Child Labor law which emphasizes to permits children below 14 to work in family enterprises after school and on holiday has been amended by the Rajya Sabha on July 20, 2016.
Who is a Child Labor?
Child Labor is best defined as the utilization of the children in any kind of work that strips that children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful.
A variety of Indian social scientists as well as the Non-Governmental Organization (NGOs) have done extensive research on the numeric figures of child labor in India and pathetically determined that India contributes to one-third of Asia’s child labor and one-fourth of the world’s child labor.
What is Child Labor law?
Child Labor Law which has been amended 2012 mainly focus to ban employment of children under 14 years in all kinds of commercial enterprises. The original Child Labor Prohibition Act of 1986 banned employment of children below 14 in only 18 hazardous industries.
The Bill passed with drastically cuts down on the number of industries that are considered hazardous for children, from 83 to just 3, effectively knocking off zari work, bangle-making, garment industry, leather and tanneries among others in the list.
The amended Child Labour Act prohibits the employment of children (below 14 years of age) in all occupations except in non-hazardous family enterprises or the entertainment industry.
Drawbacks of this bill:-
But, Children’s rights activist and Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi also expressed his displeasure and concern regarding the bill that “There is a thin line between family enterprise and employers. In the past, there have been many instances where employers have claimed to be the fathers, uncles or children, sometimes of up to 30 children. Now, they will have legal backing”
The amended Child Labor Bill might give the first impression that the government is taking a stringent measure to end child labor.
The government has made the amendments based on the premise that education and work for children can go hand in hand, but this defeats the very purpose of protecting children from exploitation.
According to the statistics made available by CRY, only 33 out of 100 children are completing Class 12. The amendments to the Child Labor Act make the situation grimmer.
