HISTORY PROJECT

AKNOWLEDGEMENT

I express my special thanks to my principal Ms. Falguni

Trivedi, History teacher Ms. Sejal Dhruva who always gave
me guidance and helped me to know about the subject. I had
made this project from my heart and shown utmost sincerity
to complete it. I am very thankful to all those people who
helped me and guided me to make such a project. I also
thank my parents who have provided me all the resources
required to make this project.
Vatsal Jotangia
XC

INDEX

1. Introduction
2. Meaning of child labor
3. Situation analysis of child labor
4. Problem of child labor
5. Causes of child labor
6. Consequences of child labor
7. Government measures for talking the problem of child
labor
8. National policy of child labor
9. Assessment of child labor
10. Suggestion for elimination of child labor
11. Conclusion

CHILD LABOR AND ABUSIVE

PRACTICES IN INDIA

INTRODUCTION

Economic hardship exacts a toll on millions of families

worldwide – and in some places, it comes at the price of a
child’s safety. Roughly 160 million children were subjected to
child labour at the beginning of 2020, with 9 million
additional children at risk due to the impact of COVID-19.

This accounts for nearly 1 in 10 children worldwide. Almost

half of them are in hazardous work that directly endangers
their health and moral development.

Children may be driven into work for various reasons. Most

often, child labour occurs when families face financial
challenges or uncertainty – whether due to poverty, sudden
illness of a caregiver, or job loss of a primary wage earner.

Whatever the cause, child labour compounds social

inequality and discrimination, and robs girls and boys of their
childhood. Unlike activities that help children develop, such
as contributing to light housework or taking on a job during
school holidays, child labour limits access to education and
harms a child’s physical, mental and social growth. Especially
for girls, the “triple burden” of school, work and household
chores heightens their risk of falling behind, making them
even more vulnerable to poverty and exclusion.

MEANING OF CHILD LABOUR

Not all work done by children should be classified as child

labour that is to be targeted for elimination. The participation
of children or adolescents above the minimum age for
admission to employment in work that does not affect their
health and personal development or interfere with their
schooling, is generally regarded as being something positive.
This includes activities such as assisting in a family business
or earning pocket money outside school hours and during
school holidays. These kinds of activities contribute to
children’s development and to the welfare of their families;
they provide them with skills and experience and help to
prepare them to be productive members of society during
their adult life.
The term “child labour” is often defined as work that
deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their
dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental
development. It refers to work that:

 is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and

harmful to children; and/or
 interferes with their schooling by: depriving them of the
opportunity to attend school; obliging them to leave
school prematurely; or requiring them to attempt to
combine school attendance with excessively long and
heavy work.
Whether or not particular forms of “work” can be called
“child labour” depends on the child’s age, the type and hours
of work performed, the conditions under which it is
performed, and the objectives pursued by individual
countries. The answer varies from country to country, as well
as among sectors within countries.

SITUATION ANALYSIS OF CHILD LABOR

According to Census of India, 2001, there were 12.26 million

working children in the age group of 5-14 years as compared
to 11.3 million in 1991 revealing an increasing trend in
absolute numbers though the work participation rates of
children (5-14) has come down from 5.4 percent during 1991
to 5 percent during 2001. The recent round of the National
Sample Survey (NSSO) estimates suggests that the child
labour in the country is around 8.9 million in 2004/2005 with
a workforce participation rate of 3.4 per cent (NSSO
2004/05). Due to definitional problems, as discussed is this
paper, a substantial proportion of child labour may remain
uncounted.

Census data shows that there is a decline in the absolute

number as well the percentage of Main workers of children
(5-14 to total population in that age group, from 4.3 percent
in 1991 to 2.3 percent in 2001. But there was a substantial
increase in marginal workers in every category of worker
irrespective of sex and residence. As a result, despite the
number of main workers declining from 9.08 million in 1991
to 5.78 million in 2001, the total number of children in the
work force increased.

As per the census data, the trend on the magnitude of child

labour is not uniform across the country. There is across the
board decline in the incidence of child labour in the Southern
and Western Indian States and UTs between 1991 and 2001.
However, there has been an increasing trend in the Eastern
and North Indian States and UTs. There is an increase in the
absolute magnitude of child labour between 1991 and 2001
in the states of UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana,
Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. If we combine the
bifurcated states from MP, UP and Bihar the increase in
magnitude is much more than what is seen in the divided
states. While the Kerala and Tamil Nadu stories are well
known, it is heartening to see that the state of Andhra
Pradesh, that had a dubious distinction of having the largest
child labour force in the country, shows reduction in
magnitude of child labour and work participation rates along
with a dramatic increase in the enrolment of children in
school. However, Andhra Pradesh is the second largest state
in terms of magnitude by 2001 Census.

PROBLEM OF CHILD LABOR

There are a number of problems that are faced by the children. Psychological abuse is one of them.
Many parents are not able to work and many parents want that children help them to survive in this
era. So they send them in factories to work and children are more easily obtained work because they
get less money than adults. Employers also think that abusing children is easier than adults so they
give work to them. Child labour is expected to work long hours, its leads physical harm because they
cannot hold hard work for long hours than others as well they do not know how to use machines in
sweatshops than other people hence