CHILD LABOUR is the practice of having children engage in economic activity, on part or full-time basis. The practice deprives children of their childhood, and is harmful to their physical and mental development. Poverty, lack of good schools and growth of informal economy are considered as the important causes of child labour in India.[2][3]
In 2001, an estimated 1% of all child workers, or about 120,000 children in India were in a hazardous job.[10] UNICEFestimates that India with its larger population, has the highest number of labourers in the world under 14 years of age, while sub-saharan African countries have the highest percentage of children who are deployed as child labour.[11][12][13]International Labour Organisation estimates that agriculture at 60 percent is the largest employer of child labour in the world,[14] while United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates 70% of child labour is deployed in agriculture and related activities.[15] Outside of agriculture, child labour is observed in almost all informal sectors of the Indian economy.
CHILD LABOUR ACTS AND RULES After its independence from colonial rule, India has passed a number of constitutional protections and laws on child labour. The Constitution of India in the Fundamental Rights and the Directive of State Policy prohibits child labour below the age of 14 years in any factory or mine or castle or engaged in any other hazardous employment (Article 24). The constitution also envisioned that India shall, by 1960, provide infrastructure and resources for free and compulsory education to all children of the age six to 14 years. India has a federal form of government, and child labour is a matter on which both the central government and country governments can legislate, and have. The major national legislative developments include the following:[35]
The Factories Act of 1948: The