Child Labour

India has 33 million working children between the ages of 5-18 years. In parts of the country, more than half the child population is engaged in labour (Census 2011). There are 10.13 million Child Labourers between 5-14 years in India (Census 2011). The International Labour Organisation defines child labour as any work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential, their dignity and one that is harmful to the physical and mental development of the child. It includes work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous to children. Work that interferes with a child’s ability to attend and participate in school fully by obliging them to leave school prematurely; or requiring them to try to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work is also child labour. It is both a cause and consequence of poverty. In India, a “Child” as defined by the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act of 2016 as a person who has not completed 14 years of age.