Child labour in India: Role of state and NGOs in protection of rights of children

Childhood is the most innocent phase of any individual. Every child deserves healthy and normal childhood. But for many children, the reality of childhood is altogether different as they are employed as labour and their childhood is disturbed. There are 250 million child labour according to UNICEF estimation. The UN and ILO consider child labour as exploitative. The UN Convention on the Rights of child considers that ‘states parties recognize the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development’.

Child labour is one of the very crucial issues currently confronting India and many other South-Asian countries. According to 2001 Census, India had close to 13 million child labour. Children work for long hours with small wages and are more docile and easier to manage than adults. As a consequence, large number of children lacking in skills and education, grow up as unskilled workers. With no access to quality education, millions of children are left to work, often in dangerous and exploitative conditions. The poverty of the family and lack of education are the most significant factors of child labour. The attempt has been made in the paper to examine the demography of child labour, impact of poverty on child labour and child schooling. It also identifies the rights of children and the initiatives taken by state authorities and NGOs for the protection of the rights of children.