Poverty is the main cause of child labor, and both are widespread in South Asia.
There are quite a few constitutional directives and legislation on child labor. Even during the British colonial period, the Indian Factories Act of 1881 had forbidden employment of children under seven years, which was raised to nine by IFA of 1891. Despite national and international documents such as the Juvenile Justice Act 1985 and Rules 1989, and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989, child exploitation is very much prevalent in India. Estimates of child laborers in India vary from 44 million to 17.6 million depending upon estimating authorities. If one considers closely the unorganized sectors such as farming, construction, and house keeping, along with widespread corruption and societal indifference to child labor, one can put the above figures at a much higher bracket.