SOCIOLOGY – II

THE CHILDREN (PLEDGING OF LABOUR) ACT, 1933

SIDDHI GUPTA
I.D. NO.: 2334
I YEAR III TRIMESTER
SUBMITTED ON MAY 13, 2017

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Child labour is defined by the International Labour Organization (ILO) as “the type of work
performed by children that deprives them of their childhood and their dignity, which hampers
their access to education and acquisition of skills and which is performed under conditions
harmful to their health and their development.” Paid or unpaid, it restricts their physical, mental,
social, intellectual development and their opportunities for a desirable level of education and
recreation. To safeguard and protect children against such detrimental effects of child labour,
various protective legislations, Constitutional provisions, schemes and the like have been enacted
in India. In this paper, the focus is on one of the first such legislation, called The Children
(Pledging of Labour) Act, 1933, which was enacted to prohibit the pledging of labour of a child.
Various aspects of the Act have been discussed, including the sociological need for its
enactment, the aspects it addressed, the changes and consequences after its enactment, reasons
for its repeal in 2016 and further recommendations for prohibiting pledging of child labour in
India.

Need or Sociological Context of enactment of the Act

With their young impressionable minds, sweet innocence, desire to learn new things and a drive
to change the world, children are the best gift to humanity. Childhood is an important and
mouldable stage of development and determines the potential future development of any society.
By performing tasks which they are too young for, children’s present well-being – physical,
mental, social, intellectual, spiritual – as well as their future earning potentialities are unduly
affected. Thus, children need to be taken care of and protected from being exploited to do any
work which may hamper their and our nation’s future. However, due to poor economic
conditions, parents end up sending their children in early ages of their lives for engagement in a
job for some extra money as a desperate measure. Under such conditions, children are forced to
give up educational opportunities and take up exploitative work, which is usually underpaid and
hazardous in nature. (Lok Sabha Secretariat 2013) Therefore, in an age for carefree frolic and
holistic learning, young children are burdened with hard, hazardous and mind-numbing labour.
This makes it absolutely essential to not only protect every child of any age or gender, but also to
safeguard them through various statutory provisions to facilitate their healthy growth in a
conducive environment.

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The first acknowledgement of child labour as a significant constituent of the workforce and the
need to regulate it came with the enactment of Factories Act in 1881, which set the minimum age
of employment at seven years and the maximum hours of work per day at nine hours. It also
prohibited “double employment” of children in more than one factory on the same day. In 1922,
in line with the recommendations of the ILO Convention 5, the minimum age was raised to
fifteen years and the maximum hours of work per day was capped at six hours, including a half-
hour break in between. The Mines Act, 1901 also proscribed the employment of children under
the age of twelve years in any mine with dangerous conditions for their health and safety.

However, the most ground-breaking development was the Report of the Royal Commission on
Labour in 1929. Headed by John Henry Whitley, this Commission had significant influence on
the recognition and statutory treatment of child labour. A series of child labour prohibition laws
followed after the Commission’s reportage of widespread prevalence of child labour in a number
of industries, viz. textile, carpet, match, bidi, firecrackers, plantations etc. (Ramanathan 2009: 1)
The Commission also discovered the common practice of parents and guardians securing small
loans or advances from employers in aforementioned industries by pledging their children’s
labour in those workplaces. Significant evidence of this practice was found in many centers and
the Commission recommended penalizing the taking or giving of such advances and declaring
such contracts of pledging void. (Singh 2007: 377)

Thereafter, The Children (Pledging of Labour) Act was enacted in 1933 to eradicate the evils
arising out of the malpractice of child bondage by pledging of the labour of young children
below the age of fifteen years by their parents or guardians to employers. These contracts of
pledging were rendered void by the Act, because when children were pledged vide these
agreements, they were seriously exploited by the employers in the workplace. The working
conditions were not conducive for their growth into good responsible citizens. The number of
working hours of these child workers were too long, there were no entertainment hours, good
food or medical facilities, adequate rest hours, any schedule of weekly, monthly or yearly
holidays for the children, any minimum wages or set mode of payment. All these led to blatant
harassment of children, by both the employers, and their parents for forcing children into such
employments and working conditions. (Ahmad 2004: 73) Thus, fines were prescribed for both

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the parents and the employers in The Children (Pledging of Labour) Act, 1933 as a protective
mechanism against pledging of the labour of children.

Details of the aspects addressed by the Act

According to the Preamble of the Act, the main objective of The Children (Pledging of Labour)
Act, 1933 was “to prohibit the making of agreement to pledge the labour of children, and the
employment of children whose labour has been pledged.” Under Section 2, it defined a contract
to pledge the labour of children as agreements, written or oral, wherein the parent, in return for
any payment or benefit to be utilized by him, undertakes to allow the services or labour of the
child to be utilized in any kind of employment, regardless of the working conditions. Further, it
prescribed a proviso, whereby agreements made without any significant detriment to a child,
made in consideration of only reasonable wages to be paid in return of the child’s labour, and
which are terminable at not more than a week’s notice would not be considered punishable
“agreements to pledge the labour of a child” under the Act. This provision was included keeping
in mind the socio-economic conditions of India, where children are the future bread-winners for
a poor family, and thus it prohibited only unreasonable and exploitative agreements for pledging
of labour, and not those agreements which were reasonable and actually enabled children to gain
experience for their future employments in a healthy environment.

By Section 3, the Act declared that an agreement to pledge the labour of a child shall be void,
and also prescribed punishment for entering into such agreements. While the penalty for a parent
or legal guardian entering into these agreements to pledge the labour of a child could extend to
fifty rupees under Section 4, it could extend to two hundred years for those who entered into
such an agreement with a parent or guardian under Section 5. Further, under Section 6, the Act
prescribed a penalty of two hundred rupees for those who employed such a child whose labour
has been pledged, and have knowledge of that fact

In addition to The Children (Pledging of Labour) Act, 1933, such contracts of pledging of labour
of a child would be void under the Indian Contract Act, 1872 too for being against public policy.

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Changes and Consequences after the enactment of the Act
The Children (Pledging of Labour) Act, 1933 was enacted with the best interest of children as its
paramount consideration and was the first concrete step in the direction of prohibiting child
labour. Subsequently, the British government enacted many such child labour prohibition acts till
1947. After our independence and enforcement of the Constitution of India too in 1950, a slew of
legislations followed with an aim to eradicate the evil of child labour and to prevent the
employment of children in unhealthy working conditions doing hazardous jobs. Some of these
important legislations are – The Employment of Children Act, 1938, The Minimum Wages, Act
1948, The Factories Act, 1948, The Plantations Labour Act, 1951, The Plantations Labour Act,
1951, The Apprentices Act, 1961, The Beedi and Cigar Workers (Conditions of Employment)
Act, 1966, The Shops and Establishment Act in Various States, Bonded Labour System
(Abolition) Act, 1976, and most importantly The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act,
1986. These legislations provide legal protection to children in various areas of employment.
(National Commission for Protection of Child Rights 2017)

Besides these statutory provisions, the drafters of our Constitution too included various
provisions for the protection, upliftment and development of children. Several Fundamental
Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy relate to the welfare of children, and categorically
address the issue of child labour. The relevant articles are - Article 21A providing free and
compulsory education to all children, Article 23 prohibiting human trafficking and begar, Article
24 prohibiting employment of children in hazardous industries, Article 39 directing the State to
ensure facilities and opportunities to children for their development in a healthy environment
with freedom and dignity, and Article 45 directing the State to provide early childhood care and
education to all children. (Ministry of Labour and Employment 2017)

In all, child labour prohibition legislations and Constitutional provisions facilitate special
protection of children and provision of opportunities for their holistic development, by
prohibiting exploitative working conditions and malpractices like pledging of child labour.
However, this is all theory and not practice. It is rightly said that an ounce of practice is better
than a ton of theory in case of legislations and Constitutional provisions. Unfortunately, in
practice, The Children (Pledging of Labour) Act, 1933 proved to be a dead letter.

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The enforceability of the Act proved to be a big challenge as no significant change could be
brought about in the malpractice of pledging of the labour of a child due to various reasons.
Firstly, the proviso which rendered agreements made without any significant detriment to a
child, made in consideration of only reasonable wages to be paid in return of the child’s labour,
and terminable at not more than a week’s notice lawful acted as a glaring loophole. Although
included to accommodate special conditions in India, the exception was extensively misused to
guise even unreasonable and exploitative pledging of child labour, which the Act aimed to
prohibit in the first place. Secondly, it turned out to be a regulatory nightmare to monitor all
agreements made by employers and identify agreements to pledge labour of a child. While the
parents and employers derived benefit from such agreements and thus did not report them, the
affected children did not have the awareness or resources and means to do so. Therefore, the
matters of pledging of child labour remained largely unreported, unresolved and unpunished.
Thirdly, no major judicial efforts were made to lay down practical guidelines for protection of
children. In 1979, the Gurupadaswamy Committee on Child Labour also reported blatant
violations of the Act, inadequacy of penalties prescribed, difficulties in regulation and paucity of
prosecutions (Ramanathan 2009: 2)

As a result, although The Children (Pledging of Labour) Act, 1933 aimed to control and regulate
bonded labour, this form of slavery is still widely reported in the agriculture sector, carpet
manufacturing, brick kiln work, bidi making, silk, slate and firecrackers industries, despite the
Act. (Pati 2012: 112)

Due to such slack enforcement of the Act, various amendments were proposed and the Children
(Pledging of Labour) (Amendment) Bill was introduced in 2003. It was proposed to increase the
penalties for the parents and those making pledging agreements, while increasing the penalty and
also introducing imprisonment of employers of pledged children. An additional Section 7 was
also proposed for penalizing those making second default. It was hoped that stricter punishments
would result in better implementation of the Act. However, these amendments could not be
passed. Later in 2016, the entire Act was repealed owing to several reasons.

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Reasons for Repealing the Act
Various factors converged to result in the repeal of The Children (Pledging of Labour) Act,
1933. Other than the Act proving to be a dead letter in practice, the government started
questioning its need too in the presence of more elaborate and better laws like Child Labour
(Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986. It was felt that even if an agreement for pledging of
child labour was reported, it could easily be incorporated in this broader general law. Further, the
proviso to the definition of an agreement of pledge of the labour of a child which was already
regarded as a loophole, was now considered to be actually approving child labour if reasonable
wages were paid in return. Thus, it vitiated the entire purpose of the Act and made it redundant.

Moreover, it was felt that the malpractice of pledging of child labour could be made a crime
under the Indian Penal Code due to it being against the public policy, and thus there was no need
of a separate legislation for the same. The repeal of the law was also recommended due to the
meagerness of the prescribed penalties in the Act, considering the magnitude of the offence and
the modern age now. (National Commission on Labour 2002)

Finally, the last blow to the Act came with Prime Minister Modi’s call to “identify and weed out
obsolete legislation, which hamper governance by creating avoidable confusion.” The Ministry
of Labour and Employment found it prudent to do away with The Children (Pledging of Labour)
Act, 1933 as it was obsolete and narrow, and its provisions were already covered by the Child
Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986. Amendments were made in Child Labour
(Prohibition and Regulation) Act too in 2016 to accommodate The Children (Pledging of
Labour) Act better. (Surabhi 2016)

Further Recommendations
The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act was passed in 2016. It prohibits
the employment of children (below the age of fourteen years of age) in all occupations, and
adolescents (between fourteen and eighteen years of age) in hazardous occupations. (Chaturvedi
2016: 1) Although it covers the issue of pledging of child labour, some more recommendations
for better protection of children and implementation of the Act are presented –

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  Inspection of employment sites: The power to inspect places of employment should
include all kinds of industries, and not just the hazardous ones, to keep a check on
pledging of child labour everywhere.
 Vigilance and Monitoring Committees: These Committees should be headed by local
MPs to review the enforcement of the Act, and not by overburdened District Magistrates.
 Comprehensive Child Labour Policy: Since poverty and illiteracy are the primary reasons
for child labour and its pledging, coordinated efforts by various Departments and
Ministries help in mitigating the issue. The policies launched thus, like Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyaan, Mid-Day Meal Scheme, MGNREGA etc., should be implemented well for
maximum results. Moreover, a new policy properly specifying the functioning of
combined efforts by various Ministries for rescuing and rehabilitating children from
pledging agreements and other malpractices should be brought out.
 Uniform Definition of Child: Since various legislations and schemes have different
definitions for a child, a uniform age should be given to prevent any confusion and
facilitate hassle-free implementation of the Act. (Chaturvedi 2016: 3)

Therefore, although The Children (Pledging of Labour) Act, 1933 has been repealed, its
objective of prohibiting agreements to pledge the labour of a child must be carried forward well
by other operative and broader legislations like Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act to
weed out this malpractice and child labour in general from India. Effective implementation
through combined and coordinated efforts of various Ministries should be done for giving the
children of our nation a happy and burden-free childhood.

Bibliography
2nd National Commission on Labour Report. 2002.

Ahmad, Ashhad. 2004. Child Labour in India: A Politico-Legal Study.

Chaturvedi, Anviti. 2015. 2015 Amendments to the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation)
Amendment Bill, 2012. PRS Legislative Research – Institute for Policy Research Studies.

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Lok Sabha Secretariat Reference Note. Reference Number 10. Parliament Library and Reference,
Research, Documentation and Information Service. Member’s Reference Service New
Delhi.

Ministry of Labour and Employment. http://labour.nic.in. Accessed on May 09, 2017.

Pati, Biswamoy. 2012. Enslaved Innocence: Child Labour in South Asia.

Ramanathan, Usha. 2009. Evolution of the Law on Child Labour in India. The World of Child
Labour – A Historical and Regional Survey. pp. 783-791.

Shukla, CK. 2006. Child Labour: Socio-Economic Dimensions.

Singh, B.D. 2007. Labour Laws for Managers.

Surabhi. Labour Ministry starts process to repeal three obsolete legislation.

http://indianexpress.com/article/business/business-others/labourmin-starts-process-to-repeal-
three-obsolete-legislation/. September 10, 2016. May 09, 2017.