UNIVERSITY OF PETROLEUM & ENERGY STUDIES

COLLEGE OF LEGAL STUDIES

B.Com., LL.B.(Hons.) Taxation Laws

SEMESTER - 7

ACADEMIC YEAR: 2018-19 SESSIONS: AUG- DEC, 2019

PROJECT

FOR

“LABOUR LAW”

ON

“CHILD LABOUR: Present Law in India”

Under the Supervision of: Ms. Anju Pandey

Name: Paritosh Garg(066)

Nitish Kumar Naveen(063)
Harshit Shastri(107)
Sap Id: 500055096
500054889
500056006
INTRODUCTION

"Child" as defined by the child labour (prohibition and regulation) Act 1986 is a person who
has not completed the age of 14 years. Child labour is the practice of having children engages
in economic activity, on a part or full time basis. Every child is considered as a gift of god, it
must be nurtured with care and affection within the family and society. But unfortunately due
to the socio economic problems children were forced to work in industries, leather factories,
hotels and eatery. Child labour has been a major concern in the world because it affects the
children both mentally and physically and it also destroys the future of children. Child labour
is one the serious issue not only in India but also in other developing countries. It is widely
prevalent in developing countries because of poverty. It is a great social problem because
children are the hope and future of a nation. There were many laws enacted to prohibit child
labour but they are ineffective. According to 2017 statics India is one of the leading countries
in Asia has a whopping 33 million children employed in various forms of child labour. Child
labour impedes children from gaining the skills and education they need to have opportunities
of decent work as an adult. Inequality, lack of educational opportunities, slow demographic
transition, traditions and cultural expectations all contribute to the persistence of child labour
in India. Age, sex, ethnicity, caste and deprivation affect the type and intensity of work that
children perform. Agriculture and informal sector employment continue to be sectors where
children end up working.

In 1979, Government formed the first committee called Gurupadswamy Committee to study
the issue of child labour and to suggest measures to tackle it. The Committee examined the
problem in detail and made some far-reaching recommendations. It observed that as long as
poverty continued, it would be difficult to totally eliminate child labour and hence, any
attempt to abolish it through legal recourse would not be a practical proposition. The
Committee felt that in the circumstances, the only alternative left was to ban child labour in
hazardous areas and to regulate and ameliorate the conditions of work in other areas. It
recommended that a multiple policy approach was required in dealing with the problems of
working children. Based on the recommendations of Gurupadaswamy Committee, the Child
Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act was enacted in 1986. As per the Act, employment of
children was prohibited in certain specified hazardous occupations and processes and
regulates the working conditions in others. The list of hazardous occupations and processes is
progressively being expanded on the recommendation of Child Labour Technical Advisory
Committee constituted under the Act. Subsequently the act was amended in 2016 with the
enactment of the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Amendment Act 2016 prohibiting
the employment of Children below 14 years in all employment and also with the provisions
for prohibition on employment of adolescents (14-18 Years) in the scheduled hazardous
occupations and processes.

Government has accordingly been taking proactive steps to tackle this problem through strict
enforcement of legislative provisions along with simultaneous rehabilitative measures. State
Governments, which are the appropriate implementing authorities, have been conducting
regular inspections and raids to detect cases of violations.

CAUSES OF CHILD LABOUR

Poverty
Poverty is one of the main causes of child labour. In developing countries poverty is one of
the major drawback and the children were considered as helping hand to feed their families,
to support their families and to support themselves .Due to poverty, illiteracy and
unemployment parents are unable to send them to schools, instead the children were asked to
help them in running a family so that the poor parents send their children for work in
inhuman conditions at lower wages.

Debts
The poor economic conditions of people in India force them to borrow money. The illiterate
seek debt from money lenders during emergency situation .At later point of time they find
themselves difficult in paying back the debts and interest, as a result the debtors were made to
work for money lenders and then debtors drag their children too in assisting them so that the
debts could be paid off.

Professional..Needs
There are some industries such as the bangle making industry, where delicate hands and little
fingers are needed to do very minute work with extreme excellence and precision. An adults
hand is usually not so delicate and small, so they require children to work for them and do
such a dangerous work with glass. This often resulted in eye accidents of the children.
CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS REGARDING CHILD LABOUR

India has also taken effective measure under national level. In order to eliminate child labour,
India has brought constitutional, statutory development measures. The Indian constitution has
consciously incorporated provisions to secure compulsory elementary education as well as
the labour protection for the children.

Several articles of Indian Constitution provide protection and provisions for child labour.

Article 15 (3)

The State is empowered to make the special provisions relating to child, which will not be
violative of right to equality.

Article 21

No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty, except according to procedure
established by law. The Supreme Court held that „life‟ includes free from exploitation and to
live a dignified life.

Article 21A (Right to Education)

The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to
fourteen years, in such manner as the State may, by law, determine. Where children are
allowed to work, in such establishment, it is the duty of employer to make provisions for the
education of child labourer.

Article 23

Traffic in human beings and beggar and other similar forms of forced labour are prohibited
and any contravention of this prohibition shall be an offence punishable in accordance with
law.

Article 24 (Prohibition of Employment of Children in Factories, etc.)

No child below the age of 14 years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or
engaged in any other hazardous employment. he Supreme Court held that “hazardous
employment” includes construction work, match boxes and fireworks therefore; no child
below the age of 14 years can be employed. Positive steps should be taken for the welfare of
such children as well as for improving the quality of their life.
Article 39 (e)

The State shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing the health and strength of the
tender age of children are not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity
to enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength.

Article 39 (f)

The State shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing that 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 exploitation and against moral
and material abandonment.

Article 45

The State shall endeavour to provide early childhood care and education for all children until
they complete the age of six years.

Article 51A (e)

It shall be the duty of every citizen of India, who is a parent or guardian to provide
opportunities for education to his child or ward as the case may be, between the age of six
and fourteen years.

NATIONAL LEGISLATION AGAINST CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986

The Act prohibits the employment of children below the age of 14 years in 16 occupations
and 65 processes that are hazardous to the children's lives and health. These occupations and
processes are listed in the Schedule to the Act. In October 2006, the Government has
included children working in the domestic sector as well as roadside eateries and motels
under the prohibited list of hazardous occupations. More recently, in September 2008 diving
as well as process involving excessive heat (e.g. working near a furnace) and cold;
mechanical fishing; food processing; beverage industry; timber handling and loading;
mechanical lumbering; warehousing; and processes involving exposure to free silica such as
slate, pencil industry, stone grinding, slate stone mining, stone quarries as well as the agate
industry were added to the list of prohibited occupations and processes.
The Factories Act, 1948

The Act prohibits the employment of children below the age of 14 years. An adolescent aged
between 15 and 18 years can be employed in a factory only if he obtains a certificate of
fitness from an authorized medical doctor. The Act also prescribes four and a half hours of
work per day for children aged between 14 and 18 years and prohibits their working during
night hours.

The Mines Act, 1952

The Act prohibits the employment of children below 18 years of age in a mine. Further, it
states that apprentices above 16 may be allowed to work under proper supervision in a mine.

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of Children Act, 2000

This Act was last amended in 2002 in conformity with the UN Convention on the Rights of
the Child covers young person below 18 years of age. Section 26 of this Act deals with the
Exploitation of a Juvenile or Child Employee, and provides in relevant part, that whoever
procures a juvenile or the child for the purpose of any hazardous employment and keeps him
in bondage and withholds his earnings or uses such earning for his own purposes shall be
punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be
liable for fine.

In some States, including Karnataka and Maharashtra, this provision has been used
effectively to bring to book many child labour employers who are otherwise not covered by
any other law and to give relief and rehabilitation benefits to a large number of children.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009

Provides for free and compulsory education to all children aged 6 to 14 years. This legislation
also envisages that 25 per cent of seats in every private school should be allocated for
children from disadvantaged groups including differently abled children.
INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVES ON CHILD LABOUR

 At the international level the ILO sets the pace and standards for the welfare and
safety of the working class. It may be remembered here that one of the objectives of
the ILO itself is the abolition of child labour. Child labour has been a major
preoccupation of ILO since its foundation in 1919.
 The linkage of child rights with human rights is an obvious one and has been
emphasized by world leaders. The world summit for children was held at the United
Nations headquarters in New York on September 301h of 1990 (UNICEF, 1990). The
success of World Summit or1 Children of 1990 and the political commitment
expressed by Commonwealth Heads of Government and regional organisations like
OAU and S.4ARC have opened a new chapter with regard to cooperation in realising
child rights.
 With the support and assistance of ILO in 1993, India has launched an extensive
action-oriented programme of reduction and elimination of working children and their
rehabilitation in thirty centers of the country. The programme is implemented under
the auspices of International Programmed on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC),
an agency of ILO.
 The UNlCEF is also renders fruitful service for the cause of child welfare,
rehabilitation of child labour, prohibition of child labour, popularisation of universal
education protection of girl children etc. (Ramnarayana, 1992). UNICEF
acknowledges the need to seriously address child labour as a key component of the
organisation policy.1

JUDGEMENTS REGARDING CHILD LABOUR

The conditions of children continue to remain deplorable despite constitutional safeguards.

The problem is so grave that the Apex court has shown its concern from time to time fbr child
workers by bringing occupations or processes under the court order by the direct application
of constitutional provisions. Some landmark judgement can be cited.

1
Parasher.S,United Nations & India 135-2001
U.P. Bandhua Mukti Morcha Vs Union of India2

In this case the Supreme Court of India stated that if no steps are taken under Bonded Labour
System Act – 1976 by the Government then it would be a violation of Article 23 of the
Constitution. Article 23 states that children should not be forced to work at cheap wages due
to their economical or social disadvantage.

Sheela Barse Vs Secretary, Chrildren Aid Soceity and Others, 19873

The Supreme Court held, "If there be no proper growth of children of today, the future of the
country will be dark. It is the obligation of every generation to bring up children who will be
citizens of tomorrow in a proper way.

M. C. Metha Vs State of Tamil Nadu, 19914

The Supreme Court has not allowed children to work in a prohibited occupation. According
to the judges, "the provisions of Article 45 in the Directive Principles of State Policy has still
remained a far cry and according to this provision all children up to the age of 14 years are
sponsored to be in school, economic necessity forces grown up children to seek employment

Limitations of the Child Labour Legislation

Despite various measures undertaken by the Government to tackle the exploitation of

children, India has the dubious distinction of having the largest child labour force in the
world. One of the major criticisms of the legislation on child labour is the lack of uniformly.
The various Acts define child differently. This legislation does not conform to a single agreed
minimum age. The minimum age differ from Act to Act, State to State and industry to
industry. This is not only true of the definition of minimum age, but also of the working
hours, rest periods, night employment etc. Even where legislation applies the employers do
not employ them. There is also hardly any case of government taking employers to courts for
disregarding the various stipulations. Even if they were caught violating the provisions of the
child labour laws the judicial punishment of them is limited and most often the punishment
given is nominal. As a result the legislation do not act as a deterrent and tendency to employ
children continues. Besides, the administrative authorities have no powers to suspend
2
AIR 1984 SC 802
3
AIR 656, 1987 SCR (1) 870
4
SC 76 AIR 1998
licences of a factory violating law. And in fact this conveniently ensures that no effective
steps are taken to alleviate the inhuman conditions of work, leave alone the total eradication
of child labour.

Another major defect of child labour related laws is that they prohibit employment of
children only in hazardous occupations. But a large number of working children do not come
under the term "hazardous labour" as they work in unorganised sector like agriculture,
cottage industries etc. All these are in inferior conditions and are unsuited to their physical
development (Weiner, 1996). And also the legislation fail to include new hazardous
occupations nor is it clear what criteria will be used for defining what is hazardous (Burra,
1986; Fernandes,l986).Quantitatively, more than 80 per cent of child labours work in fms and
roadside tea stalls.

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of 1986 emphasises regulation rather than
prohibition of child labour. The legislation bans the employment of children in factories but
children are otherwise permitted to enter the labour force at any age. They can be legally
employed in small workshops. They are free to work in numerous fields. For example, rag
picking is not classified as hazardous though thousands of children collecting scraps of iron,
glass, paper and rags often pick up bits of food to eat and are prone to tetanus and skin
diseases. It is important to note that the legislation of child labour in the so called 'non-
hazardous' occupations without regard for age is a violation of Articles 24, 39 and 45 of the
Indian Constitution, which ban child labour and call for compulsory schooling. Incidentally,
in the Unnikrishnan and others Vs the State of Andhra Pradesh (1993) case, the Supreme
Court has argued that free and compulsory education should be considered a Fundamental
Right. Again Section I1 of the 1986 legislation stipulates that a register must be maintained of
all children employed in the establishment and this register will be scrutinised by inspectors.
But the stipulation only applies to children employed on regular basis. Since 70 per cent of
child labour is employed on casual basis, these children do not show up in official registers.
Also, the provisions do not apply 'to any establishment wherein any process is carried on by
the occupier with the aid of his family' and this somewhat subjective phrase provides a
convenient loophole.

Again a major chunk of the girl child workers do not come under the definition of child
labour because according to these laws there must be an identifiable employee and an
identifiable employer. But most of the girl child workers are mainly confined to domestic
sphere and this is normally invisible. And also children working as part of the family labour
do not come under the purview of Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act. Moreover,
the governmental machinery to implement these laws is inadequate. Inspectorate system does
not work at all and partly as a result of this, children are often doing not aware of their rights.
For example, under section 12 of the 1986 legislation, every establishment where children are
employed is supposed to prominently display some of the provisio of 1986 legislation
through notice, both in the local language and in English. Virtually no establishment
complies with this provision. And employees are not punished, as inspectors never turn up.
This jurisdiction of individual inspectors is also too extensive for them to keep a regular
watch on activities within their purview. The labour inspector, whenever he got a chance to
book any violation, had difficulties in collecting evidence for proper prosecution. The parents
of working children are opposed to enforcing such laws when poverty forces them to send
their children to work in hazardous industries and when the alternative to hazardous
employment is hunger and malnutrition. Inspite of the constitutional directives and
multiplicity of enacted laws, millions of children have been working in India in a variety of
occupations, the laws remaining placidly in bound volumes without a sign of implementation
(Sundararajan, 1993).
Conclusion

There are more than 250 Central and State laws relating to children but no substantial
improvement in the condition of children has been reported. It is due to the lack of social will
and vested interest. What is most urgent is the concern on the part of government to
implement this legislation. It needs strong political and social will. There is a wide gap
between the prevailing situation and accepted norms, these gaps cannot be abridged except by
a radical emphasis on giving a prepondent priority to the implementation of child labour Act
Today there is no sensitivity among officials (Kurian, 1999). Absence of social pressures on
officials makes them more sensitive. Thus it become clear that the existing enactment and
statutory provisions regulating employment conditions, working conditions etc. in regard to
working children are not feasible. These should be comprehensively reviewed, supplemented
extended and properly enforced. Child labour is a complex phenomenon. Children do not
have any fundamental rights under the constitution except a reference under Article 24, 39
and 45 of the irrespective Principles of State Policy. Though there is legislation governing
child labour, it does not seem consistent with the definition of child. This is ridiculous and
hypocritical.
Bibliography

1. Ali, N. (1987), ‘Child Labour in the Carpet Industry of Kashmir’, in Gupta and Vol l.

2. Arimpoor Joe (1992), Child Labour Cell, Street Children of Madras - A situational
Analysis, National Labour Institute, Noida, Ghaziabad. P. 9.

3. Govt. of India (1933), The Children (Pledging of Labour) Act.

4. Govt. of India (1938), The Employment of Children Act

5. Govt. of India (1948), Factories Act.

6. Myron Weiner, (1996) "Child Labour in India: Putting Compulsory Primary

Education on the Political Agenda", Economic and Political Weekly, Nov. 9-16,

p. 3007.

7. International Labour Organization (1993), World Labour Report. Geneva: International

Labour Organization.

8. Kanbargi (1988), ‘Child Labour in India: The Carpet Industry of Varanasi’, in Bequele and
Boyden (eds.), Combating child Labour, op.cit

9. Nangia, P (1987), Child Labour: cause-effect syndrome. New Delhi: Janak Publishers.

10. Nazir Ahmad Shah, Child Labour in India, p. 99