Why Child Labour as an Institution Persists?

Sarbeswar Sahoo

“Children have the right to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing

hazardous work” (Article 32 of UN convention on the rights of the Child)

“Affecting 250 million children today, child labour is a massive problem confronting the

World Community. The practice of child labour is a critical link in the chains that spread

illiteracy, suppress women, spur overpopulation, intensify discrimination, and perpetuate

poverty”, UN: Global March against child labour.

In our country the issue of child labour like many others has trouble the policy makers,

academics, civil society and concerned individual citizens. Recent notification on the ban of

child labour working in domestic and hospitality sector, by the Ministry of labour and

Employment, Government of India has brought mixed response from those who are engaged

for the cause of children and their right. Most of them are skeptic about its effectiveness and

termed it as an opportunistic play by the Government by saying that it is aimed at protecting

the government than the children. There may be doubt regarding it’s effectiveness but it has

to be accepted that it at least will create some awareness regarding the issue of child labour

which has remain limited to a few. It is just the beginning and miles has to be covered to

completely eliminate the child from selling it’s labour in the market. To achieve this, a

serious study on the root causes of child labour is to be made. Why child labour as an

institution in developing countries is pervasive compared to the Developed Countries?

Further within the Developing countries who form the pool of child labour? What is their

caste and class Background? Let’s examine.

1

As a responsible citizen if we think seriously, as we do for our own children, children

working in the labour market are a gross violation of their human rights. As children like

their counterparts in better families has the right to enjoy childhood, right to live, right to

education. Unfortunately more than 16.4 million Indian children aged 5-14 years were

engaged in economic activities and domestic non-remunerative work (NSSO, 2000) to earn a

livelihood for them and their family. They being children are exploited and abused in many

ways by their employers. They are also denied the basic minimum rights like food, shelter

and clothings.We will find many of such children on the red lights of the major urban areas.

The pathetic conditions of children can be read from their appearance and looks .In a

discussion with the volunteers of AID-INDA, an NGO of Delhi chapter who works for the

street children revealed that these children lives beneath the fly-over do not have sufficient

clothes, blankets, chappals and other sundries to support their live in extreme climates in

Delhi. Lack of access to water force them to remain abstain from taking bath regularly.

Condition of the hair of the children reflects their woe due to lack of water. They even don’t

brush their teeth for many days. These children are also falls prey to evils like gambling,

narcotics, prostitution. These children are basically engaged in begging, selling pirated

books, new paper,flower,cleaning vehicles etc.They enjoy more freedom compared to those

who work under an employers in hotels,restaurants,inside the home. There are many children

self employed like vegetable vendor,barber,cobbler automobile mechanic etc. and so on.

Children and child labour in urban India however constitute of one tenth of total child

labour.Most of them are seen in the agrarian sector. International Organisation like UNICEF,

ILO has much earlier realized the plight of children and initiated rules and regulation to

protect the right of the children. They have formulated conventions to eliminate child labour,

to be ratified by the member countries.

Government of India also enacted the Child labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 to

prevent children working in hazardous area. Over the period of time, number of Civil Society

Organisation like Child Right and You (CRY), Haq etc. to address the problem children

India. Besides this government of India through the NCLP, aided by ILO is working towards

rehabilitating the child labour across the country. Despite of all this, child labour as an unjust

2

institution is pervasive in our economy and especially in the urban India it is growingly

becoming indispensable for the middle and upper middle classes. Why this is so? Where we

have missed ?According to Ingrid Srinath,CEO of CRY, this is because we have fail to

address the underlying causes of depriviation.Causes related to

gender,caste,ethnicity,religion, and class keeps 100 million Indian children hungry,

unschooled and vulnerable to the worst forms of abuse and exploitation unimaginable.1In this

rambling note an attempt is made to understand the underlying causes behind the persistence

of the unjust institution of child labor in India. Before doing so it will be pertinent to have a

brief profile about the children’s in India.

Who is a child labour?

There is disagreement regarding the size of the children working in India. Much of the

confusion is there regarding the definition of who is a child? The most accepted definition of

child labour is one who is in between the age of 4 to 14, who is working for wage in the

labour market.

Who is a child and who is a child labour?

A child according UN Convention on the right of the child, children are as person below the

age of 18.Census of India consider individuals below the age of 14 as childrens.if we accept

this definition, India have more than 70 millions as children(VVGNLI). Those children out

of this work for a wage in the labour market rural or urban are defined as child

labour.Around twenty five percent of children are child labour.

Realising the dilapidated conditions of children in general and child labour in particular in

the under developed countries, UN nations drafted the Convention on the rights of child for

its member countries to be ratified.(November 20,1989).On January 26,1990,the opening day

of the session,61 countries signed it. It came in to force on September 2, 1990 with 20

ratifications. It covers all the children under the age of 18 years, regardless of sex, colour,

language, religion or race. India ratified CRC in 1992.

Most of the children excluding a few among the privileged are denied of their right. Further

the girl child among the children are worst because the child has a lower status in Indian

society who enjoys a fewer rights, opportunities and benefits of child hood as compared to 1 Srinath I,(29th August2006), ‘Child Labour ban not good enough’ in www.indiatogether.org

3

the boy-child. Not all deprived children are child labour but are potential to be child

labour.There are about 74.4 million children according to a study done by V.V.Giri National

Labour Institute, who are neither enrolled in school nor accountable for in the labour force.

The 45 percent children out of school are also protective child labour.These children are also

denied of their rights can be categorized as follows;

Child labour

Street Children

Children under prostitution

Children of construction workers

Children of migrant workers

Children with disabilities

Juvenile delinquent

Size of child labour in India

There is no exact data on child labour, there is variation in reporting .Some report says it is

around 40 million, out of which one millions are in the urban area and the rest are in the rural

area. Following table drawn from various sources gives a brief idea about the size of child

labour in India.

Policies to eliminate child labour in India:

Government as the principal candidate has initiated a number of policies to tackle the

problem of child labour in India. Government has formulated a number of legislation to take

care of the issue of child labour in India.

Size and Structure of Child Labour in India

India has the largest number of child labour in the world. There is a variation in the

estimation of the size of the child labour. Estimation of child labour by different organization

as follows;

The size of child labour will be clear from the following tables drawn from various sources.

Data on child labour is enumerated by agencies like census, National sample survey, some

times ministry of Human Resource Development also conduct survey of estimating the

number of child labour in India. As seen from the following table (Table-1) the size of total

4

child labour in the year 1951 as per the census was 13387144, which has increased to

23161013 in the year 1991.On the other hand NSS which collects data for children of the age

group 5-14, the number in has increased from 11339526 in 1951 to 24449047 in 1991.Sl.no 3

of the table shows the children who neither works nor attends schools. Census which collects

data of 0-14 age groups, estimates this number was 49700129 in 1951 and has increased to

10498822 where as NSSO estimates it as 52997224 in 1951 which has increased to

57554833.Children under this non-worker and non-students categories are very much likely

to add the existing pool of child labour. They are the potential child labour. These children

are out of school may due to be lack of sufficient, attractive, non-discriminating, non-

exclusive schools available in our country.

Table-1: Estimated Number of Child Labour in India (1951, 1961, 1971, 1981 & 1991)

Full Time Child

Workers 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991

1. Census data based

estimates (0-14 Yrs.) 13387144 14469775 10664018 11195544 12669909

NSS data based

estimates (5-14 Yrs.) 11339526 13777443 16330000 16166330 13950225

2. Non-workers &

Non-students (5-14

Yrs.)          

Census data based

estimates 49700129 64914609 89482123 89541313 97659410

MHRD & NSS data

based estimates 52997224 41123492 64092259 77352410 57554833

3. Child Marginal

workers census

estimates 1981 & 1991 NA NA NA 2445329 10498822

5

4. Estimates of total

child workers          

Census data based

estimates 13387144 14469775 10753985 13640873 23161013

NSS data based

estimates 11339526 13299910 16330000 18611659 24449047

Source: Statistics on Children in India, Hand Book 1998, National Institute of Public

Cooperation and Child Development & Census of India, 1951,1961,1971,1981 & 1991.

Abbr.: NA: Not Available.

Note: (i): 1981 NSS Estimates of Full-time Child Workers is taken from 1983 Work

Participation Rates.

        (ii): For 1991 NSS Estimates July to December, 1991 P. Work Participation Rates from

47th Round have been used.

        (iii): NSS based Child Workers estimates are calculated from NSS Participation Rates.

       (IV): 1971 NSS estimates of full time child workers is as given by NSS Table for 1971-

73.

        (V): Full Time Child Workers Census data is approximated from MHRD data  & NSS

estimates respectively.

        (vi): 1951 NSS estimates of child workers are based on 1960-61 participation rates

because 8th Round Female child labour participation rates are high at 12.5% of the females

for rural areas.

Table- 2 shows the detail break-up of child labour for urban and rural area during the period

1961 to 2000. According to the census the size of rural child labour was all the time higher

compared to the urban area. In the year 1961 it was 13.72 million compared to0.81 million in

6

the urban areas. In the year 1981 it was 12.55 million for the rural area compared to 1.05

million.

Table-2: Estimates of Child Labour (1961- 2000 in million)

Source Age group

Rural

Rural

Total

Urban Urba

n

Total

Gran

d

Total

Mal

e

Fem

ale

Mal

e

Femal

e

Census 1961 0-14* 8.16 5.56 13.72 0.58 0.23 0.81 14.53

  5-9* 0.8 0.52 1.32 0.03 0.01 0.04 1.36

  10-14* 7.36 5.04 12.4 0.55 0.22 0.77 13.77

  14-May 8.16 5.56 13.72 0.58 0.23 0.81 14.53

NSS (1972-73)

(27th Round)

(Usual Status) 9-May 0.88 0.63 1.51 0.05 0.03 0.08 1.59

  14-Oct 7.78 5.75 13.53 0.8 0.41 1.21 14.74

  14-May 8.66 6.38 15.04 0.85 0.44 1.29 16.33

NSS (March

1978**) 9-May 0.88 0.63 1.51 0.05 0.05 0.1 1.62

  14-Oct 7.96 5.21 13.77 0.94 0.53 1.47 14.62

  14-May 8.84 5.84 14.68 0.99 0.58 1.57 16.25

Census 1981 0-14 7.34 5.21 12.55 0.76 0.29 1.05 13.59

  9-May 0.9 0.64 1.54 0.06 0.06 0.12 1.66

  14-Oct 8.4 5.59 14.03 1.07 0.6 1.67 15.7

  14-May 9.34 6.23 15.57 1.13 0.66 1.79 17.36

1985 14-May - - - - - - 17.58

1990 14-May - - - - - - 18.17

2000 14-May - - - - - - 20.25

Source: Statistics on Children in India, Hand Book 1998, National Institute of Public

Cooperation and Child Development.

7

Note : Estimates for the quinquential age-group are based on as special study vide Appendix

V of the report of the expert committee on estimates of unemployment planning commission

1970. Projections for 1978 and 1983,1985,1990,2000 based on usual status rates of NSS 2nd

round (1977-78) 

Table 3 shows state wise data for on the percentage child labour by sex in India for the period

1961,1971,1981,1991. In all the except Manipur, Sikkim, Nagaland, percentage of female

child labour is higher compared to the male. Overall percentage of child labour is higher in

states like Andhra. The percentage of child labour however has decline over the time period

for all the states.

Table-3 State-wise Percentage of Child Labour by Sex in India (1961, 1971, 1981 &

1991)

States

1961 1971 1981 1991

Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female

Andhra

Pradesh  15.7 11.2   11.8 6.6   9.8 7.2   9.3 7.2 

Assam  7.8  6.4  6.0  0.1  -  -  -  -

Bihar  9.6  5.9  6.7  1.9  4.5  1.6  4.6  1.6

Gujarat  7.3  6.6  6.2  2.6  4.7  2.2  4.6  2.2

Haryana  (9)  (9)  5.0  0.6  4.0  1.1  4.0  1.1

Himachal

Pradesh  12.1  18.1  4.3  5.8  2.9  4.3  3.0  4.6

Jammu &

Kashmir  1.7  6.3  6.1  0.9  6.8  1.9  -  -

Karnataka  11.9  8.2  9.3  3.7  8.3  4.9  8.1  5.1

Kerala  2.2  1.9  1.4  1.2  0.8  0.8  0.8  0.8

8

Madhya

Pradesh   11.8  10.8  8.0  4.1  7.4  5.3  7.4  5.5

Maharashtra  8.6  8.8  5.7  3.7  5.6  4.9  5.1  4.7

Manipur  3.2  7.6  3.3  3.9  2.6  3.7  -  -

Meghalaya   -  -  8.0  5.8  8.0  5.8  - -

Nagaland  13.9  16.6 6.1   8.0 4.5   5.8 -  -

Orissa  12.3 6.6   9.1 1.5   7.4 2.4   7.5 2.6 

Punjab  7.9  3.8  7.7  0.1  5.2  0.3  5.1  0.3

Rajasthan  13.6  12.1  7.4  2.7  5.3  2.7  5.8  3.1

Sikkim  23.1  25.4  19.5  19.3  5.3  7.4  -  -

Tamil Nadu   9.3  6.7  6.2  2.9  5.7  4.5  5.4  4.4

Tripura  5.2  3.3  4.2  0.8  3.4  1.4  -  -

Uttar Pradesh  8.6  4.1  5.5  1.4  4.3  0.9  5.1  4.4

West Bengal 5.0   1.2 4.7   0.7 4.0   0.9 3.9   1.0

All India  9.4 6.6 6.6 2.6 5.5 2.8 2.9 1.6

Source: Census of India 1961, 1971, 1981 & 1991.

Note: Percentage from total child population.

Table four shows the state wise number of children starting from the year 1971 to

2001.Trend shows that the number of child labor has declined up to 1991 for all the states;

the trend is same for the whole economy. This may be to a decline in the number of people

below poverty line. But in the census 2001 the number of children working for an wage has

increased for majority of the state including the whole economy. Their number was

11285349 in 1991,which has increased to 12591667.This may be due to the

implementation of the LPG strategy which reduced social sector spending by the state,

increased unemployment and poverty by down sizing the public sector. On the other

hand there is growth of industrialization in the private sector. Private entrepreneur

9

took the advantage of flexible labour laws to use the children in their factory. We can

quote the view of such an entrepreneurs made during the Industrial revolution in

Britain in the 17th century.

“In the early days of the industrial revolution, inventors were often very forthright about the

aims of their innovations. The co inventor of the roller spinning machine, English mechanic

John Wyatt, promoted it as a way for textile factories to downsize their labor forces. The

contraption was so easy to run, Wyatt said, that businesses didn't need as many skilled

craftspeople with spinning wheels; they could get by with children instead. "Adopting the

machine, a Clothier formerly employing a hundred spinners might turn off thirty of the best

of them but employ an additional ten infirm people or children," he wrote in 1741. The

British attorney general was won over and, in granting a patent, noted how "even Children of

five or six Years of age" could operate the machine”.

The mindset of the contemporary Indian industrialist is in fact well matching to that of John

Wyatt of 18th century which may have increased the number of children in the post

liberalization period2

2 Kaushik Basu October 2003, “The Economics of Child Labor” Scientific American Magazine.

10

TABLE-4 State-wise Distribution of Working Children in India (2001Cenus)

State/Us 1971 1981 1991 2001

Percentage

(census

2001)

Andhra Pradesh 1627492 1951312 1661940 1363339 10.83

Assam 239349* ** 327598 351416 2.79

Bihar 1059359 1101764 942245 1117500 8.87

Chhatisgarh - - - 364572 2.89

Gujarat 518061 616913 523585 485530 3.85

Haryana 137826 194189 109691 253491 2.01

Himachal Pradesh 71384 99624 56438 107774 0.85

Jammu and Kashmir 70489 258437 ** 175630 1.39

Jharkhand - -- - 407200 3.23

Karnataka 808719 1131530 976247 822615 6.53

Kerala 111801 92854 34800 26156 0.21

Madhya Pradesh 1112319 1698597 1352563 1065259 8.46

Maharashtra 988357 1557756 1068418 764075 6.07

Manipur 16380 20217 16493 ** --

Meghalaya 30440 44916 34633 53940 0.43

Nagaland 13726 16235 16467 ** --

Orissa 492477 702293 452394 377594 3.00

Punjab 232774 216939 142868 177268 1.41

Rajasthan 587389 819605 774199 1262570 10.03

Sikkim 15661 8561 5598 16457 0.14

Tamil Nadu 713305 975055 578889 418801 3.33

Tripura 17490 24204 16478 21756 0.17

Uttar Pradesh 1326726 1434675 1410086 1927997 15.31

Uttaranchal - - -- 70183 0.56

11

West Bengal 511443 605263 711691 857087 6.81

Andaman and Nicobar

Islands 572 1309 1265 1960

0.01

Arunachal Pradesh 17925 17950 12395 18482 0.15

Chandigarh 1086 1986 1870 3779 0.04

Dadra and Nagar Haveli 3102 3615 4416 4274 0.04

Delhi 17120 25717 27351 41899 0.33

Daman and Diu 7391 9378 941 729 0.01

Goa - -- 4656 4138 0.03

Lakshadweep 97 56 34 27 0.00

Mizoram *** 6314 16411 26265 0.21

Pondicherry 3725 3606 2680 1904 0.01

India 10753985 13640870 11285349 12591667 100.00

Source: Census of India (Borrowed from V. V. Giri National Labour Institute, Noida)

Notes: Includes figures of Mizo district also which then formed part of Assam, Census could

not be conducted, Census figures 1971in respect of Mizoram included under Assam Figures

for 1991 and 2001 relate to workers for age group 5-14 years State-wise Distribution of

Working Children According to 2001Census.

12

Growth of child labour since 1971 from the above data for the Indian economy is depicted

with help of the following graph. The graph is showing a declining trend from 1981 to 1991

and an increasing trend thereafter.

Legal and Financial measure to eliminate Child labour

Child labour is a global phenomena and its concentration is more among developing and

underdeveloped countries. In 2000, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO),

186 million children between the ages of five and 14-roughly one in six children-were illegal

laborers, mostly in developing nations. Of these, 111 million did hazardous work, such as

mining, construction and hard farm labor, with lifelong consequences for their health. Some

eight million were slave laborers, child soldiers or prostitutes. (Basu,2003) As observed the

number of child labour is very high in India. Not only their number is high they are

exploited, abused. As many as 2 million children are employed in hazardous areas. To

protect the right of children international agencies as well as respective government initiated

a number of legal as well as financial measures to tackle the problem of child labour. UN and

ILO have initiated a number of conventions to protect the child labour. In our country

government has also has made provision to protect the right of child as well as child labour.

13

ILO convention 182- calls for all the member states to eliminate the worst form of child

labour including children engaged in prostitution or pornography; debt bondage, trafficking,

or forced in to armed conflicts; production and trafficking of drugs; and work that harms the

health, safety and moral of the child.

Child labour (prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 to ban children under the age of 14 from

working in hazardous areas where it has identified more than 50 woks as hazardous. Recently

working in residences and in the hospitality sector. There are other acts like than factories act

which also prohibits children to undertake work before they attain the age of 14

According to Article 23 of constitution of India, no child below the age of 14 must be

employed in a factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment. Article 45

says that the state will provide free and compulsory education to children up to the age of

14.Article 15 affirms the right of the state to make special provision for women and children,

Article 39(e) of the directive principles of state policy provides that children of the tender age

should not be abuses and than t they should not be forced by economic necessarily to enter in

to vocation not suited to their age and strength; Article 39(f) requires children to be given

opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and

dignity and that childhood and youth to be protected against exploitation and moral and

material abandonment; Article 45 of the Directive Principles of state policy provides free

and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of 14.

Prior to the fifth five year plan, the governments focus was on child welfare, through the

promotion of the basic minimum services for the children. This culminated in the adoption of

national Policy for the children in 1974.

The fifth Five year plan (1974-79) saw a shift of focus from welfare to development, and the

integration and coordination of services after the launch of the integrated Child Development

Services, 1975.

The Sixth Five year plan was the period of strengthening child welfare and development. It

led to the spatial expansion and enrichment of child development services through a variety

of programmes.

14

The focus of the Eighth Five year plan period (1992-97) shifted the focus to human

development through advocacy, mobilization and community empowerment. The

government of India has declared its commitment to every child in the Ninth Five year plan

(1997-2002).

But despite of these laws, policies and commitments, what is the actual situation of India’s

children vis-à-vis health, education, early childhood care and protection? 3

Legal and programmatic commitments have to be matched by financial commitments, as

reflected in the national and provincial budgets. Government has initiated the National Child

labour policy in 1987.This policy was adopted to deal with the a situation where children

work, or are compelled to work on a regular or continuous basis, to earn a living for

themselves or their families. The policy encourages Voluntary Organizations to take up non-

formal education, vocational training, health care, nutrition and education for working

children. Based on the policy, the National child labor projects (NCLP) were launched for the

first time in 1998 in areas of high concentration of child labour. During 1999-2000, 91 child

labour projects have been sanctioned in child labour endemic states. Government is also

allocating fund on continuous basis for implementing these projects. Following table shows

the state-wise allocation of funds during the period 2000-2001 to 2004-05 for national child

labor projects. The share of Andhra Pradesh has highest of 232.2 crores in the year 2004-05

followed by Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Total funds allocated for NCLP has

increased from 368.3 crores in 2000-01 to 813.3 crore in 2004-05.

Table-5 State-wise Allocation of Funds under Scheme of National Child Labour

Projects (NCLPs) in India (2000-2001 to 2004-2005) (Rs. in Lakh)

States 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05

Andhra Pradesh 118.33 1657.67 1730.99 1693.16 2322.21

Bihar 190.74 95.02 150.38 205.36 282.06

Chhatisgarh 0 105.66 187.05 168.47 230.81

3 Children, Background and perspective in www.infochangeindia.org

15

Jharkhand 0 174.59 164.78 182.87 192.86

Karnataka 97.44 211.47 296.35 320.57 331.01

Madhya Pradesh 184.11 101.29 150.4 134.99 445.21

Maharashtra 38.19 56.41 134.26 102.24 168.48

Orissa 765.21 1232.13 337.1 1132.67 1312.64

Punjab 59.96 114.64 187.54 239.37 184.05

Rajasthan 180.41 309.39 337.1 352.07 443.04

Tamil Nadu 301.71 655.72 749.15 746.58 724.63

Uttar Pradesh 336.23 766.99 841.74 759.12 754.15

West Bengal 345.15 521.32 500.77 456.21 742.36

Total 3683.48 6002.3 5767.61 6493.68 8133.51

Source: Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 3785, dated 28.04.2005.     

 

Some part of the footnotes/units may not be applicable for this table.

Compiled by Indiastat.com

Despite plethora of legal and financial measures child labour as an institution is persisting

and that to in a more exploitative and unjust manner, especially in the post globalization

period. They are working in hazardous condition. This situation of child labour in India is

compared with the child labours conditions of Britain during the industrial revolution in 17 th

century.The recent ban on the child labour in India for children working in domestic and

hospitality section is looked at with cynicism by the activists. They have pointed out the

following two reasons

1. The notification is unenforceable as the law itself. Although government has formulated

the law in the year 1986, its success can be studied from the following table which provides

information regarding the number of acquittals, prosecution and convictions under the Child

labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986 in India. In many states the number of

16

acquittals, prosecution and convictions is zero. The total number of acquittals was 181 in the

year 2003 and total number of , prosecution and conviction was1716 and 1162 respectively

in the year 2004-05 for the country as whole, despite of a huge size of child labour. This

shows the effectiveness of the enforcement authority.

Table-6 State-wise Prosecutions, Convictions and Acquittals under Child Labour

(Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 in India

(2002-2003 to 2004-2005)

States/Uts

Acquittals Prosecution Convictions

2003 up to

31.05.2003 (P)

2002-

03

2003-

04

2004-

05

2002-

03

2003-

04

2004-

05

Andaman &

Nicobar Island 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Andhra Pradesh 0 563 4870 1212 0 2158 1109

Arunachal

Pradesh 0 0 24 * 0 0 *

Assam 0 0 12 0 0 0 *

Bihar 0 354 385 259 0 0 0

Chandigarh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Chhatisgarh 0 104 1 * 0 0 *

Dadra & Nagar

Haveli 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Daman & Diu 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Delhi 0 36 66 * 0 0 0

Goa 3 0 0 0 4 0 0

Gujarat 5 7 29 106 3 0 0

Haryana 0 11 38 13 23 18 3

Himachal

Pradesh 0 3 1 * 3 1 *

17

Jammu and

Kashmir 0 - 17 * 0 1 *

Jharkhand 0 42 76 * 7 1 *

Karnataka 0 300 0 * 56 0 *

Kerala 0 1 0 * 1 0 *

Lakshadweep 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Madhya Pradesh 0 35 28 54 17 66 16

Maharashtra 0 0 17 32 0 8 4

Manipur 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Meghalaya 0 0 0 * 0 0 *

Mizoram 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Nagaland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Orissa 20 1 3 * 0 0 0

Pondicherry 0 0 0 0 0 1 0

Punjab 0 0 35 2 0 23 5

Rajasthan 92 55 0 7 57 1501 15

Sikkim 0 0 0 * 0 0 0

Tamil Nadu 48 808 385 * 127 132 *

Tripura 0 0 0 * 0 0 *

Uttar Pradesh 0 321 399 31 23 0 10

Uttaranchal 13 3 0 0 4 0 0

West Bengal 0 6 0 0 0 0 0

India 181 2650 6386 1716 325 3910 1162

Source: Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 377, dated 18.08.2003 & Lok Sabha Starred

Question No. 23, dated 20.02.2006. Compiled by Indiastat.com

Note: *: Information is awaited from the state Governments. (P): Data is Provisional.        

     

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2. Second, many believes that the addition of two more kinds of work to the list of hazardous

work that already stands banned under the law is not the same as banning child labour. The

reason is simple: the new categories constitute a mere 5 percent of the 70 million child

workforce in the country. The majority of the children, 85% are in agricultural labour, which

is allowed. The distribution of child labour is clear from the following table;

Table-7 Working Children by Type of Worker Residence in India-1991

Locatio

n

Main Workers Marginal Workers Total Workers

Mal

e

Femal

e Person Male 

Femal

e Person

Mal

e Female Person

Rural 4.96 3.17 8.13 0.5 1.63 2.13 5.46 4.8 10.26

Urban 0.7 0.25 0.95 0.3 0.05 0.08 0.73 0.3 1.03

Total 5.66 3.42 9.08 0.53 1.68 2.21 6.19 5.1 11.29

Note: Data relate to age group of 0-14 years, main workers are those who work for 183 days

or more in years

Source: Registrar general, Census of India, 1991 census

Compiled by Indiastat.com

3. Third and most important point as suggested by Basu and Van in their paper on “The

Economics of Child labour in American Economic Review (1988)4 has to be considered

seriously by the Government. In this paper they have argued that it is not the selfishness

pushed the children to work in the labour market. Rather it is their concerns for the

households’ survival in the presence of extreme poverty. Labour market in such economies

are having multiple equilibrium .In one situation children are substituted for adult and in

another there is only adult labour working with a higher wage. If ban on child labour in the

presence of poverty is implemented then it will lead to starvation. The impacts however vary

from country to country. In Ethiopia it will lose its force, where as in India it may work to

4 Basu and Van P.H.(1988), “The Economics of Child Labour”, American Economic Review,Vol-88,June 1988.

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some extent. Before banning they have suggested to have a rigorous empirical investigation

of the child labour. Thus it is the poverty of the household forced the children to work.

Employer took the advantage of poverty. They suggested instead of banning child labour,

government should increase the adult wage rate and create more adult employment in the

labour market. Increase in wage and employment will help in gradual reduction in the

number of child labour. But poverty is not a cause in itself rather it is embedded in the

complex caste institution. Lets draw some insights from the new institutional economics.

The Theory: Perspective from New Institutional Economics

Despite of number of measures, why the institution of child labour being unjust and

exploitative persisting in underdeveloped countries than the developed countries. It is very

important to understand the underlying root causes behind this. One reason may be path

dependency and locking of institution which resulted in unshackling the children. The theory

of path dependency suggests that an accident of history put the economy on the path from

which it is almost impossible to diverge even tho ugh better path shows up. Economist has

chronicled hundreds of examples and Child labour an institution can also be said to be path

dependent. To break free from path dependency requires group action that involves a high

level of agreement, commitments. The natural candidate is the government. We now can

elaborate the issue of the child labour with the following proposition:

1. Path dependency and lock-in of the institution of child labour vis-à-vis caste

institution

Most of the child labour are Dalits (Dalits to be broader sense includes SC, ST, OBCs

and women).Institution of Child labour is a by-product of the persistence of caste

institution in Indian society which kept Dalits chronically poor, and upper caste

chronically rich. In the post liberalization period withdraw of the state has led to growth

of poverty of the dalits. Increasing poverty has forced the dalits children into work. Dalits

are the supplier of child labour and upper castes are the demander of the child labour.

This is true in the rural area also. Indian economy has path dependent on the institution of

caste which has resulted in the persistence of child labour. Institution of caste in-fact

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acted as a serious impediment to innovation, technological change. A group of people

comprised of 240 millions are excluded from the active labour market on the ground of

untouchability. Not allowed exercise their choice in opting occupation. Their labour

power remained under utilized. On the other hand means of production like land in the

country side is concentrated in the hand of the upper caste who by the norms caste

institution doesn’t plough. There is either tenancy or the land remain uncultivated. The

above two paradoxes of caste institution resulted in extreme inequality and hence poverty

of the dalits. The size of the cake is not increasing. Existing caste structure is

perpetuating poverty despite economic growth. There is no indication at present among

the citizens to go beyond the caste compartment. Along with globalization, a pro-feudal

cattiest India is on making, which shows little chances of breaking the path created by

their predecessor. This will have a positive impact on the growth of child labour. More

and more number of Dalit child ran will be forced to work in the labour market.

2. Second reason is the prevalence of Caste Based discriminations in Indian Society

and Schools

Most of the dalit children fall upon to child labour because of the caste base

discrimination prevails in Indian society including school. Children are more emotional

and feel the agony of discrimination and there are evidences of discrimination especially

to the sc students by the teachers and students is one of the basic reason of increasing

number of dropout of these children from the school. Another implicit reason not to

invest in children’s education by the dalits parents is because of discrimination in the

urban labour markets. The classic example is lower literacy rate among the girl child is

because parents consider them non-economic in the sense that they will be married after a

stipulated period. Without school they work in the fields.

3. Low monitoring and hence transaction cost

Third reason is the monitoring cost incase of children are low because of their tender age.

They are obedient and don’t shriek which resulted in better productivity. Low production

and transaction cost yield comparatively higher profit to the entrepreneur compared to the

adult labour.

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In my village during the Rabi season the whole village employs herd’s man for grazing the livestock during the month of July to march. During last couple of years two children below the age of 14 are employed for the same. One is boy and the other is a girl. Both of them are cousin and are held from a weaving family. Both of them are dropped out from the school because their parents couldn’t sustain their family because of their larger size. One family h as six and the other has four children

Conclusion

There is no doubt a growing concern over the issue of child labour among the policy

makers, civil society and academics; who in the Indian contexts are held principally from

the upper castes. Due to their upper caste back ground the wish to eliminate the

institution of child labour is not coming out from their core of the heart. So far as the

effort from among the dalit is concerned it is becoming an upper class phenomena lack of

whole hearted efforts.

Attitude towards child labour by Indians instead

of being sympathetic it is sarcastic. The way we

think it as heinous is totally opposite in the case

of user of the child labour. Most of the middle

calss in urban areas who employees children as

domestic help, many times argue that they are

helping the child in need. Banning the child labour

had made little since as we have seen from the

data; this is because the enforcing mechanism belongs to the demander of child labour.

This ban will also have the same result. Second, existing poverty is deep rooted in the age

old exploitative caste institution; unless it is hammered, this kind of measure will be short

lived. Caste discrimination in the school is one of the reasons behind the growing dropout

among the dalits. Unless school environment is changed, putting the children back to

school will be not of much use. It is infect non-attractiveness of schools is one of the

reason for drop outs which forced the parents to employ them in the field especially in

the agrarian sector. Poor infrastructure, punishing and discriminating and above all a

boring school environment is the result of growing child labour?

Second growing children amidst poverty due to lack of knowledge of Family planning

has resulted in more number of children and hence more children labour.

In order to eliminate the child labour and protect the right of the child, leadership in the

form of policy makers, academics, media and civil society has to evolve from among the

dalits, as child labour are non other than Dalit Children them selves.

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Suggestions and recommendations

There is no database regarding the children and child labour on the basis of social groups.

There should be enumeration regarding the caste back ground of the children on

work .This will help us to understand the issue of child labour in a more meaningful way.

References

Enakshi Ganguly Thukaral, Bharati Ali, Saloni Mathur (2004) ‘Children, Background

and Perspective’ in www.infochangeindia.org/Childrenbpprint.jsp

Gentleman Amelia (2006) ‘Ban on child labour: who will clean the houses?’ International

Herald Tribune.

Karabegovic’A.and Clemens Jason (2005) ‘Ending Child Labour-Bans aren’t the

Solution’ Fraser Forum.

Seker Hellen R. (2003) ‘Towards Combating Child Labour’ V.V.Giri National Labour

Institute, Noida.

Sreelatha Menon (2006) ‘Don’t ban labour, give them schools’ in www.business-

standard.com/general/printpage.php?autono=101398.

Srinath Ingrid (2006) ‘Child Labour ban not enough’ in

www.indiatogether.org/cgi-bin/tools/pfrind.cgi

Sarbeswara Sahoo

Indian Institute of Dalit Studies,

New Delhi

Sarbeswara_sahoo@yahoo.com

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*I am extremely grateful to Prof.S.K.Thorat, Chairperson, University Grant

Commission for his constant encouragement and suggestions, I however remain solely

responsible for the errors & omissions.

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