Child Labour Problems & Policy Issues

‘Child Labour’ has become the problem of the hour across the globe with its multifaceted implications. The magnitude and dimension of the problem varies form region to region and received attention of the concerned including the International Labour organization (ILO). This child labour scenario in Indian context presents a more pathetic picture as most of the children in 6 – 14 ages are found not in schools but engaged in cattle rearing, firewood collection, working in small industries, household works, tea stalls, dhabas, colleting rags and bottles from waste dumps and even begging. Declaration of the years 1979, as the ‘international Year of the Child’ has marked a beginning in the direction of taking measures for prohibition and regulation of Child labour. In India, the ‘Child Labour Act’ came into force in 1986. The child labour is economically unsound, psychologically disastrous physically dangerous and harmful to the child. Children are exploited and exposed to hazardous working conditions and paid a pittance for their long-hours of work. These are forced to forego education shouldering responsibilities for beyond their age. Realizing the seriousness of the problem, a national seminars on “Changing Pattern of the Workforce in India in the new Millennium Policy imperatives” was organized in the Department of Economics, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam. The problem in Indian context has been discussed in different angles by different researchers. The present volume is an attempt to present these observations together for a better understanding of the problem situation in the early 2000s.