CHAPTER-IV

LEGAL PROVISIONS OF
CHILD LABOUR
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CHAPTER - IV

LEGAL PROVISIONS OF CHILD LABOUR

The history of child labour legislation in India goes back to the

recognition of the child labour issue as a grave problem in the 19th century.

By enacting the Factories Act in 1881, the protection of law was first

extended to working children. It is assumed that the colonial rulers were

familiar with dealing with child exploitation in their own country during the

industrial revolution. Another view was that some of the Indian

industrialists, who were traders to begin with, carried raw-materials for the

textile mills in England, especially in Lancashire, Manchester and

Yorkshire, and brought back the finished textile goods. India ceased to be

the market for the textile mills in England when these industrialists started

making cloth in India.

It is also assumed that, to curtail the mushrooming growth of the

Indian textile industry, the Factories Act was mainly legislated though there

were humanitarian motives to protect children. The Indian Factories Act,

1881, set the minimum age of employment in factories at seven years and

allowed the maximum of nine hours of work per day. It also provided for at

least four holidays in a month and prohibited successive employment of

child workers in two factories on the same day. The act was applicable to
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factories employing 100 or more workers and, therefore, gave no protection

to children employed in smaller factories.

The act was amended almost every 10 years, each time, gradually

increasing age of the child. For instance, in 1891, the minimum age was

increased to nine years and the maximum hours of work reduced to seven.

In addition, children were prohibited from working between 8 p.m. and 5

a.m. Legislation prohibiting the employment of children in mines was also

evolved with the passing of the Mines Act 1901 which prohibited the

employment of a child under 12 years in any mine where the conditions

were dangerous to their health and safety. This act restricted child

employment in open cast mines with depths of less than 20 feet.

In 1911, the Factories Act prohibited the work in certain dangerous

processes and required a certificate of age and fitness. In 1922, the Factories

Act was amended to provide for changes in order to implement the ILO

Convention No. 5 by raising the minimum age to 15 years in general,

restricting working hours to six hours and also providing for intervals of half

an hour if children were employed for more than SVi hours. This act was

applicable to establishments using mechanical processes employing 20 or

more persons.
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In 1923, the Indian Mines Act increased the minimum age to 13 years

and restricted the weekly hours of work for children to 54 underground and

60 above ground. It also changed the definition of mine to include any

excavation irrespective of depth used for searching or obtaining minerals. In

1926, the factories Act was amended to impose certain penalties on parents

and guardians for allowing their children to work in two different factories

the same day.

In 1929, a Royal Commission on Labour was set under the

chairmanship of John Henry Whitley. While reporting the prevalence of

child labour in various parts of the country in the carpet, bidi, textile, match

and other industries, it referred at length to the child labour on plantations

and recommended that owners of tea plantations contribute to the

establishment of factories for ensuring their minimum education. The

Commission recommended the legal prohibition of children below the age of

10 from work, and to enter the names of all working children in wage books.

Besides recommending that children should not be allowed to work overtime

and take work home, the Commission also prohibited the pledging of

children. On the whole, however, it adopted a conciliatory approach and

recommended cooperation between the government, local authorities and

employers to develop child welfare centers for children.

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A variety of legislation resulted from the report of the Royal

Commission of Labour. The Indian Ports Act of 1931 prescribed 12 years as

the minimum age for handling goods in ports. In 1932, the tea Districts

Emigrant Labour Act was passed to check the migration of labourers and

provided that no child under 16 be employed or allowed to migrate unless

the child was accompanied by the parents or adults on whom the child was

dependent.

In 1933, the Children (Pledging of Labour) Act, prohibited taking of

advances by parents and guardians in return for bonds, pledging the labour

of their children like bonded labour. The act deemed any such bonded

labour contract as void when the labourer was under 15 years of age.

In 1934, the Factories Act prohibited to work in factories for children

under 12 years and employment was restricted to 5 hours a day for children

between 12 and 15 years long with other restrictions for children between 15

and 17 years. In 1935, the Mines Act was amended to introduce divisions of

children according to age groups. It raised the minimum age to 15 years and

required a certificate of physical fitness from a qualified medical practitioner

from those between 15 and 17 years of age. It also restricted working time

to a maximum of 10 hours a day and 54 hours a week for work above the

ground and nine hours a day for work underground.

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Based on the recommendation of the 23rd session of the International

Labour Conference in 1937 where a convention with a special article

exclusively on India was adopted, and requiring ratification by the Indian

government to prohibit child below 13 years of age to work in certain

categories of employment, the Employment of Children Act, 1938, was

enacted. The act prohibited child labour in the transport of passengers,

goods, mails, by rail or in the handling of goods at docks, quays or wharves,

but excluding transport by hand. The Employment of Children Act, 1938,

was the first act, which directly addressed the problem of child labour in

India.

In 1944, the Labour Investigation Committee, popularly known as the

Rege Committee, observed that child labour increased during war time. It

also found that the child labour aspect was predominant in the bidi-making,

carpet-weaving, glass and other small-scale industries. The report specially

referred to the prevalence of child labour in the match industry in South

India, cement industry in Rajasthan, the spinning industry in Cochin, and

carpet weaving in Kashmir. The Committee recommended that it was not

enough to prohibit the employment of children, but also essential to

simultaneously adopt positive measures to when away from industrial

employment.
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The first post-Independence enactment to take into account the

problem of child labour in the country was the Minimum Wages Act passed

in 1948. This was probably because the bulk of the children in the country

were employed in agriculture and other sweated industries in the rural and

semi-urban areas. The act defined a ‘child’ to mean a person who had not

completed 14 years of age provided that the appropriate government fixed

different rates of wages for adults, adolescents and children. It also provided

the normal working for a child to be 414 hours and that no child could be

employed or permitted to work overtime. In 1948, the Factories Act raised

the minimum age for employment in factories to 14 years. In 1949, the

Employment of Children Act was amended to raise the minimum age to 14

years for employment in establishments governed by this act.

In 1952, the Mines Act prohibited the employment of children under

15 years in mines. The act also stipulated conditions for underground work

to include having completed 16 years of age and a certificate of physical

fitness from a surgeon. During 1953, the Labour Bureau conducted an rapid

ad hoc enquiry into labour conditions. It reported that, no sooner did factory

inspectors or other officers make their appearance on the scene than a large

number of children ran away from the premises. These were often children

below the minimum age for employment.

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In this connection, the Labour Investigation Committee remarked that

“it must be remembered that the concerns supplying figures are more law

abiding than some of the others and also that employment of children is

almost always clandestine. The important fact that in various industries,

mainly smaller industry, the prohibition of the employment of children is

disregarded quite openly and owing to the inadequacy of the inspection staff,

it has become difficult to enforce the relevant provisions of the law”. The

committee observed that a large number of children were being employed in

cashew nut processing in Madras and Travancore-Cochin, in a large number

in mica-mines, in establishments coming under the Factories Act, bidi

workshops, carpet weaving, matches and mica splitting. This was in

contravention of the provisions of the Mines Act. Employment of Children

Act and Factories Act.

In 1954, the Factories Act was amended to include the prohibition of

the employment of persons under 17 years between of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. in

1958, the Merchant Shipping Act prohibited the employment of children

under 15 in any ship except in school ships, in ships where all employees

were members of a family, in a home trade ship of less than 200 tons gross

or where the child was employed at nominal wages and would be in the

charge of the father or other male relative. In 1961, the Motor Transport
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Workers Act was passed to prohibit the employment of children under 15

years in motor transport undertakings and this act required adolescent

workers to obtain certificates of fitness. The Merchant Shipping Act and the

Motor Transport Workers Act were later amended to define the child as

being under 14 years by the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act,

1986.

In 1961 the Apprentices Act was passed and prohibited the

apprenticeship or training of a child under 14 years and, in the case of the

apprentic3eship of other minors, required a contract between the guardian

and the employer. The Apprentices Act also sets the maximum weekly

hours for an apprentice at 42 to 48 hours in total, depending on the number

of years spent as an apprentice. No apprentice, other than short-term

apprentices, may work between 10 p.m. and 6a.m. except with the approval

of the apprenticeship adviser. In 1962 the Atomic Energy Act, prohibited

the employment of persons under 18 years of age as radiation workers,

except with the permission of the competent authority. In 1966 the Bidi and

Cigar Workers (Conditions of Employment) Act was passed. It not only

prohibited the employment of children under 14 in industrial premises where

any process connected with the manufacture of bidis and cigars takes place,
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but also the employment of young persons who have completed their 14th

but not 18th year of age, between 7p.m. and 6 a.m.

The National Commission of Labour observed in 1966 that the

employment of children was indeed more of an economic problem than

anything else. However, denial of opportunity to children for their proper

physical development and education was considered a serious issue keeping

in view the larger interests of society. The commission recommended fixing

the minimum age for children, fixing working hours of child labour for them

and making arrangements for work with education.

In 1978, the Employment of Children Act was amended prohibiting

the employment of a child below 15 years inoccupation on railway premises

such as cinder-picking or clearance of ash pets or building operations, in

catering establishments and in any other work which was carried on or in

close proximity to or between the railway lines.

In 1979, the Gurupadaswamy Committee on Child Labour was set up.

The Committee’s report, which was both analytical and comprehensive,

dealt at length with questions such as dimensions of child labour, status of

legislation and its implementation, welfare and training schemes for child

labour. It also collected the views of a cross-section of society, including

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workers, employers, various departments of the government and voluntary

organisations on various aspects of child labour.

The Committee recommended that the existing laws relating to the

prohibition and regulation of the employment of children be consolidated

into a single comprehensive one, adopting uniform definitions of the child

and adolescents while prescribing the hours of work, conditions of work, etc.

It has suggested the new law where should also have the flexibility to extend

the new areas of employment. Supportive measures recommended by the

Committee included child care, nutrition, periodical medical checkup,

education etc. for child workers. It demanded that the Planning

Commission work out the feasibility of removing children below 14 years

from the labour market in order to find employment for unemployed and

able-bodied people.

Commenting on the existing child labour legislation and its

implementation, the Gurupadaswamy Committee reported that the

jurisdiction of individual inspectors was too extensive for them to keep the

required watch on the activities within their purview. It also observed that

there were practically no prosecutions in most parts of the country of any

violation of existing laws pertaining to child labour. The Committee noticed

children of very tender age working in factories in violation of the statutory

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provisions. It was of the view that the enactment of law is only a first step.

What was really important is its enforcement. Further, the Committee noted

that the punishment provided in the existing statues as penalties for

violations of acts were meager and, therefore, had no deterrent effect. On

the whole, the committee suggested a multiple-policy approach to deal with

the problem of working children.

After seven years, the Sanat Mehta Committee was appointed at a

time when there was a lot of debate in the country over the issue of child

labour. In its report submitted in 1986, the Committee reiterated the

recommendations of the National Commission of Labour and

Gurupadawamy Committee. In addition, the Sanat Mehta Committee

emphasised the need for a uniform age for children for entry into

employment and wanted to combine work with education.

A voluntary agency, Concerned for Working Children (CWC), drafted

a bill called the child Labour (Employment) Regulation, Training and

Development Bill, 1985, which sought to replace other acts and legal

provisions relating to child labour. It also felt that it was necessary to

formulate a comprehensive law to ban child labour in hazardous operations

and to regulate their conditions of employment in other areas. The aim of

the draft bill was to eradicate child labour in the long term and to protect the
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child worker immediately in the short term. In order to achieve this goal it

suggested developmental programmes for the rehabilitation and welfare of

child workers as part and parcel of the act.

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Bill, 1986, was passed

in both Houses of Parliament and converted into an Act on 23 December

1986.

4.1. AFTER-EFFECTS OF THE 1986 ACT

1987, August: Adoption of the National Child Labour Policy.

Provided for a legislative action plan; focusing on general

development programmes for the benefit of working children as well as

formulation of a project based action plan in areas of high concentration of

child labour.

1989, December: Report of the Task Force on Child Labour set up by

the Child Labour Advisory Board under the chairmanship of Dr. L.M.

Singhvi.

Recommended amendments to child labour laws and national policy

on child labour.
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1991, July: Report of the National Commission on Rural Labour

Recommended enactment of compulsory primary reduction acts by

the state; certain of non-formal education centers; enhancement of outlays

for elementary education; guarantee wage employment for paints of working

children; universal prohibition of child labour; media publicity against child

labour.

1992: Child Labour Deterrence Act

This bill prohibited the importation of any product, made wholly or

partly, by children under the age of 15 employed in the mining industry.

1994: Independence Day

The prime Minister’s declaration from the ramparts of Delhi’s Red

Fort, gave a special impetus to the elimination of child labour by making a

national commitment to withdraw 2 million working children from

hazardous occupations. The following steps have since been taken:

■ A meeting of the Union Lobar Minister with the labour ministers of

17 states, to discuss the elimination of child labour, with a view to

formulating a plan of action on different states.

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■ The constitution of a National Authority for the Elimination of Child

Labour (NAECL) under the chairmanship of the Union Labour

Minister, on 26 September 1994.

■ The issue of circular on 16 January 1995 on the “Identification,

Release and Rehabilitation of Child Labour”. This circular has

already been forwarded to all the states by the Prime Minister and

Union Labour Minister for necessary action.

■ Identification by NAECL of areas of convergence of different

initiatives and programmes of the Central Government to tackle the

child labour problem effectively.

■ Identification of child labour in 133 child labour endemic districts in

13 states.

■ Consolations on 13-14 September 1995 with district collectors of the

concerned district in order to evolve some new and effective

programmes aimed at the phased but time-bound elimination of child

labour in hazardous employment.

■ Consolation with members of the Standing Labour Committee and

Indian Labour Conference on child labour elimination.

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* The launch of a massive media campaign to sensitive society against

child labour. A number of press advertisements, TV programmes and

films on child labour have been produced.

■ Allocation of funds to conduct surveys for the identification of child

labour, and to take up awareness-generation programmes to sensitize

people in all child-labour endemic districts.

■ Allocation of funds to 70 projects for setting up special schools for

the child labour withdrawn from work.

■ A district Collectors Workshop on Child Labour in Hazardous

Industries was conducted in September 1995 and the following

recommendations were made:

o The child should be viewed in the context of the family to which

he/she belongs. All the on-going poverty-alleviation and

developmental programmes are to be addressed to such families

in order to improve socio-economic status.

o District-level committees for the convergence of services should

be set up.

o Development and enforcement activities should be integrated and

strengthened.
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o The existing Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act,

1986, should be amended.

o Children in hazardous employments should be given top priority

in all developmental efforts.

o Surveys should be carried out in all child labour endemic district

to create a database for future planning and inventions.

o Emphasis should be given to awareness generation activities at

the district level, cost effectively.

o All child labour projects should be effectively monitored and

evaluated by computerized systems.

o An autonomous body under the Government of India may be

created for administering the programme for the elimination of

child labour.

o In all child labour endemic districts, primary education must be

made compulsory and special inputs must be provided to make

education interesting and meaningful.

o Per capita cost of running special schools for the child labour

should be enhanced to Rs.6,000 per annum.

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■ A Labour Commissioners Consultation Meet to understand and assess

recent developments and plan future lines of action was held in

January 1996 wherein the following decisions were taken:

o A state-level monitoring unit should be set up in all states with

the labour commissioner’s office as the nodal agency from where

all activities relating to child labour projects within the states

would be monitored.

o At the district level, the District Collector should be responsible

for the overall management of the National Child Labour Projects

(NCLPs).

o To set up the monitoring cell of the officer of the labour

commissioner, a non recurring grant of about Rs.15 Lakhs would

be required in each state for the purchase of vehicles and

equipment. An additional sum of Rs.15 lakhs (approximately)

would be required as recurring expenses per annum to meet the

expenses on personnel, consultancy, travel, POL, etc of the state

monitoring cell-unit.

o Three workshops of collectors and project directors of child

labour endemic districts of the country should be organised to

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review the status of implementaion of the NCLPs and to impart

training on survey as well as to evolve the strategy for awareness

generation at the field level.

o The collectors workshop should be utilized to sensitise district

collectors/magistrates and project directors of the NCLP on the

issue of child labour.

■ District Collectors Workshops on child labour were conducted in

February and March 1996. At those workshops, it was decided to

conduct district level surveys, undertake awareness-generation and the

district level and review the progress of district child labour projects.

■ A State Labour Ministers’ Conference on Child Labour in July 1997

looked into the follow-up on child labour surveys under the direction

of the Supreme Court and to provide a legislative framework to

address the problem of child labour.

■ A National consolation on Child Labour met in August 1997 and

drafted a declaration. “An Agenda for Action on Child Labour.

■ A workshop on vocational training in NCLP schools was conducted in

September 1997 to: (a) provide a module far workshop training and

course curriculum; (b) make effective use of the community as a

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resource for vocational training; and (c) assess the need for setting up

organizational infrastructure for vocational training for children.

4.2. EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN - PROTECTIVE LEGAL

PROVISIONS:

■ The Children (Pledging of Labour) Act, 1933

Employment of children under 14 years of age prohibited.

* The Factories Act, 1948

Employment of children under 14 years of age prohibited.

■ Minimum Wages Act, 1948.

Child work not allowed at night i.e. 7.00 p.m. to 6.a.m. Children

permitted to work in plantations only where certificate of fitness is

granted by a certifying surgeon. On completion of 15 days’ work, one

day’s leave with wages allowed.

* The Plantations Labour Act, 1951.

Children/adolescents allowed to work 27 hours a week

■ The Mines Act, 1952.

Employment of children under the 14 years of age prohibited

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■ The Merchant Shipping Act, 1958.

Prohibits children under 15, engaged in work in any ship except in

certain specified cases.

* The Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961

Employment of children under 14 years of age prohibited.

■ The Bidi and Cigar Workers (Condition of Employment) Act,

1966.

Employment of children under 14 years of age prohibited.

- The child labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986.

Except in the process of family based work or reorganized school

based activities, children not permitted to work in occupations

concerned with:

o Passenger, goods, mail, transport by railways

o Carpet weaving

o Cinder picking, cleaning of ash pits

o Cement manufacturing

o Building operation construction

o Cloth printing

o Dyeing, weaving
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o Manufacturing of matches, explosives, fireworks

o Catering establishments in railway premises or port limits

o Bidi making

o Mica cutting, splitting

o Abattoirs

o Hazardous processes and dangerous operations as defined in

section 2 (cb) and section 87 of the Factories Act, 1948,

respectively.

o Wool cleaning

o Printing as defined in section 2 (k) of the Factories Act, 1948.

o Cashew and cashew nut de-scaling and processing.

o Soldering processes in electronic industries.

In occupations and process other than the above, work be children

permissible only for six hours between 8.00 a.m. and 7.00 p.m. with one

day’s weekly rest.

Occupiers of establishments employing children to give notice to local

Inspector and maintain prescribed registers.