The Centre does not have any data on child labour in the country and a reason for this is the drying up of budgetary provisions meant for the National Child Labour Project (NCLP).

What is Child Labour?

• The term “child labour” is often defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development.
• It refers to work that:

1. is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children; and/or
2. interferes with their schooling by: depriving them of the opportunity to attend school; obliging them to leave school prematurely; or requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work.

National Child Labour Project (NCLP)

• The NCLP Scheme is a Central Sector Scheme under the Ministry of Labour.
• Under this Scheme the District Project Societies (DPS) are set up at the district level under the Chairmanship of the Collector/District Magistrate to oversee the implementation of the project.
• Under this Scheme, the children in the age group of 9-14 years are withdrawn from work and put into NCLP Special Training Centres.
• They are provided with bridge education, vocational training, mid-day meal, stipend, health care etc. before being mainstreamed into formal education system.
• The children in the age group of 5-8 years are directly linked to the formal education system through a close coordination with the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
• A dedicated online portal named PENCiL (Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour) is developed for better monitoring and implementation.

Why in news now?

• No ministry had any data regarding the status of child labour in our country.
• The NCLP’s schools for child labourers work for three to four years and they have also more or less stopped functioning due to scarcity of funds.
• Education Ministry also does not have a mechanism to find out the number of children engaged in child labour.

Grave concerns of the issue

• This is a serious situation.
• It is for the first time that a parliamentary panel is engaged in a detailed examination of the national policy on child labour.
• Though we have legislation, the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, since 1986 the menace of child labour is continue unchecked.

Various provisions against Child Labour

• Article 23 of the Indian Constitution states that any type of forced labour is prohibited.
• Article 24 states that a child under 14 years cannot be employed to perform any hazardous work.
• Article 39 states that “the health and strength of workers, men and women, and the tender age of children are not abused”.
• The Child Labour Act (Prohibition and Regulation) 1986 prohibits children under the age of 14 years to be working in hazardous industries and processes.

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