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) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi) (vii) continued poverty inadequate income of parents unemployment self interest of employers cheap labourers indebtedness 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
3 People for Union for Democratic Rights v. Union of India

are large drops 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 familybased 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 bidimaking , 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 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 (1) This Act may be called the Child Labour (Prohibition and

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) (iii) (iv) child means a person who has not completed his fourteenth year of age; day means a period of twenty-four hours beginning at midnight; 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) (d) the nature of work of any such child; and 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) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) (i) (j) (k) (l) (m) (n) (o) (p) (q) (r) (s) cleanliness in the place of work and its freedom for nuisance; disposal of wastes and effluents; ventilation and temperature; dust and fume; artificial humidification; lighting; drinking water; latrine and urinals; spittoons; fencing of machinery; work at or near machinery in motion; employment of children on dangerous machines; instructions, training and supervision in relation to employment of children on dangerous machines; device for cutting off power; self-acting machinery; easing of new machinery; floor, stairs and means of access; pits, sumps, openings in floors, etc.; excessive weight;

(t) (u) (v) (w) (x) PART IV

protection of eyes; explosive or inflammable dust, gas, etc.; precautions in case of fire; maintenance of buildings; and safety of buildings and machinery.

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) (b) (c) (d) fails to give notice as required by Sec. 9, or fails to maintain a register as required by Sec. 11 or makes any false entry in any such register; or fails to display a notice containing an abstract of Sec. 3 and this section as required by Sec. 12; or 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) (b) (c) (d) Section 67 of the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948); Section 40 of the Mines Act, 1952 (35 of 1952); Section 109 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 (44 of 1958); and 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) (c) number of hours for which a child may be required or permitted to work under sub-section (1) of Sec. 7; 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) year; (aa) adult means a person who has completed his eighteenth year of age;: `adolescent means a persons who has completed his fourteenth year of age but has not completed his eighteenth

(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) (b) (c) in Sec.2 in Cls.(a) and (c), for the word fifteenth, the word fourteenth shall be substituted; Sec. 24 shall be omitted; 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) (b) Act means the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Rules, 1986 (61 0f 1986); Committee means the Child Labour Technical Advisory Committee constituted under sub-section (1) of Sec. 5 of the Act; (c) (d) (e) Chairman means the Chairman of the Committee appointed under sub-section (2) of Sec. 5 of the Act; Form means a Form appended to these ruels; register means the register required to be maintained under Sec. 11 of the Act;

(f) (g)

Schedule means the schedule appended to the Act; 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 reappointment. 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) (b) is absent without leave of the Chairman for three or more consecutive meetings of the Committee; or is declared to be of unsound mind by a competent court; or

(c) (d)

is or has been convicted of any offence which, in the opinion of the Central Government, involves moral turpitude; or 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 SubCommittees, 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) (2) (3) Transport of passengers, goods or mails by railways; Cinder picking, clearing of an ash pit or building operation in the railway premises; 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) (6) (7) (8) (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) A port authority within the limits of any port; Work relating to selling of crackers and fireworks in shops with Abattoirs/Slaughter House; Automobile workshops and garages; Foundries; Handling of toxic or inflammable substances or explosives; Handloom and power loom industry; Mines (underground and under water) and collieries; Plastic units and fiberglass workshops;

temporary licenses;

PART B
Processes (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) Beedi-making. Carpet-weaving. Cement manufacture, including bagging of cement. Cloth printing, dyeing and weaving. Manufacture of matches, explosives and fire-works. Mica-cutting and splitting. Shellac manufacture. Soap manufacture. Tanning.

(10) Wool-cleaning. (11) Building and construction industry. (12) (13) Manufacture of slate pencils (including packing). 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 leadpainted 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) (53) Electroplating; Graphite powdering and incidental processing;

(54) (55) (56) (57)

Grinding or glazing of metals; Diamond cutting and polishing; Extraction of slate from mines; 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 farreaching 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 nonhazardous 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.