National Human Development Report: 2001 - Indira Gandhi Institute ...

100SOME OTHER ASPECTS OF WELL-BEINGNATIONAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2001On the issue of using public policyConstitutional Provisions and Regulations on Child Labourand direct interventions to createand improve the economicThe Constitution of India explicitly address the issue of child labour Articles 24,environment conducive for39 (e) & (f) and 45 incorporate specific provisions to secure compulsorywithdrawing the children fromeducation and labour protection for children. Article 24, on prohibition oflabour market or not pushing thememployment of children in factories, etc. states that no child below the age ofinto participating in the market, the14 shall be employed in any work in any factory or in mining or be engaged inmost important set of policyany hazardous employment. Article 39(e)&(f) directs the State to ensure, throughimperatives relates to enrolling thesuitable policies, that individuals are not forced, by economic necessity, to enter‘no where children’ and retainingvocations unsuited for their age and strength. It also states that children shouldthem in the schools till at least thebe given opportunities and facilities to be able to develop in a health mannerage of 14 years. States that haveand in conditions of freedom and dignity, and that childhood and youth arehigher literacy levels and, hence,protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment.have the requisite infrastructureFurther, Article 45 on provision of free and compulsory education for children sayshave been able to enroll and retainthat the State shall endeavour to provide, within a period of ten years from thechildren in the targeted age group ofcommencement of this Constitution, free and compulsory education for all5 to 14 years effectively. In thischildren until they complete the age of 14 years.context, schemes like the Mid-dayFlowing from the Constitutional provisions and directives, a number of ActsMeal Schemes, which provide aincluding The Child labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, Factories Act,nutrition supplement to children in1948 (Section 67), The Plantation Labour Act, 1951 (Section 24), Merchantschools, have been found to beShipping Act, 1951 (Section 10-9), Mines Act, 1952 (Section 45), Motor Transportuseful, for instance in Tamil Nadu inWorkers’ Act, 1961 (Section 21), Apprentices Act, 1961 (Section 3), Beedi andincreasing enrolment rates andCigar Workers’ (conditions of employment) Act, 1966 (Section 24), have beenbringing down drop-out rates. Aenacted, and modified from time-to-time. The first of these, namely, the Childfactor that has been seen to beLabour Act 1986, is a comprehensive statement that prohibits employment ofimportant in retaining the childrenchildren in certain occupations and processes. Through subsequent amendments,in schools is the quality ofthe working conditions of children have been regulated in all employmenteducation. Besides improving thecategories and the schedule also has been substantially enlarged to cover in allteacher-pupil ratios, studies point13 occupations and 51 processes.out that a more innovativecurriculum, including exposure toinformation technology and vocational training, are important elements inimproving the quality of education. Some specific steps, in this context, thatcould be considered and easily implemented include bringing in flexibility inthe scheduling of school terms, particularly in rural areas where a largesegment of child population is invariably drafted to meet the seasonaldemand for agriculture labour. In urban areas, this could take the form ofevening/night schools that permit such children who otherwise have to workto supplement their household incomes to acquire education and, hence, theopportunity to be more productive and better off later in their lives.The failure to make even the elementary education compulsory hasbeen a serious lacuna in the approach to addressing the problem of ‘no wherechildren’. It is, in fact, the other side of implementing a universal ban onchild labour but its relative feasibility in terms of implementation has to beconsidered a little more seriously. Moreover, it is compatible with a certainamount of part-time work and is, therefore, a good way of preventing fulltimework for children in the age group of 5-14 years. The social, economicand administrative feasibility of implementing compulsory education at leasttill primary and, preferably, till middle level, has adequately beendemonstrated by some major States in the 1990s. States like Kerala, TamilNadu and Himachal Pradesh had a head start. These are now being joined byAndhra Pradesh, Karnataka and most of the North-Eastern States. It may,