BLOG ON CHILD LABOUR iii iii iii

Context:
The iiiLabour iiiMinistry iiihas iiiconstituted iiia iiitask iiiforce iiito iiiensure iiithe iiieffective iiiimplementation iiiof
iiithe iiiChild iii iiiLabour iii(Prohibition iii& iiiRegulation) iiiAct, iii1986.

Who is a child?
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“Child” iiias iiidefined iiiby iiithe iiiChild iiiand iiiAdolescent iiiLabour iii(prohibition iiiand
iii regulation) Act 1986 is a person who has not completed the age of 14
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iii years
What is child labour?
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 The International Labour Organisation (ILO) defines child labour as

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work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and

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their dignity, and that is harmful to their physical and mental

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development.
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 However, children or adolescents who participate in work that does

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not affect their health and personal development or interfere with

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their schooling, is not child labour. Example: helping their parents at

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home, assisting family or earning pocket money outside school hours

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and on holidays.
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Child Labour in India- Statistics:

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 According to 2011 Census, there were more than 10.2 million iii iii iii iii iii iii iii iii iii

“economically active” children in the age group of 5to 14-5.6 million

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boys and 4.5 million girls.

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  Child labour has decreased in rural areas however; it has increased
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drastically in the urban areas

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 An analysis (2016) by CRY (Child Rights and You) of census data

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shows that the overall decrease in child labour is only 2.2%per year
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from 2001 to 2011.

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 There are five states which are the India’s biggest child labour
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employers- Uttar Pradesh, Bihar Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and

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Maharashtra.
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Impact of Prevalence of Child Labour:

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1. Child labour impedes children from gaining the skills and education
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they need to have opportunities of decent work as an adult.

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2. Child labour deprives a child of his/her childhood. It not only denies

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his/her right to education but also right to leisure

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3. Child labourers face major health and physical risks: they work long
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hours and are required to perform tasks for which they are physically
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and developmentally unprepared. Working in hazardous conditions

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adversely affects a child’s physical and mental health and impairs

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intellectual, emotional and psychological development

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4. Poverty: Child labour is both a cause and consequence of poverty.

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Household poverty forces children into the labour market to earn

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money. Thus the children miss out on an opportunity to gain an

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education, further perpetuating household poverty across generations

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