World Day Against Child Labour 2022: Issue and elimination

“More than 30 years ago, when I had embarked upon the fight against child labour, it was not even considered an issue worth any discussion. It was accepted as a way of life in India, much like it was in other countries. Today, no country or business or society can throw this issue away.” - Nobel Laureate Shri. Kailash Satyarthi

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by all United Nations Member States in the year 2015 including India, provide a blue print for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. Its Goal 8 promotes sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all. The target under this Goal is to take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms.

Though there are clear provisions in the Indian Constitution to safeguard the interest of children by ensuring that they receive education and are not forced to work for a living, it is unfortunate that the problem of child labour still exists in our country. The existence of child labour in the country not only violates the fundamental rights of a child to life, freedom, equality and his right against exploitation, it also perpetuates the cycle of poverty and illiteracy for generations. According to Census 2011, the country still had 1.01 crore child workers in the age group of 5-14 years.

The Government of India has taken various steps to eliminate of child labour. At the International front, the country has ratified two Core Conventions of International Labour Organisation (ILO) i.e. Convention No. 138 - Minimum Age Convention, 1973 regarding minimum age for admission to employment and Convention No. 182 – Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 regarding worst forms of Child Labour. At the national front, Government of India has enacted legislations such as the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 and the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976 etc., to penalise those who employ and exploit children. In addition, the government has introduced various schemes to alleviate poverty and enable access to social security, health, education, economic and social empowerment of child workers and their families.

One of the major schemes for rehabilitation of child labourers is the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme. Under the Scheme, working children in the age group of 9-14 years were identified through child labour survey, withdrawn from work and put into the special bridge schools, so as to provide enabling environment to join mainstream education system. In these Special Schools, besides formal education, these children were provided with vocational training, mid-day meal, stipend, health care, etc. before being mainstreamed into formal education system. The Scheme also envisages awareness generation campaigns against the evils of child labour and enforcement of child labour laws. Since April 01, 2022, NCLPS has been subsumed in Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan.

However, despite these progressive measures, the practice of employing children for work is still prevalent within the society. As per the Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour (PENCIL portal, www.pencil.gov.in) since its launch on September 26, 2017, total 1,97,412 children have been identified to be forced into labour, however, during the same period (2018 – 2020), the National Crime Records Bureau has reported the registration of only 1,712 FIRs under the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986.

In such scenario, to achieve the complete elimination of child labour by 2025 as envisaged under the Goal 8 of SDG, there is a need to adopt the following course of action:

• Change mind-set of society: The need of the hour is to change the mind-set of the society, which still agrees to engage children for work. Hence, intensive awareness raising exercise, similar to Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Abhiyan, needs to be undertaken by the government to create an environment where employment of children should be prohibited.
• Intensive and Pro-active efforts to identify child labourers: There is a need to intensify the efforts to identify child labourers in the country so that they could be rescued or withdrawn from work and be rehabilitated through education and adoption of poverty alleviation schemes.  
• Register FIR under CALPRA in case a child labourer is rescued: Government of India needs to issue necessary instructions to State Governments to lodge FIR in every instance of child labour as the same is a cognizable offence under the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986.
• Educational Empowerment of Child Labourers: State Governments/UT Administrations should be requested to retain the Special Training Centres (STCs) as established under NCLPS so that working children may have a recourse available for getting out of poverty, which forced them into work.

At the end, as Mr. Satyarthi states that “child labour perpetuates poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, population growth, and other social problems”; it is time that all of us should come together to put an end to the practice of child labour and preserve the innocence of our children.

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The author is executive director at Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation

(Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own and do not reflect those of DNA.)