Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986 and India

More than 25 years since the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986 came into existence, only 13 states and UTs have framed state rules required for its implementation.
This fact is recorded in the latest Report which the Working Group on Human Rights (WGHR) for India and the UN submitted to the UN Human Rights Commission for India’s second Universal Periodic Review of human rights that ended this June 30.
“Based on the information available from central and state government websites, even after 25 years since the enactment of Child Labour Prohibition law, 13 out of 35 states and UTs have framed state rules for its implementation. These include Bihar, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal, with rules framed between 1988 and 1997. Recently, only Meghalaya drafted state rules, but is yet to notify them,” the report says.
This explains the poor implementation of the law and why India has the highest number of child labourers globally. The report adds that the majority of child labourers in India are Dalits, many surviving on less than $1 a day.
The situation remains alarming, with estimates saying India could have anywhere between 8 million and 60 million child labourers. No wonder, most of the 80 countries that participated in India’s UPR this year asked it to abolish all forms of child labour.
But Attorney General Ghoolam Vahanvati, who represented India at the UPR, said, “While the government is fully conscious of the issues pertaining to child labour, it does not have a magic wand to address it.”
Activist Miloon Kothari, who convened the WGHR, says, “India’s stand is oblivious to the fact that the legal scenario in the country has changed. Being at school and not at work is now a fundamental right for children aged 6 to 14 years under the Right to Education Act. The logical corollary is for GoI to revisit its stand and amend the Child Labour Prohibition Act.”