DAMODARAM SANJIVAYYA NATIONAL LAW

UNIVERSITY
VISAKHAPATNAM, A.P., INDIA

CHILD LABOUR AND THE LAWS OF NATIONAL AND

INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES- A CRITIQUE

LABOUR LAW- II

MADHU RANA

G. NAGA LAHARI
ROLL NO: 2013048
V SEMESTER

CERTIFICATE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I consider myself lucky that I got the chance to do a work on this topic that was to Child
Labour and the laws of National and International perspectives- A Critique.
I thank the subject teacher, Madhu Rana, for letting me choose the topic.

ABSTRACT

In the later part of 20th century, child labour remains a serious problem in numerous parts of
the world. Many of the children live in the underdeveloped countries in Latin America,
Africa, and in Asia. Their living conditions are very crude and their chances for education
too minimal. The income they bring is, however, necessary for survival of their families. In
other cases, children are bonded, working to pay off initial cash in advance from the
employer with escalating interest which leaves them effectively as slaves. In this research
work, information has been taken from the various legal and programmatic initiatives
undertaken in India over the last 10 years and to address the problem of the child labour.
These programmes remain committed to the full eradication of all the forms of child labour.
Wherever, it might exist in India, beginning with most exploitative and also hazardous forms
and have adopted this goal as a part of country policy. Both the Indian courts and also the
National Human Rights Commission have been paying the increasing attention to issue.
India has also been participating in the International Programmes on Elimination of Child
Labour of the ILO. But the problem still remains vast, and finding resources for their
rehabilitation schemes, given the magnitude of the problem, is the continuing challenge.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE
CERTIFICATE
ACKNOWLEDEMENT
ABSTRACT
1. OBJECTIVE
2. INTRODUCTION
3. HYPOTHESIS
4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
5. CAUSES OF CHILD LABOUR
6. CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA: OVERVIEW
7. CHILD LABOUR: GLOBAL PROSPECTIVE
8. CHILD LABOUR LAWS IN INDIA & WORLD
8.1.
CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS IN INDIA
8.2.
CHILD LABOUR LAWS IN WORLD

PAGE NO
02
03
04
08
08
09
09
10
10
11
12
12

9. ACTS FORMULATED TO COMBAT THE PROBLEM OF

14
17

CHILD LABOUR
10. WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO ABOLISH CHILD

22

LABOUR
CONCLUSION

22

BIBLIOGRAPHY

23

Books

23

Statues

23

Reports

24

Articles

24

Websites

LIST OF CASES

1) M.C. Mehta v State of Tamil Nadu, (1996) 6 SCC 756

5

2) People union democratic republic v UOI, 1982 AIR 1473, 1983 SCR (1) 456
3) Salal Hydro Project v State of J&K, 1984 AIR 177, 1983 SCR (2) 473
4) Bandhua mukti morcha v UOI, 1984 AIR 802, 1984 SCR (2) 67
5) Employer in relation to the management of G.C of BCCL v workmen represented by
Bihar Colliery kamgar Union, 2003 SCC (L&S) 30

ABBREVIATIONS
ACHPR- African Charter on Human & Peoples Right
CRC- Convention on Rights of Children
6

DRC- Declaration of Rights of Children

ICCPR- International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights
J&K- Jammu & Kashmir
MAC- Minimum Age Convention
SC - Supreme Court
UN- United Nations
UOI- Union of India
v- Versus
WFCLC- Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention

1. OBJECTIVE
The main objective is to present a detailed study of Child Labour of national and
International Law perspectives through various books, suggestions, different writings and
articles.
2. INTRODUCTION
7

Children are the greatest gift to humanity and Childhood is an important and impressionable
stage of human development as it holds the potential to the future development of any
society. Children who are brought up in an environment, which is conducive to their
intellectual, physical and social health, grow up to be responsible and productive members of
society. Every nation links its future with the present status of its children. By performing
work when they are too young for the task, children unduly reduce their present welfare or
their future income earning capabilities, either by shrinking their future external choice sets
or by reducing their own future individual productive capabilities.1 Under extreme economic
distress, children are forced to forego educational opportunities and take up jobs which are
mostly exploitative as they are usually underpaid and engaged in hazardous conditions.
Parents decide to send their child for engaging in a job as a desperate measure due to poor
economic conditions. It is, therefore, no wonder that the poor households predominantly send
their children to work in early ages of their life. One of the disconcerting aspects of child
labour is that children are sent to work at the expense of education. There is a strong effect of
child labour on school attendance rates and the length of a childs work day is negatively
associated with his or her capacity to attend school. Child labour restricts the right of children
to access and benefit from education and denies the fundamental opportunity to attend school.
Child labour, thus, prejudices childrens education and adversely affects their health and
safety.2
The question arises in every mind concerned with child labour that what leads to child
labour? The reasons are: Poor family and less income leads to child labour, ignorance of
parents towards education results in lack of education of child and he have no other options
but to work and earn his livings, children are found to be better producers of certain products
such as carpets and other such kinds of goods, discrimination on grounds including gender,
race or religion also plays its part in why some children work at such tender age, child
trafficking is another cause of child labour, in domestic matters children can be made to work
easily and at the low wages.3
3. HYPOTHESIS
1 http://www.loc.gov/law/help/child-rights/international-law.php, last visited on 5th October, 2015 at
6PM
2 Government of India, Planning Commission, Working Group for Social inclusion of Vulnerable
Group like Child Labour and Bonded and Migrant Labour in the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17)
8

The ILO was the first international organization to adopt binding rules on child labour.
Among its earliest conventions was C5 of 1919 concerning child labour in industrial
employment. It adopted a further three conventions on child labour in 1920 and 1921 and
four in 1930s. All these treaties were based primarily on the setting of minimum ages for
admission to employment, and they were sector-specific, focusing on the manufacturing
industry, seafaring, agriculture, trimming and stoking and services (or non-industrial
employment). The other global International documentation of child labour laws is Minimum
age convention of 1973 and U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989. The regional
documentations are African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child 1990 and
European Convention on the Exercise of Childrens Rights 1996. Concerns raised about the
new laws include: the laws criminalise working children, the approach taken does not address
the reasons why children work: in order that they and their families can survive, the
government has not made a commitment to childrens right to education; this is one of the
reasons that children work, government raids to enforce the laws only worsen the situation
for the child as they are forced to work in worse conditions and in secrecy.
4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
4.1.
Research Questions
1) What leads to child labour?
2) Why child labour considered as serious burning problem?
3) What are the Acts formulated to combat the problem of child labour?
4) What are the strategies adopted for the elimination of child labour?
5) What are child labour perspectives?
4.2.
Sources of Data
The primary sources of data are internet source and books.
4.3.

Method of Writing

The research paper is in theoretical in nature.

4.4.

Mode of Citation

The mode of citation used in this paper is Harvard Blue Book Citation.
5. CAUSES OF CHILD LABOUR
Child labour persists even though laws and standards to eliminate it exist. Current causes of
global child labour are similar to its causes in the U.S. 100 years ago, including poverty,
3 Child labour, http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l216-Child-Labour.html, last seen on 19th
September, 2015 at 6 PM
9

limited access to education, repression of workers rights, and limited prohibitions on child
labour.4 Everyone agrees that child labour is a plague but most families know they dont
have much choice: not putting a child to work means there wont be enough food on the table
for everyone.5
The main causes of child labour are poverty, over population, parental illiteracy and want
more income, lack of schools for study, high education and living cost, weak laws to protect,
Adult unemployment and Urbanization, Lack of education and exposure, wrong intention of
factories.6 The reasons include cultural values, educational problems like distance from
school, poor quality of education, over-crowding, inability to support schooling (food,
uniforms, exercise books, school fees, etc.); family disintegration due to divorce; various
conflicts, war and civil strife; drought and resettlement; orphanhood due to AIDS; and rapid
urbanization.7
6. CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA: AN OVERVIEW
Child labour is an integral part of labour force, especially in poor countries.8These children
are the most deprived section of population forced to enter labour market at tender age to earn
a pittance or to contribute to family work, sacrificing personal development.
In India, child labour is not a new phenomenon. It has been in existence sine time
immemorial in one form or the other and has been changing from time to time. With the
advent of industrialization and urbanization in the early 19 th century, factory and industry
began taking the place of handicrafts. Agriculture became more mechanized. This gave rise to
landless labourers. And consequently, there was an unbroken stream of the rural poor
4 https://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/laborctr/child_labor/about/causes.html, last visited on 4th
October, 2015 at 4PM
5 http://www.poverties.org/child-labor-in-india.html, last visited on 4th October, 2015 at 4 PM
6 http://www.indiacelebrating.com/social-issues/child-labour-in-india/, last visited on 4th October,
2015 at 4 PM
7 http://www.ilo.org/ipec/Regionsandcountries/Africa/WCMS_101161/lang--en/index.htm, last
visited on 4th October, 2015 at 4 PM
8 Hyyp://www.labour.nic.in,international program on child labour, last visited on 4 th October, 2015 at
4.10 PM
10

migrating to urban centres in search of livelihood. Factory, on the other hand, required cheap
and plentiful labour. Children started being employed both on farms and in factories because
they provided a cheap and uncomplaining labour force as against adults who could be more
demanding and hence more difficult to handle. Children are preferred as they are not
unionized, can be easily controlled, tortured, and exploited without any fear of backlash.
Moreover, children are better suited to jobs like brick making, carpet weaving, and silk
spinning etc. their cheapness and remote possibility of collective bargaining on their part on
their part makes them vulnerable and induced producers to employ and exploit the child
labour.
The importance of education is neglected for the child and replaced with necessity of
providing food and shelter i.e. children work to supplement meagre family income or
otherwise to help the family business. In doing so, they are being denied of basic rights such
as the right to education, to freedom from abuse, and to proper health. Therefore, there is a
need to look the problem of child labour from a multi dimensional aspect to understand and
address the same in a society where the parents are programmed to undermine the value of
education, poverty persists and century old traditions upheld.
The presence of a large number of child labourers is regarded as a serious issue in terms of
economic welfare. Children who work to fail to get necessary education. They do not get the
opportunity to develop physically, intellectually, emotionally and psychologically. Children in
hazardous working conditions are in worse condition. Children who work, instead of going to
school remain illiterate.9
7. CHILD LABOUR : GLOBAL PROSPECTIVE
Child labour refers to the employment of children in any work that deprives children of their
childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and that is mentally,
physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful. This practice is considered
exploitative by many international organisations. Legislations across the world prohibit child
labour. These laws do not consider all work by children as child labour; exceptions include
work by child artists, supervised training, certain categories of work such as those by children
and others.

9 Child Labour in India Rights, Welfare and Protection by Dipak Das, 2011, pg. 129
11

Child labour was employed to varying extents through most of history. Before 1940,
numerous children aged 5-14 worked in Europe, the United States and various colonies of
European powers. These children worked in agriculture, home-based assembly operations,
factories, and mining and in services such as newsies. Some worked night shifts lasting 12
hours. With the rise of household income, availability of schools and passage of child labour
laws, the incidence rates of child labour fell.10
In developing countries, with high poverty and poor schooling opportunities, child labour is
still prevalent. In 2010, sub-saharan Africa had the highest incidence rates of child labour;
with several African nations witnessing over 50 percent of children aged 5-14 working.
Worldwide agriculture is the largest employer of child labour. Vast majority of child labour is
found in rural settings and informal urban economy; children are predominantly employed by
their parents, rather than factories. Poverty and lack of schools are considered as the primary
cause of child labour. The incidence of child labour in the world decreased from 25% to 10%
between 1960 and 2003, according to the World Bank.
During the Industrial Revolution, children as young as four were employed in production
factories with dangerous, often fatal, working conditions. Based on this understanding of the
use of children as labourers, it is now considered by wealthy countries to be a human rights
violation, and is outlawed, while some proper countries may allow or tolerate child labour,
child labour can also be defined as the full-time employment of children who are under a
minimum legal age.
8. CHILD LABOUR: LAWS IN INDIA AND WORLD
8.1.
Constitutional Provisions in India
The framers of the Constitution of India deemed it necessary to include special provisions in
the Constitution for the protection of the rights of working children.11
Articl

Title

Description

e
21 A

Right to Education

The State shall provide free and compulsory

education to all children of the age of 6 to 14 years in

10 https://www.labour.nic.in, international program on child labour, last visited on 5th October, 2015
at 8 PM
11 Problems of Child Labour in India by Raj Kumar Sen and Asis Das Gupta (Editors), 2003
12

24

39

Prohibition of

such manner as the State, by law, may determine.

No child below the age fourteen years shall be

Employment of

employed in work in any factory or mine or engaged

children in Factories
in any other hazardous employment.
The state shall in That the health and strength of workers, men and
Particular

direct

its women, and the tender age of children are not

policy towards securing

abused and that citizens are not forced by economic

necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age or
strength12

Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act (1986) was the culmination of efforts and
ideas that emerged from the deliberations and recommendations of various committees on
child labour. Significant among them were the National Commission on Labour (1966-1969),
the Gurupadaswamy Committee on Child Labour (1979) and the Sanat Mehta Committee
(1984). The Act aims to prohibit the entry of children into hazardous occupations and to
regulate the services of children in non-hazardous occupations. In particular it is aimed at (i)
the banning of the employment of children, i.e. those who have not completed their 14th year,
in 18 specified occupations and 65 processes; (ii) laying down a procedure to make additions
to the schedule of banned occupations or processes; (iii) regulating the working conditions of
children in occupations where they are not prohibited from working; (iv) laying down
penalties for employment of children in violation of the provisions of this Act and other Acts
which forbid the employment of children; (v)bringing uniformity in the definition of the child
in related laws.13
The judicial response in the area of child labour, where the Supreme Court of India at the
apex has been assigned a very important role and constituted as a guardian of constitution.
Our judiciary is an independent organ of the state. They perform a great job of interpretation
of constitutional and legislative provisions. The Indian Judiciary played pivotal role in the
field of child welfare.

12 http://labour.nic.in, last visited on 5th October, 2015 at 6 PM

13 Government of India, Planning Commission, Working Group for Social inclusion of Vulnerable
Group like Child Labour and Bonded and Migrant Labour in the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17)
13

As in case of M.C. Mehta v State of Tamil Nadu,14 the sc while interpreting Article 21 held
that right to receive education by child worker until they complete 14 years of age is an
integral part of right to life and personal liberty. In people union democratic republic v UOI,
the SC directed the state government to amend the schedule of the employment of children
Act, 1938. Further Court held that construction work is hazardous occupation. In Salal Hydro
Project v State of J&K, it was held that child labour is a difficult problem and it is purely on
account of economic problem and it is purely on account of economic problem and it cannot
be solved by mere legislation. So long poverty continues the problem of child labour
eradication is not possible. In Bandhu mukti morcha v UOI, the SC held that child today
should be developed to be developed to be responsible and productive and child should be
assured social and physical health.
8.2.

Child Labour laws in World

It was not until the late nineteenth century that nascent childrens rights protection movement
countered the widely held view that children were mainly quasi-property and economic
assets. In the United States, the Progressive movement challenged courts reluctance to
interfere in family matters, promoted broad child welfare reforms, and was successful in
having laws passed to regulate child labour and provide for compulsory education. It also
raised awareness of childrens issues and established a juvenile court system. Another push
for childrens rights occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, when children were viewed by some
advocates as victims of discrimination or as an oppressed group. In the international context,
the growth of childrens rights in international and transnational law has been identified as a
striking change in the post-war legal landscape.15 The purpose of this overview is to
describe some of the provisions of certain major international legal instruments on childrens
rights that form part of that landscape.
Almost one third of the world population comprises children. Therefore, they deserve to be
cared and protected to keep up and improve posterity. They are an important component of
the social structure and the potential future carrers of culture. Social justice, therefore,
demands justice to children. The need for providing protection and safeguards to children
14 (1996) 6 SCC 756
15 Stephen R. Arnott, Family Law: Autonomy, Standing, and Childrens Rights, 33 William Mitchell
Law Review 809 (2007). Arnott notes that the very term childrens rights is both broad and
loose, pg. 808
14

have first been stated in the Geneva Declaration of Human Rights, 1924 and was recognised
in the universal declaration of Human Rights, 1948 provides that motherhood and childhood
are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock,
shall enjoy the same protection. Rights are free and compulsory elementary education to
children is assured by Article 26.16 Under International Global documentation

16 S.N. Misra, Labour & Industrial Laws, 24th edition, Central law Publications, 2009, Allahabad, pg.
874
15

Declaration of the Rights of the Child 1959: The U.N. Declaration of the Rights of the
Child (DRC) builds upon rights that had been set forth in a League of Nations Declaration of
1924. The Preamble notes that children need special safeguards and care, including
appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth, reiterates the 1924 Declarations
pledge that mankind owes to the child the best it has to give, and specifically calls upon
voluntary organizations and local authorities to strive for the observance of childrens
rights.17One of the key principles in the DRC is that a child is to enjoy special protection as
well as opportunities and facilities, by law and by other means, for healthy and normal
physical, mental, moral, spiritual, and social development in conditions of freedom and
dignity. The paramount consideration in enacting laws for this purpose is the best
interests of the child, a standard echoed throughout legal instruments on childrens rights.
Among other DRC principles, a child is entitled to a name and nationality; to adequate
nutrition, housing, recreation, and medical services; to an education; and, for the
handicapped, to special treatment, education and care. 18 Other principles are on protection
against neglect, cruelty and exploitation, trafficking, underage labour, and discrimination.

17 Geraldine Van Bueren, The International Law on the Rights of the Child 10-11
(Dordrecht/Boston/London, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1995. 35 International Studies in Human
Rights).
18 The 1924 Declaration stated children must be the first to receive relief; the DRC specifies more
pragmatically that they are to be among the first to receive protection and relief (principle 8). Van
Bueren, pg 11.
16

Minimum Age Convention 1973: The aim of the Minimum Age Convention (MAC) is to
establish a general instrument on the subject of the minimum age of employment with a view
to achieving the total abolition of child labour (Preamble). Thus, each State Party is to
pursue a national policy designed to ensure the effective abolition of child labour and to
raise progressively the minimum age for admission to employment to a level consistent with
the fullest physical and mental development of young persons (article 1). States Parties
must specify a minimum age for admission to employment or work, subject to certain
exceptions set forth in the MAC. That minimum may not be less than the age of completion
of compulsory schooling and, in any case, less than fifteen years, but it may initially be set at
fourteen years if a states economy and educational facilities are insufficiently developed
(article 2). Exceptions to the age limits may also be permitted for light work or for such
purposes as participation in artistic performances (articles 7 and 8). If the employment may
be hazardous to a young persons health, safety, or morals, the minimum age is generally not
to be less than eighteen years (article 3(1)).
U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989: The Convention on the Rights of the
Child (CRC) is the most comprehensive document on the rights of children. Based purely on
the number of substantive rights it sets forth, as distinct from implementation measures, it is
the longest U.N. human rights treaty in force and unusual in that it not only addresses the
granting and implementation of rights in peacetime, but also the treatment of children in
situations of armed conflict. The CRC is also significant because it enshrines, for the first
time in binding international law, the principles upon which adoption is based, viewed from
the childs perspective.The CRC is primarily concerned with four aspects of childrens rights
(the four Ps): participation by children in decisions affecting them; protection of children
against discrimination and all forms of neglect and exploitation; prevention of harm to them;
and provision of assistance to children for their basic needs. For the purposes of the CRC, a
child is defined as every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law
applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier (article 1).
The regional documentations are African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child
1990: where the preamble of the charter states that the child occupies a unique and
privileged position in the African society and require legal protection as well as particular
care with regard to health, physical, mental, moral and social development.

17

The European Convention on the Exercise of Childrens Rights 1996: stresses in the
Preamble the aim of promoting the rights and best interests of children.19
The specific provisions of child rights in other International and regional instruments are:
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1966: It states that
insofar as it recognizes the indivisibility of human rights, is applicable to childrens rights as
well. Thus, it notes that recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable
rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in
the world and that these rights derive from the inherent dignity of the human person.
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966: The International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) contains general provisions from which children are
entitled to benefit as well as certain specific provisions on safeguards for children in the
administration of justice and as members of a family unit.
African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights 1981 (Banjul Charter) and Protocol:
The African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (hereinafter ACHPR) (also known as the
Banjul Charter) encompasses civil and political as well as economic, social, and cultural
rights. In regard to children, it emphasizes the rights of the family and of duties towards the
family rather than the rights and duties of individual family members, which can be viewed
as a reflection of African customary law. Thus, the ACHPR makes it incumbent on the
individual to preserve the harmonious development of the family and to work for the
cohesion and respect of the family; to respect his parents at all times, to maintain them in case
of need (article 29(1)). The ACHPR does not set forth any additional specific rights for
children, relying instead on existing international protections regarding childrens rights (in
article 18(3)). As in other international human rights documents, however, rights in the
ACHPR are mentioned in connection with the individual or every individual.

19 http://www.crin.org/docs/Ruxton%20Report_WhatAboutUs.pdf , last visited on 5th October, 2015

at 7 PM
18

Hague Convention on Jurisdiction, etc., for the Protection of Children 1996: The Hague
Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Co-operation in
Respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children (1996
Convention) covers a wide range of civil child protection measures, from orders concerning
parental responsibility and contact to public measures of protection or care, and from matters
of representation to the protection of childrens property. The Preamble confirms that the
best interests of the child are to be a primary consideration.
The European Convention Concerning the Custody of Children 1980: The European
Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Decisions Concerning the Custody of
Children (the Luxembourg Convention) seeks to protect the rights of custody and access to
children in the international context. It calls upon the central authorities designated by States
Parties to provide free, prompt, non-bureaucratic assistance in determining the whereabouts
and restoring custody of an improperly removed child.
Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention 1999: The Worst Forms of Child Labour
Convention (WFCLC) refers in the Preamble to the need to adopt new instruments for the
prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, to complement the
Convention and the Recommendation Concerning Minimum Age for Admission to
Employment, 1973, which remain fundamental instruments on child labour.20
9. ACTS FORMULATED TO COMBAT THE PROBLEM OF CHILD LABOUR
The Acts formulated to combat the problem of child labour are below:
MINIMUM WAGES ACT, 1948: It provides for fixation of minimum wages by state
government. It also includes the fixation of minimum piece rate of wages, guaranteed time
rates for wages for different occupations and localities or class of work and adult,
adolescence, children and apprentices. The Act is aimed at occupations, which are less well
organised and more difficult to regulate, where there is much scope for exploitation of labour.
THE PLANTATION LABOUR ACT: The employment of children between the ages of 12
years is prohibited under the Act. However, the Act permits the employment of child above
12 years only on a fitness certificate from the appointed surgeon.
20 https://books.google.co.in/books?id=qNQ48n65YQC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=child+labour+law+in+international+perspective&source=bl&ot
s=8lZQRlBSmy&sig=pmKfdBQbJPGqkca_o8AZnVoSEOs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDYQ6AEwBGo
VChMIsszM2pX4xgIVUtSOCh1pSAmn#v=onepage&q=child%20labour%20law%20in
%20international%20perspective&f=false, last visited on 10th October, 2015 at 7 PM
19

THE MINES ACT, 1952: It states that no child shall be employed in any mines nor shall any
child be allowed to be present in any part of mine, which is below ground, or in any open cast
working in which any mining operations being carried on.
Section 40 of the Act, defines the employment of persons below eighteen years of age. As in
case of Employer in relation to the management of G.C of BCCL v workmen represented by
Bihar Colliery kamgar Union,21 where the appellant had challenged the order of the High
Court which dismissed the appeal though holding the questioned appointment of 11 person
who were medically examined and were found to be underage in the year 1973, the year of
appointment. Inspite of this it further held, underage disability now vanishes.
THE MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT, 1958: The Act prohibits employment of children
below the age of 14 in a ship except a training ship, home ship or a ship where other family
members work. It also prohibits employment of young persons below the age of 18 as
trimmers and stokers except under certain specific conditions.
THE APPRENTICES ACT, 1961: It states that no person shall be qualified for being
engaged as an apprentice to undergo apprentice ship training in any designed trade unless he
is 14 years of age and satisfied such standards of education and physical fitness as may be
prescribed. However, across the world, millions of children do extremely hazardous work in
harmful conditions, putting their health, education, personal and social development, and
even their lives at risk. These are some of the circumstances they face:

Full-time work at a very early age

Dangerous workplaces
Excessive working hours
Subjection to psychological, verbal, physical and sexual abuse
Obliged to work by circumstances or individuals
Limited or no pay
Work and life on the streets in bad conditions
Inability to escape from the poverty cycle- no access to education22

THE FACTORIES ACT, 1948: The Factories Act expressly prohibited child labour under
its significant provision. This is nothing but a protection given to the child workers against
exploitation.
21 2003 SCC (L&S) 30
22 Supra note 2
20

THE CHILDREN ACT, 1960: This is also important legislation which prohibits
employment of children for begging and exploitation of child employee.
The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of Children Act of 2000: This law made it a
crime, punishable with a prison term, for anyone to procure or employ a child in any
hazardous employment or in bondage. This act provides punishment to those who act in
contravention to the previous acts by employing children to work.
The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act of 2009: The law
mandates free and compulsory education to all children aged 6 to 14 years. This legislation
also mandated that 25 percent of seats in every private school must be allocated for children
from disadvantaged groups and physically challenged children.
THE CHILD LABOUR (PROHIBITION & REGULATION) ACT, 1986: The main
object of the said Act is to prohibit the engagement of children in certain employments and
regulation of condition of work of children in certain other employments.23 But Part III of the
Act defines about the hazardous occupations for the Prohibition of employment of children
in certain occupations and processes. The Schedule gives a list of hazardous occupations in
two parts, viz; A and B
Part A provides that, No child shall be employed or permitted to work in any of the
following occupations:
1.

Transport of passengers, goods; or mails by railway

2.

Cinder picking, clearing of an ash pit or building operation in the railway premise.

3.

Work in a catering establishment at a railway station, involving the movement of

vendor or any other employee of the establishment from one platform to another or into or
out of a moving train.

4.

Work relating to the construction of railway station or with any other work where
such work is done in close proximity to or between the railway lines.

5.

The 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 Houses
23 Dr. V. G. Goswami, Labour & Industrial Laws, 9 th Edition, Central law
Agency(2011), pg.613
21

8.

Automobile workshops and garages.

9.

Founderies

10.

Handling of taxies or inflammable substance or explosives

11.

Handlom and powerloom industry

12.

Mines (Underground and under water) and collieries

13.

Plastic units and Fiber glass workshop

Part B : provides that, No child shall be employed or permitted to work in any of the
following workshop wherein any of the following processes is carried on.
1 Beedi making
2 Carpet Weaving
3 Cement manufacture including bagging of cement.
4 Cloth printing, deying and weaving.
5 Manufacture of matches, explosive and fireworks.
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 of agate
14 Manufacturing processes using toxic metals and substances such as lead, mercury,
manganese, chromium, cadmium, benzene, pesticides and asbestos
22

15 All Hazardous process an defined in section 2(cb) and dangerous operations

as notified in ruler made under section 87 of the factories Act 1948
16 Printing (as defined in section 2(k) of the factories Act 1948
17 Cashew and cashew nut descaling and processing
18 Soldering process in electronic industries
19 Agarbathi manufacturing
20 Automobile repairs and maintenance (namely welding lather work, dent beating and
printing)
21 Brick kilns and Roof files 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 chromites and manganese ores
27 Jute textile manufacture and of coir making
28 Lime kilns and manufacture of lime
29 Lock making
30 Manufacturing process having exposure to lead such as primary and secondary smelting,
welding etc.
31 Manufacture of glass, glass ware including bangles fluorescent tubes bulbs and other
similar glass products

23

32 Manufacturing of cement pipes, cement products, and other related work.

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 enlarging and soldering processes in electronic industry
36 Manufacturing of burning coal and coal briquette
37 Manufacturing of sports goods involving to synthetic materials, chemicals and leather
38 Moulding and processing of fiber glass and plastics
39 Oil expelling and refinery
40 Paper making
41 Potteries and ceramic industry
42 Polishing, moulding, cutting welding and manufacture of brass goods in all forms.
43 Process in agriculture where tractors, threshing and harvesting machines.
44 Saw mill all process
45 Sericulture processing
46 Skinning dyeing and process 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-trading and graphite beneficiation
50 Utensils making polishing and metal buffing
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51 Zari Making (all process)

10. WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO ABOLISH CHILD LABOUR
MODIFY PARENTS ATTITUDES with respect to need for help, education,
recreation for children, rights for children and responsibilities of parents, education

and vocational skill training.

STRENGTHEN compulsory education, neighbourhood schools need to attract and

motivate the girls and boys.

PROVIDE neighbourhood child care, crche services so that girls are not retained at

home for babysitting when the mothers go out for work.

USE MASS MEDIA for creating awareness with respect to the need of children.
STRENGTHEN EMPLOYMENT GENERATION minimum wage and such other

programme to provide employment to men and women in the family.

COOPERATIONS OF GOVERNMENT and voluntary organization is needed
eradicate child labour completely.24
CONCLUSION

Child labour is big issue in India. Government made many policies for stopping the child
labour but the problem is that these policies are not properly implemented. Most of the
peoples in the villages are illiterate government should implement policies by which they can
be aware of the bad impact of child labour. Eradication of child labour is not an easy task;
preventive strategies are more sustainable in the long run. One of the major preventive
strategies, which must feature in any national child labour eradication policy, is the role of
social mobilization and community participation. It is vital to ensure that children stay at
home and go to formal government schools rather than leave home to work full time. There
has to be a national campaign to invoke public interest and large-scale awareness on this
issue, there is a need for an extensive awareness generation campaign launched over a period
of time at the centre and state on a sustained basis. Child labourers are spread across the
country; working in dispersed villages and slums. The eradication of child labour cannot be
done by the labour department alone as it is so under-staffed. Labour department needs to
have a cadre of youth volunteers who can be trained as social mobilisers who will be
responsible for withdrawing children from work as well as monitoring school dropouts and
children with irregularity of attendance. It is understood that if such children are not tracked

24 Dr. S.K. Puri, Labour and Industrial Laws, 9 th Edition, Allahabad Law Agency
(2005), pg. 588
25

they would join the labour force as child labour. Children are the future of country; they must
be protected from ant type of works.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)

Child Labour in India Rights, Welfare and Protection by Dipak Das

Problems of Child Labour in India by Raj Kumar Sen and Asis Das Gupta
Labour & Industrial Laws by S.N. Misra
The International Law on the Rights of the Child by Geraldine Van Bueren
Labour & Industrial Laws by Dr. V. G. Goswami
Labour and Industrial Laws by Dr. S.K. Puri

Statues
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)

Minimum wages Act, 1948

The plantation labour Act
The mines Act, 1952
The merchant shipping Act, 1958
The apprentices Act, 1961
The factories Act, 1948
7) The children Act, 1960
8) The juvenile justice (care and protection) of children Act of 2000
9) The right of children to free and compulsory education Act of 2009
10) The child labour (prohibition & regulation) Act, 1986
Reports
1) Government of India, Planning Commission, Working Group for Social inclusion of
Vulnerable Group like Child Labour and Bonded and Migrant Labour in the 12th Five
Year Plan (2012-17)

Articles
1) Stephen R. Arnott, Family Law: Autonomy, Standing, and Childrens Rights, 33
William Mitchell Law Review 809 (2007). Arnott notes that the very term
childrens rights is both broad and loose, pg. 808

26

2) Geraldine Van Bueren, The International Law on the Rights of the Child 10-11
(Dordrecht/Boston/London, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1995. 35 International
Studies in Human Rights).
3) The 1924 Declaration stated children must be the first to receive relief; the DRC
specifies more pragmatically that they are to be among the first to receive
protection and relief (principle 8). Van Bueren, pg 11.
Web Sites
1) http://www.loc.gov/law/help/child-rights/international-law.php
2) Child labour, http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l216-Child-Labour.html
3) https://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/laborctr/child_labor/about/causes.html,
4) http://www.poverties.org/child-labor-in-india.html,
5) http://www.indiacelebrating.com/social-issues/child-labour-in-india/,
6) http://www.ilo.org/ipec/Regionsandcountries/Africa/WCMS_101161/lang-en/index.htm,
7) Hyyp://www.labour.nic.in,international program on child labour
8) https://www.labour.nic.in, international program on child labour
9) http://labour.nic.in
10) http://www.crin.org/docs/Ruxton%20Report_WhatAboutUs.pdf
11) https://books.google.co.in/books?id=qNQ48n65YQC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=child+labour+law+in+international+perspective
&source=bl&ots=8lZQRlBSmy&sig=pmKfdBQbJPGqkca_o8AZnVoSEOs&hl=en&s
a=X&ved=0CDYQ6AEwBGoVChMIsszM2pX4xgIVUtSOCh1pSAmn#v=onepage&
q=child%20labour%20law%20in%20international%20perspective&f=false

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