India 2018

412 India 2018
Child Labour
Child labour is an area of great concern and Government of India is committed
to address the issue. Considering the magnitude and nature of the problem, it
is following a robust multi- generation schemes. The objective is to pronged
strategy to tackle the problem of child labour. It comprises statutory and
legislative measures, rescue and rehabilitation, universal elementary education
along with social protection and poverty alleviation and employment generation
schemes. The objective is to create an environment where families are not
compelled to send their children to work. Government has adopted an approach
to withdraw and rehabilitate working children from all occupations and
processes.
Child Labour Policy
The National Policy on Child Labour declared in 1987, addresses the complex
issue of child labour in a comprehensive, holistic and integrated manner. The
Action Plan under this policy is multi-pronged and mainly consists of:
a legislative action plan; project based action in areas of high concentration of
child labour; and focus on general development programmes for the benefit of
the families of child labour.
Legislative Action Plan
Under the Legislative Action Plan, the Child Labour (Prohibition and
Regulation) Act, was enacted in 1986. This Act was renamed the Child and
Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 in 2016. As per the
provisions of the Act, the employment of children below the age of 14 years
was prohibited in 18 occupations and 65 processes. Now the Government
enacted the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016.
The Amendment inter-alia covers the complete prohibition on employment or
work of children below 14 years of age in all occupations and processes; linking
the age of the prohibition of employment with the age for free and compulsory
education under Right to Education Act, 2009; prohibition on employment of
adolescents (14 to 18 years of age) in hazardous occupations or processes and
making stricter punishment for the employers contravening the provisions of
the Act. In pursuance of National Child Labour Policy, the National Child Labour
Project (NCLP) Scheme was started in 1988 to rehabilitate children rescued
from child labour. It is an ongoing Central Sector Scheme and at present
sanctioned in 270 districts in the country. Under the Scheme, working children
are identified through child labour survey, withdrawn from work and put into
the special training centres so as to provide them with an environment to
subsequently join mainstream education system. In these special training
centres, besides formal education, the children are provided stipend,
supplementary nutrition, vocational training and regular health checkups. As
poverty is the primary cause of such a social evil, the educational rehabilitation
of such children is further complemented by the economic rehabilitation of the
families of child labour through the convergence approach so that the children