999. Convention No. 182 is one of the 8 Core
Conventions of the ILO being referred to as fundamental or basic human rights Conventions. Main provisions of
Convention No 182:
For the purpose of this Convention, the term child shall apply to all persons under the age of 18.
For the purpose of this Convention, the term worst forms of child labour comprises:
1. All forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children (debt bondage
and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour), including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use
in armed conflict.
2. The use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography o r for
pornographic performances.
3. The use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular of the production and trafficking of
drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties.
4. Work which by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out is likely to harm the health, safety or
morals of children.
 9. National Policy on Child Labour:

The National Policy on Child Labour, August 1987 contains the action plan for tackling the
problem of child labour. It envisages:
1. A legislative action plan
2. Focusing and convergence of general development programmes for benefiting children
wherever possible, and
3. Project-based action plan of action for launching of projects for the welfare of working
children in areas of high concentration of child labour.
In pursuance of National Child Labour Policy, the NCLP Scheme was started in 1988 to rehabilitate
child labour. The Scheme seeks to adopt a sequential approach with focus on rehabilitation of
children working in hazardous occupations & processes in the first instance. Under the Scheme,
after a survey of child labour engaged in hazardous occupations & processes has been conducted,
children are to be withdrawn from these occupations & processes and then put into special schools
in order to enable them to be mainstreamed into formal schooling system.
 It is relevant to note that labour laws 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. Government has accordingly been taking proactive steps to tackle this
problem through strict enforcement of legislative provisions along with simultaneous
rehabilitative measures. State Governments, which are the appropriate implementing authorities,
have been conducting regular inspections and raids to detect cases of violations. Since poverty is
the root cause of this problem, and enforcement alone cannot help solve it, Government has been
laying a lot of emphasis on the rehabilitation of these children and on improving the economic
conditions of their families.

i. Right to Education Bill

In 2009, the government of India made a move of far-reaching consequences by introducing the
Right to Education Bill. The implementation of this Act at the grassroots level is a key to the
eradication of the problem of child labour that has plagued India for centuries.

ii. Rehabilitation of Children Working in Hazardous Occupations

The government of India launched a major program to remove child labour working in hazardous
occupations, and to rehabilitate them by setting up special schools for them. Under the program a
total of two million children are sought to be brought out of work and put in special schools
where they are provided with education, vocational training, monthly stipends, nutrition and
health-checks.

iii. List of Hazardous Occupations & ProcessHazardous Occupations

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 license
Child Labour and Forced labour in India Bonded Labour in India:

The Supreme Court of India has interpreted bonded labour as the payment of wages that are below
the prevailing market wages and legal minimum wages. The Constitution of India prohibits forced
labour under Article 23 (Fundamental Rights). Article 23: Prohibition of traffic in human beings
and forced labour. Bonded labour was historically associated with rural economies where peasants
from economically disadvantaged communities were bound to work for the landlords.Bonded labour
is found to exist in both rural and urban pockets in unorganized industries such as brick kilns, stone
quarries, coal mining, agricultural labour, domestic servitude, circus, and sexual slavery.
A recent study has raised the issue of ambiguity about definitions of child labour and forced labour
in India, especially for sugarcane producing states of Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab, and
Uttar Pradesh. The study was commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) and The Coca-Cola Company. Following are some of the Findings from the Study:
Authorities discounted underage child labour as “childrenhelping parents in the field”.
Similarly, confusion was about the advance payment tomigrant workers, and associated risks of
forced or bonded labour.
Most of the interventions in the sugarcane sector, either by government authorities or by the
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm of companies, were focused just on “improving
farming techniques to ensure an increase in cane productivity”.

It is been argued that the laws relating to prevention of child labour, mostly, allows child labour in
“family or family enterprises” or allows the child to be “an artist in an audio-visual entertainment
industry”. It excludes a section of toiling children in the unorganized sectors including agriculture as
well as the household work. The laws, some of them, does not define the hours of work and it
simplystates that children may work after school hours or during vacations.
III. RESEARCH PROBLEM:

Though Article 23 (Prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour) and Article 24
(Prohibition of employment of children in factories, etc.) of the Indian constitution has the
safeguards to serve the interest of the children, its ineffective implementation has created a
difficulty and has encouraged child labour. The proposed research would like to seek answers for;
the difficulty in abolition of child labour practice in India with special reference to the Karnataka
State. It will also bear reference to understand why the laws and policies have failed to curb the
child labour in India and to make a special mention of child labourers in the Karnataka State.

IV. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

1. To study the constitutional provisions relating to the child labour.

2. To analyse law and policies enacted for the eradication of child labour in Karnataka.
3. To identify the responsible factors for the growth of child labour.
4. To carry a case study on socio-legal implications of child labours in Karnataka.

V. RESEARCH QUESTION:

1. What are the constitutional safeguards against child labour?

2. What are the law and their legal implications on child labour?
3. What is the role played by the courts in protecting and promoting rights of children in India?
4. Whether the poor implementation of laws on child labour is the major reason for the practice
of child labours in Karnataka?
5. What is the role played by NGOs for preventing child labour?
6. What are the factors within the legal system that facilitates the practice of child labour in
Karnataka?
7. Whether Illiteracy and poverty is the main cause for the practice of child labours?
8. How best we can address the issue and prevent child labour and promote their rights?
VI. HYPOTHESIS:

1. The gaps in the child labour law, poverty and illiteracy are the major reason for the
practice of child Labour.
2. Ineffective implementation of the laws and policies on child labour has encouraged
the child labour in Karnataka State.

VII. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

For the purpose of Research on “CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA WITH SPECIAL

REFERENCE TO KARNATAKA STATE”, a systematic method will be adopted.

The study will be a blend of doctrinal and non-doctrinal method. Constitutional and other legal
provisions, International Instruments such as ILO conventions on child labour, Case laws,
Policies of the government and any other relevant attempt of government to address the difficulty
of the intended research will be studied through Doctrinal method. A non-doctrinal approach
will be adopted to learn the ground realities and the difficulty faced by the child labours in the
state of Karnataka. Primary data shall be collected by doing a Field Study adopting Survey
method, Interview, Questionnaire, Case study etc. Secondary sources like various past field
studies, Reference books, Research journals, Newspaper reports, scholarly articles, census report,
E-resources and alike shall be referred.
VIII. REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

1. ILO: CHILD LABOUR: GLOBAL ESTIMATES 2020. This book trends and the road
forward takes stock of where we stand in the global effort to end child labour. Published
in the United Nations International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour by the
International Labour Organization (ILO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund
(UNICEF), co-custodians of target 8.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
the report describes the scale and key characteristics of child labour today, and changes
over time. In line with child labour estimates produced by the ILO every four years
since 2000, the 2020 calculations are based on the extrapolation of data from national
household surveys. The new estimates use more than 100 household surveys covering
two thirds of the world’s population of children aged 5 to 17 years. What the report tells
us is alarming. Global progress against child labour has stalled for the first time since we
began producing global estimates two decades ago. In addition, without urgent
mitigation measures, the COVID-19 crisis is likely to push millions more children into
child labour.

2. S C Srivastava, Child Labour - Law and Its Implementation, Universal Law Publishing,
2013, New Delhi. This book analyses and highlights, both from the national as well as
international perspective, different aspects related to the problem of Child Labour, inter
alia including, a background and the gravity of the problem, the emerging issues as well
as the initiatives already taken as also those in pipeline along with the achievements
therewith. This book includes conclusions and recommendations from the author to
deal with this problem have been included. This book shall be of great help to students,
academicians, researchers, judges, law practitioners, activists and organisations working
for child welfare.
3. Rohan P. Gideon, Child labour in India: Challenges for theological thinking and
Christian Ministry in India. Indian Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2016,
Bangalore. This book covers on The Prohibition of Child Labour as a concept and also
as a solemn objective has not only national dimensions, but finds a place in
international conventions as well. In India, the grundnorm, the Constitution of India
recognizes and incorporates in Part III and Part IV therein the Fundamental Rights and
 the Directive Principles of State Policy, respectively. There have also been some major
initiatives taken on the legislative front, the latest being the enactment of Child Labour
(Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016. However, we as a nation are still
far from realizing this objective as there is a need to vigorously implement the law.

4. Subrata Sankar Bagchi, Child Labour In a Third World Urban Situation, 2010 Atlantic
Publications, 2010, New Delhi. This book is useful in understanding the child labour
problems prevailing in the third world urban areas. The subject matter of the book is
divided into three detailed chapters. The first two chapters provide a discussion on the
concept and the magnitude of child labour in the third world. Third Chapter is further
divided into nine sections to give focused study on various of child labour,
including educational and economic aspects of child labourers, description of the key
behaviours and statistical analyses of the marginalisation of population and child
labour. It also gives ideas on how a third worldly understanding on this problem can
emerge which is essential for properly comprehending the problem of child labour. The
last section of the book is comprised of valuable data on the subject in the form of
tables.
5. Gurchathen S. Sanghera , Child labour in india: globalization, power, and the politics of
international children’s rights, oxford university press, 2016, New Delhi. This book
explores children’s rights as a site of power and reveals how the rights discourse has
been used by international actors, national elites and local NGOs in the child labour
debate in India. While discussing the children’s rights in the contemporary world, the
author analyses human rights and power along with insights from postcolonial theorists.
He provides empirical accounts of how three Indian NGOs— Bonded Labour
Liberation Front, Butterflies and South Asian Coalitionon Child Servitude—are using
the discourse of children’s rights to challenge child labour practices. Combining global
and local perspectives to arrive at a comprehensive picture, the book locates the
struggle for child rights on two fronts: critiquing neo-liberal globalization and
challenging rights violations in India

6. M Weiner, The Child And The State In India – Child Labor And Education Policy In
Comparative Perspective, Princeton University Press, 1992, New Delhi. India has the
largest number of non-school going working children in the world. Why has the
government not removed them from the labor force and required that they attend
school, as have the governments of all developed and many developing countries? To
answer this question, this major comparative study first looks at why and when other
states have intervened to protect children against parents and employers. By examining
Europe of the nineteenth century, the United States, Japan, and a number of developing
countries, Myron Weiner rejects the argument that children were removed from the
labor force only when the incomes of the poor rose and employers needed a more
skilled labor force. Turning to India, the s that its policies arise from fundamental
beliefs, embedded in the culture, rather than from economic conditions. Identifying the
specific values that elsewhere led educators, social activists, religious leaders, trade
unionists, military officers, and government bureaucrats to make education compulsory
and to end child labour, he explains why similar groups in India do not play the same
role
ARTICLES:

1. “COVID-19 AND CHILD LABOUR: A TIME OF CRISIS, A TIME TO ACT”, ILO-

2020: The International Labour Organization (ILO) has four policy pillars to respond
to the COVID-19 crisis on the basis of international standards. First, stimulate the
economy and employment. Second, support enterprises, jobs and incomes. Third,
protect workers in the workplace. Fourth, rely on social dialogue for solutions. Urging
a society approach, The ILO calls for governments, employers and workers’
organizations to work together on effective policies to respond to all health, social and
economic dimensions of the crisis. Some policy actions, such as social protection, cut
across the four pillars, meaning they should be part of advancing policies in each.

2. COVID-19 IMPACT ON CHILD LABOUR AND FORCED LABOUR, ILO 2020: The
response of the IPEC+ Flagship Programme: COVID-19 has plunged the world into a
crisis of unprecedented scope and scale. Undoubtedly, restoring global health remains
the first priority, but the strict measures required are resulting in massive economic
and social shocks. As lockdown, quarantine, physical distancing and other isolation
measures to suppress transmission continue, the global economy has plunged into a
recession. The harmful effects of this pandemic will not be distributed equally. They
are expected to be most damaging in the poorest countries and in the poorest
neighbourhoods, and for those in already disadvantaged or vulnerable situations,
such as children in child labourand victims of forced labour and human trafficking,
particularly women
 and girls. These vulnerable groups are more affected by income shocks due to the lack
of access to social protection, including health insurance and unemployment benefits.
The ILO’s Flagship International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour and
Forced Labour (IPEC+) has ongoing operations in 62 countries, all of which are
affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The programme has developed business
continuity plans to mitigate the risks and to repurpose its strategy and is seeking to
allocate additional funding to support efforts to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on
child labour, forced labour and human trafficking, particularly in relation to school
closures, business shut downs, unemployment, the loss of livelihoods in affected
communities and a lack of social protection systems.

3. ASHABAJPAI, CHILD RIGHTS IN INDIA: LAW, POLICY AND

PRACTICE, OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2011, NEW DELHI, made an
attempt to integrate the law in the history and field practice. She examined the
important legislation and judgments on the subject, along with the initiatives for
legal reform, interventions 37 by some non governmental organizations (NGO), and
international legal trends. She also highlighted various relevant regional and
international mechanism and international standards of behavior towards children.
She examined the inadequacies in laws and procedures and looked at some examples
andapproaches of current NGO interventions and strategies in the field toenhance
and protect the rights of the child. She also focused on some legal strategies and
law reform recommendations to be carried at all levels from local and national, to
regional and international

4. JAYANTIALAM, (1995), “CHILD LABOUR: COMPULSORY SCHOOLING IS

THE ONLY SOLUTION”, MAINSTREAM, VOL.XXXIII, NO. 16., depicted the
pitiable position of child labour in India. He narrated that 82.82 million children
between the age group 6-14 are not in schools because they are forced to work at home
tendering cattle, taking a care of siblings, collecting firewood, water or even
 working in the fields or outside cottage industries, small eating houses, tea-stalls or as
domestic worker in middle class houses. Quite often they are doomed to beg, pick
rags, work as bonded labour or even as prostitutes. About 13 to 44 million or more
belong to the latter category of unfortunates. He suggested that compulsory schooling
is a proper solution of child labourin India.

5. A.R.M ISMAIL, (1995), “CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA”, MAINSTREAM, VOL.

XXXIII, NO. 52, identified systematic destruction of rural life, menacing spread of
urbanization, commercialization of education and drastic cut in the budgetary
allocation towards various poverty alleviation schemes as the main factors behind the
alarming spread of child labour in India. He also said that India has come to acquire
hasty distinction of possessing the largest child labour force in the world, despite
various measures undertaken by government and nongovernmental agencies to tackle
the exploitation of children.

6. UMESH CHANDRA SAHOO, (1996), “CHILD LABOUR DIMENSIONS IN INDIA:

An Appraisal”, New Delhi, analysed that invariably, backwardness and poverty are
considered as the driving forces for the employment of children. Illiteracy, low social
status, lack of schooling facilities is the reasons to reinforce and stimulate
employment of children. It is no wonder then that the legislative measures have
remained more or less ineffective, except perhaps in organized industries. He found
that the “political will” is strongly biased in favour of the proprietary classes. So long
as, the masses are inert and unorganized, the ruling coalition will try to gain at their
expenses.

7. T.N. KITCHLU, (1996), EXPLOITED CHILD: PERSPECTIVE, DEEP AND DEEP

PUBLICATION, NEW DELHI, established the fact that socio-cultural factors have a
decisive part to play in perpetuation of child labour. He suggested that his pernicious
problem can be tackled through a concerted drive, aimed at awareness generation,
public education, adult literacy etc

8. K.N. BHATT, (2000), “ELIMINATING CHILD LABOUR THROUGH PRIMARY

EDUCATION: The Indian Scenario”, Mainstream, XXXVIII, No. 49, analysed the
role of primary education in eliminating child labour. He highlighted the socio-
 economic factors responsible for the existence of a large number of working children
in the country. He tried to find out why India has utterly failed to fulfill our
constitutional obligation to provide free and compulsory education to every child up
to age of 14 years. He did an attempt to show how it affects the problem of child
labour. He concluded that there is no alternative to free, compulsory and quality
primary education to eliminate child labour. He ensured the right of each child to
education without any further delay. In the end he gave concrete suggestions to
combat the problem of child labour in India.

9. HELEN R. SEKAR, (2002), IMPACT OF REHABILITATION PROGRAMMES ON

CHILD LABOUR, COMMONWEALTH, NEW DELHI, analysed the impact of
various rehabilitation programmes initiated by the government and NGOs on child
labour. He examined the existing inputs in the policy framework and the programmes
of action for dealing with the issue of child labour. He pointed out that the
establishment and running of the special schools is the major activity under the
National Child Labour Project (NCLP) at the ground level. On the basis of field
studies and secondary data, an attempt has been made to examine the effectiveness of
the National Child Labour Project in this study.

10. JAYANTILAL BHANDARI, (2002), “CHILD LABOUR, CHALLENGES

AHEAD”,YOJNA, VOL. 52, NO. 1. The author observes that the child labour
problem was an intense socioeconomic issue in India that required a long-term multi-
pronged strategy to be carried out on a continuous basis. The strategy should include
enforcement of child labour acts, strengthening of child labour, improvement of
economic conditions of the child‟s parents through various 31 poverty alleviation
and employment
 generation programmes. He examined that various child labour elimination
programmes and projects should also be strongly evaluated. A strong enforcement of
the labour acts might be done to ensure legal actions against those who employed
children for work, this evil required awareness and change of approach in all sections
of the society. The author suggests that the government, media and non-government
organisations have to play their proper role in this holistic task, only then child labour
problem could be solved effectively.

11. SUDHA V. RAO, RURAL LABOUR CASE STUDY OF A KARNATAKA VILLAGE,

ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY,Vol. 19, Issue No. 18, 05 May, 1984,
The author gives the introduction of irrigation in the Mandya region and growth of
related non-agricultural activities that has increased the demand for labour both within
and outside the village.

12. G.SHIVAGAMI & T.RAJENDRA PRASAD, 2019. "THE MAGNITUDE OF CHILD

LABOUR IN KARNATAKA," SHANLAX INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF
ECONOMICS, SHANLAX INTERNATIONAL JOURNALS, vol. 7(3), pages 17-20,
June. The author covers the issues pertaining to child labour in Karnataka. The author
says that in all societies irrespective of caste, race or area children occupied a very
important position. A Child is the bud of future citizen of a country. Child labour is
necessitated by economic compulsions of the parents and in many cases of the
children. Widespread unemployment and underemployment among the adult poor are
the main reason which has given rise to child labour. The author also says that the
major reason for hiring children viz., children’s are easier to manage because they are
less aware of rights, less complaining, more trust worthy, less troublesome and no
problems of unions.
 IX. TENTATIVE CHAPTERISATION:
With the help of the above mentionedresources (Methodology), a systematic study is to be done
in order to give a concrete shape to the intended research work. The intended research will be
covered under the below mentioned tentative chapters:

Chapter 1. Introduction

1.1 Introduction to the child labour in India

1.2 Research problem
1.3 Existing legal situation
1.4 Scope and objectives
1.5 Methodology
1.6 Literature review
Chapter 2. Child Labour in India:

The chapter shall lay bare to conditions of child labour in India. It shall analyze the causes
and laws relating to child labour and the role of the State to accord protect to the children.

Chapter 3. The laws and policies on child labour in India

In this chapter laws relating to the child labourers in india will be discussed. The pros and
cons of the laws that might have impacted for the positive development towards
eradication of the child labour shall be studied. The policies of the Indian Government in
facilitating the children affected with child labour shall be studied.

Chapter 4. The laws and policies on child labour in Karnataka.

In this chapter laws relating to the child labourers in Karnataka will be discussed. The
pros and cons of the laws that might have impacted for the positive development towards
eradication of the child labour shall be studied. The policies of the karnataka government
in facilitating the children affected with child labour shall be studied.
Chapter 5. Child Labour in India: Judicial Response
In this chapter will be investigated and analyzed the role of the court for preventing child
labour and promoting their rights.

Chapter 6. Conclusions

Based upon the study conducted, the necessary conclusion shall be drawn and
suggestions shall be made.
X. LITERATURE SURVEY:

BOOKS:

1. “COVID-19 AND CHILD LABOUR: A TIME OF CRISIS, A TIME TO ACT”,

ILO-2020:
2. S C Srivastava, Child Labour - Law And Its Implementation Universal Law
Publishing,2013 New Delhi-110011
3. Rohan P. Gideon, Child Labour in India: Challenges for Theological
Thinking andChristian Ministry in India. 2016 Bangalore- 560038
4. Subrata Sankar Bagchi Child Labour in a Third World Urban Situation Hardcover –
2010Atlantic Publications, New Delhi-110002
5. Gurchathen S. SangheraChild Labour in India: Globalization, Power, and the Politics
of International Children’s Rights Hardcover – 2016, Oxford University press,
New Delhi-110011
6. M Weiner, The Child and the State in India – Child Labor and Education Policy in
Comparative Perspective Paperback – 1992, Princeton University Press, New Delhi
110011
7. G S Sanghera, Child Labour in India, Oxford University Press (2016)
8. Neera Burra, Born to Work: Child Labour in India, Oxford University Press (1997)
9. Asha Bajpai, Child Rights in India: Law, Policy, and Practice, Oxford University
Press (2008)
10. Anamitra Roychowdhury, Labour Law Reforms in India: All in the Name of
Jobs, Routledge (2018)

Mrs. Mangala TP Dr. Sumant Kumar

Research Scholar Supervisor

Date: August 2021
Place:

SUGGESTION LIST BY THE VIVA

PANEL

(THE FOLLOWING ARE THE CHANGES MADE AS PER THE OPINION AND
GUIDANCE OF Dr. VINETHA SHIVAKUMAR and Dr. SYAMKUMAR RS)

1. Dr. Syamkumar R S has suggested making a mention of the recent data on child labour, the
same
 is incorporated in the background part.
2. Dr. Vineetha Sivakumar suggested collecting the data for research topic from various
sources viz. RTI and Government reports. The same shall be incorporated in the thesis.
The collection of the said data shall be made during the course of the research study
subsequently.

Dr. Vinetha also suggested reflecting the field study in the objective and the same is
incorporated.

Dr. Vinetha also suggested focusing on the recent developments pertaining to the child
labour problems in India. The same is considered as a part of the research problem, a
thorough study will be done during the course of the research study.

Second time suggestions by the viva panel

1. Dr.bhoomanna Reddy sir has suggested that to mention the provisions and laws
relating to abolition of child labour system and also suggested that search any other
laws and recent Amendment of the child labour abolishing system.

2. Dr.Sumant sir has suggested that to find out the total number factories situated in
mandya district

3. Dr. Kiran mam has suggested that to collect more data on child labour abolition system

18
➢ DETAILS OF IMPROVEMENTS MADE IN THE RESEARCH SYNOPSIS
ON THE RECOMMENDATION BY THE VIVA- PANEL ON 02 SEPT. 2020
1. Objectives are reframed

i. To study the constitutional provisions relating to the child labour in India.

ii. To analyse law and policies enacted for the eradication of child labour in
India. iii. To identify the responsible factors for the growth of child labour in
Brick factories. iv. To carry a case study on child labours in the Brick factories
in Mandya District.
2. Research problem are reframed:

Though Article 23 (Prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour) and Article
24 (Prohibition of employment of children in factories, etc.) of the Indian constitution has
the safeguards to serve the interest of the children, its ineffective implementation has
created a difficulty and has encouraged child labour. The proposed research would like to
seek answers for; the difficulty in abolition of child labour practice in the Brick factories
in India. To understand the why the laws and policies have failed to curb the child labour
in Brick factories and to make a special mention of child labourers in the Brick factories
of Mandya District.

3. CHAPTERS ARE RESTRUCTURED:

Chapter 1. Introduction

1.1 Introduction to the child labour in india

1.2 Research problem

1.3 Existing legal situation

1.4 Scope and objectives

 1.5 Methodology

1.6 Literature review

Chapter 2. The laws and policies on child labour in India.

Chapter 3. The laws and policies on child labour in Karnataka.

Chapter 4. A Case Study of the Child labours in the Brick factories in Mandya District.

Chapter 5. Conclusions