ILO and Child Labour in India
ILO AND CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA
- Rupam Jha, Symbiosis Law School, Pune
INTRODUCTION:
The liberalization of the Indian economy carved a new chapter in the country’s story of development. Since then, India witnessed an impressive rate of economic growth (till 2017-18).One would think, a country on the path of development is better equipped to safeguard the rights of its children and protect them from exploitation in the form of child labour. However, the reality stands quite in contrast to this. Due to the covertness of the unskilled informal sector of our economy, exact figures on child labour can hardly be produced. Even so, the Census data of 2011 suggests that we have more than 10 million child labourers in the age group of 5-14, and double that number in the age group of 15-18. [1] These figures paint a sordid picture. But, according to the same figures, there has been a 20% drop in the number of child labours in India since 2001. Indeed, we see an improvement, but at a snail’s pace. For this improvement, the efforts of the International Labour Organisation [‘ILO’], the government of India,and several civil activist organisations, must be credited.
In this article, the author explores the role of the ILO in reducing child labour in India and the legislative framework regulating child labour in India. The article is divided into three sections. In the first section, the author dissects India’s association with the ILO in curbing child labour in India. The second section focuses on the legislative efforts made by India. In the third section, the author concludes by drawing the readers’ attention towards the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on child labour.
INDIA’S ASSOCIATION WITH THE ILO:
• Conventions:
With a vision to secure lasting peace in the world by following the principles of social justice, the International Labour Organisation was founded in the year 1919. Remarkably, India has been one of the founding members of the organisation. According to the data published by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, out of the 47 ILO conventions ratified by India, 37 are in force. [2] These Conventions include the No.5 Minimum Age (Industry) Convention, 1919, the No. 15 Minimum Age (Trimmers and Stokers) Convention, 1921, the No, 29 Forced Labour Convention, the No. 123 Minimum Age (Underground Work) Convention, 1965, the No. 105, Abolition of Forced Labour, 1957 and, the Worst Form of Child Labour Convention. The Conventions, Resolutions and Guidelines passed by the ILO greatly influence the labour laws in India.
• International Programme
India was the first country to join the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour [‘IPEC’] in 1992 – a global programme launched by the International Labour Organisation. The Memorandum of Understanding [‘MOU’] then signed with the ILO first expired on the 31st of December, 1996. [3] Ever since, it has been extended from time to time. The objective of this programme is to identify models for replication on the community and national level and, mobilizing civil forces to secure the elimination of child labour.
• ILO-assisted programmes relevant to child labour INDUS
This project was focused on 21 districts in five states namely – Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. [4] Its objective was to identify children employed for doing hazardous work., withdraw them from there and, thereafter provide them with transitional schooling, pre-vocational education and, social support. Launched in 2004, the project was jointly funded by the Government of India and the U.S department of Labour. The success of the projected prompted the replication of its successful strategies beyond the project areas.
The Andhra Pradesh State – Based Project and the Karnataka State-Based Project were funded by the U.K. Department for International Development (DfID) and the Italian Government respectively. While the former uses models involving State agencies and civil society to address child labour, the latter includes initiatives that impart skill training and vocational training. The Karnataka project aims to bring about a self-sustaining social change by raising awareness and education levels.
• Project Converging Against Child Labour
With a vision to towards the prevention and elimination of hazardous child labour, and the consequent trafficking of children, the Ministry of Labour and employment – in collaboration with the ILO – implemented a pilot project Converging Against Child labour. The project focuses on target districts of Bihar, Jharkhand, Gujarat Madhya Pradesh and Orissa and has been successful in its limited attempts.
Academic discourse on child labor has a universal appeal. Both the United Nations [‘UN’] and ILO have been at the forefront in the development of international laws that guard children from the horrors of child labor. However, poverty and corporate rashness continue to limit the success of efforts to eradicate child labor. The influence of major corporations- focused on profit- making- on national and international policies is another factor that limits the implementation of these norms.
INDIA ON CHILD LABOUR:
The Constitution makers of India were well aware of the fact that their vision of Independent India would fail if children of the country were not nurtured, protected, and educated. Therefore, the child labor legislations of India are grounded in the Constitution itself. On one hand we have Article 24 of the Constitution of India, 1950, that prohibits the employment of children in factories and mines and other hazardous occupations and, on the other hand, Article 23 bans bonded labour or any other form of slavery or trafficking in human beings. The Constitution makers, in fact, went one step further in engrafting Article 39 that directs the state to protect the safety of morals of workers and children.
Within our statutory framework, The Child Labour (Protection and Regulation) Act, 1986 [‘CLA’] is one of the most important legislations regulating child labour in India. However, it only prohibited the engagement of children up to 14 years of age in certain hazardous occupations and processes. This proved to be highly insufficient. Therefore, the government enacted the Child Labour (Prohibition and regulation) Amendment Act, 2016. This Act, inter-alia, introduces a complete prohibition on employing children below the age of 14 years in any occupations or processes. Legislators have introduced this amendment by keeping in mind the age for free and compulsory education under the Right to Education Act, 2009. Interestingly, Shibban Lal Saxena, a member of the Constituent Assembly, proposed an amendment in the assembly that minimum age of be raised to sixteen in Article 24 (then Article 18, Draft Constitution of India, 1948). Butthe proposal was never accepted.
The new Amendment Act prohibits the employment of adolescents (14 – 18 years of age) in hazardous occupations and processes and introduces stricter punishment for those who contravene the provisions of this Act. Socio-legal scholars have consistently been of the view that the schedule of hazardous occupations and processes within the ‘CLA’ is not comprehensive enough to take within its purview all kinds of hazardous activities detrimental to children below the age of 14. In light of this, the Government has reviewed the Schedule and accordingly divided it into two parts. [5]‘Part A’ enumerates hazardous occupations and processes forbidden for adolescents. ‘Part B’ comprises a list of family enterprises that children cannot be employed in.
Therefore, it is clear that, both internationally and nationally, many legislative barriers have been put in place to eradicate child labour. While, the concerted efforts of various international, national and transnational have resulted in positive outcomes, the gap between what we envision and how we implement it remains huge. The Government of India continues to grossly underestimate the aggregate benefit of providing adequate education to the children of India.
CONCLUSION:
The world is the midst of a global pandemic right now. The fact that the poor will find themselves helpless in the face of harrowing economic exploitation is but obvious. Once we fight the pandemic, the weaker sections of our society will be pushed deeper into the recesses of poverty, debt, and starvation. If adequate attention is not drawn towards their plight, as the Director, Policy, of the Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation rightly predicts, in all likelihood, factory owners and manufacturers will feed on their desperation and vulnerability, and children will once again be the victims.[6] Therefore, it is the need of the hour that special efforts be made to contain the damage caused by the pandemic on the exploitation of children. It is the unwillingness of the executive to act promptly that allows these sores of child labour to fester in our social fabric. Consider this, the Carpet Industry is listed as one of the hazardous industries under the Act. However, it continues to employ child labour.[7] The pandemic has further aggravated the problem therefore, it is imperative now that the enforcement authorities come to the rescue of children.
REFERENCES :-
[1] Ministry of Labour and Employment (Government of India) <https://labour.gov.in/> accessed 6 April 2020
[2] ibid.
[3] ibid.
[4] ibid.
[5] ibid.
[6] Niharika Chopra, ‘The Cost of COVID-19 Lockdown: Rise in Bonded Labour and Human Trafficking in India’ (Outlook, 13 April 2020) <https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/opinion-covid19-lockdown-and-the-rise-of-bonded-labour-and-human-trafficking-in-india/350662> accessed 6 April 2020
[7] Geeta Chowdhry and Mark Beeman, \'Challenging Child Labor: Transnational Activism and India\'s Carpet Industry\'(2001) 575, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, <https://www.jstor.org/stable/1049186> accessed 6 April 2020
