Lok Sabha Question No. 170 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2015-11-30
Subject: Child Labour in Hazardous Occupation
Ministry: LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
Asked by: RAOSAHEB PATIL DANVE, DUSHYANT CHAUTALA, PRALHAD VENKATESH JOSHI, V. SATHYABAMA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 170

TO BE ANSWERED ON 30.11.2015

## CHILD LABOUR IN HAZARDOUS OCCUPATION

†170. SHRI RAOSAHEB DANVE PATIL:

SHRI DUSHYANT CHAUTALA:

SHRI PRALHAD JOSHI:

SHRIMATI V. SATHYA BAMA:

Will the Minister of LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT be pleased to state:

- (a)whether children are being exploited in hazardous factories including beedi  industries  despite  the  existence  of  stringent  Child  Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act which bans child labour in hazardous occupation for children under the age of 14 and also whether the said law bans only 20 per cent of all child labour in the country;
- (b)if so, the details thereof and the reactions of the Government thereto;
- (c)whether the  Union  Government  has  instructed  State  Governments  to periodically  check  and  ascertain  whether  child  labour  are  being employed and also further instructed the States to create a separate monitoring body to bring total ban on child labour and if so, the details thereof; and
- (d)the total number of child labour rescued and also cases registered by the Government in this regard during each of the last three years along with the steps taken by the Government to bring complete ban on the worst  forms  of  child  labour  such  as  children/bonded  child  labour
- working in hazardous condition?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE (IC) FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT (SHRI BANDARU DATTATREYA)

- (a): Child  Labour  (Prohibition  &  Regulation)  Act,  1986  prohibits  the employment of children below 14 years of age in certain occupations and processes   and   regulates   the   working    condition    of    children      in

employment  where  they  are  not  prohibited.  As  per  2001  Census,  the details of the number of children found employed in the Occupation/Processes prohibited including Pan, Bidi & Cigarettes is given at Annexure. The Census 2011 figures show a decline in the category of main workers in the age group of 5-14 years to 43.53 lakhs.

- (b): A Bill to amend the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) (CLPR) Act, 1986 has been introduced in Rajya Sabha in 2012. The Government has  decided  to  move  Official  Amendments  to  the  Amendment  Bill.  The Official  Amendments  along  with  the  Amendment  Bill  inter-alia  covers complete  prohibition  on  employment  of  children  below  14  years  and linking the age of prohibition with the age under Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.
- (c): Central Government is the appropriate Government for enforcement of  the  CLPR  Act  in  respect  of  Central  Government  establishments, railways,  major  ports,  mines  or  oil  fields  and  in  all  other  cases,  State Government is the appropriate Government for enforcement of the Act. As per the Act, the appropriate Government may appoint Inspectors for the purpose of securing compliance with the provisions of the Act.
- (d): As  per  the  information  received  from  the  States,  the  details  of prosecution launched under Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 during the last three years are as under:

|   Year |   Prosecutions |
|--------|----------------|
|   2012 |           4731 |
|   2013 |           4899 |
|   2014 |           3340 |

The number of children rescued/ withdrawn from work, rehabilitated and mainstreamed  under  the  National  Child  Labour  Project  (NCLP)  Scheme during the last three years is given below:

| 2012-13   |   72976 |
|-----------|---------|
| 2013-14   |   64050 |
| 2014-15   |  116957 |

The  Government  has  adopted  multi-pronged  strategy  to  eradicate  child labour in the country. For rehabilitation of rescued children, Government has been implementing the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme since 1988. Also the Bonded  Labour System has been abolished throughout  the  country  by  the  Bonded  labour  System  (Abolition)  Act, 1976. Under the Act, identification, release and rehabilitation of the freed bonded labour is the direct responsibility of the concerned State/ Union Territory.

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## ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  OF  LOK  SABHA  UN-STARRED QUESTION NO.170 FOR ANSWER ON 30.11.2015

The details of the number of children found employed in the Occupation/ Processes prohibited as per Census 2001:

| Sl. No   | Name of Occupation &Processes      |   No. of Children employed |
|----------|------------------------------------|----------------------------|
| 1.       | Pan, Bidi &Cigarettes              |                     252574 |
| 2.       | Construction                       |                     208833 |
| 3.       | Domestic Workers                   |                     185505 |
| 4.       | Spinning/weaving                   |                     128984 |
| 5.       | Brick-klins, tiles                 |                      84972 |
| 6.       | Dhabas/Restaurants/Hotels/Motels   |                      70934 |
| 7.       | Auto-workshop, vehicle repairs     |                      49893 |
| 8.       | Gem-cutting, Jewellery             |                      37489 |
| 9.       | Carpet-making                      |                      32647 |
| 10.      | Ceramic                            |                      18894 |
| 11.      | Agarbatti, Dhoop &Detergent making |                      13583 |
| 12.      | Others*                            |                     135162 |
|          | Total                              |                    1219470 |

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