What is meant by child labor? What are the different forms of Child labor in India? What is the history of Child labor in India? What are the causes and consequences of child labor? What are the laws governing Child labor in India? What are the current statistics if Child labor in India? What is meant by Bounded Child Labor?

1. Child Labor
in
India
Abad Agha
International Islamic University Islamabad

2. Outline
1- Definition
2- Introduction
3- Forms of Child Labor
4- Bonded child labor in India
5- History of Child Labor in India
6- Current Statistics
7- Laws governing Child Labor in India
8- Causes
9- Consequences

3. Definition
Child labor is a work that deprive children of their childhood,
their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical
and mental development.
The International Labor Organization estimates that 215
million children between the ages of 5 and 17 currently work
under conditions that are considered illegal, hazardous, or
extremely exploitative.

4. Introduction
• India is sadly the home to the largest number of
child laborers in the world.
• The number of child laborers from 11.28 million in
1991 to 12.59 million in 2001.
• M.V. Foundation in Andhra Pradesh found nearly
400,000 children.
• mostly girls between seven and 14 years of age,
labor for 14-16 hours a day, of which 90% are
employed in Andhra Pradesh.
• A growing phenomenon is using children as
domestic workers in urban areas.
• Children are often made to work without food, and
very low wages, resembling situations of slavery.

5. Forms Of Child Labor
1- Agriculture
Children in commercial agriculture can face long hours
in extreme temperatures, health risks from pesticides,
little or no pay, and inadequate food, water, and
sanitation.
• Bananas
• Cotton
• Cut flowers
• Oranges
• Tea
• Fruits and Vegetables

6. 2- Manufacturing
Most of the children are directly involved in
manufacturing business.
• Carpets
• Clothing
• Glass and bricks
• Fireworks
• Surgical instruments

7. 3- Mining and Production
Children as young as 6 or 7 years old break
up rocks, and wash, sieve, and carry ore.
Nine-year-olds work underground setting
explosives and carrying loads. Children
work in a range of mining operations,
including:
• Gold
• Charcoal
• Chrome
• Emeralds
• Coal

8. 4- Domestic Service
• Many children, especially girls, work in
domestic service, sometimes starting as
young as 5 or 6.
• This type of child labor is linked to child
trafficking. Domestic child laborers can
be victims of physical, emotional, and
sometimes sexual abuse.

9. 5- Hotels, Restaurants and Retail
• Some of the work of young people in this
sector is considered legitimate, but there
are indications of considerable abuse.
• Low pay is the norm, and in most tourist
areas, children’s work in hotels and
restaurants.

10. Bonded child labor in India
• Bonded child labor is a system of forced, or partly forced, labor
under which the child, or usually child's parent enter into an
agreement, oral or written, with a creditor.
• The child performs work as in-kind repayment of credit.
• Debt-bondage in India emerged during the colonial period, as a
means to obtain reliable cheap labor, with loan and land-lease
relationships implemented during that era of Indian history.
• These were regionally called Hali, or Halwaha, or Jeura systems;
and by colonial administration the indentured labor system. These
systems included bonded child labor.

11. History of Child Labor in
India
• In India child labor has always existed in the agricultural sector.
• Children and their parents used to work together in the farms.
• The task of taking the cattle to graze was always allotted to
children.
• Schooling was not available in most villages and most of the jobs
were still in the agricultural sector. So this work served as training
for their future.
• Large scale exploitation of children in India began with the arrival
of the British. Just as the case was in Great Britain, the new
industrialists started hiring children who were forced to work in
inhuman conditions.
• Laws against child labor were passed under Employment of
Children Act of 1938. These attempts failed as they failed to address
the root cause of child labor in India: poverty.

12. Current Statistics
• According to the Census 2001 figures there are 1.26 crore
working children in the age group of 5-14 as compared to
the total child population of 25.2 crore.
• There are approximately 12 lakhs children working in the
hazardous occupations/processes which are covered under the
Child Labor (Prohibition & Regulation) Act i.e. 18 occupations
and 65 processes.
• As per survey conducted by National Sample Survey
Organization (NSSO) in 2004-05, the number of working
children is estimated at 90.75 lakh.
• As per Census 2011, the number of working children in the age
group of 5-14 years has further reduced to 43.53 lakh. It shows
that the efforts of the Government have borne the desired
fruits.

13. Laws governing Child Labor in India
The Constitution of India (26 January 1950), through various articles
enshrined in the Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles of
State Policy, lays down that:
• 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 (Article
24);
• The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of
the age six to 14 years. (Article 21 (A));
• The State shall direct its policy towards securing that the health and
strength of workers, men and women and the tender age of children are
not abused and that they are not forced by economic necessity to enter
vocations unsuited to their age and strength (Article 39-e);
• Children shall be given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy
manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood and
youth shall be protected against moral and material abandonment (Article
39-f);
• The State shall endeavor to provide within a period of 10 years from the
commencement of the Constitution for free and compulsory education for
all children until they complete the age of 14 years (Article 45).

14. Laws governing C.L in India Contin……..
India has a federal form of government, and labor being a subject in the
Concurrent List, both the central and state governments can and have legislated on
child labor. The major national legislative developments include the following;
• The Factories Act of 1948: The Act prohibits the employment of children below the
age of 14 years in any factory.
• The Mines Act of 1952: The Act prohibits the employment of children below 18
years of age in a mine.
• The Child Labor (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of 1986: The Act prohibits
the employment of children below the age of 14 years in hazardous occupations
identified in a list by the law. The list was expanded in 2006, and again in 2008.
• The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of Children Act of 2000: This
law made it a crime, punishable with a prison term, for anyone to procure or employ a
child in any hazardous employment or in bondage.
• The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act of 2009: The
law mandates free and compulsory education to all children aged 6 to 14 years. This
legislation also mandated that 25 percent of seats in every private school must be
allocated for children from disadvantaged groups and physically challenged children.

15. Causes
• For much of human history and across different cultures, children less
than 17 years old have contributed to family welfare in a variety of
ways.
• Poverty is the big cause of child labour.
• In rural and impoverished parts children have no real and meaningful
alternative.
• Schools and teachers are unavailable.
• Between boys and girls, girls are two times more likely to be out of
school and working in a domestic role.
• Girls are also harassed or bullied at schools, sidelined by prejudice or
poor curricula. Therefore, many girls are kept from school or drop out,
then provide child labour.
• Inflexibility and structure of India's labour market, size of informal
economy, inability of industries to scale up and lack of modern
manufacturing technologies are major macroeconomic factors
affecting demand and acceptability of child labour.

16. Consequences
• The presence of a large number of child laborers is regarded as a
serious issue in terms of economic welfare.
• Children who work fail to get necessary education. They do not
get the opportunity to develop physically, intellectually,
emotionally and psychologically.
• In terms of the physical condition of children, children are not
ready for long monotonous work because they become
exhausted more quickly than adults. This reduces their physical
conditions and makes the children more vulnerable to disease.
• Children in hazardous working conditions are even in worse
condition.
• Children who work, instead of going to school, will remain
illiterate which limits their ability to contribute to their own well
being as well as to community they live in.
• To keep an economy prospering, a vital criteria is to have an
educated workforce equipped with relevant skills for the needs
of the industries. The young laborers today, will be part of
India’s human capital tomorrow. Child labour undoubtedly
results in a trade-off with human capital accumulation.