INTRODUCTION:

Children are the most potential asset that a nation possesses and on them the future of the nation lies. A Society which is caring for the child exhibits signs of development and maturity. A child cannot become a responsible and productive member of society unless he is afforded an environment conducive to his social and physical health. However, creating a conducive environment for child has been a matter of a challenge for the countries of the world. The policy towards child has undergone a sea change in the last few decades. Previously child was viewed as a non entity or material object but now a day it is viewed as a potential resource. However, it is matter of debate as to what is the status of a child in India.

In the pre-industrial era children used to be a helper in the domestic affairs and in agricultural field. They used to render their helping hand to their family and worked under the guidance of their guardians. The industrialization, however, exposed the children to poisonous and hazardous work without adequate leisure and pay. Child labour in India is a clear cut pointer of complex social economic realities.

Here an attempt has been made to analyze the status of child labour in India in the light of legislative and judicial measures.

Concept of Child Labour:

Child labour occurs when a child below the age of 14 years of age is engaged to do labour. The learned authors Mallik and Raval¹ has mentioned that child labourers work in poor conditions and usually suffers from physical, emotional and sexual abuse. In spite of having constitutional prohibition of child labour under Article 24, the problem of child labour has been a menace in India.

Definition of Child Labour:

Encyclopedia of Social Sciences- “when the business of wage earning or of participation in itself or family support conflicts directly or indirectly with the business of growth and education, the result is child labour.”²

Gujarat State Action Plan for elimination of child labour system –2009- “all children deprived of their fundamental right to education between the age of six to fourteen years are child labour”³

Constitutional Framework:

The framers of constitution were well aware of the importance of child in a nation. Considering the special need of children, the constitution framers have added a positive provision in the form of Article 15(3) which enables the legislatures to frame special legislation for children in India. Apart from this positive provision, Constitution contains some other importance provisions regarding children. Article 24 of the constitution contains an absolute bar to employ children under the age of 14 years in hazardous work. But the Article permitting child labour in non hazardous work has opened a flood gate for employing children a labour in such industries. Article 39(e) puts duty upon the state to ensure that health and strength of workers, men and women, and the tender age of children are not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength. Further 39(f) casts duty upon the state to give opportunities and facilities to children to develop in a health manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth are protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment. Article 21A is also another important provision having bearing upon the child. It guarantees children with right to education.

Legislative effort towards Child labour:

1. Section 67 of the Factories Act, 1948 puts absolute bar on employing child below the age of 14 years in any factory.

2. Section 26 of the plantation Labour Act, 1951 in the same tune provides that no child completing 14 years shall be allowed to work in any plantation.

3. Section 109 of the Merchant shipping Act, 1951 provides that no child under the age of 14 years shall be engaged in or carried to sea to work in any capacity in any ship except in

· A school ship or training ship in accordance with prescribed conditions

· In a ship in which all the persons employed are members of one family.

· In a home trade ship of less than two hundred tons gross

· Where such person is to be employed on nominal wages and will be in the charge of his father or other adult near male relative.

4. Section 45 of the Mines Act, 1952 no child shall be employed in any mine nor shall any child be allowed to be present in any part of the mine which is below ground or in any open cast mining where mining operation is being carried out.

5. Section 21 of the Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961 states that in any motor transport undertaking no child shall be required to work or allowed to work.

6. Section 3 of the Apprentices Act, 1961 no person is engaged as apprentice in any designated trade unless he is not less than 14 years of age and satisfied all other educational and physical fitness as may be prescribed.

7. Section 24 of the Beedi and Cigar Workers (Conditions of Emplyoment) Act, 1966 no child is required or allowed to work in any industrial premises.

The Child Labour (Regulation and Prohibition) Act, 1986:

It is a milestone legislation concerning child labour. Section 3 of the Act prohibits employment of child in certain occupations and processes. Part A of the Schedule contains the list of occupations and processes.

The prohibition of section 3 is not absolute as it does not apply to any workshop wherein any process is carried on by the occupier with the aid of his family or to any school established by or receiving assistance or recognition from government.⁴ Professor P Ishwara Bhat in his book Law and social transformation published by Eastern Book Company has illustrated this loophole in the following way-

“in practice, since nearly 80 percent of the India’s full time and part time child workers are trapped in a situation where the parents of working children and families work jointly within family economic enterprises like farms, household industries and petty trade, by virtue of the proviso to the section 3 they fall outside the ambit of the Act.”⁵

The policy of regulation of child labour in situations other than those where it is prohibited is another important feature of the Act. No child shall be required or permitted to work in any establishment in excess of such number of hours as may be prescribed for such establishment or class of establishments. There is prohibition of employing children in night shift, for overtime or in dual establishments. (Section 7).

Further sections 8, 9 11 and 13 of the Act provides provisions for weekly holiday, requirement of the employer to inform regarding employment of child to inspectors and to maintain register about child workers and facilitating the conditions of health and safety through observance of rules framed by appropriate government.

Causes of child labour:

There are multitude of causes which has perpetuated the problem of child labour in India. Among causes the chronic poverty is the major cause of child labour. While half of India’s population lives under poverty line the lower 50 percent of the households own only 4 percent of the land. In order to supplement the income of the family, children are employed as labourers. The Oslo conference on Child labour (1997) said “child labour is both a consequence and cause of poverty. Thus, the strategies for poverty reduction and elimination need to address this problem. Use of child labour slows economic growth and social development, and it constitutes a severe violation of basic human rights. ”⁶

The employers prefer child to adults as they are active, enthusiastic and amenable to discipline or control in addition to being cheap.

Learned author Dr Ritu Bala in her article has mentioned a number of factors of growth of child labour such as poverty, lack of social security, unattractive schooling, educational level of parents, unemployment of parents and large family size.⁷

SUGGESTIONS:

In the light of the above discussion, the below mentioned suggestions can be put forwarded to eradicate the problem of child labour.

1. There should be uniform definition of Child Labour for all legislations relating to employment of child.

2. Nothing short of a carefully planned and meticulously executed plan of action would be required to actually enumerate child labourers in India. A more practical way is to gather data on child labour may the census data.

3. To plug the loopholes the Child Labour Act should be amended to cover all the factories. Effort should be made to extend the provisions of the Act to unorganized sector and domestic servants.

4. The better and effective enforcement of the laws a strong political will coupled with active cooperation from the public is must. Social workers and voluntary organizations should be persuaded to associate themselves with the law enforcement process.

5. The owners of unorganized sector should be directed to maintain a register of employment dealing with names of the child works, wages and facilities relating to the working conditions.

6. The government and legislative effort must persuade the employer to get insurance scheme for the child workers.

CONCLUSION:

From, the above discussion it appears that chronic poverty and illiteracy have contributed to the growth of child labour problem in India. The problem of child labour can only be eliminated from our society if proper implementation of law relating to child labour is made, vigilant civil society reports the cases of child labour to the executive authorities, the causes of the child labour are eliminated from society and judiciary disposes of the cases at the earliest.

REFERENCES:

1. Krishna Pal Malik, Kaushik C. Raval, Law and Social Transformation in India, Allahabad Law Agency, 2011.

2. Ibid

3. Ibid

4. Section 3 Child Labour (Regulation and prohibition) Act, 1986

5. P. Ishwara Bhat, Law and Social Transformation, Eastern Book Company, 2012 Reprint

6. The Oslo conference on Child labour (1997)

7. Ritu Bala, Situation of Child Labour in India: Constitutional and Legal Safeguards, International Journal of Reviews and Research in Social Sciences, Available at http://anvpublication.org/Journals/HTML_Papers/International%20Journal%20of%20Reviews%20and%20Research%20in%20Social%20Sciences__PID__2017-5-3-4.html (Last accessed on 19^th June, 2018 at 7:37 pm)

Received on 14.06.2018 Modified on 19.07.2018

Res. J. Humanities and Social Sciences. 2018; 9(4): 886-888.

DOI: 10.5958/2321-5828.2018.00148.1