Proposal on child labour runs into rough weather

Even as the enforcement of a two-decade old law to ban the use of child labour in the country has only been marginally successful till date...

Even as the enforcement of a two-decade old law to ban the use of child labour in the country has only been marginally successful till date, the Ministry for Women and Child Development (MoWCD) headed by Renuka Choudhary has proposed to the Ministry of Labour and Employment that the minimum age of employment for children be increased from 14 years to 18 years.

While the aim is good, the proposal, supported by NGOs, may end up giving developed countries another reason to impose non-tariff barriers on goods exported from India.

A senior MoWCD official told The Indian Express, “We have been saying this to the Labour Ministry for a long time as we feel that children till the age of 18 years should be in school and not working.”

Story continues below this ad

At a meeting called by the Union Commerce Ministry last Thursday to discuss the use of child labour in export-oriented industries that was attended by Choudhary, the idea was raised again with the argument that this was the norm across the developed world.

Union Minister of State for Labour & Employment Oscar Fernandes scotched the idea and reiterated that the minimum age for employment need not be changed.

A senior official from Fernandes’ ministry said, “The current law against child labour already bans the use of children up to the age of 18 years in hazardous processes and occupations. India’s stark economic realities differ a lot from the US and the EU. We have so many working poor and we have not even been able to make access to education a reality for all children upto the age of 14. Extending the age to 18 years would mean we have to not just assure our children a decent primary education but also higher secondary education.”

The MoWCD, however, maintains that just because authorities are having a tough time to implement the existing law, “it does not mean that children till 18 years of age should be working.” The ministry and NGOs are not the only ones pushing the idea. The recently constituted National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), seems to be endorsing it too.

Story continues below this ad

Arguing that there are 80 million children in the country falling in the age group of 14-18 years and 70 per cent of them are illiterate and living in vulnerable conditions, NCPCR chairperson and Magsaysay award-winner Shantha Sinha told IE, “This age largely comprises of migrant labourers’ children and is the most exploited section in the country. The best policy is to put them all in school.” However, she added that an ‘elaborate support system’ is needed to take care of their work and hunger and ‘make them valuable’.

The labour ministry officials, however, stress that since everyone does not have access to vocational education, apprenticeship, which is how many pick up trades, is the only way out.

Incidentally, though India has signed a United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) that grants all children and young people (aged 17 and under) a comprehensive set of rights, it had reserved its views on the issue of child labour and asked for more time. The NCPCR’s mandate is to act in accordance with the UNCRC.