Problems of Child Labour in India

Child labour is always existed in their homes, due to their family involvement with their parents working in a particular caste-related trade. In the Nineteenth century, after industrialization, children got also involved in the factories, because they got comparatively low wages than the adults. The twentieth century is sometimes referred to as the “Century of the Child”. As far back as 1919 the International Labour Organisation (ILO) drew up a convention aimed at restricting child labour in industries, by setting a minimum age (ILO Convention 5). In 1973, the ILO drew up a universal convention on the minimum employment age, applicable to virtually all sectors: ILO Convention 138. India has also ratified this convention. India has the largest number of working children in the world. The government itself acknowledges that at least 21.9 million children are employed in organized and unorganized sectors. Considering the magnitude of the problem of working children the Govt. of India has formulated the National Policy on Child Labour in 1987 and had committed to undertake ten different measures for the welfare of the children, but concrete achievement in abolishing Child Labour has not become a reality even today.Free and compulsory education to all children up to the age fourteen is today constitutional commitment in India. The Parliament of India has passed Right to Education Act in 2009 through which education has become fundamental right of all children of age group 6-14 years. Unfortunately even after nine years, all the Indian children are not yet literate today. From our experience, what is urgently needed is a commitment to protect all young children and provide compulsory schooling for every child under the age of 14. It is also obvious that poverty, unemployment, bonded labour, rural indebtedness and women’s low status are directly linked to the exploitation of child labour.