1.

0 INTRODUCTION

There is no trust more sacred than the one the world holds with children.
There is no duty more important than ensuring that their rights are
respected, that their welfare is protected, that their lives are free from fear
and want and that they can grow up in peace.-Kofi Annan

Children are like mirror, who reflect the future image of a nation. If any
body wants to know a nation, he should see its children. Children are not
only the future of any nation but also strength in reserve for a nation. They
are the crops which feed the future. If they are healthy and active, educated
and informed, disciplined and trained, the future of a nation is well insured,
and if they are wanting in the above aspects the future of a nation is doomed
to disaster. Labour is worshiped, no doubt, but it must be expected from and
exacted upon those who are fit for it. Misplaced labour is dangerous to one
who does it and to those who gets the fruits out of it. History is replete with
instances when nations have come up or gone down the basis of the
treatment the younger generation got the hands of those in the saddle.

It is in this context that the present study would be concerned with the vital
aspects of child labour and its evil consequences.

Child labour is a common phenomenon in almost all countries of the third

world. What is still worse is 50 percent do not get the basic needs of life, and
30 percent are without shelter from the sun, rain, or cool. They suffer from
hidden hunger, as referred in the U.N. Jargon Invisible Malnutrition.
Exploitation of child labour is everybody talk in these days and require
special and immediate action to save the future generation of persons in the
nation building (workers) from exploitation. Childrens programme should
find prominent place in our national Policy for the development of human
resources so that our children grow up to become robust citizens, physically
fit, mentally healthy and morally sound. The existing economic disorder
where prosperity of few is dependent on the poverty of many is the very
negation of the concept of universal respect of human rights. Exploitation of
child labour in both the spheres- organised sector and unorganized sector is a
modern surrealistic problem which needs global movements for immediate
attention and fullest remedial action to set right the wrong that are being
perpetuated. However, it has become a major perennial social evil of the
world including of our country and no suitable remedy has been tried out so
far. No doubt much has been done to prohibit child labour legally but in
reality it is not to see an occupation without child labour.

Around 250 million children around the world work and many of them are at
risk from hazardous and exploitative labour. Denied education and trapped
in shackles of poverty and illiteracy, loosing their basic human rights for
their childhood and even their lives are in jeopardy.

Human Rights and Civil Liberties are two facets of the same coins. The
underlying assumption of the concept of human rights and civil liberties is
the need to preserve freedom, liberty and human dignity of mankind. Liberty
postulates the creation of a climate wherein there is no suppression of the
human spirit, wherein there is no denial of the opportunities for the full
growth of human personality and wherein there is no servility of the human
mind of enslavement of the human body.
(1) Concepts of Human Rights

The concept of human rights is the result of mans inhumanity to man.

The maxim of law is ubi jus ibi remedium which means that there is no
right without a remedy and hence the maxim of history has been, there is no
right without a wrong. The story of human rights is, thus a story of human
wrongs.

The struggle for human rights has always been a continuous attempt to
respond to the ideals of humanism in a better way and these ideals demand
implementation by providing to each justice, equality and liberty as well as
the rule of law. Hence, these key words are central to any discussions
pertaining to human rights. Inherent dignity and worth of every human being
(inclusive of child labour) has to be recognized and this is the foundation of
human rights system. It also incorporates the willingness to participate in the
solution of common problem of human kind, to contribute the maintenance
of the rule of law, and to make efforts for the advancement of equality and
justice. If we take a note of the significant events of history in the direction
of human freedom we find that Declaration of rights took place on various
occasions in different forms. In 1215, the Magna-Carta sought to protest the
rights of the people by placing restrictions on the power of the king. The
American Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776. The
significance of the declaration lies in the assertion that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights
that among these are life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Inspired by the
American Declaration of Independence, the French National Assembly in
1789 formulated the Declaration of the rights of Man. This Declaration is an
obvious reflection of the ideals, which lay behind the French Revolution. It
is a complete code of the principles of constitutional government and the
rule of law and is the first of its kind.

It is a matter of glory to note that there is growing recognition of basic

inalienable human rights at various foras. The International community
represented at the United Nations has not only taken the initial steps in its
long journey towards the goal but also set the meaning and directions of that
journey. It has spelt out that the welfare and development of mankind
includes universal respect for an observance of human rights and
fundamental freedom for all without distinction as to race, colour, sex,
language, religion, politics, and other beliefs, birth or other status.
 2.0 CHILD AND CHILD LABOUR

As per Article 24 of the Constitution of India says no child below the age of
fourteen years shall be employed in any factory or mine or engaged in any
other hazardous employment and (Ninety- third Constitution Amendment)
says Article 21(a) states that the state shall provide free and compulsory
education to all children below the age of six to fourteen years in such
manner as the state may be determine. Article 45 states that the state shall
endeavor to provide early childhood care and education for all children until
they complete the age of six years. Article 51(k) lays down a duty that the
parents or guardians should provide opportunities fore education to his
child/ward between the age of six and fourteen years. According to the
United Nation Convention of the rights of the Child, 1989 define child mean
any person below the age of eighteenth years. As per the Indian penal Code,
1860 a child is a person who has not yet attained the ability to understand
what is crime or not and its consequences might be. Then it means that if a
child is under seven years of age and he commits a crime, then he will not be
responsible for his acts as per IPC he is a doli incapax (incapable of
understanding the nature, quality and consequences of the act). It can be
raised up to twelve years. According to Section 4(a) of Hindu Minority and
Guardianship Act, 1956 defines a minor as a person who has not completed
the age of eighteen years. According to Children Marriage Restraint Act,
1929 the age factor for determining child for the marriage is twenty one
years in case of boys and eighteen years in case of girls. For the purpose of
the special treatment under the Juvenile Justice Act, 1986 the age prescribed
was sixteen years in case of boys and eighteen years in case of girls. Now
under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2000, the age is
eighteen years for both boys and girls. As per Apprentice Act, 1961, a person
is qualified to be engaged as an apprentice only if he is not less than fourteen
years of age and satisfies such standards of education and physical fitness as
may be prescribed. According to Army Head Recruitment Regulation the age
of recruitment in army ranges from sixteen to twenty five years. Person
recruited at the age of sixteen years undergo basic military training for up
to two and half years from the date of enrolment and on completing nineteen
years of age, they are inducted in to regular service. According to majority
Act, 1974 the age of majority has been fixed at eighteen years. Under the
Vaccination Act, 1880 children have been defined as person who have not
attained the age of fourteen years in case of boys and eighteen years in case
of girls. According to Reformatory School Act, 1887 youth offender
means any boy who has been convicted of any offence punishable with
imprisonment for life or death and whoa the time of such conviction, was
under the age of fifteen years. According to employment of Children Act,
1938, no child who has not completed his fifteen years shall be employed or
permitted to work in any occupation.

No child who has not completed his fifteen years but has not completed his
seventeen years shall be employed or permitted to work in any occupation
unless the period of work of such a child for any day are so fixed as to allow
an interval of rest for at least time twelve consecutive hours shall include at
least seven hours between 10 p.m. and 7a.m. as may be prescribed .. No
child who has not completed his fourteen year shall be employed or
permitted to work in any workshop within any of the processes set forth in
the schedule is carried on. According to U.P. Children Act, 1951 child
means a person under the age of sixteen years. According to the Plantation
of labour Act, 1951 child means a person who has not completed his
fourteen year. According to Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and
Girls Act, 1956 girl means a female who has not completed the age of
twenty one years. According to Orphanage and Charitable Homes
(Supervision and Control) Act, 1960,child means a boy or girl who has not
completed the age of eighteen years. According to Children Act,
1960,child means a boy who has not attained the age of sixteen years in
case of boy or girl who has not attained the age of eighteen years. According
to Motor Transport Act, 1961 child means a person who has not completed
his fourteen years. Section 21 of the Act provides no child shall be required
or allowed to work in any capacity in any motor transport undertaking.
Section 22 lays down no adolescent shall be required or allowed to work as
a motor transport worker in any motor transport undertaking unless- (a)
certificate of fitness granted with reference to him under Section 23 is in the
custody of the employer, and ;(b) such adolescent carries with him he is at
work a token giving a reference to such a certificate. Adolescent as per
definition of this Act says a person who has completed the age of fourteen
years but has not completed his eighteen years. Under the Radiation
Protection Rules, 1971 framed under the Atomic energy Act, 1962 child
has been defined as a person below the age of eighteen years of age.
According to Beedi and Cigar Workers (Condition of Employment) Act,
1966 defines child means a person who has not completed fourteen years
of age. Section 24 of the Act says no child shall be required or allowed to
work in any industrial premises. According to Section 2(2) of the U.P.
Dookan Aur Vanijya Adhistham Adhiniyam, 1962 child means a person
who has not completed his fourteen years. Section 1 of the Act clearly says
no child shall be required or allowed to work in any shop or commercial
establishments except as an apprentice in such employment as may be
notified by the state government in the gazette. According to definition of
Children (Pledging of labour) Act, 1933 says 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. According to Factories Act, 1948, a
child in order to work in a factory should be at least fifteen years of age. An
adolescent between fifteen and eighteen years can be allowed to work in a
factory only if he obtains a certificate of fitness from an authorized medical
doctor. Besides the working hours should not be exceed four and half hours
in case the above conditions are satisfied. According to Mines Act, 1952 a
person must be eighteen years of age. If he is less than eighteen, it is strictly
prohibited to employ such a person. Mine of any type comes under this Act.
According to Minimum Wage Act, 1948 child means a person who has not
completed his fourteen years. As per definition of Child labour (Prohibition
and Regulation) Act, 1986 child means a person who has not completed his
fourteen years of age.

The word child labour has been defined in various studies. The term child
labour is, at times used as a synonym for employed child or working
child. In this sense it is co-extensive with any work done by a child for
profit or reward. But more commonly than not, the term child labour used
in a derogatory sense. Thus, child labour is recognized by the sociologists,
development workers, educationists and medical professionals as hazardous
and injurious to the child, both physically and mentally.
V.V. Giri ha thus distinguished the two concepts of the child labour: The
term child labour is commonly interpreted in two different ways: first, as
an economic practice and secondly as a social evil. In the first context it
signifies employment of children in gainful occupation with a view to
adding to the labour income of the family. It is in the second context that the
term labour is now more generally used. In assessing the nature and extent
of the social evil, it is necessary to take into account the character of the jobs
on which the children are engaged, the dangers to which , they are exposed
and the opportunities development which they have been defined. A
consensual validation definition of child labour is not presently available
either in the national or international level. Any such definition is predicated
upon the precise meaning we attach to the components of the term child
labour i.e. child in the terms of his chronological age and labour in terms
of its nature, magnitude and income generating group. Child labour,
however can be broadly defined as that segment of the child population
which participates in a work either pair or unpaid. The term child labour a
convenient expression for the labour of children has a well recognized
though rather vague meaning. It refers both to an economic practice and to
the attendant social evil. As economic practice signifies employment in the
so-called gainful occupation or a material contribution to the labour income
of the family as in the period before the wages and factory system or today
in agriculture on the home farm. It extent is readily means used by quantitive
standards that is used by the United States of Occupations and nothing but
an age line differentiates it from adult labour. Whereas the extent of child
labour as a social evil is determinable only by methods of qualitative
analysis with consideration of the character of the actual jobs in which
children are engaged, the dangers to which they are subjected in their work
and the desirable opportunities of which they are deprived by reasons of
their being gainfully occupied.

International Labour Organization(1983) has also defined child labour

which includes children prematurely leading adult lives, working long hours
for a low wages under conditions damaging to their health and to their
physical and mental development, sometime separated from their families
frequently deprived of meaningful education and training opportunities that
could open up for them a better future.
Nature of Problem

Child labour is not a new phenomenon to our age. It has existed in one form
or another in all historical times. What is, however, new is its perception as a
social problem. There has been a distant change in the recent past in the
value orientation and attitudinal ethos of the legitimizing groups of society
vis--vis child labour because of various developments. In the pre-industrial
agricultural society of India, children worked as helpers and learners in
hereditarily determined family occupation under the benign supervision of
adult family members. The workplace was an extension of the home and
work was characterized by personal and informal relationships. The tasks
and technology that work involved were simple and non-hazardous which
the child could learn smoothly, almost unconsciously, over the years through
imitation and associations. Family-ism was the dominant sentiment and
each for all and all for each was the general norm that governed the family
functioning. The childs interests and welfare were well protected in the
family and the family guaranteed security in all eventualities.

The social scenario, however, changed radically with the advent of

industrialization and urbanization. Under the impact of the newly generated
forces, there was an unbroken stream of the rural poor migrating to urban
centers in search of livelihood. The new habitat vouchsafed them survival
but reduced their life to a heap of miseries. The family members no longer
worked as a team and in caste-sanctioned occupations. The child had to
work as an individual person either under an employer or independently
without enjoying the benevolent protection of his guardian. His work place
was divorced and totally dissimilar from his home. His job exposed him to
various kinds of health hazards emanating from the extensive use of
chemicals and poisonous substances in industries and the pollutants
discharged by them. His work was repetitive, monotonous and unpromising.
His hours of work stretched long but his earnings were meagre. His
employer, in most of the instances maltreated him and exploited him
unscrupulously. His work environment thus endangered his physical health
and mental growth. The protection and welfare of these children, therefore,
become an issue of paramount significance which society could have over at
a greater peril. Another sociological factor accentuating the visibility of the
problematic aspect of child labour was the emergence of welfare
consciousness on a global scale. The industrial revolution in the West
generated such vast demands for manpower to handle a wide variety of jobs
that even children had to be pressed into service. Contemporary writing
reveal under what atrocious conditions these children had to work in coal
mines and textile mills. However, once the West built its affluence and
baneful effects of child labour became outrageously manifest, the state took
appropriate measures to undo the evil. The welfare measures enunciated had
a universal appeal to human conscience and they were thoughtfully
embodied in various resolution of the ILO and other organs of the United
Nations. Countries of the third world, after their emancipation from colonial
domination, also embraced a number of these measures, even though their
social and economic infrastructure was too underdeveloped to meet fully
their commitments. The free India has similarly embodied its Constitution
many provisions establishing thereby the normative superiority of welfare
considerations over the economic one and has endeavoured to weed out the
antagonism between child labour and child development.
The other factor highlighting the evil aspect of child labour is the recent
advances in various sciences having a bearing on the child. Today, scientific
knowledge has revolutionized our outlook on the care of child and his
developmental imperatives. Diffusion on this knowledge has created a new
awareness in the major institutions of society as to the relationship the child
stood have with his milieu, his need objects and his work etc.

Child labour, of late has evoked had deep concern among all who link the
features of the country with the present of the child. Child labour is viewed
no less a scourge effecting the destiny of the child than his mal-nutrition or
morbidity. However, we must make a distinction between child labour and
exploitation of child labour. Both are a problem though of different orders.
Child labour as distinguished from work experiences has mostly negative
attributes. It can now be asserted on scientific grounds that work as a
directly fulfillment of childs natural abilities and creative potentialities is
always conducive to his healthy growth. But work when takes up as a means
for the fulfillment of some other needs, becomes enslaving in character and
deleterious in its impact. Labour is work of the later type irrespective of the
degree of strain or exploitation involved in it. Work by its nature is
enriching. The basic attributes of work are purpose, plan and freedom. When
they are conspicuously absent, work becomes labour. Labour in the case of
the child especially is harmful because the energy that should have been
expended on the nurturing of his latent powers is consumed for the purpose
of bare survival. Child labour assumes the character of a social problem in as
much as it hinders arrests or distorts the natural growth, processes and
prevents the child from attaining his full- blown manhood. When the
business of wage earning or of participation in self or family support directly
or work in childhood is primarily developmental and not economic. Children
s work then as a social good, is the direct, anthesis of child labour as a good
evil.

Child labour is as much the cause as consequence of adult unemployment

and under- employment. It once supplements and depresses the family
income. Child labour is not only a subsidy to industry but a direct
inducement to the payment of low wages to adult workers. The entrance of
children into the labour market reduces the volume of employment for the
adult and lowers the bargaining power of adult workers. Rigours of
childhood employment results in a permanently weakened and damaged
labour force. Child labour involves the use of labour at its point of lowest
product activity hence it is an inefficient utilization of labour power. The
argument that employment of children increases the earnings of the family
and keeps children away from mischief is misleading. It glasses over the fact
that child labour deprives children of educational opportunities minimizes
their chances for vocational training , stunts their physical growth, hampers
their intellectual development and, by forcing them into the army of
unskilled labourers or blind alley jobs , condemn them to low wages all their
lives.

.
Nature of Child work

Children are involved in all type of work. In agriculture children are

employed not in agricultural operations but in non-agricultural operation
also. They are employed in such diverse agricultural operations as
ploughing, sowing, transplanting, weeding, harvesting, threshing and
guarding the crops etc.

In plantations, child labour is a part of family labour. They assist their

parents in plucking of leaves and coffee berries or collecting of latex , or
they do some secondary job such as , weeding , spreading of fertilizers , the
care of nurseries , digging of drains etc. They are also employed to pick out
stalks and coarse leaves of the tea spread over the green leaves in the
shadow.

In Sivakasi (Tamil Nadu) match factories, children are put to work at frames
filling box, box filling and bundle rolling operations and at times work is
carried home. Similarly, in bidi industries, children helps the adults in cut
ting and cleaning of the leaves and when bidies rolled up children do the
work of binding and closing of the ends of the bidies. Some children are also
engaged to do the rolling work with their nimble fingers.

In pencil industries, children work amidst hazardous slate dust that

condemns to early disability and death from lung diseases. Similarly, in gem
cutting and polishing industries of Jaipur, children are exposed to
exploitation. During the first year of their entrance in the gem cutting and
polishing, they work as helpers, learn cutting of gems on abrasive wheels
and also do such jobs as cleaning of the premises, etc. after one year they
learn how to shape stones by grinding facets on them. They take about four
to five years to learn cutting shaping, and drum-polishing of uncut or
unshaped stones. Then they learn polishing of facetted stones on finer
grinding wheels. Within next two or three years, their output is comparable
to that of average-adults. Mostly they work on job basis in unhealthy
environment and there is absolutely no security of job.

Similarly in potteries industry in Khurja in Bulandshahr District of Uttar

Pradesh, children carry empty moulds to the worker who works on Jigger
jolly machine and carry the filled moulds out to dry in the sun. The boys
who do this job are called phantiwalas; the phanti being a piece of wood
on which five or six moulds are carried. When the pots are partially dry,
these children take them to the adult workers engaged on the finishing job.
Thus a weight of eight to ten kilograms, and sometimes even more then that,
is carried in every round by a child engaged in these industries. This weight
is too much for children of tender age, and their hands and legs often tremble
after every round. The regular carrying of heavy weights by young children
for long hours often causes physical deformity in them. Similarly, in
brickyards, children are made to carry heavy loads which often leave them
injured, weakened and even crippled. The supreme court of India has taken
so many steps in proper implementation of child labour act 12

1 Bandhua Mukti Morcha v. Union of India

2 Neerja Chaudhary v. State of Madhya Pradesh

 In carpet factories of Bhadoi and Mirzapur of Uttar Pradesh, the child
weaver has to work under such strenuous conditions which ultimately
damage his eyesight, and may also result into backache and other physical
disabilities.

In glass-bangle industries of Firozabad of Uttar Pradesh , a large numbers of

children work as helpers in almost every process of manufacture such as
Jurai (joining of ends), Katai (cutting ),Jhalai (patching), Chunai
(sorting), Pakai (baking) and Hilringold(ornamentation). Most of these
processes are extremely hazardous even for the adults, especially the
blowing of the molten glass into required shapes, and expose the worker to
various lung diseases. Children carry molten glass on labyas (a sort of iron
rod) from the furnace to the adult worker and then back to the furnace for
replenishment. The temperatures in these furnaces ranges between 700 C to
800 C which often causes burn injuries and accidents to child workers

In lock industries of Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, children are employed in almost

of all the processes of manufacturing and packing. They are made to work
on hand-presses, polishing drums, buffing machines, electroplating devices
and in spray-painting unit as well as, for filing of various components,
spring making, assembling and packing. In lock industries the available
data go to show that the processes of polishing, buffing, electroplating,
spray-painting and operating of the hand-presses are relatively more
hazardous to the health of child workers.

A number of children are employed in unorganized sector and they work as

domestic servants ; or as workers in hotels, restaurants , canteens , dhabas
(road-side cafes) , petrol pumps , way side shops and establishments, or as
hawkers , magazine and newspaper sellers, fruits and peanuts sellers,
coolies , shoe-shine boys , rag pickers , vendors , car cleaners, parked car
watch-boys , or helpers and motor repairing workshops, tailoring shops , or
as messengers etc. The children are also taken with their parents in
construction work for loading, unloading and breaking of stones etc.

The most nefarious, rather barbarian form of child exploitation is the

practice of bonded labour. The child is handed over by the parents to the
loaner as security or collateral security against small sums of loan obtained
at an exorbitant rate of interest. The bonded child usually gets only a handful
of coarse grain for his sustenance. He has to toil very hard and exist the least
hope of redemption. The mortgagee is usually some big landlord, money
lender or the village businessman, and the mortgagor is the poor landless
labourer.

Causes of Child labour

The plight of child labour is very deplorable. It has its roots in the social
conventions, traditions and morals of society and the children have been
exploited due to these customs and traditions. It is looked upon as a social
evil and the social scientists are now giving much importance to this study
of problems and development of children. The problem of child labour,
however, in India is not of any single isolated factor. It is a multidimensional
problem that involves various reasons contributing to this problem in a
variety of ways. Some of the foremost factors responsible for prevalence and
perpetuation for child labour are

(i) continued poverty

(ii) inadequate income of parents
(iii) unemployment
(iv) self interest of employers
(v) cheap labourers
(vi) indebtedness
(vii) suitability of specific jobs .

Apart from economic reasons, the fast erosion of social, cultural and
moral values scenario also change with the advent of industrialization
and urbanization and child labour became inescapable fallout of
increasing urbanization along with exploding population. Over and above
this another important reason is the employer anxiety to lure child labour
as they may do the same amount of work as that off an adult but cost less
in terms of wages.

The unorganized sector nearly consists of 90 percent of the child labour.

Recourse to child labour can be attributed to a variety of causes. In
developed countries where the proportion of working children is small, they
go to work chiefly in order to earn some pocket money and to provide the
extra hands needed in agriculture, particularly in the sowing and harvesting
seasons. In less developed countries where child labour is very widespread,
its causes are many and varied, it is one of a number of socio-economic and
cultural phenomenons whose effects are mutually reinforcing. The children
are required to seek job either to augment to income of their families at
various places. The evil of employment of children in agriculture and
industrial sectors in India is a product of economic, social and among others
inadequate legislative measures. The factors giving rise to child labour are
multifarious.

(1) Economic Factors

Stronger than socio-cultural factors, are the economic reasons responsible

for the prevalence and perpetuation of child labour, because child labour is
essentially a problem of poor and destitute families, who have no option but
to send the child for work in order to keep the wolf away from the door.
Child labour exists in inverse relation to the degree of economic
advancement, of a society, country or region. The economic compulsion may
be characterized as under:-

i) Poverty:-

Poverty is both causative and consequential to many problems in society,

particularly in a country like India. The most important cause of child labour
under the concept of economic factor is chronic poverty. The unequal
distribution of wealth resulting in chronic poverty where the child is forced
to work. Half of the population of India lives below the poverty line,
children of these families have the option of either to die of starvation to see
employment. The M.S. Gurupadsawmy Committee, 1979 pointed out in its
Report that the chronic poverty that the chronic poverty is the strongest
factor for the prevalence and perpetuation of child labour. According to the
statement of the then Planning Minister of Lok Sabha on February 26 , 1981
that out of 31`6 million people fall below the poverty line,118 million of
them are children. Out of118 million children, 99 million are in rural areas
and 19 million are in urban areas.

The parents of poverty-ridden population are faced with bewildering

question as to whether they should send their children to school to learn or
to send them for labour to increase the income of their starving families.
Poverty forces the parents to send their children for labour because increase
in their income is essential for the survival of the family. Illness and other
events demanded extra money in hand and the employment of children is to
be quick and easily accessible way to get it. The death of father of guardian
of a poor child, forces the child to go to employment for the survival of the
family.

The word poverty also pointed out in the case popularly known as Asiad
Workers Case3 and the Apex Court observed that We are aware of that the ,
problem of child labour is a difficult problem and it is purely on account of
economic reasons that parents of often want their children to be employed in
order to be able to make two ends meals. The possibility of augmenting their
meagre earning through employment of children is very often the reason
why parents do not send their children to school, and there are large drops
3 People for Union for Democratic Rights v. Union of India
out from the schools. This is an economic problem and it cannot be solved
merely by legislation. So long as there is poverty and destitution in this
country it will be difficult top eradicate child labour.

(ii) Inadequate Income of Parents :-

Child labour is a much cause of consequence of inadequate wages of

parents which compels them to send their children to do some work in return
of some wage to supplement the essentials needs of the family. Parents are
the main reason for rampant prevalent of this malady. These parents do not
consider child labour as evil. The childs workers have to work for much
more time than adult workers whether in the agricultural or non-agricultural
sectors

(iii) Unemployment:-

The another reason for the cause of the child labour is the unemployment of
adult workers. Unemployment cannot be treated as a mere economic
problem. It is complicated psycho-social problems affecting every aspect of
human life. The state of unemployment in more than of the poor and turns
the weak into a crippled. Poverty deepens his spirit but unemployment kills
mercilessly. Child labour is high due to the unemployment of adult members
of the family. Unemployment forces the adult to send their children for work
and partly employment of the adult also compels the children to go for
labour.

According to the official report, the unemployment in April 1992 was

estimated to be 47 million . On the basis of the surveys on employment and
underemployment conducted by national Sample Survey organization in
1983 and 1987-88, the net increase in usual principal of status employment
between 1983 and 1987- 88 was estimated at 32 million. Thus, children who
leave school and enter the labour force before the age of15 years find
themselves unqualified to few anything but casual low-income form of
work. Many of these children enter the labour force because of poverty or
unemployment of their parents or parents oblige them to become secondary
workers. For certain in casual forms of begging with services s, children
may well have a higher opportunity of income than adults. Indeed, whereas
high employment has a strong discouragement effect on the urban labour
force participation role of teenagers, it is likely that there is often a net
additional workers effect for children under the age of about 12.

iv) Children as cheap Labour: -

With the advent of industrializations the tendency among the employees is to

have quick and more profits at low costs. Hence, in every developing
country there was an enrolment of children in age number of factories and
preferences of child labour by many employers is mainly due to the fact that
there is a cheap and safe without any liability. The problem of child labour
manifests itself in two different forms. In one, the child labour is used
without any remuneration and in the other, it is paid more subsistence wages.
The children who work without wages are mainly those engaged in family
farms and other family enterprises besides those who have been handed over
to the unscrupulous exploiters in discharge of an obligation and those who
had been separated from their parents owing to abject poverty and
destitution. As the child workers are paid extremely low wages it results in
malnutrition on the one hand and hard physical labour on the other which
subjects the child work to constant deterioration in terms of health and
medical care and shortens his life span in the long run.

v) Migration from Rural Areas to Urban Areas:-

Migrant seems to encourage easily employment of children. As many as 80

percent of the children of migrant are workers. Large numbers of migrants in
big cities and large proportion of their children being employed is another
proof of economic helplessness and consequent apathy of the child labourers
in urban centers are the uncared for children of migrants who have suddenly
catapulated from the rural obscurity to the congested urban slums and the
children have no option but to go with the parents in search of work.

vi) Indebtedness:-

Indebtedness of the poverty stricken family compels the children more to

sell their labour in order to repay the family debt.

vii) Suitability of specific jobs: -

There are certain jobs which may be more suitable for children due to their
childhood characteristics vis--vis nature of their work. There are various
manufacturing units and bangle where children are preferred such as the
glass bangle and industry, match and fireworks manufacture, carpet-weaving
etc. The reason given by the entrepreneurs is that they have soft, nimble
fingers and are hence able to do the job better than the adults.

Children are taught certain crafts at a very early age to make them proficient
in the job. It is a recognized fact that in childhood the body is more flexible
and pliable and can hence bend, twist, stretch and more easily to acquire
postures required for particular Jobs. It is both that physical and mental
adjustment which is required in the learning process. Even musician and
dancers start to train their children at the early age of 5 or 6.It is for the same
reason that draftsman train their young children in their hereditary crafts
because the nimble fingers and keen age sight of early childhood are an asset
in the learning process. Carpet weaving, pottery, silk and cotton weaving,
zari (brocade) work, wood carving, engraving etc are some of the traditional
crafts taught to young children with in their homes.

2) Societal Factors

Along with the economic factor, the psychological, social and cultural
factors are also interdependent with the economic system, with in which
they operate e.g. at a broader level. The role of the children are associated
with the values which parents attach top children with the images of the
future which parents hold and with the objectives underlying particular
levels of fertility. In, India parents see the birth of children as a means of
adding to the household force. In their view the child comes into the world
with one mouth to eat and two hands to work. Of course, they see children
also as providing happiness companionship and psychological satisfaction.
The societal factors are also discussed under the following heads.

(i) Enlarged families: -

Enlarged families with low income can not afford to nourish high ideals
and notions but family ties. As a result they cannot provide a protected
childhood to their children. If the composition of the family is small and
well planned, there will hardly be any need of sending their children to
 work in order to earn. The children of small families can be carefully
looked after and educated. But the illiterate parents think that when god
has given the body, he will nourish it also. They also think that extra
children mean extra income. If one family has just one or two children,
that family will provide all such facilities to their children which are
necessary for their mental, physical and social growth. Small families can
eradicate the problem of child labour from the society.

(ii) Agrarian Social Attitude:-

Indian society continues to be essentially agrarian in character and a

recognized feature of rural employment is its seasonality. During the peak
society and harvesting season, there is tremendous demand for labour. In
order to earn the maximum possible income almost every rural labour
household mobilizes the entire family labour force, including children to
contribute, howsoever insignificantly, towards family income.

Increasing landlessness among the rural households sis also responsible for
child labour in the agricultural sector.

(iii) Unsuitable for education:-

Absence of any provision for compulsory education is another cause of

child labour. School facilities are also inadequate. In most of the cases,
children finding non availability of school-going facilities is initial stage
seek some job as an alternative.

The poor parents feel that educating the child will not help to feed whereas
as working child brings money into the home to take care of certain basic
needs. The choice is normally made by the parents of slightly better
economic ground and this form of child labour is found in an unorganized
sector like automobile workshops , fuelling stations, and small engineering
workshop.

(iv) Parental Attitudes and perception:-

In ancient India, tradition of educational learning outside home was

confined to the upper caste only. Children of artisans and other producing
classes leant the necessary skill in the family. Formal education had little
relevance to them. Some parents still pursue this tradition and do not
believe in the socio-economic value of formal education. Their children
are inducted in the work-culture from the very beginning. Another belief
which has been handed down from generation among the poor strata of
the society is that more hands in the family mean more income. This
tendency is not only responsible for the population explosion but also for
the perpetuation and child labour.

Lowers the education of parents, the lower is the educational aspiration for
their children. Thus, the loss educated parents tend to place lower value on
their childrens education and therefore, put them to work at an early age.
Thus the nature of parental attitude and perceptions tend to influence the
employment of children to an extent.

(v) Absence of Schemes for Family Allowances:-

In India, there is a conspicuous absence of schemes for family allowances ,

so that people may have an adequate standard of living and may not be
forced to sent their children to the labour market. These schemes comes
under the social security was which are in practice in many developed
countries, but not in our country. Therefore the unfavorable condition at
home is another direct cause of child labour. These conditions may be
tension, and uncertainly, provoked or increased by poverty. The father may
have died or left home, and then the mother may be alone. The father and
mother or both may have fallen ill become physically unfit to work. All
these favourable conditions upset the smooth balance of the family budget,
leaving the family but to send the children to work. These starving families
would prefer bare bread instead of the hope of the buttered bread in future.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF CHILD LABOUR

The prevalence of child labour has been more or less in all periods of time
though varied in its nature and dimension, depending on the existing socio-
economic structure of society. In the past, child labour has been a part of the
social organization in which all members pooled their labour to produce for
the subsistence and survival. This was particularly true of rural subsistence
framing where the work of the child formed part of the labour necessary for
the reproduction of the system and value of labour taken as part of childs
specialization for reproduction of the labour power. Child labour in the
different periods has a chequered history and presents a vivid account of
child sad plight. It may be discussed under the following heads:

(A) Child labour in Ancient India.

Though there is a little evidence of the employment of children for wages,

but if child slavery could be regard as that, the existence of child labour in
ancient India, can not be denied. Slaves of tender ages, often less than eight
years of age, were owned for doing low and ignoble work. Children of
slaves were born as slaves, lived as slaves and died as slaves unless the
master was pleased to monument them. It has been noticed that almost all
the law-givers with the solitary exception of Kautilya, were silent on this
point, and did little to abolish this inhuman practice of keeping child slaves.

As regards child labour in ancient India, it can be said that it existed in the
form of child slaves. Child slave could be purchased or sold like
commodities. While dealing with slavery Kautilya stated that the purchase or
sale of children as slaves was not forbidden amongst the Mlechachas for
they were backward and savage but an Aryan could in no case be allowed to
remain a slave. In case of a child born out of an Arya (not of a slave) was
sold or purchased or pledged with someone, both the parties to deal were
punished even the witness to it were not spared punishment. They were
awarded various degree of punishment. Kautilya also realized that slave
children were not much different from Arya children and they were not
physically fit, to carry out the ignoble duties of the slave and that allowing
the sale of purchase of slave children of less than 8 years of age and would
tantamount to inhumanity. Inspired by such feelings, he prohibited the
purchase or sale of slave children of less than 8 years of age. This is how
Kautilya sought to do away with the butchery of childhood which may have
been rampant prior to his days. If any mental work were taken from them
and it was against humanity and shameful. Though Kautilya had forbidden
taking of ignoble and low work from slave children yet the treatment meted
to them could not be described as exemplary, for freedom and equality of
opportunity were often denied to them.

According to Maine in the earliest period of history the patriarchal system

was in existence in all societies belonging to Indo-European stock, the
Romans and the Hindus. As such the eldest male parent the eldest
ascendant- was absolutely supreme in his household. He had completely
sway-over all the persons; male, female, children, their property, cattle,
slaves etc. The flocks, slaves and Herds of the children were that of the
father, law to them was parent word.

To some extent , parents obligation were very often involved in working for
the landlord on such low wages that it created conditions fore the child to
work on the farmer for wages and after remained as bonded labour in the
landlords house along with the parents to repay or to minimize the debt.
Children, however, helped their parents in house-hold activities and family
crafts. They leant the skills by observing and participating in such activities.
A predominantly rural society is inevitable characterized by small and
marginal economic units.

In the age of Mauryas, the State had a monopoly in a number of industries

and most of them were nationalized industries. Since state was a major
participant in the economic and industrial activities. , Kautilya prescribed
standard wages for all types of workers. The proper wages weaving cotton
cloth was the equivalent money worth of cotton. The wages for weavening
silken or woolen clothes were equal to one and half time and twice the value
of silk and wool, respectively. Wages were payable according to time and
work and according to contract, wages should be settled upon before the
work was actually begun. If the workers failed to perform the allotted work
at the time and place desired by the employer, nothing was payable to him.
Workers could be made to work on holidays by payment of special wages.
Cowherds and agricultural labourers were paid fixed wages. Kautilya did not
favour the employment of children. Inspite of that there was employment of
children in agriculture and domestic service.

The labourers were not always entitled to a square meal and sometime the
diet actually carried according to labour. Wages paid in cash or kind were of
a very low standard, the rates of share of profit were standardized by experts
of the crop for the cultivator, of butter for the herdsman, of the sale of
proceeds for the pedlar. Labour legislation of the Dharamshastras shows that
public conscience was not alive to the fundamental inequality in distribution
of wealth because these protective laws were themselves derived from
ancient tradition. The economic status of the slaves, hired labourers and
unskilled workers was worse. The same was the position of child when he
was engaged in agricultural sector. It was revealed that child labour in
ancient India was very common and could be witnessed in different
occupations where they were engaged by the rich landlords to carry out
activities directly or indirectly related to their agriculture sector.

(b) Child labour in Medieval Period

India, through its medieval period, was no exception to the problem of child
labour and haunted the minds of many social reformers. Perhaps the cause
for this social evil can be attributed to the pressure on land which ultimately
forced the poor parents to use their children to assist them in earning
livelihood for the childhood ha no free evil of his own. His condition was
quite miserable. His condition was no better than a slave. Ain-I-Akbari,
Bernier Travels reveal that children were frequently purchased and sold like
chattels. They were victims of haves and were always exploited to their
selfish cause. To our surprise, children could be sold by parent for their
economic necessity.

The decree of Akbar of 1594 A.D. clearly ordains, A father or a mother

might, if forced by hunger and extreme misery , sell their child and
afterwards when they had the means to pay, might buy it back again after
servitude.

The Mughal History is replete with glaring example where the kinds used to
grant permission to hypothecate children in the cases of famines and
unavoidable crisis. However, silver lining in this field was seen during the
reign of King Jahangir. He condemned the practice of child labour and
issued strict directions to discourage child labour even in cases of
exceptional circumstances. But efforts made by Jahangir could not make
much dent on this problem. The position remained dissatisfactory despite
many efforts of the ruler. The condition of children worsened more and more
in post-Jahangir era with the result that child labour was made a source of
earning money even by the rulers themselves. The rules enjoyed the
monopolistic position and used to make money by trafficking in child slaves.

It may, thus, be surmised from the foregoing study that child labour in
medieval India was quite rampant and rulers turned on deaf ear to this
problem. They showed their selfish behaviour to the extent, that they turned
money at the altar of the children work.

(c) Child labour in Modern Period

The problem of child labour underwent a dynamic change in British India.

The new economic forces unleashed by capitalism destroyed the family-
based economy unleashed by capitalism destroyed the family- base economy
a large number of labourers were displaced due to mechanisms of
agriculture- the farmers were alienated from their home-based work place.
They became wage earning labourers. It is revealed that extreme poverty
made possible a situation in which a child had to be introduced in the labour
market. Moreover, the uneven development of industrialization gave a new
turn to the history of mankind and brought change in the socio-economic
order. The result of uneven development of industrialization was that family
based economy was destroyed and a large number of people were converted
into wage-earning labourers and, as a result the children were forced to earn
wages not only for themselves but for their families as well. There work
place was separated from the family environment and the industrialization
exposed them to unhealthy environment. At this resulted ultimately to
restrict their ability to grow and develop into a mentally and physically
adult.

Nearly the middle of 19th century, the Mechanised large-scale large scale
production came into existence. That time, state regulations were lacking
over the conditions of employees in any industry. The employers were free
to bargain with labour. Therefore, the labour ion this country was exploited
by the employers for better benefits. Many children were employed in cotton
and jute mills

And coal mines, they were even employed for underground work. With the
advent of Factory organization, some public attention was drawn towards the
existing evils of child labour in spite of active opposition from the
employers, first protective legislation of child labour was enacted in 1881.

The main aim of this Act is to prohibit the employment of children below
the age of seven years, limiting their working hour up to nine hour a day and
provide a four compulsory holiday in a month

And rest interval should be given to them. But the drawbacks of this Act is
that it lacks of effective enforcement machinery In addition to these defects,
the coverage was quite inadequate as it did not pay any attention to the
agriculture and unorganized sectors of industries. This result of this was that
child labour continued as a means of cheap labour. Children position in
mines was also not different. Their condition was very bad. In 1901, about
5000 children were those child workers who had not completed their 12
years related to this problem, the Mines Act was passed which prohibited the
employment of children below the age of 12 years. The Chief inspector of
mine was empowered by the Act, to prohibit the employment of children to
certain place, if he was satisfied that the employment conditions were
dangerous to childrens health and safety. This defective position continued
because no improvement was made to the provisions of this Act till the next
Mines Act.

Then after, the employers started work in factories for whole day and night,
because they started to use electric power in their factories. In addition to
this factor, the plague which probe out for the first time in the industrial
towns also compelled the workers not to surrender to the old conditions of
work. This position continued as there was no improvement inside the
factories. But ultimately government felt that it was impossible to leave the
matter in the hands of employers. It is, therefore, appointed the Freer Smith
Committee in 1906 and a factory Labour Commission in 1907 to make
inquiries on Labour conditions in factories. Thereafter, a new Factory Bill
was introduced in 1909 which was enacted into law in 1911. The main aim
of this Act is to reduce the working hours of children in factories to 6 hours a
day. The Act further provided that all child workers should have in
procession a certificate of age and fitness for employment. The next step in
the history of child labour was the Indian Factories (Amendment) Act of
1922 which was enacted to give effect by the International Labour
Organization for making Convention which is related to employment of
children which says that there is a prohibition of employment of children
who were below the age of 15 years and this Convention had been
incorporated in this Act which define a child means person who had not
completed the 15 years of age. The next feature of this Act is to have a
medical certificate as to their age and physical fitness for the employment.
There is a defect in the 1901 Act of Mines so to remove the defect another
Act was passed in 1923 to give effect to the hours of work conventions of
international Labour Organization. This Act raises the minimum
employment from 12 to 13 years. Again in further 1931, the Indian Factories
was further amended. This Act imposes certain penalties on the parents and
guardians for allowing their children to work in two separate factories on
thee same day. Provincial governments were empowered under this Act, to
make certain regulation for taking precautions against fire in the same year
the Indian Ports (Amendment) Act, 1931, provided a minimum age of 12
years for the employment of children in the handling off goods in ports. The
year 1931 was also important in the Indian Legal History because in this
year the Report of Royal Commission was published. The commission was
appointed under the compulsion of intensive agitation to improve the
condition of labour, to investigate and report on the existing conditions of
labour in industrial undertaking and plantations and on the health and
standard of living of workers in British India.

The area of plantation was touched by the government of India only in 1933
when it was enacted by the Tea District Emigrant labour. The only provision
relating to children in the Act is one requiring that no child under 16 shall be
employed and immigrated to the district unless accompanied by his parent or
adult relative on whom the child is dependent. In 1933, one more step was
taken to prevent the exploitation of child when children (Pledging of
Labour) Act, 1933 was enacted by the Government of India on the
recommendations of the Royal Commission on labour. The main aim of this
act was to eliminate the evils arising from the pledging of the labour of
young children by their parents for a loan or an advance.
One year after this act, the Factories Act was completely overhauled on the
basis of recommendation of Royal Commission on labour. A new
consolidated and amended act was enacted in 1934, which was enforced
from January 1, 1935. This act was prohibited the employment of children
was 12 years. The children between 15 and 17 years were defined as
adolescent. In 1935, Indian Mines (Amendment) Act, 1935 regulating the
working conditions and hours of work in mines. This amendment prohibited
the employment of children under 15 in mines. In 1938, the Employment of
Children Act, 1938 was enacted in order to prevent the evils of employment
of children in workshops which were not covered by Factories Act. The
provision of this Act continues till now. This Act prohibits the employment
of children unde4r 15 in Railway and port. B the amendment of 1939 the
children under 12 are prohibited to work in workshop connected with bidi-
making , carpet-weaving, cement manufacturing , cloth printing, dying and
weaving etc.

It is fruitful to note that before independence the law relating to the

employment of children in various sectors failed to achieve its goal the
elimination of the evils of child labour. The labour- investigating committee,
in its report in 1946 points out that the main cause of this was the
inadequacy of the inspecting staff to enforce the provisions of law.

International statistics of child labour

Child labour is still common in many parts of the world. Estimates for child
labour vary. It ranges between 250 to 304 million, if children aged 5-17
involved in any economic activity are counted. If light occasional work is
excluded, ILO estimates there were 153 million child labourers aged 5-14
worldwide in 2008. This is about 20 million less than ILO estimate for child
labourers in 2004. Some 60 percent of the child labour was involved in
agricultural activities such as farming, dairy, fisheries and forestry. Another
25 percent of child labourers were in service activities such as retail,
hawking goods, restaurants, load and transfer of goods, storage, picking and
recycling trash, polishing shoes, domestic help, and other services. The
remaining 15 percent laboured in assembly and manufacturing in informal
economy, home-based enterprises, factories, mines, packaging salt,
operating machinery, and such operations. Two out of three child workers
work along side their parents, in unpaid family work situations. Some
children work as guides for tourists, sometimes combined with bringing in
business for shops and restaurants. Child labour predominantly occurs in the
rural areas (70%) and informal urban sector (26%).

Contrary to popular beliefs, most child labourers are employed by their

parents rather than in manufacturing or formal economy. Children who work
for pay or in-kind compensation are usually found in rural settings, than
urban centers. Less than 3 percent of child labour aged 514 across the
world work outside of their household, or away from their parents.

Child labour accounts for 22% of the workforce in Asia, 32% in Africa, 17%
in Latin America, 1% in US, Canada, Europe and other wealthy nations.

The proportion of child labourers varies greatly among countries and even
regions inside those countries. Africa has the highest percentage of children
aged 5-17 employed as child labour, and a total of over 65 million. Asia,
with its larger population, has the largest number of children employed as
child labour at about 114 million. Latin America and Caribbean region has
lower overall population density, but at 14 million child labourers has high
incidence rates too.

Accurate present day child labour information is difficult to obtain because

of disagreements between data sources as to what constitutes child labour?
In some countries, government policy contributes to this difficulty. For
example, the overall extent of child labour in China is unclear due to the
government categorizing child labour data as highly secret. China has
enacted regulations to prevent child labour; still, the practice of child labour
is reported to be a persistent problem within China, generally in agriculture
and low-skill service sectors as well as small workshops and manufacturing
enterprises.

Maplecroft Child Labour Index 2012 survey reports 76 countries pose

extreme child labour complicity risks for companies operating worldwide.
The ten highest risk countries in 2012, ranked in decreasing order, were:
Myanmar, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, DR Congo, Zimbabwe,
Afghanistan, Burundi, Pakistan and Ethiopia. Of the major growth
economies, Maplecroft ranked Philippines 25th riskiest, India 27th, China
36th, Viet Nam 37th, Indonesia 46th, and Brazil 54th - all of them rated to
involve extreme risks of child labour uncertainties, to corporations seeking
to invest in developing world and import products from emerging markets.

Effects of Child Labour

 Child labour deprives the child of a proper childhood. He is not able
to get the nurture and care that is essential for his all round
development. This may lead to many psychological imbalances which
are often expressed in the form of increased aggressiveness, low self
esteem etc.
A child labourer remains uneducated and is unable to take care of his
own family when he grows up. This forces him to make his children
work and thus the cycle is perpetuated.
Children reach mental and emotional maturity at a very early age.
This is highly dangerous as such children start displaying pseudo adult
behaviour such as smoking and displays of aggression.
Children and young people are often paid much less for work done
than adults while being forced to work as much as adults. Thus
pushing adults competing for jobs out of the market.
Many children who work either withdraw from school or find that
their educational performance declines because of the work they are
doing. There is work that profits children, and there is work that
brings profits only to employers. The object of employing children is
not to train them, but to get high profits form their work.
Throughout history, children have been working under very unhealthy
and hazardous conditions. Their working environments were so unsafe
that fatal accidents were an everyday routine. Presently, there are
about 250 million children under the age of 15 who are a part of the
labor industry. The working conditions have not changed; in fact, they
have gotten worse.
 Growth deficiency is prevalent among working children, who tend to
be shorter and lighter than other children; these deficiencies also
impact on their adult life.
THE CHILD LABOUR (PROHIBITION
AND
REGUALTION) ACT, 1986 AND RULES

(Act No. 61 of 1986)

[23rd December, 1986]

Be it enacted by Parliament in the Thirty-seventh Year of the Republic

of India as follows:
Comments
Social and beneficial legislation Social legislation is designed to protect
the interest of a class of society who, because of their economic conditions,
deserves such protection. With a view to pass the test of reasonable
classification there must exist intelligible differentia between persons or
thing grouped together from those who have been left out and there must by
a reasonable nexus with the object to be achieved by the legislation.

The Court must strive to so interpret the statute as to protect and

advance the object and purpose of enactment. Any narrow or technical
interpretation of the provisions would defeat the legislative policy. The
Court must, therefore, keep the legislative policy in mind in applying the
provisions of the Act to the facts of the case.
PART I
Preliminary
1. Short title, extent and commencement
(1) This Act may be called the Child Labour (Prohibition and
Regulation) Act, 1986.
(2) It extends to the whole of India.
(3) The provisions of this Act, other then Part III, shall come into force
at once, and Part III shall come into force on such date as the Central
Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, appoint, and
different dates may be appointed for different States and for different classes
of establishments.

2. Definitions In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,

(i) appropriate Government means, in relation to an

establishment under the control of the Central Government or a
railway administration or a major port or a mine or oilfield, the
Central Government, and in all other cases, the State
Government;
(ii) child means a person who has not completed his fourteenth
year of age;
(iii) day means a period of twenty-four hours beginning at
midnight;
(iv) establishment includes a shop, commercial establishment,
work-shop, farm, residential hotel, restaurant, eating-house,
theatre or other place of public amusement or entertainment;
 (v) family in relation to an occupier, means the individual, the
wife or husband, as the case may be, of such individual, and
their children, brother or sister of such individual;
(vi) occupier, in relation to an establishment or a workshop,
means the person who has the ultimate control over the affairs
of the establishment or workshop;
(vii) port authority means any authority administering a port;
(viii) prescribed means prescribed by rules made under Sec.18;
(ix) week means a period of seven days beginning at midnight on
Saturday night or such other night as may be approved in
writing for a particular area by the Inspector;
(x) workshop means any premises (including the precincts
thereof) wherein any industrial process in carried on, but does
not include any premises to which the provisions of Sec. 67 of
the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948), for the time being, apply.

Interpretation of section The Court can merely interpret the

section; it cannot re-write, re-cast or re-design the section.

Ambiguous expression Courts must find out the literal meaning of

the expression in the task of construction. In doing so if the expressions are
ambiguous then the construction that fulfils the objects of the legislation
must provide the key to the meaning. Courts must not make mockery of
legislation and should take a constructive approach to fulfil the purpose and
for that purpose, if necessary, iron out the creases.
PART II

Prohibition of Employment of Children in certain Occupations and

Processes

3. Prohibition of employment of children in certain occupations and

processes 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 section 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,
Government.

Proviso A proviso is intended to limit the enacted provision so as to except

something which would have otherwise been within it or in some measure to
modify the enacting clause. Sometimes proviso may be embedded in the
main provision and becomes an integral part of it so as to amount to a
substantive provision itself.
4. Power to amend the Schedule The Central Government, after giving
by notification in the official Gazette, not less than three months notice of
its intention so to do, may, by like notification, add any occupation or
process to the Schedule and thereupon the Schedule shall be deemed to have
been amended accordingly.

Construction of a section it is en elementary rule that construction of a

section is to be made of all parts together. It is not permissible to omit any
part of it. For, the principle that the statute must be read as a whole is equally
applicable to different part of the same section.

5. Child Labour Technical Advisory Committee (1) The Central

Government may, by notification is in official Gazette, constitute an
advisory committee to be called the Child Labour Technical Advisory
Committee (hereinafter in this section referred to as the Committee) to
advise the Central Government for the purpose of addition of occupations
and processes to the Schedule.

(2) The Committee shall consist of a Chairman and such other

members not exceeding ten, as may be appointed by the Central
Government.

(3) The Committee shall meet as often as it may consider necessary

and shall have power to regulate its own procedure.

(4) The Committee may, if it deems it necessary so to do, constitute

one or more sub-committees and may appoint to any such sub-committee,
whether generally or for the consideration of any particular matter, any
person who is not a member of the Committee.

(5) The term of office of, the manner of filling causal vacancies in the
office of, and the allowances, if any, payable to, the Chairman and other
members of the Committee, and the conditions and restrictions subject to
which the Committee may appoint any person who is not a member of the
Committee as a member of any of its sub-committees shall be such as may
be prescribed.

PART III

Regulation of Conditions of Work of Children

6. Application of Part The provisions of this Part shall apply to an

establishment or a class of establishments in which none of the occupations
or processes referred to in Sec. 3 is carried on.

7. Hours and period of work

(1) 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.

(2) 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.
 (3) The period of work of a child shall be so arranged that inclusive of
his interval for rest, under sub-section(2), it shall not be spread over
more than six hours, including the time spent in waiting for work on
any day.
(4) No child shall be permitted or required to work between 7 p.m. and
8 a.m.
(5) No child shall be permitted or required to work overtime.
(6) No child shall be permitted or required to work in any establishment
on any day on which he has already been working in another
establishment.

Provision if mandatory or directory The surest test for determination as

to whether the provisions is mandatory or directory is to see as to whether
the sanction is provided therein.

8. Weekly holidays Every child employed in an establishment shall be

allowed in each week, a holiday or 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.

9. Notice to Inspector (1) Every occupier in relation to an establishment

in which a child was employed or permitted to work immediately before the
date of commencement of this Act in relation to such establishment shall,
within a period of thirty days from such commencement, send to the
Inspector within whose local limits the establishment is situated, a written
notice containing the following particulars, namely :
 (a) the name and situation of the establishment;
(b) the name of the person in actual management of the establishment;
(c) the address to which communications relating to the establishment
should be sent; and,
(d) the nature of the occupation or process carried on in the
establishment.
(2) Every occupier, in relation to an establishment, who employs, or
permits to work, any child after the date of commencement of this Act in
relation to such establishment, shall, within a period of thirty days from the
date of such employment, send to the Inspector within whose local limits the
establishment is situated, a written notice containing the following
particulars as are mentioned in sub-section (1).
Explanation For the purposes of sub-sections (1) and (2), date of
commencement of this Act, in relation to an establishment means the date
of brining into force of this Act in relation to such establishment.
(3) Nothing in Secs. 7,8and 9 shall apply to any establishment
wherein any process is carried on by the occupier with the aid of his family
or to any schools established by, or receiving assistance or recognition from,
Government.

Explanation It is now well settled that an explanation added to a statutory

provision is not a substantive provision in any sense of the term but as the
plain meaning of the word itself shows it is merely meant to explain or
clarify certain ambiguities which may have crept in the statutory provision.

10. Disputes as to age If any question arises between an Inspector and an

occupier as to the age of any child who is employed or is permitted to work
by him in an establishment, the question shall, in the absence of a certificate
as to the age of such child granted by the prescribed authority, be referred
by the Inspector for decision to the prescribed medical authority.

11. Maintenance of register There shall be maintained by every occupier

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

(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

12. Display of notice containing abstract of Secs. 3 and 14 Every

railway administration, every port authority and every occupier shall cause
to be displayed in a conspicuous and accessible place at every station on its
railway or within the limits of a port or at the place of work, as the case may
be, a notice in the local language and in the English language containing an
abstract of Secs. 3 and 14.
13. Health and safety (1) The appropriate Government may, by
notification in the official Gazette, make rules for the health and safety of
the children employed or permitted to work in any establishment or class of
establishments.
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provisions, the said
rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely :
(a) cleanliness in the place of work and its freedom for nuisance;
(b) disposal of wastes and effluents;
(c) ventilation and temperature;
(d) dust and fume;
(e) artificial humidification;
(f) lighting;
(g) drinking water;
(h) latrine and urinals;
(i) spittoons;
(j) fencing of machinery;
(k) work at or near machinery in motion;
(l) employment of children on dangerous machines;
(m) instructions, training and supervision in relation to employment
of children on dangerous machines;
(n) device for cutting off power;
(o) self-acting machinery;
(p) easing of new machinery;
(q) floor, stairs and means of access;
(r) pits, sumps, openings in floors, etc.;
(s) excessive weight;
 (t) protection of eyes;
(u) explosive or inflammable dust, gas, etc.;
(v) precautions in case of fire;
(w) maintenance of buildings; and
(x) safety of buildings and machinery.

PART IV
Miscellaneous
14. Penalties (1) 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) Whoever, having been convicted of an offence under Sec. 3,
commits a like offence afterwards, he shall be 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 thereunder; 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

Comments
This section makes provision for penalty for contravention of the provisions
of the Act.
Penalty Mens rea Essential Penalty proceedings are quasi criminal
proceedings. Before penalty can be imposed it has to be ensured that
meansrea has been established.
Penal provision Object of The law in its wisdom seeks to punish the
guilty who commits the sin, and not his son, who is innocent.

15. Modified application of certain laws in relation to penalties (1)

Where any person is found guilty and convicted of contravention of any of
the provisions mentioned in sub-section(2), he shall be liable to penalties as
provided in sub-sections (1) and (2) of Sec. 14 of this Act and not under the
Acts in which those provisions are contained.
(2) The provisions referred to in sub-section (1) are the provisions
mentioned below:
(a) Section 67 of the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948);
(b) Section 40 of the Mines Act, 1952 (35 of 1952);
(c) Section 109 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 (44 of
1958); and
(d) Section 21 of the Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961 (27 of
1961).
16. Procedure relating to offences (1) Any person, police officer or
Inspector may file a complaint of the commission of an offence under this
Act in any Court of competent jurisdiction.
(2) Every certificate as to the age of a child which has been granted by
a prescribed medical authority shall, for the purposes of this Act, be
conclusive evidence as to the age of the child to whom it relates.
(3) No court inferior to that of a Metropolitan Magistrate or a
Magistrate of the first class shall try any offence under this Act.

Court Duty of The Court should meticulously consider all facts and
circumstances of the case. The Court is not bound to grant specific
performance merely because it is lawful to do so. The motive behind the
litigation should also enter into the judicial verdict. The Court should take
care to see that it is used as an instrument of oppression to have an unfair
advantage to plaintiff.

17. 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 (45 0f 1860).

Public servant Every public officer is a trustee and in respect of the

office he holds and the salary and other benefits which he draws, he is
obliged to render appropriate service to the State. If an officer does not
behave as required of him under the law he is certainly liable to be punished
in accordance with law.
18. Power to make rules (1) The appropriate Government may, by
notification in the official Gazette and subject to the condition of previous
publication, make rules for carrying into effect the provisions of this Act.
(2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the
foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following
matters, namely :
(a) the term of the office of, the manner of filling casual vacancies
of, and the allowances payable to, the Chairman and members
of the Child Labour Technical Advisory Committee and the
conditions and restrictions subject to which a non-member may
be appointed to a sub-committee under sub-section (5) of Sec.5;

(b) number of hours for which a child may be required or permitted

to work under sub-section (1) of Sec. 7;
(c) grant to certificates of age in respect of young persons in
employment or seeking employment, the medical authorities
which may issue such certificate, the form of such certificate,
the charges which may be made thereunder and the manner in
which such certificate may be issued;

Provided that no charge shall be made for the issue of any such
certificate of the application is accompanied by evidence of age
deemed satisfactory by the authority concerned;
(d) the other particulars which a register maintained under Sec. 11
should contain.
 Rules for effectuating the purpose of the Act The general power
of farming rules for effectuating the purposes of the Act, would plainly
authorize and sanctify the framing of such a rule.

19. Rules and notifications to be laid before Parliament or State

legislature

(1) Every rules made under this Act by the Central Government
and every notification issued under Sec. 4, shall be laid, as soon
as may be after it is made or issued, before each House of
Parliament, while it is in session for a total period of thirty days
which may be comprised in one session or in two or more
successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session
immediately following the session or the successive session
aforesaid, both Houses agree in making any modification in the
rule or notification or both Houses agree that the rule or
notification should not be made or issued, the rule or
notification shall thereafter have effect only in such modified
form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that
any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice
to the validity of anything previously done under that rule or
notification.

(2) Every rule made by a State Government under this Act shall be
laid as soon as may be after it is made, before the Legislature of
that State.
20. Certain other provisions of law not barred Subject to the provisions
contained in Sec. 15, the provisions of this Act and the rules made
thereunder shall be in addition to, and not in derogation of, the provisions of
the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948), the Plantations Labour Act, 1951 (69
of 1951) and the Mines Act, 1952 (35 of 1952).

21. Power to remove difficulties (1) If any difficulty arises in giving

effect of the provisions of this Act, the Central Government may, by order
published in the official Gazette, make such provisions not inconsistent with
the provisions of this Act as appear to it to be necessary or expedient for
removal of the difficulty :

Provided that no such order shall be made after the expiry of a period
of three years from the date on which this Act receives the assent of the
President.
(2) Every order made under this section shall, as soon as may be after
it is made, before the Houses of Parliament.

22. Repeal and savings (1) The Employment of Children Act, 1938 (26 of
1938) is hereby repealed.
(2) Notwithstanding such repeal, anything done or any action taken or
purported to have been done or taken under the Act so repealed shall, in so
far as it is not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, be deemed to have
been done or taken under the corresponding provisions of this Act.
23. Amendment of Act 11 of 1948 In Sec. 2 of the Minimum Wages Act,
1948
 (i) for Cl. (a), the following clauses shall be subsituated, namely :
(a) `adolescent means a persons who has completed his
fourteenth year of age but has not completed his eighteenth
year;
(aa) adult means a person who has completed his eighteenth
year of age;:
(ii) after Cl.(b), the following clause shall be inserted, namely :
(bb) `child means a person who had not completed his
fourteenth year of age;.

24. Amendment of Act 69 of 1951 In the Plantations Labour Act, 1951

(a) in Sec.2 in Cls.(a) and (c), for the word fifteenth, the word
fourteenth shall be substituted;
(b) Sec. 24 shall be omitted;
(c) in Sec. 26, in the opening portion, the words who has completed
his twelfth year shall be omitted.

25. Amendment of Act 44 of 1958 In the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958, in

Sec. 109, for the word fifteen, the word fourteen shall be substituted.
26. Amendment of Act 27 of 1961 In the Motor Transport Workers Act,
1961 in Sec.2, in Cls.(a), and (c), for the word fifteenth, the word
fourteenth shall be substituted.
THE CHILD LABOUR (PROHIBITION AND REGULATION)
RULES, 1988
G.S.R. 847(E), dated 10th August, 1988 In exercise of the powers
conferred by sub-section (1) of Sec. 18 of the said Act, the Central
Government, hereby makes the following rules, namely :
1. Short title and commencement (1) These rules may be called the Child
Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Rules, 1988.
(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the
official Gazette.
.
Rules Whether validly farmed The question whether rules are validly
framed to carry out the purposes of the Act can be determined on the
analysis of the provisions of the Act.

2. Definitions In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires

(a) Act means the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation)
Rules, 1986 (61 0f 1986);
(b) Committee means the Child Labour Technical Advisory
Committee constituted under sub-section (1) of Sec. 5 of the
Act;
(c) Chairman means the Chairman of the Committee appointed
under sub-section (2) of Sec. 5 of the Act;
(d) Form means a Form appended to these ruels;
(e) register means the register required to be maintained under
Sec. 11 of the Act;
 (f) Schedule means the schedule appended to the Act;
(g) section means a section of the Act.

Interpretation by a court The Court can merely interpret the section; it

cannot re-write, re-cast or re-design the section.
Otherwise What amounts to The words otherwise is not to be
construed ejusdem generic with the word circulars, advertisement.

3. Term of office of the members of the Committee (1) The term of

office of the members of the Committee shall be one year from the date on
which their appointment is notified in the official Gazette;

Provided that the Central Government may extend the term of office of the
member of the Committee for a maximum period of two years;

Provided further that the member shall, notwithstanding the expiration of his
term, continue to hold office until his successor enters upon his office.

(2) The members appointed under sub-rule (1) shall be eligible for re-
appointment.

Proviso In, it was held that a proviso must be considered with relation to
the principal matter to which it stands as a proviso.

4. Secretary to the Committee The Central Government may appoint an

officer not below the rank of an Under-Secretary to the Government of India
as Secretary of the Committee.
5. Allowances to non-official members The non-official members and
Chairman of the Committee shall be paid such fees and allowances as may
be admissible to the officers of the Central Government drawing a pay of
rupees four thousand and five hundred or above.

6. Resignation (1) A member may resign his office by writing under his
hand addressed to the Chairman.
(2) The Chairman may resign his office by writing under his hand
addressed to the Central Government.

(3) The resignation referred to in sub-rule (1) and sub-rule (2) shall
take effect from the date of its acceptance or on the expiry of thirty days
from the date of receipt of such resignation, whichever is earlier, by the
Chairman or the Central Government, as the case may be.

7. Removal of Chairman or member of the Committee The Central

Government may remove the Chairman or any member of the Committee at
any time before the expiry of the term of office after giving him a reasonable
opportunity of showing cause against the proposed removal.

8. Cessation of membership if a member

(a) is absent without leave of the Chairman for three or more
consecutive meetings of the Committee; or
(b) is declared to be of unsound mind by a competent court; or
 (c) is or has been convicted of any offence which, in the opinion of
the Central Government, involves moral turpitude; or
(d) is, or at any time, has been adjudicated insolvent or has
suspended his debts or has compounded with his creditors, shall
cease to be a member of the Committee.

9. Filling up of casual vacancies in case a member resigns his office

under rule 6 or ceases to be a member under rule 8, the casual vacancy thus
caused shall be filled up by the Central Government and the member so
appointed shall hold office for the unexpired portion of the term of his
predecessor.
10. Time and place of meetings The Committee shall meet at such times
and places as the Chairman may fix in this behalf.
11. Notice of meetings The Secretary to the Committee shall give at least
seven days notice to every member of the Committee of the time and place
fixed for each meeting along with the list of business to be transacted at the
said meeting.
12. Presiding at meetings The Chairman shall preside at every meeting of
the Committee at which he is present; if, however, the Chairman is unable to
attend a meeting, any member elected by the members present among
themselves shall preside at the meeting.
13. Quorum No business shall be transacted at a meeting of the
Committee unless atleast three members of the Committee other than the
Chairman and the Secretary are present:
Provided that at any meeting in which less than three of the total
members are present, the Chairman may adjourn the meeting to a date as he
deems fit and inform the members present and notify other members that the
business of the scheduled meeting shall be disposed of at the adjourned
meeting irrespective of the quorum and it shall be lawful to dispose of the
business at such adjourned meeting irrespective of the member of members
attending the meeting.4

14. Decision by majority All questions considered at a meeting of the

Committee shall be decided by a majority of votes of the members present
and voting and in the event of equality of votes, the Chairman, or in the
absence of Chairman, the member presiding at the meeting, as the case may
be, shall have a second or casting cote.
15. Sub-Committees The Committee may constitute one or more Sub-
Committees, whether consisting only of members of the Committee or partly
of members of the Committee and partly of other persons as it thinks fit, for
such purposes, as it may decide and any Sub-Committee so constituted shall
discharge such functions as may be delegated to it by the Committee.
16. Register to be maintained under Sec. 11 of the Act. (1) Every
occupier of an establishment shall maintain a register in respect of children
employed or permitted to work, in Form A.
(2) The register shall be maintained on a yearly basis but shall be
retained by the employer for a period of three years after the date of the last
entry made therein.

17. Certificate of age. - (1) All young persons in employment 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, shall

4 Ram Narain Sons Ltd. V. Asstt. Commissioner of Sales Tax,

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.
Explanation - For the purposes of sub-rule (1), the appropriate Medical
authority shall be Government medical doctor not below the rank of an
Assistant Surgeon of a District or a regular doctor or equivalent rank
employed in Employees State Insurance dispensaries of hospitals.
Supplement

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986

S.O. 333(E), dated 26th may, 1933 in exercise of the powers conferred by
sub-section(3) of Sec.1 of the Child Labour (Prohibition and
Regulation)Act, 1986 (61 of 1986), the Central Government hereby appoints
the 26th day of May, 1993 as the date of which the provisions of Part III of
the said Act shall come into force in respect of all classes of establishments,
throughout the territory of India, in which none of the occupations and
processes referred to in Sec. 3 of the said Act is carried on.

THE SCHEDULE
(See Sec. 3)

PART A

Occupations
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;
PART B

Processes
(1) Beedi-making.
(2) Carpet-weaving.
(3) Cement manufacture, including bagging of cement.
(4) Cloth printing, dyeing and weaving.
(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.
(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 (63 of 1948)
(16) Printing as defined in Section 2(k) (iv) of the Factories Act,
1948 (63 of 1948)
(17) Cashew and cashewnut descaling and processing.
(18) Soldering processes in electronic industries.
(19) Aggarbatti manufacturing.
(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.
(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.

a. for item (2), the following item shall be substituted,

namely:-
(2) carpet weaving including preparatory and incidental
process thereof;
b. for item(4), the following item shall be substituted,
namely:-
(4) cloth printing, dyeing and weaving including
processes preparatory and incidental thereto:
c. for item (11) the following shall be substituted,
namely:-

(11) Building and Construction Industry including

processing and polishing of granite stones.

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. 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,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. 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. 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.

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. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 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.

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.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.

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.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.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 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.

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 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.

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. 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. 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.

Keeping in view the pitiable conditions of the child workers the apex court
has shown its generosity by relaxing the concept of locus standi. The court
shown its wisdom by encuring the philosophy by vindicate and promote
public interests by rendering help to those people of the society who are
unable to approach the court because of their poor economic conditions so to
improve the conditions the apex court explore the this doctrine and in
number of cases they accept a letter as public interest litigation and try to
give relief 5 6 7

Child labour Welfare and Right to Education: - The abolition of the child
labour is preceded by the introduction of compulsory education; compulsory
education and child labour are interlinked. Article 24 of the constitution bars
employments of child below the age of 14 years . Article 45 which is
incorporated by the 86th amendment in 2002 which gives the direction to the
state to provide education to the child below the age of six years .And the
judiciary plays an important role in the making as education as a
fundamental right and the Judiciary gives a good judgement 8 9 10

5 People for Union Democratic Rights v Union of India(AIR 1982 SC1473) ,

6 Bandhu Mukti Morcha v. Union of India(AIR 1984 SC 802)
,
7 Neerja Chaudhary v. State of Madhya Pradesh(AIR 1984 SC1099).

8 M.C Mehta v. State of Tamil Nadu and others (AIR 1991 SC417),
9 Unni Krishnan v. State of Andhra Pradesh (1993) 1 SCC645.

10 Mohini Jain v. State of Karnataka

The above said facts reveals that the role of judiciary in India has been quite
significant in promoting child labour welfare. The study discloses that
judiciary has always given a lead to save the child workers from exploitation
and improve their conditions. Judicial have shown a generosity towards poor
child workers by relaxing the rules of locus standi. It has always been made
efforts to benefit the poor child workers by entertaining their problems and
giving them relief to them despite the limitations of locus standi. The
observations made by the judiciary in various decided cases show that it is
always committed to the cause of the child-workers. Whenever a legal
wrong or legal injury is caused to the child workers by their employers, the
judiciary has come forward to help them despite the locus Standi issue.
Frankly speaking, the courts have always liberalized the concept of locus to
meet the challenges of time and provide justice to the child workers. The
efforts made in this direction are quite evident from the decisions discussed
in the this chapter. Some of the cases are like People Union For Democratic
Rights (1982), Bandhu Mukti Morcha (1984), Neeraja Chaudhary (1984) in
which the apex court liberalized the rule of Locus Standi and given their
judgment that public interest litigation can be file by any one not the
aggrieved persons and the judiciary has shown encourage to uphold the
interest of the working children and spared nothing to improve the
conditions of the child workers. Not only in the concept of locus standi but
also the judiciary also look out the situation of child workers where there is
not proper enactment on child labour legislation then also they had given
their judgement in Labourers Working on Salal Hydro project(1984) in
which the apex court points out that poverty and economic factors are there
for improve the problems of child labour so they pointed out that whenever
the Central Government take any construction project then they have look
out the children who are living or working them then provide education to
them so that their conditions will be improved . Finally the apex court has
taken some cases in where they held that right to education is a fundamental
right and no child can left without providing education to them like Mohini
Jain , and Unnikrishan case .Similarly also the judiciary also taken some of
the cases in where Convention of the Rights of the Child 1989 which is
considered to be a role model for the welfare of the children Rights and this
was discussed in Bandhu Mukti Morcha (1997) and other cases also where
the judiciary have taken stand in where violations of the Sections of the
Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act , 1986 in Raj Kumari Tiwari
(2003II LLJ ) in which the high Court held that there is no violation of
section 14 of the Act set aside the order of the lower court. In another case
i.e. Hemendra Bhai 2003II LLJ) in where the question was arose whether
magistrate had a cognizance of the offence since the alleged charge had not
framed out. The Court analysed the other decision which are related to this
case which was pointed out by the learned counsel of the petitioners the high
court had given their judgement the magistrate did not have apply their
minds for framing out charges and the petitioner is not liable for employing
child labourer as his organization have taken out the raw material from the
persons who were making bidi since they are doing independently so the
firm of the petitioners is liable and set aside the order of the court. The
judiciary has always made concetre efforts to safeguard them against the
exploitative tendencies of their employers by regularizing their working
hours, fixing their wages, laying down rules about their health and medical
facilities. The judiciary has even directed the states that it is their duty to
create an environment where the child workers can have opportunities to
grow and develop in a healthy manner with full dignity in consonance of the
mandate of Our National Charter.

Measures to combat Child Labour

 Child labour is a universal problem and as a citizen of India we must
strive to take stern actions against child labour.

Role of NGOs:
NGOs have an important role to play in the elimination of child
labour. Government does not have the infrastructure to reach every
section of the society and particularly the millions who work and live
in remote areas. NGOs can act as a bridge between hard-to-reach
areas and the Government.

Role of Media:
The role of media in elimination of child labour is one of the most
important components of the process of total human development.
The media should expose defaulting firms or business houses that
clandestinely employ children and violate laws relating to child
labour. The government should give certain monetary or if need be
non-monetary incentives to the families that live Below Poverty Line
(BPL) to avoid child labour so that their children can be sent to
school. Effective state intervention to eliminate inequities, including
class and caste barriers to employment and other opportunities in
areas such as health and education, will put an end to child labour.

Conclusion & Suggestion:

Child labour is a social evil. Its eradication requires cumulative efforts.

Toiling long hours for a pittance, these little breadwinners accept
exploitation as a way of life. The government on this front has also taken
steps, but its implementation is not up to the mark and penalty is very
meager and no body afraid of the penalty. The International Labour
Organization (ILO) launched the International Programme for Elimination
of Child Labours in 1991 and India was the first to join the same in 1992.
But still the problem persists due to poor implementation of the plans and
programmes. The need of the hour is to expand the machinery for enforcing
the various laws on child labour. There is a plethora of laws but nothing can
eradicate child labour unless there is awareness among parents and children,
which will go a long way in saving the future of millions of working
children in India.

The judiciary has taken a stand when there is no proper enactment for the
welfare of the Child Labour and goes extent to look out the problems of
them and some of these case are there in which judiciary considers as
poverty is the reason for the exploitation of children and other economic
factor and in this situation we can left the child in the condition of lurch and
they have judgement which gives us good lesson to the society for the
welfare of the children.