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The child labour is not a recent
phenomenon and that too not confined to any particular state. The main
thrust of the ILO conventions have been on:
1) minimum age for employment of children &
2) prohibition of night work for children.
In order to safeguard interest of the children, the U.N general assembly
on November 20,1989 adopted The Convention On The Rights Of The Child,
which was termed by the general assembly president Joseph N.Garba as a
binding piece of international legislation. With India accession to the
convention on December, 1992 it has become obligatory for the government
of India to undertake measures effectively to eliminate the scourge of
child labour which has assumed serious proportions on recent days. The
Supreme Court in many cases has emphatically stated that the
International Labour Organization (ILO) has been playing an important
role in the process of gradual elimination of child labour and to
protect the child from industrial exploitation including prohibition of
child labour, protecting child labour at work, attacking the basic
causes of child labour, helping children to adapt to future work and
protecting the children of working parents. Till now the ILO in the
interest of working children all over the world has adopted 18
conventions and 16 recommendations.
The constitutional mandates and call
on the subject are contained in certain articles in the constitution
including most notably Article 24 which deals with the prohibition of
employment of children in factories etc. it states that No child below
the age of fourteen years shall be employed to work in any factory or
mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment. There are also
certain directive principles that have been interpreted by the court to
safeguard the interest of the children in India including Article 45
which provides for provision for free and compulsory education for
children till the age of fourteen. Thus the constitution recognizes and
acknowledges the fact that the abolition of child labour is
unquestionably a matter of great public concern and significance.
The Royal Commission established in
1929 had observed the conditions of child labour in different industries
and had found that children had been obliged to work any number of hours
per day as required by their masters. The recommendations of the
commission came to be discussed in the legislative assembly and the
Children (Pledging of labour) Act, 1933 came to be passes, which maybe
is said to be the first statutory enactment dealing with child labour.
As in today, several legislative
enactment are in force, which prohibit employment of child labour in
different occupations.
The Child Labour (Prohibition And
Regulation) Act, 1986 expresses the strong desire of the legislature of
prohibiting child labour. As its preamble points out it has a twin
objective; it intends to prohibit the engagement of children in certain
employments and to regulate the conditions of work of children other
employments where children are allowed to work.
Although there are may Acts which
prohibit the employment of children below 14 years and 15 years in
certain specified employments or processes, but there is no procedure
laid down in any law for deciding in which employments or processes the
employment of children should be banned. There is no law to regulate the
working conditions of children in most of the employments where they are
not prohibited to work and consequently are working under exploitative
conditions.Therefore, the Child Labour (Prohibition And Regulation) Act,
1986 intends to ban the employment of children i.e. those who have-not
completed there fourteenth year of age in specified occupations and
processes, regulate the conditions of work of children in employments
where they are not prohibited from working, lay down enhanced penalties
for employment of children in violation of the provisions of this Act
and other Acts which forbid the employment of children etc. In our
country, Sivaski was once taken as the worst offender in the matter of
violating prohibition of employing child labour. As the situation there
had become intolerable a public- spirited lawyer, Shri M.C.Mehta thought
it necessary to invoke this court power under Article 32
as after all the fundamental right of the children guaranteed by Article
24 was being grossly violated and hence he filed a petition in the
court. The court then noted that the manufacturing process of matches
and fireworks (for the manufacturing of which also Sivaski is a
traditional centre.) is hazardous giving rise to accidents including
fatal cases. Subsequently suo moto cognizance was taken in the present
case itself when news about an unfortunate accident in one of the
Sivaski cracker factories was published.
At the direction of the Tamil Nadu government filed a detailed counter stating, inter alia that number
of persons who died was 39. The court gave certain directions regarding
the payment of compensation and thought that an advocates committee
should visit the area and make a comprehensive report relating to the
various aspects of the matter, as mentioned in the order passed by the
court on 14-8-1991.Keeping in view the provisions contained in article
39(f) and 45 of the
constitution, it gave certain directions as to how the quality of life
of children employed in the factories could be improved. The court also
felt the need of constituting a committee to oversee the directions
given. The committee has submitted its report on 11-11-1991, and the
Supreme Court appreciated the commendable work of the committee and gave
certain directions to be followed by the states to preserve the interest
of children in India.
These directions include that a survey would be
made by the states on the type of child labour, which would be completed
within 6 months from the date of passing of the order. The
court further stated that work could be taken up regarding those
employments which have been mentioned in Article 24, which may be
regarded as core sector, to determine which hazardous aspect of the
employment would be taken as criterion. The hazardous employment may
rank first in priority to be followed by comparatively less hazardous
and so on. The welfare scheme envisaged by the Supreme Court enshrined
in the judgment is really the need of the time. It can be concluded by
saying that The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act is an Act,
which has been passed to adopt all the international principles as
regards child labour, which have been approved by the United Nations.
Further, the elucidation and analysis given by the Supreme Court as well
as other courts have made the Act an important legislation, which has
helped in
restricting the evil of child labour to its minimal.
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