India : Proposed amendments to Child Labour Act need review
The Child Labour Amendment Bill passed by both Houses of Parliament has some provisions that raise concerns, and questions that are disturbing. The new Bill prohibits children under the age
of 14 from working, but the problem is the exception for ‘family businesses’. Children below 14 will be allowed to work in family businesses, outside school hours and during holidays. Children between 15 and 18, now defined as adolescents, will be permitted to work except in mines and industries. It has also drastically reduced the number of hazardous jobs that 15- 18-year-olds are banned from doing from 83 to 3. The Bill seems to have brought in a new concept of ‘part-time student, part-time child labour’ along with part-time teachers.
The government says the law will help poor families earn a living and give children a chance to acquire skills. Now, some children will go to school, come back, study, play, learn, relax and otherwise enjoy life. But ‘some other poor children’ must wake up early in the morning, work before going to school, then run to school and come back and work again at home and sleep late in the night? They will have no leisure, no time to play or study, leading to serious short- and long-term physical, psychological and social consequences.
These tired, sleepy, unhealthy children may soon drop out from school. Is this joyful learning, quality education, a happy childhood? Will it not perpetuate a labour force of children and adolescents that will be cheap and vulnerable working in cottage and small-scale industries, manufacturing units operating out of residential areas claiming to be family enterprises and the unorganised sector, which can now flourish unregulated as family enterprises and work out of hazardous units.
The Census 2011 shows that 33.9 million children are out of school and vulnerable to labour. Around 1.01 crore children in the 5-14 age group earn for their families. They will not be protected under the proposed amended law. Why this discrimination among children? Is it only because he or she is poor? Many poor families send their children to work. Poverty has made parents sell children, send them for begging, and force them into child labour. The very premise that children can work in families is deeply flawed. Making children work is not the solution. There is a need for strengthening their families through dedicated poverty alleviation programmes.
How will the government enforce this new law? Which will be the implementing and monitoring agency? Under the current Child Labour Act, 1985, when labour inspectors would visit factories where children were found working, all turned out to be ‘relatives ‘of the factory owner. There were practically no prosecution for any violation of existing laws pertaining to child labour. The owners, in many cases, could not be prosecuted because there were no witnesses. Corruption among government officials charged with enforcement of labour laws is notorious and widespread. Labour inspectors, medical officers, localtehsildars, police and magistrates are known to be susceptible to bribery. This Bill is open to exploitation and abuse of children.
Education is the most important component in reducing child labour. There must be being linkages between child labour and education laws. They cannot work in isolation. There is a need for a Constitutional amendment to Article 24 that mandates that no child aged below 14 years shall be employed in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment. That implies that children below 14 can work in non-hazardous industries.
Article 24 is in contrast to Article 21A which provides for free and compulsory education to or all children aged 6 to 14 years. Article 24 must be amended to prohibit all children from working in any industry, including family enterprises. The ILO Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labour and Convention 138 on the minimum age to work have still not been ratified by India. We need to establish an independent implementing and monitoring agency to oversee the enforcement of child labour law.
This is a roadblock to the development agenda, a law with its head buried in the sand. Child labour is not a labour law issue but one of child rights and child protection. Education, play, sport, leisure and rest are not luxuries for a few; they are every child’s right and must be taken seriously. All hopes now rest on the President of India to withhold his assent and send the Bill back for review.
The writer is the Founder Dean, School of Law, Tata Institute of Social Sciences