Source– This post is based on the article “Elimination of child labour a distant goal, country needs uniform definition of ‘child’ first: Parliamentary panel” published in “The Indian Express” on 20th December 2023.
Why in the News?
Recently, the 52nd report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour was tabled in the parliament. It highlighted the gaps that remain in achieving the objective of elimination of child labour by 2025.
What are the Observations made by the Committee?
1) The panel identified ambiguity in the definition of ‘child’ across multiple legislations. For example:
a. Under Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 (CALPRA), as amended in 2016, a child is defined as someone between 14-18 years
b. But under Right to Education Act, 2009, child means between 6-14 years of age.
2) Non uniformity in employment of children being a cognizable offence– Employment of children in contravention of the CALPRA Act is a cognizable offence, whereas under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, it is a non-cognizable offence. This leads to ambiguity as well as delay in justice to the aggrieved children.
Note- Cognizable offence means
What are the Key Suggestions/ Recommendations of the Committee?
1) Bringing uniformity in the definition of ‘child’ under various laws.
2) The removal of hazardous occupations from the list of approved jobs and processes for adolescents.
3) Incorporating stricter punishments, such as license cancellation and property attachment, in addition to the three/four times increase in fines.
4) In instances of child labor deployment, accountability should be assigned not only to the employer but also to the principal employer and traffickers.
5) Ministry to formulate suitable guidelines for the utilization of the fund (collected as fine for child labour employer).
6) Recommended establishing a district-level fund as well for immediate relief and rehabilitation for child laborers.
7) It suggested incorporating provisions for taking action against the police for not registering FIRs in the CALPRA Act, similar to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.
8) Steps should be taken to establish a National Level Child Tracking Mechanism to facilitate coordination among the states/Centre.
What is Child Labour in India and safeguards provided to deal with it?
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