Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

Chapter 1

CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA

1.1 Introduction

“Child is the father of man and the citizen of tomorrow”

 William Wordsworth
Children are the greatest gift to humanity and Childhood is an important and impressionable
stage of human development as it holds the potential to the future development of any society.
Children who are brought up in an environment, which is conducive to their intellectual, physical
and social health, grow up to be responsible and productive members of society. Every nation links
its future with the present status of its children. By performing work when they are too young for
the task, children unduly reduce their present welfare or their future income earning capabilities,
either by shrinking their future external choice sets or by reducing their own future individual
productive capabilities. Under extreme economic distress, children are forced to forego educational
opportunities and take up jobs which are mostly exploitative as they are usually underpaid and
engaged in hazardous conditions. Parents decide to send their child for engaging in a job as a
desperate measure due to poor economic conditions. It is, therefore, no wonder that the poor
households predominantly send their children to work in early ages of their life. One of the
disconcerting aspects of child labour is that children are sent to work at the expense of education.
There is a strong effect of child labour on school attendance rates and the length of a child’s work
day is negatively associated with his or her capacity to attend school. Child labour restricts the right
of children to access and benefit from education and denies the fundamental opportunity to attend
school. Child labour, thus, prejudices children’s education and adversely affects their health and
safety.

In all societies irrespective of cast, race or area children occupy a very important position
they are considered as an extremely valuable asset for the society. The importance of child in the
life of most people can be seen from the fact the birth of a child is heralded with much fanfare and
celebration. A childless married woman or childless couple is looked upon with sympathy. The
importance of children is highlighted in Vedas too.

A child is the bud of the future citizen of a country. Where does a county stand when such
buds are nipped down? As a single cancerous cell may help to aggravate disease to the whole

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system of a body so the child labour can destroy the whole country and civilization impending
development, be it social or economic or political.

Child labour is mainly necessitated by economic compulsions of the parents and in many
cases of the children. The main reasons, which give rise to child labour, are widespread
unemployment and under employment among the adult poor strata of population. High rate of
growth of population, large families with low incomes are some of the reason which breed child
labour. Diverting the child from work means loss of income to the economic benefits resulting from
child labour are generally high as it generates as income. Which is higher than what is consumed in
the family? Farther are some factors due to which employers also favor child labour. In the point of
the above the major reason for hiring children terms to be non-economic, children are easier to
manage because they are less aware of their rights, less complaining, most trust worthily, less
troublesome, less likely to absent themselves from work and no problem of unions.

Today, throughout the world, around 215 million children work many full- times. They do
not go to school and have little or no time to play. Many do not receive proper nutrition or care.
They are denied the chance to be children. More than half of them are exposed to the worst forms of
child labour such as work in hazardous environments, slavery, or other forms of forced labour,
illicit activities including drug trafficking and prostitution, as well as involvement armed conflict.

In many countries child labour is mainly an agricultural issue. Word wide 60 percent of all
child labourers in the age group 5-17 years work in agriculture, including farming, fishing,
aquaculture, forestry, and livestock. This amounts to over 129 million girls and boys. The majority
(67.5) of child labourers are unpaid family members. In agriculture this percentage is higher, and is
combined with very early entry into work, sometimes between 5 and 7 years of age.

Child labour has long been recognized as a major obstacle to achieving decent work. In
1992 the ILO launched its international program on the elimination of child labour (ILO-IPEC) to
provide technical cooperation to member states in finding solutions to this problem. We are making
progression the fight to eliminate child labour; however there are still many children who are the
workforce too soon. Of particular concern in this region are the 122 million children aged 5-14
forced to work for their survival.

For many years, child labour has been one of the biggest obstacles to social development. It
is a challenge and long- term goal in many countries to abolish all forms of child labour. Especially
in developing countries, it is considered as a serious issue these days. Child labour refers to children

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who will their childhood and are not able to have the basic temerities which a child should have.
Recently the international labour organization (ILO, 2013) estimated there are around 2015 million
children between the ages five to fourteen who works worldwide. They are often mistreated and
work for prolonged hours, in very bad conditions. This can affect their health physically, mentally
and emotionally. Their children do not have the basic rights like access to school or health care.

According to ILO (2013) the largest numbers of child labours are working in hazardous
work and the total number of child workers is increasing, even though it is forbidden by low. Their
children are vulnerable to diseases and they struggle with long-term physical and psychological
pain. The main cause that induces children to work is poverty these children work for their survival
and their families. Some studies like deny and pillage (2003) argue not all the work that children do
is harmful or brutal. Some work may provide successful learning opportunities, such as baby sitting
or newspaper delivery jobs but not if the work exposes them to psychological stress, like human
trafficking, prostitution and pornographic activities.

The international organizations have made great efforts to eliminate child labour across the
world. Many countries have adopted legislation to prohibit child labour, none the less child labour
is wide spread throughout the world. It is not easy task for low income countries to achieve banning
child labour. Several studies and international organization considered that education is the key
strategy in addressing child labours and it can help children to stay away from work. However not
every family can afford to send their children to school or, even if they enrolled, afford to keep
them attending the school.

Human capital has always been an extremely important determinant of individual and social
progress, but is even more important in an increasingly competitive and knowledge intensive global
economy thus, from this point of view, the rate of economic growth crucially depends on the stock
of human capital in a country (Romen 1987; Lucas 1988, Barro 2013; Mankiw et at.1992; Sodaro
and Smith 2009). A low level of human capital development has been identified as a major
impediment to economic growth and the elimination of poverty in developing countries and also
gives rise to other socio-economic problem. In this context low level of human capital development
direct or indirectly affects of children future. Because children are an auet for a nation thus it is the
nation responsibility nature then through various stage of this development to enable them to realize
their full human potential.

However, every Child who is out of school or participating in labour force for the sake of
family support conflicts directly or indirectly with its natural growth and education which in turn

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prevent him/her from attaining proper adulthood and training (chander,2004) so, it we take human
capital or human capability perspectives (as given by sen,2000). The incidence of working children
in any society leads to lower human capital and human capability which means enormous loss to
the economy.

1.2 Defining Child and Child Labour

1.2.1 What is child labour?
Considerable differences exist between the many kinds of work children do. Some are
difficult and demanding, others are more hazardous and even morally reprehensible. Children carry
out a very wide range of tasks and activities when they work.

1.2.2 Defining child labour

Not all work done by children should be classified as child labour that is to be targeted for
elimination. Children’s or adolescents’ participation in work that does not affect their health and
personal development or interfere with their schooling is generally regarded as being something
positive. This includes activities such as helping their parents around the home, assisting in a family
business or earning pocket money outside school hours and during school holidays. These kinds of
activities contribute to children’s development and to the welfare of their families; they provide
them with skills and experience, and help to prepare them to be productive members of society
during their adult life. The term “child labour” is often defined as work that deprives children of
their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental
development. 

It refers to work that:

i. Is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children; and

ii. Interferes with their schooling by:

iii. Depriving them of the opportunity to attend school;

iv. Obliging them to leave school prematurely; or

v. Requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy
work.

In its most extreme forms, child labour involves children being enslaved, separated from their
families, exposed to serious hazards and illnesses and/or left to fend for themselves on the streets of

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

large cities – often at a very early age. Whether or not particular forms of “work” can be called
“child labour” depends on the child’s age, the type and hours of work performed, the conditions
under which it is performed and the objectives pursued by individual countries. The answer varies
from country to country, as well as among sectors within countries. 

The conceptualization of the child states leads t ambiguity, as it is guided by individual

consideration. Therefore, a standard has to be accepted to determination an age range for defining a
child. So as per ILO “child means a person who has not completed his or her 15 year of age” so, in
this regard, under article 2(3) of international labour organizations (ILO) 138 convention. Minimum
age for admission to employment, the minimum age of admission into employment or work in any
occupation “shall not be less than 15”(ILO1973) on the other hand, UNICEF(1994) consider a child
as, “A child is an individual under the age of 18 years based on the conventions 1989 on the right of
the child, including the right to be protected from economic exploitation”. Thus, as per the
definition of child, UNICEF defined child labour in the reference of minimum age Of “child labour
conventionally refers to children working before they reached the lawful minimum age for
employment in this country, often the same as the cut-off age for compulsory attendance at school
(UNICEF 2003).

1.3 Research Purpose of Child Labour

Child labour is a serious problem and a challenge for many developing countries. Many
countries have enacted various laws and have taken serious initiative to eradicate child labour, but
still the problems are very widespread throughout the world. This India and Nigeria and how both
governments undertake various programs to eradicate child labour through different organizations
and agencies. In addition to understanding and investigation different reasons behind the plague of
child labour that has engulfed.

1.4 Need for the Study

A review of the available literature brings out the following research gaps: Alternative
methods of estimating the size of informal sector by using different data sources have not been
attempted. Most research is based on case studies covering a small sample, often a few villages of
at best a province region. Much of the analysis dates back to the period 1978-85. Perhaps motivated
by the United Nations declaration of 1979 as the year of child. Further, the available studies have
not adequately explored the possibility of linking the informal sector, so that the former could get
itself integrated into the latter. Moreover, majority of the studies reviewed has identified formal

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

sector. But, they have not covered the conditions of child labour In the informal sector such as
nature of the work, leisure time activities, causative factors, and the relationship between the child
and the employer.

1.5 Objectives of the Study

The child labour is a reality in the poverty stricken area. It causes deprivation of children
from early education resulting in child abuse and exploitation. Its growth and magnitude, therefore,
is a serious concern to all in the society.

The problem of child labour in the area under study through not so intense and severe, yet, it
cannot but be reckoned with. In absence of in depth study taken up by any organization or
individual scholar, the magnitude of the problem of child servitude of the district under reference
has not been measured and highlighted properly. The study of the problem of child labour of the
district has, therefore, become a priority and it has been taken up with the objectives.

This study is an attempt to know the causes and implications of child domestic servants in
Bangalore urban district, covering various socio economic aspects of this particular segment of
child labour. In brief this study has the following objectives:

1. To examine the extent of child labour in Karnataka

2. To examine the socio – economic conditions of family of child labour stic servants in Bangalore
urban district
3. To examine the causes, behind their employment as a child labour
4. To examine the working conditions of the child labour as domestic servants.

1.6 Hypotheses of the Study

In observing and comprehending the situation of child labour in the district certain
corollaries have been made before the study undertaken. The hypotheses drawn have subsequently
been testified. The hypotheses preempted are;

The study has following hypotheses:

a. The extent of child labour is very high in Bangalore urban Karnataka.

b. Poverty and child labour are positively related.

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c. Majority of children as domestic servants are paid below the stipulated minimum wages.
d. Child labour has amused serious proportions in the area due to migration and immigration as
well.
e. The sociological factors such as tradition of family occupation, parent’s illiteracy, absence
of required educational facilities, social tension and caste etc. Seem to play also vital role in
the growth of child labour in the area under study.

In the process probity and verification of the hypotheses drawn, at supra, attempts
have been made to undertake detail study in chapters measuring and analyzing the trend,
dimension, composition of child labour socio-economic compulsion and other factors
attributing to child labour and the efficacies of legislation on child labour respectively.

1.7 The Universe for the Study

The present study was conducted in Bangalore urban district. The sample covered 150
children working in the informal sector. The children were selected from different part of Bangalore
urban district. Random sampling techniques were use to select the sample.

1.8 Scope, Rationale and Coverage of the Study

One of the burning challenges that have appeared globally is the problem of child labour.
The prevalence of child labour in developing countries like ours is a complex socio-economic
phenomenon and the arguments on their challenge represent two major schools of thought. The first
school argues that poverty is the main cause and the second argue that lack of educational outcomes
as the propellant factor and advocate that the complete prohibition of child labour. Thus, the evil of
child labour is increasing day by day due to scio-economic reasons and lack of effective
implementation of state policies. The present study is a broader perspective in nature and coverage.
It is highly explorative in drawing the actual suffering of these vulnerable groups. Thus, the present
work on the study of child labour in Karnataka would not remedial focus on the causes and
consequences but also highlight the major remedial measures to overcome the evil of the problem.
Thus, the present study is a thought provoking as well as useful to the planners, policy makers.

The district of kamrup with all its socio-economic characteristics is a facsimile of Assam. It
exhibits the picture of agrarian economic on the one hand and urban economy of concomitant
growth of organized or unorganized and immigrant has developed a vivid socio-economic and
cultural structure, child labour of urban and city slums along with migrate child labour etc.

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

The district exhibits highest percentage of distribution in main works of all ages both in
secondary and tertiary sector. As per census 2011 in secondary and tertiary sector the p.c of main
works engaged and 13.0 and 41.4 respectively against the states percentage rates of 6.1 in
secondary and 20.0 in tertiary sectors apart from primary sector.

The area under study having highest urban population with 35.81 p.c and the highest
decadal growth of population amongst the district during 2011-2019 at the rate of 25.75 against
18.85 for the state and also having shared highest percentage 99.44 of states population among the
districts is obviously bearing the burden of child works of distinct variation. None the less the
districts literacy rate is fairly well and it figures 74.69 p.c and is much higher than most of the
districts of Assam, yet the p.c of none rolled children found as 18.65 and the drop-outs rat is 2.69
with 97.31 p.c as the Renton rate at elementary found as 18.65 and the drop-outs rate is 2.69 with
97.31 p.c as the retention rate at elementary level as on 2002. The non-enrolled and drop-outs along
with the migrant lots of children make their ways the child servitude. All these factors underlie the
importance of studying the problem of child labour which has so long been slighted and remained
unaddressed to. In study, attempt is, however, made to investigate the magnitude of child labour
prevail in the rural and urban areas through reasonable samples. Investigation is also made partly to
measure the intensity of child labours of organized sector of urban area of the district.

1.9 Limitation of the Study

In case of Child Domestic Workers in Bangalore urban district some limitations of the study
are pointed out. These are:

1) As expected of invisible working situations, the greatest challenge that the study faced was
gaining entry into private homes to locate child workers.

2) Child workers were sometimes not willing to talk in the presence of

Employers, the best responses were obtained from those whose employers were absent at
the interview time.

3) The children being immature sometimes it was difficult to get adequate Answers from them.
Even, sometimes children could not follow the questions.

4) Parents were also difficult to be located for the survey because they were Usually found at
their workplace during work time.

5) Low level of education of the respondent (parents as well as children) was another
impediment that sometimes restricted the field work.

6) Sometimes the parents as well as children had difficulty in specifying the total family
income and their monthly expenditures.

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7) Due to the self ego, shy or threats sometimes children did not report their abasement by their
employers.

8) Entry was secured by assuring employers that this was an academic study, that their
identities were confidential and that the interviews were anonymous.

1.10 Methodology

To testify the hypotheses an empirical study been undertaken and inference drawn
accordingly since no other study has been made by any individual scholar and agencies on the issue
in the project area. The methodology adopted in analyzing and interpreting the findings of the
empirical study is out and out a descriptive one. In the empirical study the collection of data from
primary source deemed expedient and necessary. For comprehending the conceptual frame-work,
use of secondary data from secondary source relevant to the issue has also been made.

The study has been made at two levels, one at the village and the other at household level.
The block level study has been made from secondary source and partly from field level. For study
of village and household two separate sets of questionnaires have been prepared and appropriate
data collected by canvassing the questionnaires at field level. For urban area another set of
questionnaire has been prepared to study the impact of migrant or immigrant child labour and child
workers of informal selector. In both the cases interview method has been adopted.

1.11 Research Design

A research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analyses of data in a
manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in procedure.

1.11.1 There are Three Types of Research Design.

a) Exploratory research design:

The purpose of exploratory studies is to formulate a problem for a more precise (clearly)
investigation or to develop hypotheses. This research is mostly carried out when there is not
sufficient information available the issue to be studied or in other words, the researcher has either
no knowledge or a limited knowledge.

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

b) Descriptive research design:

Descriptive studies, as the name suggest describe as accurately as possible the

characteristics of a group of people or a community. The major goal of a descriptive research is to
describe events, phenomena (factor) and situations since description is made on the scientific
observation.

c)Experimental research design:

Experimental research design is used to study the effect of factors on the principles of
experimental design. They are replication (make an exact copy of) randomization and local control.

1.12 Types of Child Labour

Child labours are involved in many different forms of works, which include risks and
hazards. These children are vulnerable to physical and injury particularly being exposed to health
hazards. According to ILO the vast majority of child labour is involved in hazards. Occupations
such as agriculture, mining, manufacture, construction bonded child labour, domestic work and
fishing. Environmental and occupational conditions can impact on the health and development of
the children. Children working in different sectors such as agriculture, factories domestic labour sex
workers and carrying out their illicit activities, migrant labours, and on the streets as vendors etc.
The effect of job and activities can vary from a country to a gender of children involved in the
differences too. According to amon et al,(2012) mainly child labourers in sub-Saharan Africa and in
southeast Asia are involved in the work forms of child labour, which persists such as child
trafficking, bonded child labour, child work hazardous child labour, etc, more than 90 percent of
working children in hazardous jobs which are exposed to chemicals, and dangerous tools.

1.13 Reasons for Child Labour in India

Child labour is a universal problem, which is more common among developing countries.
Social factors, poverty, illiteracy, rural migration, family disintegration, inadequate measures of
social security, lack of avenues for education, social choices, social policies and shortcomings in
institutional arrangements, and resource constraints are some of the main reasons for this problem.
Ono there hand, due to technological backwardness and labour oriented technology in these
countries, there is a search for cheap labour, which is compensated out of child labour.
i. About 85 per cent of the total child labourers in India are forced work to supplement the
income of their families

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ii. About 75 per cent of parents are allow their children to work from the economic point of
view
iii. About 50 per cent of parents feel that the income earned by their children is essential for the
maintenance of their families
iv. About 44 per cent of the families have their own cultural and traditional beliefs in
maintaining and continuing their family occupations
v. About 70 per cent of child labourers want to continue their present job even if they are given
the option to leave them (Pandey, 2013).

A. Social and Cultural Factors.

Social and cultural concept on child labour has become a more debatable Issue of recent time.
Culture has its own definition on the term child and child Labour and it differs greatly across the
society. Culture has fixed some functions, which has to be performed by the children in their early
ages for their effective socialization in the future. This process of socialization and the cultural
objectives to which they are supposed to respond are clearly interdependent with the structural
economic system within which the process of socialization occurs (Burra, 2013). In a culturally
bounded society like India, tradition plays a vital role on both family structure and sex roles of the
every child. However, poverty is not only keeps the children out of school. Various form of social
discrimination also a vital role. For example, gender inequality which is more common in a society
irrespective of caste, religion and class reflects the social norms against the education of children
(Nieuwennuy, 2003). Due to the concentration of wealth, age-old power, high level of education
and rational thinking among the upper caste people has made domination on low caste group.
Hence, child labour can be seen more among low class people or weaker sections of the society. In
a society like ours sending children to school largely depend on cultural context of the family and
basically that decisions will be taken at household level. However, such decisions are not separated
from other crucial aspects of household decision making nor are they purely household based
(Mendelievich and Elia, 1990).

B. Poverty
Poverty is a social evil in which a section of the society is unable to fulfill even its basic
necessities of the life. Further, it is observed that the basically households especially those
belonging to the lower economic strata of the society cannot survive unless the children in the
family also work. Child labour, therefore, it is an inevitable consequence of the economic forces
operating at a family level. Poverty has two aspects: absolute poverty and relative poverty. In case

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of absolute poverty the level of the income of people of a country is too low that they cannot meet
even their basic minimum requirements, it is called the absolute type of poverty. On the basis of
this definition, nearby 27 crores of people which constitutes about 29 percent of total population fall
below this line in India.

Relative poverty means, when we compare incomes of different people we find that some
people are poorer than others. This is called relative poverty. According to this definition recent
survey on poverty shows that, 37 crores of people are living below poverty line. It is most visible,
speculative and prime reason for the existence of the problem like child labour. In India basically
poor people forces their children to go to the work because augmentation of their income is
essential for the survival of the family. The urban poor and rural marginalized and landless poor
people send their children for wage earning (Planning Commission, 2013 ).

C. Rapid Growth of Population:

For the most of its 4.000-year history, India has been a rural nation. By1901, only 27 million
people were residing in present day territory. In 2013 , 100 crores people are living in India. This
represents almost a tenfold increase in less than a century. Now the population of India is increasing
rapidly. Population pressure in India has created widespread misery and suffering for their members
and have seriously handicapped their chances to complete economic development. Rapid growth of
population in India is a pivotal issue with numerous and far reaching implications on the quality of
life economic inequalities and the rate of economic growth. Rapid population growth in India has
created gigantic problems, which directly affects on social, political and economic aspects of our
country. The poor people having low income and who constitute the major portion of the society
generally become the victim’s of all these phenomena’s.

D. Urbanization
Less opportunities, unemployment, drought and unfinished rural Development programmes are
the main reasons behind rural migration to urban areas. By 1901, 11 per cent of total population
were lived in cites (Nagpaul, 1988). In 2011, it was 26 per cent. However, as incredible as India’s
urban development has been to date, growth projections for the end of first quarter of the 21st are
nothing short of mind boggling. By the 2020, approximately one-half of the country’s projected
1,370,000,000 people will be in urban residents (Dogan & Kasarda, 1988). 75 million people will
likely to live in India’s biggest and Mega cites by the year 2010. India’s population is growing at a
rate of 2.1 per cent per year, and the cites have been growing at the rate of 3.8 per cent per year,

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with many urban centers increasing between 4 and 7 percent annually. This rapid urban growth
causes many more problems, which led to the existence of child labour in urban centres. Flow of
labour forces in to the urban center leads to the excess availability of labours for fewer wages to the
employers.

E. Disadvantages of child labour

The disadvantages of child labour include, susceptibility to abuse, low pay rater, hazardous
working conditions and illegal work, such as drug trafficking additionally, the educational
development of child labours is often stunted by the limited access to school time and other
educational opportunities. According to the ILO conference report of 1996, child labour is the
single most important source of child labour and exploitation. Child labour is the employment of
minors in any labour industry, particularly when it is illegal or exploitative.

The ILO defines hazardous child Labour as work that by its nature or the circumstances in
which it is carried out is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children. A couple examples
include slavery, the use of child soldiers, prostitution and drug trafficking. The effects of these
forms of child labour are traumatic, and they include long term health and psychological problem
for the children involved.

The ILO conducted a research in 26 countries, where they discovered that one quarter of all
child labours suffer injuries or illnesses on the United States, businesses that employ a large number
of child workers tend to generate more occupational injuries than industry average. One of the
plausible reasons is that child labourers often work in unskilled types of jobs, which are dangerous
and high risk. Since many child labourers come from poor problem, such as general poor health,
often aggravate the risks, leading to exponential injury rates among child workers.

1.14 Problem and Challenges

A. Inflation

Fuelled by rising wages, property prices and food prices inflation in India is as increasing
problem. Inflation is currently between 8-10 percentages. This inflation has been a problem despite
periods of economic slowdown. For example in late 2013, Indian inflation reached 115, despite
growth falling to 4.8 percentages. This suggests that inflation is not just due to excess demand, but
is also related to cost push inflationary factors. For example, supply constraints in agriculture have
caused rising food prices. This causes inflation and is also a major factor reducing living standards
of the poor who are sensitive to food prices. The central bank of India have made reducing inflation
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a top priority and have been willing to raise interest rates, but cost push inflation is more difficult to
solve and it may cause a fall in growth as they try to reduce inflation.

B. Poor education standards

Although India has benefited from a high percent of English speakers. There are still high
levels of illiteracy amongst the population. It is worse in rural areas and amongst women. Over 5-
0% of India women are illiterate. This limits economic development and a more skilled workforce.

C. Poor infrastructure

Many Indians lack basic amenities lack access to running water. Indian public services are
creaking under the strain of bureaucracy and inefficiency. Over 40% of Indian fruit rots
inefficiency’s facing the Indian economy.

D. Balance of payments deterioration.

Although India has built up large amounts of foreign currency reserves the high rates of
economic growth have been at the cost of a persistent current account deficit. In late 2012, the
current account reached a peak of 65 of GDP. Since then there has been an improvement in the
current account. But, the Indian economy has seen imports growth faster than exports. This means
India needs to attract capital flows to finance the deficit. Also, than large deficit caused the
depreciation in the Rupee between 2012 and 2014. Whilst the deficit remains, there is always the
fear of a further devaluation in the Rupee. There is a need to rebalance the economy and improve
competitiveness of exports.

E. High levels of private debt

Buoyed by a property boom the amount of lending in India has grown by 305 in the past
year. However there are concerns about the risk of such loans. If they are dependent on rising
property prices it could be problematic. Furthermore if inflation increases further it may force the
RBI to increase interest rates. If interest rates raise substantially it will leave those indebted facing
rising interest payments and potentially reducing consumer spending in the future.

F. Inequality has risen rather than decreased

It is hoped that economic growth would help drag the Indian poor above the poverty line.
However so far economic growth has been highly uneven benefiting the skilled and wealthy
disproportionately. Many of India’s rural poor are yet to receive any tangible benefit from the

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India’s economic growth. More than 78 million homes do not have electricity. 33 percentages (268
million) of the population live on less than $1 per day. Furthermore with the spread of television in
Indian villages the poor are increasingly aware of the disparity between rich and poor.

G. Large budget deficit

India has one of the largest budget deficits in the developing world. Excluding subsidies it
amounts to nearly 85 percentages of GDP. Although it is fallen a little in past year. It still allows
little scope for increasing investment in public services like health and education.

H. Rigid labour laws

As an example firms employing more than 100 people cannot fire workers without
government permission. The effect of this is to discourage firms from expanding to over 100
people. It also discourages foreign investment. Trades unions have an important political power
base and governments often shy away from tackling potentially politically sensitive labour laws.

I. Inefficient agriculture

Agriculture produces 17.4 percentages economic outputs but, 51 percentages of the work
forces are employed in agriculture. This is the most inefficient sector of the economy and reform
has proved slow.

J. Slowdown in growth

2013-14 has seen a slowdown in the rate of economic growth to 5-5 percentages. Real GDP
per capita growth is even lower. This is a cause for concern as India needs a High growth rate to see
rising living standards, lower unemployment and encouraging investment. India has fallen behind
china, which is a comparable developing economy.

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

Chapter 2

CONCEPTS AND REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1 Concepts of Child Labour

The term “child labour” is at times used as a synonym for “employed child”. In this sense it
is co-existent with any work done by the child labour for gain. But generally no comprehensive
definition of child labour is presently available either in the national context or in the international
context. Any definition hinges upon the precise meaning. We attach to two components of the
term :child labour”, i.e, “child” in term of his chronological age labour in terms of its nature sequent
and income generation capacity. Child labourer however, can broadly be define as that segment of
the child population who participants in work- either paid or unpaid. The definition of child labours
various from committee to committee and from one state to another depending upon the seriousness
of the problem of children working a particular employment.

Under the motor vehicle Act 1939, child has been defined as a person under the age of 18
years. According to the U . P children Act 1951. “Child” means a person under the age of 16 years.

The phrase ‘Child Labour’ today is a pejorative term that differs from the broader and less
value-laden ‘child work’. Definitions of child labour vary. In general ‘Child Labour’ refers to
children under 14 years (in India) old who work in both the formal and informal sectors, in
conditions that are harmful or potentially harmful to the child. The term child labour is conceptually
and operationally restricted to mean the employment of children in gainful occupations who are the
age group of five to fourteen and who are also working either exclusively or in combination with
studies. This includes the children working either in agriculture or in industries or also as domestic
workers, the significant aspects being the impact of labour on the development of the child (Sudha
and Tewari, 1985). Pointing to the close links between child labour and education, the proponents
of the viewpoint argues that all children who are out of school should be considered as child
labourers. An out-of-school child is inevitably drawn into supplementing family labour, either on a
full time basis, to help in family occupation or manage family assets or simply engage in different
‘adult-releasing’ activities.

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

2.2 Review of Literature

Child labour is a global phenomenon. It exists both in the developing and the developed
countries of the world though with a difference in cause and magnitude. Its prevalence is more in
the developing countries as compared to the developed ones, because the facilities, to which the
working children belong, are in an urgent need of income of child labour for their subsistence,
whereas children in the developed countries are often working for pocket money.

In order to know more about the child labourers it is necessary to review some of the
previous studies. Hence, this section has been devoted to examine various studies related to child
labour in India. The review is intended to identify research gaps on the topic which would help us
to raise some issues for the detail discussion on child labour.

Until recently, most studies linking child labour and health have focused on the health of
currently working children. The comprehensive review by Graitcer and lerer (1998) presented a
mixed picture of international evidence regarding the impact of child labour on health, primarily
because of data limitations. Data on extant of child labour itself is subject to considerable error, but
data on the incidence of child injuries on the job are even more problematic. Surveillance,
sometimes supplemented by data from workers compensation or occupational health and safety
incidence reports. There latter source are less likely to be present in the informal labour markets in
which child labour is most common, and government surveillance is often weak. Nevertheless,
reported injury rates

Are not small; of working children aged 10-14, 9% are estimated to suffer injuries annually,
and 3.4% are estimated to suffer disabling injuries information on longer term health consequences
of child labour such as occupational disease or repetitive motion injuries is even more limited and
subject to errors. In a rare Satyanarayana et al (1986) examined anthropometric data on 410
children over age 17 year period in a rural area in India. They found that children who worked in
agriculture, small scale industry and services gained less in height and weight when followed
through to adulthood than those who attended school. They did not consider the issue of nonrandom
selection into work or industry.

Two large-scale studies using different Brazilian data sets provide some evidence on the
negate kassouf et at (2013 ) found that the probability of self reported poor health increase as the
age of labour market entry decreases. However, this result should be interpreted with caution in that
child labour and schooling are treated as exogenous and no other control variables are used.
Giuffrida et al (2005) found that starting to work under age group a negative and significant effect
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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

adult health. Their estimates control for age, race, education, Wealth, housing status or
unemployment later in life, some of these controls is jointly determined with child labour and adult
heath, again raising concerns about endogenous child labour.

The prominent works made by few authors on child labour are Patil B .R (1988) shah,
Nazir, Ahmed (1992), Vijauagopalan. S (2011), Nagarajan B.S (2011), Singh A.N (1992),
Sumanala N, G.P Mishra, Pande P.N (1996), Helen, R. Shekar (1997), Bhargava, Pramila H (2003),
Lakshmi Narasaiah M (2008). However, few notable studies are presented here.

Nadkarni (1976) study on ‘over population and rural poor’ revealed that poverty compels
million of rural families to sell the labour of their children along adults to eke out a bare
subsistence. Among small land owners, children are the main source of support for their family
agriculture operations because some agricultural operations can be performed by them.

Nag (1978). A study conducted by cause is the interplay of some of the above factors. A
child goes to work in order to contribute to the family income. Broadly speaking, child labour
persists in inverse relation to the degree of economic advancement of a society or country. The
exploitation of children is one of the consequences of complex situation of insufficient progress. In
case of India most of the families are poor and their economic conditions are such that they have
relied upon the earnings of children to help provide food and other necessities

Ulass off (1979) categories the economic condition of the children, he has suggested that
majority of the parents did not regard child as an important economic contribution.

Study of the committee on child labour (1979) appointed by the Ministry of labour,
Government of India examined various dimensions of child labour in different occupations. The
study revealed that the incidence of child labour was highest in Andhra Pradesh, where it accounted
for about 9 percent of the total labour forces, 9.2 percent of the total child population and 3.7
percent of the total population of the state in 1971. The study further revealed that the child labour
was more prevalent in rural areas than in urban areas. The participation of children in the labour
force in the age group of 10-14 years was very high (28.9 percent) for males as compared to
females (20.00 percent).

M. Singh (1980) conducted a study in Bombay reveals that in the age group of 6-15 years
found that most of the working children belonged to low income groups in urban centers who
generally reside in slums and depressed areas. This Study was conducted on 203 boys (67.7%) and

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

97 girls (32.25). Out of these 300 working children 11 (70.3%) worked under employer and 89
(29.70%) were self employed. The study states that male children shouldered the family`s economic
responsibility to a larger extent than the female.

R. Singh (1980) revealed that implementation of various laws for the working conditions
and welfare of child labour is concerned that employees had colossal ignorance about the existing
laws. Only 20 were in favor of legislation for regulating employment of children.

Sharma (1982) in h is study on the working children to examine the extent of exploitation
and socio-economic background of child labour found that 565 of the respondents had to work for
15 to 18 hours per day for earning their livelihood 44 percent for 10 to 15 hours per day. As far as
payment of wages, 815 of the respondents were receiving upto rs.50 per month, while only 35
respondents received more than Rs.100 per month.

Acharaya (1982) on child labour showed that limited numbers of schools, their absence in
several interior villages, the clash of school timings and agricultural operations, and the cost of
schooling as well as its restricted nature of providing job opportunities facilitates the path of
children of underprivileged classes to enter into the labour market. As such, the phenomenon of
child labour is the product of such indifference to education.

Khatu (1983) on ‘working children in India’ showed that the working children are also
affected by the rigidity and inflexibility of the schooling system. The schooling schedule does not
allow children to take time off during sowing and harvesting seasons nor does it allow children to
re-enter the school system at times convenient to them and their families. The subsistence economy
of rural India forces poorer households to utilize the labour of their children whether it is for
agricultural operations or for household chores, which releases adults for a more directly productive
activity.
Mahendrakumar (1983) study reveals that more child labours are prevailing in the
agriculture. Most of the labourers are employed during sowing, weeding, harvesting and threshing
operations and spreading the manures. The study concludes that the Indian situation does not permit
total prohibition of child labour is more injurious rather than good in the absence of alternatives.

Neera Burra (1987) conducted a field study in Aligarah lock industries observed that
around 7,000 to 10,000 children below the age of fourteen years work in the traditional industry in
Aligarh inspire of the factories act and child labour prevention act.

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

R .K Gopal (1987) States that the child labours are the byproduct of our socio economic
conditions. The community must be made to realize its shocking implications and its heart
rendering attendant evils. He suggests, that this cannot be overcome by legislative measures alone,a
change in our social attitude is demanded and various measures taken by the government to tackle
the problems of child.

Karunanithi (1990)’s study among beedi rolling children in Melapalayam town,

Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu revealed that when the children complete eight years of age, they
are compelled by their parents to do work. The compulsion of the parents forced the children to
dropout from school. Children are compelled to work for 10 to 12 hours per day to complete more
or less than 500 beedis. The contractors and employers exploit children working within the
premises of beedi companies and they are put to work from dawn to dusk on a low wage.

The study by Weiner (1990) reveals that, historically in our country child labour has been
seen as an economic phenomenon. As per his study the relationship between children and work is
dictated to a great extent by the state of economic development or the system of production
prevalent in the country. Another survey conducted by Vemuri and Anand (1998), reveals that child
labour contributes to over 20 percent of GNP in India.

Weiner (1991) also noted that education should not be regarded as merely as a right granted
by the state, but as a duty, imposed by the state. When education is made a duty, parents,
irrespective of their economic circumstances and beliefs, are required by law to send their children
to school. It is the legal obligations of the state to provide an adequate number of schools,
appropriately situated, and to ensure that no child fails to attend school. Some studies established
that besides the necessity of work, inadequate expenditure on elementary education, inadequate or
absence of educational infrastructure, and low quality, irrelevant and inaccessible education also
play important role behind sending children to work.

Mukta mittal (1994) study inter-alia revealed that in the majority of cases the families of
child workers have been living below the poverty line. The study also observed that the poor
economic condition of the family forced the children to take up embroidery work at an early age.

Gupta (1994) on children in bonds of labour revealed that fireworks and match making is
another industry which has earned notoriety for employing children under hazardous conditions.
These children literally play with fire every minute. They have to work 10-12 hours for just Rs. 5-7

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

per day. They inhale toxic fumes and suffer from intense heat. Rao (1998) studied the general
profile of the female workers in beedi industry in India. The children employed in this industry
work on piece rate basis and for Rs. 40 for 1000 beedis rolled. These child Workers are exposed to
dust, nicotine causing respiratory diseases and infertility in girls.

Burra (1995) and the UNDP (2004) also define Child Labourer as “basically, a child who is
deprived of the rights of education and childhood”. The most suitable definition of child labour is
given by Stein and Davis (1940) “any work by children that interferes with their full physical
development, the opportunities for a desirable minimum of education and of their needed
recreation”. On the other hand, Folks (1946) defined child labour as “any work by children that
interfere with their full physical development and their opportunities for desirable minimum level
of education or the needed recreation.

A study conducted by Thijs (1997) on child labour revealed that waged child labour in
manufacturing and services is generally more rigid and harsh. Hours of work are longer and
inflexible and so, children are mostly out of school. The study showed that the working hours of the
child workers are more than 12 hours a day. The working hours are even longer in the informal
enterprises (Pande, 2011).

The World Bank (1998), on a similar vein, argues that ‘child work’ that does not involve
an exploitative relationship should be distinguished from child labour. It further argues that in some
instances, work done by children within the family may even contribute to the development of the
child. “Not all child labour is harmful. Many working children are within a stable and nurturing
environment with their parents or work under protection of a guardian can benefits in terms of
socialization and from informal education and training” (cited in Sharma, 2006). Any more precise
definition of child labour must be specific to local circumstances, involving “a comparison between
the conditions of work on the one hand and age, gender and ability (of the child) on the other”
(Reddy, 2013).

Thus, the child labour is to be defined neither by the form of the labour relationship nor by
the activity, but by effect the activity has on the child.

According to Bachman (2000), underpayment of children for their work and other forms of
exploitation, are also included in child labour. Generally child labour is perceived to be an

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economic necessity of poor households and the exploitative aspect in children’s work is associated
with the profit maximizing motive of commercial enterprises, wherein children are made to work
long hours, paid low wages and denied opportunities for education (Study Group, 2013 ). It is
unambiguously clear that all out-of-school children are working children in one form or another
which is not captured by the National Census as economic activity (Lieten, 2005). Nowhere
children are vulnerable to the demands of the labour market. The nowhere children are also stated
to be ‘potential’ child labourers and are assumed to be staying home from school so that they can
take
over tasks at home to relieve the adults to join the workforce (Duraisamy, 2000). Therefore, it is
imperative to treat all working children as out-of-school children and child labourers. Ray (2000a)
included the domestic work in child labour and termed it as ‘relaxed treatment of child labour’.

Laskar (2000) conducted in his study on child labour in Aligarh lock industry revealed that
the household economic pressure compel children to enter into low wage, hazardous work
environment that proves detrimental to their education and health prospects. He has cited that the
wage structure in the lock industry varies from unit to unit and also according to the nature of work,
age and skill. It is observed that wages vary from Rs. 100 to Rs. 800 per month for the children of 6
to 14 years working 10 to 14 hours a day. Children who work in cottage units along with parents
received nothing other than food and shelter.

Jayachandran (2013 ) showed that on brick kiln industry of Thane district the children
have to get started even before sunrise, have to stand for hours in knee deep water, mud and straw
to prepare dough for the bricks, work very close to the fire whilst making the kiln, and their work
hours could range from 10 to 14 hours every day.

Similarly, Venkateshwarulu and Corta, (2013 ) revealed that in hybrid cotton seed
industry in Andhra Pradesh mostly girls are employed where they work for about 9-10 hours a day
in normal season and 10-13 hours in peak season for only Rs. 20 per day (for 12 to 13 hours of
work per day).

Sumanchandra (2013 ) did his study on the persistence of child labour in rain fed and
irrigated areas in Andra Pradesh and Orissa. The study reveals that the poverty and unemployment
are the main causes of child labour. In addition, inadequate education, socio-cultural constraints of
the poor and lack of infrastructure to provide compulsory primary education have been found to be
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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

contributing to child labour. 90 percent of child labourers come from rural areas and work in
agriculture and allied activities. Another important observation is that the child labour persists more
in rain fed areas as compared to irrigated areas. Since the agricultural season in rain fed areas is
quite short with the duration of 3-4 months of the monsoon season, the farmers try employ children
in agricultural activities to extract maximum benefit.

Cigno and Rosati (2002) found that the effect of child’s sex, age, household composition,
and mother’s education on child labourers is of the same kind for home care children so the two
groups may be the same thing.

Narasimhulu.N (2002) observed that the position with regard to employment of children
and women in match factories is quite unsatisfactory, as the children are not properly educated.
Social security measures are hardly implemented, the life of the young child is affected from all
angles except from additional benefits to the family. Proper health care measures are not provided
for the treatment of those feeling sick.

Lal B Suresh (2003) in his study child rag pickers in Warangal city- an empirical study try
to explore the scio economic conditions of child rag pickers, their problems and to identify the
factors responsible for poor conditions of these laborers. He addressed the attitudinal change of the
society is a must to eliminate the evil of child labour.

Sathya Raju (2004) in his work structural changes in child labour reveals that elimination
of child labour is the challenging function of Andrhra Pradesh government. In Vishakapatnam
region, the total number of case booked by the labour department was 4,487 on 2003-04 and 1526
in 2004-05. The number has been reduced due to creating awareness among the parents and
employers. The study also suggested that the child labour engaged in informal sector should be
given assurance of their health and safety several hazardous activities had deplorable working and
living conditions especially for children in various activities.

Srilakshmi (2004) conducted a story in vishakapatnam of the role of NCLP schools in

eliminating child labour. NCLP has enrolled just 3500 child workers in its 79 schools, spread over
the entire district which means that NCLP is able to cover more 4.9 percent of its child workers.
The study also reveals that the numbers of schools are not adequate since as much as 95 percent of
child labour remain uncovered in this scheme. Besides, there are many other programs for the
benefit of the child labour.

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

Khan and Ali (2005) also establishes the broader definition of child labour which tends to
include time spent on home-care (non-monetized work inside or outside the home other than
household enterprises, for example, household chores like water fetching, caring for younger
siblings) in addition to economic activity of children (both work for wages and in household
enterprises).

The presumption here is that home-care can be as hard as economic activity. It detracts the
children from earning and skill acquirement along with school deportation. However, it is widely
known that home-care constitutes a large part of children’s work especially that of girls (Grootaert
and Patrinos, 2013; Biggeri et al., 2003). In India, 34.25 per cent of girls in the age group of 5-14
years are neither attending school nor going for paid work but are involved in home care activity
(Census 2013 ). In a number of countries, including India, home care children outnumber the
economically active children (Biggeri et al., 2003).

Moreover, Punecha (2006) study on child labour revealed that many of the parents,
especially that of the rural and slum areas, cannot afford the prescribed minima of uniforms, books
and stationary etc. Even though education is free up to primary level.

Above all, while some of the protagonists of the debates on were prompted to their colleagues to
discard the concept altogether and get on to something more interesting, some prefer not to use the
concept at all.

However, the informal/formal sector classification is a commonly accepted one and is

widely used in literature. Even today there is no clear opinion on what is meant by informal sector
and what parameter determine this sector. However these activities generally fall outside the
purview of organized production and distribution processes. Their growth is spontaneous and may
not form part of a planned pattern of development though their contribution to the economy is often
positive and desirable (Town And Country Planning Organization TCPO, 1983).

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

Chapter 3
CHILD LABOUR IN KARNATAKA

3.1 Introduction
Karnataka, the focus of the present study is one of the leading states in the reforms period
and has emerged as a state that has been a pioneer in terms of policy initiatives and has captured
global attention by emerging as the knowledge and IT capital of India in the post 2011 period.
Karnataka, the eighth largest state in India both in terms of area and population was formed
on 1st November 1956. It is one of the most progressive states in the country which is fast emerging
as one of the main economies in the country (Khan & Vivek 2007). The state has been at the
forefront during the reforms period and has largely driven the IT revolution in the country. The
following table 3.1 gives us an overall development of the state.

Table 3.1
Karnataka at glance

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Sl. No Characteristic Value

1 Area (sq.km) 1,91,791sq.mt
2 Population(2011 census) 6 cores (60 million)
3 Urban population(2011census) 46.68%
4 Population density(2011census) 276 per sq, km
5 Birth rate 22 per 1000
6 Death rate 7.2 per 1000
7 Sex ration (2011census) 968 females per 1000 males
8 Literacy rate (2011 census) 75.6%
9 Per capital GSDP(2010-11) Rs 60,000
10 GSDP Rs 2719.56 billion
Source: census report 2011
The objective of this chapter is to review the child labour in Karnataka with more focus on
studying the child labour in export activities of the state since globalization.

The chapter has been divided into four sections. The first sections deals with a brief
introduction of the state of Karnataka and its economic conditions. It also focuses on magnitude and
dimensions of child labour in Karnataka.

3.2 Karnataka State a Profile

Karnataka is situated on the south-western edge of the Deccan plateau, and is bound by
Maharashtra and Goa in the north, Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the south, Andhra Pradesh in the east
and Arabian sea in the west the geographical area of Karnataka is equal to 6.31% of nation’s total.
The state for administrative purposes has been divided into 30 districts. Karnataka has more than
300 km of coastline and is well endowed with abundant natural resources especially forests,
minerals and water resources. Cauvery, Sharavathi, Shimha, Kalpan, Hemavathi, Krishna,
Tungabhadra and Kalindi are the major rivers in the state which provide water for irrigation,
drinking and industrial uses. There are over 21 wildlife sanctuaries which protect Karnataka’s rich
biodiversity in flora and fauna.

Agriculture which contributed 16.7 percentages to the SDP is crucial especially in terms of
employment. Out of the 19.2 million hectares of land 10.4 million hectares of land is under
cultivation with the crops being rice, ragi, maize, wheat, oil seeds and pulses. The important cash
crops of the state are coffee, tobacco, cashew, coconut, cardamom, chilly, sunflower and sugarcane.

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The industrial sector contributes around 28.9 percentages to SDP and the state has been a
pioneer in industry since decades and has a strong and vibrant industrial base which combines the
strengths of large public sector, large and medium privately owned industries and a very wide and
dispersed small scale sector. Karnataka is among the top five industrialized states in India and is a
leading player in hi-tech industries in key sectors electronics, telecommunication, automobiles,
readymade garment, food processing etc.

The change in the sectoral composition of Karnataka’s GSDP is one of the main features of
the state economy during the reforms period. The following table 3.2 reveals the sectoral share.

Table 3.2
Sectoral share of GSDP during 2011-94 and 2012-13 at constant price

SECTOR 2011-2014 2015-18

Primary 36.32 16.7

Secondary 25.40 28.9

Tertiary 38.27 54.4

Total GSDP 100 100

Figure: 3.1
Sectoral share of GSDP during 2011-14 and 2015-18 at constant price

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

sector
60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Primary Secondary Tertiary

1993-94 2012-13

The above table and diagram reveals the declining dependence of the state’s economy and
agriculture the growing importance of the tertiary including service sector. The changes in
Karnataka’s GSDP are very similar to the changes that we notice in India’s GDP in the reformers
period where the services contribution to GDP has risen sharply in contrast to the declining
contribution of agriculture.
Table 3.3
All Child Population in the Bangalore Urban District (4 -7 Age group)

SC ST OBC MUSLIM OTHERS TOTAL

1) Total No Boys 15004 7918 4210 6918 34160 68210

Of Children
Girls 13162 5913 3118 5117 31738 59048

Total 28166 13831 7328 12035 65898 127258

2) Children
Boys 13630 6003 3123 5240 31457 59453
In
Primarvey Girls 11118 5313 2130 4013 29670 52244
School

Total 24748 11316 5253 9253 61127 111697

3) Children Boys 1374 1915 1077 1678 2703 8747

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

Not
Girls 2044 600 988 1104 2068 6804
Attending
Primary
School Total 3418 2515 2065 2787 4771 15556
Source: Child Population in the Bangalore Urban District
Figure 3.3
All Child Population in the Bangalore Urban District (4 -7 Age group)

All Child Population in the Bangalore Urban

District (4 -7 Age group)

70000

60000

50000

40000

30000

20000

10000

SC ST OBC MUSLIM OTHERS

Table 3.4
All Child Population in the Bangalore Urban District (8-14 age groups)

Sl.no Particulars Boys Girls Total

1 8-14 age group population 221331 202519 423850

2 8-14 age group 211103 191185 402288

3 Non enrolled dropouts 10228 11334 21562

Source: Child Population in the Bangalore Urban District

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

Figure 3.4
All Child Population in the Bangalore Urban District (8-14 age groups)
250000

200000

150000

100000

50000

0
8-14 age group population 8-14 age group Non enrolled dropouts

Boys Girls

3.3 CHILD LABOUR SCENARIO IN KARNATAKA STATE

Karnataka state comprises of 30 district having agriculture as the predominant occupation.

Child labours are found mainly engaged in agriculture and its allied activities. As per the labour
department child labour census done in 991 and subsequently the survey done in 2011 and 2013, we
trace out the prevalence of child labour.

Table 3.5
Census in 2011, survey of child labour in 2019
Figure in numbers Figures in %
District Abbrev Census 2013 2019 Census 2013 2019
iation 2011 Survey Survey 2011 Survey Survey
Bangalore urban BU 39000 7591 1814 4% 8% 6%
Bangalore rural BR 35000 1948 2633 4% 2% 8%
Bellary BL 82000 9472 4235 8% 10% 13%
Bagalkot BK - -- 672 2%
Bidar BD 24000 4631 364 2% 5% 1%
Belgaum BM 73000 609 120 8% 1% 0%
Vijayapura VJ 73000 117 758 8% 0 2%
Chamarajnagar CM - - 201 1%
Chikkamagalore CK 16000 1352 135 2% 1% 0

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

Chitradurga CD 55000 34250 1061 6% 35% 3%

Dakshina kannada DK 2800 606 52 3% 1% 0%
Davanagere DG 10643 2396 - - 7%

Dharwad DW 95000- 974 94 10% 1% 0%

Gadag GD 1882 - 905 3%

Gulbarga GL 77000 2102 1392 8% 2% 4%

Hassan HS 31000 1452 159 3% 1% 0%

Haveri HV - - 1096 3%
Kodagu KG 6000 1454 61 1% 1% 0%
Kolar KL 58000 10643 3182 6% 11% 10%

Koppal KP - - 374 - - 1%
Mandya MD 34000 1882 5967 3% 2% 19%

Mysore MY 57000 7133 565 6% 7% 2%

Raichur RY 86000 3970 1920 9% 4% 6%
Shivamoga SH 31000 862 88 3% 1% 0%
Tumkur TM 59000 5826 206 6% 6% 1%
Udupi UP - -- 39 0%
Uttara kannada UK 14000 367 1711 1% 0% 5%
Total 9,73,000 97,241 1,66,002 100 100 100
Source: Census in 2011, survey of child labour in 2013 &2019

Figure 3.5
Percentage of child labour presence in districts in districts of Karnataka

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

Chart Title
35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%
BU BR BL BK BD BM VJ CM CK CD DK DG DW GD GL HS HV KG KL KP MD MY RY SH TM UP UK

Census 2011 survey 2013 survey 2019

The figure 3.5 shows the percentage of child labour prevalent in 2011. It shows the
highest child labour presence was in Dharwad district with 10% followed by Raichur with 9%,
Gulbarga, Bagalkot, Vijaypur districts with 8% each.

In the figure 3.5 showing 2011 child labour survey it shows Chitradurga with the highest
percentage of child labour with 35% followed by kolar 11% and Bagalkot 10%.

The lowest presence of child labour was in six districts of Belgaum, Hassn, Kodagu,
Shimoga and Chikkamagalore. There was no child labour existing as per the district of Vijayapur
and Uttar Kannada. The lowest child labour presence was in the district of Kodagu, Uttar Kannada
with 1% followed by Bidar and Chikkamagalore with 2% each.

In the year 2011 in the figure3.5 child labour increased in the district of Bagalkot with 13%
followed by Mandya 19%, Kolar 10%, and Davanagere 7%. In Uttar Kannada when there was no
child labour prevalence in the year 2011 it increased by 5% In the year 2013.

According to 2012 survey there was no child labour prevalence in the districts of Belgaum,
Chikkamagalore, Dakshina Kannada, Hassan, Dharwad, Kodagu, Shimoga and Udupi.

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

3.4 Child Labour in Major Export Activities in Karnataka

Children working in different works of economic activities are observed in almost all the
states of the country. Recent survey study shows that Karnataka State has a high incidence of child
labour after Andra Pradesh. In Karnataka, child workers form about 6.25 percent of the total work
force. Across the districts, it ranges from 2.34 percent to 7.34 per cent. The southern parts of the
State have a rate of 9.76 percent of child labour. According to 2011 Census, the State has 36.45
lakh of child laboures across the State of whom 3.34 lakh are in the State capital Bangalore City
only. Mysore, Kolar, Gulburga, Davanagery, Chithradurga are some of the other districts where
child laboures are concentrated in large numbers. In terms of numbers of children employed, the
hotels auto garages and construction works occupy the highest order of employment of the children
and an estimated 1.34, 2.21, 1.56 lakhs of children are engaged in such works in the whole of
Bangalore City respectively.

As per the recent survey conducted by CRY (an Bangalore based NGO) during 2011 the
child labour is densely and more prevalent in the following

3.5 Sectors in Bangalore Urban District;

1. Sericulture
2. Auto garage
3. Beedi rolling
4. Agarabathi
5. Construction
6. Hotels
7. Zari embroidery
8. Rag picking
9. Domestic works
10. Stone quarries
11. Confectionery and
12. Shops and commercial sectors

1. Sericulture
Taking sericulture first, we find that the ratio of child workers to adult workers in the
industry is 2:1 for reeling and twisting. In weaving, the employment of children however is limited.
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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

Karnataka is one of the premier producers of silk in the country (and globally too) accounting for
90 percent of India’s silk thread. A large proportion of people make a living from silk worm
cultivation and the production of silk thread. Of these, approximately one fourth is children. More
than 80 percent of the silk reelers in Karnataka are less than 20 years old, with most of them
averaging between 10 and14 years of age. The “nimble fingers’ myth applies to this industry as
well to others where children are mainly employed as they are easier to exploit in this dangerous
form of work. Payment made as advances bond the children to their employers. Work hours vary
with the seasons, depending upon market demand and cocoon availability. The health hazards
include burning of hands, blisters and fissures.

Children are employed in all processes of sericulture industry making it almost child based.
They work in mulberry cultivation; cocoon rearing, winding, doubling, twisting and re-reeling, all
of which affect the health of the child.

Silk twisting and twisting also employ bonded children. The children are employed to tend to
the spindles, fitting them with thread, correcting derivations and performing other routine tasks.
Many of the factories are dark and stuffy with barred windows and filled with the deafening racket
of clacking machines.

2. Mining
Karnataka is a state with vast areas of mineral resources of which Bellary district has the
most extensive range. The concentration of activities is mainly in Bellary, Hospet and Sandur
taluks. It is estimated that there are a few lakh children, working relentlessly from morning to night
in the ore quarries in the state, which cover an expanse of 180 square kilometers of denuded land.
They are employed by mine owners and contractors for digging, breaking stones, sieving, loading,
dumping, transporting and processing activities of iron ore miming with no safety equipment, no
prescribed working hours or wages, susceptible to accidents injuries and water pollution. It is
difficult to obtain accurate data and information on the number of mines, the extent of mining
activities, the labour force involved and the trade routes of each of these minerals. Besides, there is
a lot of illegal with a strong nexus between layers of politicians, mine owners, traders, contractors,
and exporters, owners of transport companies and owners of processing units. As per the list of
leases most of the mining was done by small mining companies while there were a few large public
sector companies like NMDC(national mineral development corporation) Mysore minerals Ltd and
some private ones like Vijayanagara steels. Furthermore, much of the work is sub-contracted to

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

private miners and contractors. Mining has become an area of expanding business caused by
mineral exports to China, Korea and other countries that started after 1995, rendering mining as a
major export industry

3. Beedi Rolling
It has been estimated that, in Karnataka 3.6 lakhs of workers are working in beedi making
industry. The beedi rolling is a household industry where the contractors supply the raw materials
and rolled beedies are given back to the contractors. The workers who receive the raw material
from the contractors roll the beedies in their dwelling houses. Here, the whole family members
including the children are engaged. Since the children do come in contact with tobacco, it is a
health hazards one and has been declared as a hazardous industry under 1986 Act. However,
children working in their dwelling places with their family members are not covered under the child
labour prohibition Act.
4. Agarabathi/Incenses
This industry is similar to the Beedi industry. Agarabathi sticks are rolled Sitting in the
dwelling houses and the raw bathes (semi finished goods) are Scented and packed in industrial
premises. The primary activity of rolling Agarabathi is mainly done in dwelling houses wherein the
whole family including the children is engaged. The Child Labour Act is not applicable to the
children working in the dwelling places along with their family members. This is also classified as
hazardous industry. Primarily this industry is situated across the state.

5. Hotel Industry
Hotels and restaurants small or big are found in every nook and corner of Karnataka and
predominantly in urban areas including Bangalore City. Normally the cooks and suppliers are
adults, but the cleaners are generally children. The existence of child labour is prevalent more in
small hotels rather than the bigger ones. In a hotel, there will be an average of 10-12 workers and
among them there will be around 5-6 children working as cleaners. Very recently Govt. Has
classified hotel industry is a hazardous one to the children under the existing Act. Hotel work
creates bad affects on the physical and mental growth of the children. Though, the children get food
and shelter in hotels, children will be influenced by the adverse environment and usually picks up
habits like smoking, drinking and drug abuse etc. Heavy workloads, long working hours depletes
the children of their energy. The employment of children in these establishments is strictly
prohibited under the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishment Act. Even then, it is not yet
been possible to control the involvement of the children.

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6. Biscuit and Confectionery units:

It is found that migrant children especially from rural areas are generally engaged in the
confectionery units where sweets and condiments are prepared. Heating processes involved in
making these items can be viewed as health hazardous for children. These units are mainly
concentrated in certain pockets of Bangalore City and the extension areas. Though, the magnitudes
of the problems are not fully known, this sector requires some attention both by Government, and
NGOs.
7. Domestic Sector
It is generally found in almost all-urban centre of the state. Girl children are predominately
found in this occupation. Also it is not uncommon that boys are engaged in this occupation. This
occupation may include cooking, washing cloths and taking care of the children of their masters.
Girl child abuse is more common. In this job. According to the recent Government Act this job
comes under hazardous one to the children. Apart from the above-discussed occupations children
are found employed in Carpet weaving. Zari embroidery, Glass, and Shop and Commercial
Establishments in the Bangalore city.

3.6 Karnataka State Plan of Action for Children 2003-10

All laws, acts and constitution of India have the commitment to bring up children as good
citizens. The governments at the centre and state have come forward with several policies and
programmes for the welfare of children after ratification of children rig ht convention (CRC), the
convention of the rights of children, several steps have been taken by the government for the child
development and wellbeing of children. The recent one was the 86 th amendment to the article 21A
of the Indian constitution. However a number of problems are still being faced by children. The
government of Karnataka has come forward to address them all over the state; perhaps it may be the
first state to launch a plan in the country. The major goals of the plan are enlisted as follows.
1. Elimination of child labour in all organized sector.
2. Elimination of child labour in any form.
3. Sustain the results by providing education and protection to all children.
4. Specific goals of the plan elimination of child labour in hazardous industries including
house based industries between the age group 9 to 14 years.

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

The state plan of action for children Government of Karnataka mainly aims at the
elimination of child labour. The plan has adopted some specific strategies for the elimination of
child labour working either in hazardous or non-hazardous activities. The plan aims at mass
enrollment of children in school and complete education up to eighth standard at least. Department
of education, labour women and child development social welfare and police have to work in co-
ordination as a team.

The Karnataka state plan action for children has taken few effective steps in order to
eliminate child labour. They are:

1. Prevention of child labour below the age of 14 years

2. Concrete steps have been taken to identify children working and release every child from
working below the age of 14 years.
3. Steps have been also taken to rehabilitate children released from work.
4. Implementation of various development schemes to benefit the families of child labour
5. The massive awareness generation programmes through community participation and create
positive atmosphere for the elimination of child labour.

Apart from implementing the state action plan, the Department of Labour has
established Karnataka State Resource Center On Child Labour (KSRCCL), functioning under the
purview of Karnataka State Child Labour Eradication project Society (KSCLEPS) formed under the
chairmanship of labour secretary and spearheading the implementation of Karnataka state child
labour project. KSRCCL has been established and of Karnataka September 2009.

3.7 NGO and Child Labour in Karnataka

There are some NGOs who fighting the cause of child labour in Bangalore urban and rural
districts. Local and grassroots organization like chiguru, BOSCO, sankalpa and Vikasa in
Bangalore rural district worked together with commitment, supported by statewide network of the
Campaign against Child Labour (CAC). Chigurru, while working with children, has particular
expertise with girl children and the mobilization of women. BOSCO, that works in many parts of
Karnataka and other states, emphasis the rehabilitation of street children, mainly boys. Sankalpa has
been working in Magadi with women and childrenwhile Vikas has experience in addressing issue
relating to women and children in Channapatna.

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

Movement for Alternatives and Youth Awareness (MAYA) is a Bangalore based

development organization working to create empowered and equitable society and to facilitate a
more systematic approach to working with communities and gain a deeper understanding of the
causes child labour and poverty. MAYA has done a lot of work to improve social, economic and
productive conditions in slum areas of Bangalore city and in the village of Bangalore rural district.

The researcher has taken much help from the NGOs of both Bangalore rural and urban
district at the time of collecting primary information about child labour in the export activities of
the state. A lot of validation and cross verification of the primary data input have been facilitated by
the NGOs. Infact, these are the institutions which have practically shown the non-official dimension
of child labour. This has thrown lot of light on ‘deceptive child labour’, ‘underground child labour’,
‘Black labour’ and parallel labour etc which is not only unaccounted but is damaging the very
concept of expansion of the capabilities of human beings. Therefore, a comprehensive policy to
eradicate child labour, should consider the role of NGOs while formulating as well implementing
the policies.

3.8 Summary
Child labour survey of the Department of Labour, Government of Karnataka in 1991, 1997
and 2011 constitute the source of the nature and magnitude of child labour. The reports reveal the
significant regional variations in the prevalence of child labour. A few northern districts have
accounted for a greater prevalence of child labour where as Uttara Kannada has been declared as a
‘O’ child labour district. The post globalization in Karnataka has reveal decline in child labour,
against a significant growth of export sector in the state. Officially, therefore, it supports the view
that significant increase of exports in Karnataka has not led an increase in child labour, which
impact is a matter of great debate.

The state needs to prioritize child labour as a social issue impeding overall development and
therefore has to initiate various public awareness mechanisms using diverse media. It is essential to
reiterate that an effective partnership needs to be fostered with NGOs as such a synergy will be
complementary for the government has the resources and authority to implement various
programmes to reduce the incidence of child labour, with the NGOs enjoy the peoples trust at the
grass root level. With these efforts let us hope that this new century and new millennium will focus

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

a new light on the elimination of child labour and for the progress and welfare of the children of the
world.

Chapter 4

PROFILE OF STUDY AREA: BANGALORE URBAN DISTRICT

4.1 District Overview

Bangalore is the capital city of Karnataka, located on Deccan Plateau in the south-
eastern part of Karnataka and spread across four Taluks namely, Bangalore North, Bangalore East,
Bangalore South and Anekal. Anekal Taluk is called as Ragi Bowl in the State. The district has 649
milk co-operatives and produced annually 119 million litres of milk, 34.7 million eggs, 5880 tons of
meat

Table 4.1
Taluk- wise Hoblies and Villages
Taluks No. Of Hoblies No. Of Villages

Anekal 4 234
Bangalore North 6 210
Bangalore South 4 107

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

Bangalore East 3 62
Source: Bangalore Urban district at a glance-2014-15.(Government of Karnataka.

4.2 Economic Profile

 The total Gross District Domestic Product (GDDP) of the district estimated during the year
2012-13 is Rs. 99325 Crore with 33.30 per cent contribution.
 In the year 2012-13, the per capita annual income of the district was Rs. 2,02,340.
 Country’s fourth largest fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) market.

4.3 Industrial Profile

 Expanding Organic farming.

 Micro irrigation systems.
 Bio-fuel extraction plant and post harvest management facilities.
 Mechanization of farm activities.
 Bangalore city provides unlimited access to market for fresh and processed horticultural
products.
 Presence of floriculture auction center and international airport provides enormous scope for
floriculture industry. Bangalore Urban is recognized as Class ‘A’ destination for
floriculture projects.
 Central and State Warehouses present in the district supporting the agricultural produce
marketing.
 30 Cold storages for vegetables, sea food, ice cream and for various other materials.
 Access to Bangalore city market and other international organic markets offers great scope
for organic farming in the district.
 Medium and bi-model rainfall pattern is suitable for short/ long duration crops and also for
varied cropping systems.
 Excellent infrastructure for agricultural marketing.
 District agriculture training centre located at R.K Shala, Anekal Taluk.

4.4 Agriculture and Food Processing

a. Flower Auction Centre and International Flower Auction Board are in operation at
Bangalore for promotion of exports of flowers from the state.

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

b. District is a Hub for floriculture industries and accounts for 70 per cent of rose exports from
India.
c. HOPCOMS, a co-operative society for marketing of Horticulture produce, handles a
quantity of approximately 100 metric tons per day in Bengaluru.
d. District agriculture training centre located at R.K Shala, Anekal Taluk.
e. Around 10 per cent of the total Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) units in the
district are engaged in Agri and Food Processing.

4.5 Potential Areas for Investment

 Biotechnology and Pharmacy

 Genetic Research
 Drug Design and Discovery centers
 Peptide synthesis
 Cloning technologies
 Food Processing
 Research and Training institutes
 Advanced agriculture technology
 Improvement in seed varieties

Table 4.2

Contribution of Bangalore Urban district to GSDP of Karnataka

Description INR Crore Contribution (%)

Total District GDP (Gross Domestic Product) 99,325 33.3

Agriculture and Allied (Agriculture, Animal
967 2.3
husbandry, Forestry, Fishing)
Industry (Manufacturing, Construction, Mining) 30,028 36
Services (Real estate, hotels, restaurants, banking
68,330 39.5
and legal services)
Source: State and District Domestic Product of Karnataka-2014-15.

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

Table 4.3

General Statistics

79 (Max)
Relative Humidity (%)
45 (Min)
Average Annual Rainfall 831 mm
Geographical Area 2208 km2
District headquarter Bangalore
Population 95,88,910
Population density 4378 per km2
Rural 871607
Urban 8749944
Male 5022661
Female 4598890
Agriculturists 85754
Agricultural Labours 67102
Non- workers 3970210
SC Population 1198385
ST Population 190239
Sex ratio 908 female per 1000 male
Literacy rate 88.48 per cent
Source: Karnataka at glance- 2013-14.census of India 2011.

Table 4.4.
Population and percentage share to total Population
Taluks Geographical Total Male Female % Share to Rank
Area Population (No.) (No.) total
(sq. Km) Population

1 Anekal 532 517575 282006 235569 5.38 2

2 Bangalore North 490 352420 185978 166442 3.66 3

3 Bangalore South 381 205274 109255 96019 2.13 4

4 Bangalore East 96 102607 53699 48908 1.07 5

5 Bangalore City 709 8443675 4391723 4051952 87.76 1

Total 2208 9621551 5022661 546938 100  

 
Source: Bengaluru Urban district at a glance-2014-15.
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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

Table 4.5

Bangalore Urban Literacy Rate

Rural (%) Urban (%) Total (%)

Taluks
Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total

1 Anekal 84.51 70.76 78.32 89.93 80.41 85.64 86.24 73.83 86.65

Bangalore
2 85.35 71.8 78.92 91.49 81.25 86.81 86.82 73.95 80.76
North

Bangalore
3 82.12 68.62 75.71 91.42 80.24 86.5 84.53 71.33 78.38
South

Bangalore
4 86.23 72.73 79.83 79.55 6750 75.76 85.71 72.32 79.36
East

Average Total 84.54 70.92 78.21 91.66 85.27 88.61 91.01 84.01 87.67

  Source: Bangalore Urban district at a glance-2014-15.

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

Chapter 5
DATA ANALYSIS
This chapter specify with analysis and interpretation of the data collected through interview from
the respondents. The coding of data, tabulation, percentage and diagrammatic presentation were
done through MS-Excel and MS-Word.

Table 5 .1
Gender of the respondent

Gender Number of respondent Percentage (%)

Male 24 80

Female 6 20

Total 30 100

Figure 5.1
Gender of the respondent

24
25

20

15

10 6

0
Male Female

Number of respondent

Interpretation

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

Table 1 describes the gender of the respondent according to the field work study report,
male child labours are 80 percentage and female child labours are 20 percentages among the
interview respondent.

Table 5. 2

Age of the respondent

Age of the respondents Male Female Percentage (%)

8-10 4 2 20

10-12 6 3 30

12-14 14 1 50

Total 24 6 100

Figure 5.2
Age of the respondent

Age of the respondents

14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
8 to 10 10 to 12 12 to 14

Male Female

Interpretation

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

Table 2 shows the age factor of the respondent, in this table we see the age of the labours,
like 8-10 year labours are 20 percentages, 10-12 years labours are30 percentages, and 12-14 years
labours are 50 percentages of the survey report.

Table 5.3
Religion of the respondent

Religion Number of respondent Percentage (%)

Hindu 21 70

Muslim 9 30

Other 00 00

Total 30 100

Figure 5.3
Religion of respondent

Religion

25

20

15

10

0
Hindu Muslim Other

Number of respondent

Interpretation

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

Table 3 shows the religion of the respondent. The survey report describes the total percentage of the
religion like 70 percentages of child labours are Hindu and 30% of child labours belongs to the
Muslim community.

Table 5. 4
Caste of the respondent

Name of the caste Number of respondents Percentage (%)

S.C 9 30

S.T 3 10

OBC 18 60

Total 30 100

Figure 5.4
Caste of the respondent

Name of the caste

100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
S.C S.T OBC

Interpretation

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

Table 4 Analysis the caste of the respondent. In this table data describes that 30 percentages
of child labours are S.C, 10 percentages of labours are S.T, and remaining 60 percentage labours
belongs to the OBC category.

Table 5.5
Nature of the work

Nature of the work Number of respondent Percentage (%)

Building constructions 3 10

Bricks industry 9 30

Hotel 18 60

Total 30 100

Figure 5.5
Nature of the work

Nature of the work

18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Building constructions Bricks industry Hotel

Interpretation

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

Above the table analyze the nature of the work who involved in working. The survey report table
shows that 10 percentage labours are worked in building construction, 30 percentage labours are
worked at bricks industries, and 60 percentage labours are worked at hotel management.

Table 5.6

Work experience of the respondent

Work experience Number of respondent Percentage (%)

3-6 months 9 30

7-10 months 6 20

1-3 Years 15 50

Total 30 100

Figure 5.6
Work experience

Work experience

16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
3-6 months 7-10 months 1-3 Years

Interpretation

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

Table6 analyze the work experience of the respondent. According to the survey report 30% of
labours have 3-6 months work experience, 20 percentage of child labours belong to 7-10 months
works, and 50 percentages of child labours belongs to the 1-3 years of work experience.

Table 5.7
Family migrated level of the respondent

Family migrated Number of respondent Percentage (%)

Yes 18 60

No 12 40

Total 30 100

Figure 5.7
Family migrated

Family migrated
Yes No

40%

60%

Interpretation

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

Table 7 shows that the family migrated level of the respondent. This table shows that how many
families are migrated from other places to Bangalore urban. According to the survey report 60
percentage of the respondents are migrated from other place and 40 percentage of respondents are

Present education Number of respondent Percentage (%)

4-5th 9 30

6-7th 12 40

8-9th 9 30

Total 30 100
belongs to local area.

Table5.8

Education of the respondent

Figure 5.8
Education of the respondent

Present education
14

12

10

0
4-5th 6-7th 8-9th

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

Interpretation

Table-8 Analyze the educational level of the respondent who involved in child labour work.
The table shows 30 percentage of labours completed their 5 th class of education 40 percentage of
labours are 7th class and 30 percentage of labours are 8-9th class of school education completed.

Table 5.9
Type of the school

School Type Number of respondent Percentage (%)

Government school 30 100

Private school 0 00

Total 30 100

Figure 5.9
Type of the school

School type

30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Government school
Private school

Interpretation

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

Table-9 Shows that type of the school which school the labours chosen to the studies.
According to the study report 100 percentages of the labours are studied at government schools.
Because they don’t have any facilities to studied at private school.

Table 5.10

Basis wages of the respondent

Figure 5.10
Basis wages of the respondent

Wages Number of respondent Percentage (%)

Daily wages 24 80

Contract wages 6 20

Total 30 100

Interpretation

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

Table 10 analysis shows basis wages of the respondent. The table describes that 80
percentages of labours are getting their wages like daily wages, 20 percentages labours are getting
their wages like contract wage basis.

Table 5.11
Bonus level of the respondent

Figure 5.11
Bonus level of the respondent

Interpretation

Table 11 shows the bonus level of the respondent, who works like child labour. According to
the report 80 percentages of respondents told they don’t get any bonus benefits and 20 percentages
of labours told they get bonus in their work.

Bonus level Number of respondent Percentage (%)

Yes 6 20
Table
5.12
No 24 80
Distance
Total 30 100 from
working
place to
home

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

Figure 5.12

Working place Number of respondent Percentage (%)

near to home

Yes 6 20

No 24 80

Total 30 100

Distance from working place to home

working place near to home

25

20

15

10

0
Yes No

Interpretation

Table12, Analysis this working place near or far to respondent home. According to this
study about, 80 percentages of the labours work place is far to their home. And rest 20 percentages
of the labours is near to home

Table 5.13
Number of working days in a week

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

Working Days Number of respondents Percentage (%)

3-4 days 12 40

5-6 days 18 60

Total 30 100

Figure 5.13
Number of working days in a week

working days

18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
3-4 days 5-6 days

Interpretation

Table 13 describes that how many days the respondent works in a week. The table shows 40
percentage of labours are work 3-4 days in a week and 60 percentage labours are work 5-6 days in a
week.

Table 5.14
Working hours in a day

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

Duration Number of respondents Percentage (%)

Leisure time Number of respondent Percentage (%)
2-4 hours 9 30

Yes 18 60
4-6 hours 3 10

No 12 40
6-8 hours 18 60

Total 30 100

Figure 5 .14
Working hours in a day

Duration
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
2-4 hours 4-6 hours

Interpretation

Table 14 shows that work duration of the respondent. This table describes that 30 percentage of
labour work 2-4 Hours, 10 percentages of labours works 4-6 hours and 60 percentages of labours are
works 6-8 hours for a days.

Table 5. 15
Leisure time of the respondent

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Figure 5.15
Leisure time of the respondent

Leisure time

18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Yes No

Interpretation

The table 15 shows that leisure time of the respondent who work like child labour. The
survey report analysis the 60 percentage of labours has leisure time in their work and 40 percentages
of labours don’t have leisure time in their work.

Table 5. 16
Parent’s Illiteracy

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Parent’s Illiteracy Number of respondent Percentage (%)

Yes 27 90

No 3 10

Total 30 100

Figure 5.16
Parent’s Illiteracy

Parents illiteracy

30

25

20

15

10

0
Yes No

Interpretation

The table 16 shows that Parent’s Illiteracy of the respondent who work like child labour. The
survey report analysis the 90 percentage of parent’s has illiteracy and 10 percentage of parent’s are
literacy.

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Chapter 6

MAGNITUDE OF CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA

6.1 Introduction
According to Census of India, 2013 , there were 12.26 million working children in the age
group of 5-14 years as compared to 11.3 million in 2011 revealing an increasing trend in absolute
numbers though the work participation rates of children (5-14) has come down from 5.4 percent
during 2011 to 5 percent during 2013. The recent round of the National Sample Survey (NSSO)
estimates suggests that the child labour in the country is around 8.9 million in 2004/2005 with a
NSSO, 2000 “Theories and Concepts” workforce participation rate of 3.4 per cent (NSSO 2004/05).
Due to definitional problems, as discussed is this paper, a substantial proportion of child labour may
remain uncounted.

Census data shows that there is a decline in the absolute number as well the percentage of
Main workers of children (5-14 to total population in that age group, from 4.3 percent in 2011 to
2.3 percent in 2013. But there was a substantial increase in marginal workers in every category of
worker irrespective of sex and residence. As a result, despite the number of main workers declining
from 9.08 million in 2011 to 5.78 million in 2013 , the total number of children in the work force
increased. A large part of the increase was accounted for by the increase in marginal workers,
which increased from 2.2 million in 2011 to 6.89 million in 2013. Main and Marginal workers put
together, the work participation rate (WPR) of children in the 5-14 age group has declined from 5.4
percent during 2011 to 5 percent in 2013. The trends between 2011 and 2013 of declining main
Child workers along with increasing marginal workers may indicate the changing nature of work
done by children. There is a general trend of marginalization of labour force in the Country and this
is also reflected in the Census figures. This is to be seen in the context of decelerating employment
growth in general in the economy during the last decade that is characterized as an era of
globalization.

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Table 6.1 (A)

Work participation of children 2009-13
So
ur Distribution of (per 1000) of person by principal usual activity category ce
NSS Age In Rural Urban Total
:
Year Male Female Male Female Male Female
2004-05 5-9 2 1 2 1 2 1
10 - 14 54 49 44 24 52 43
2009-13 5-9 2 1 0 0 1 1
10-14 27 21 24 8 26 18

However, if we look at the WPR for different age groups among children, the trend is
different. The WPR for children in 5 to 9 age group has marginally decreased from 2 percent during
2004-05to 1 percent during 2009-10. In the case of 10-14 years age group children the decline is
Substantial - from 52 percent during 2004-05 to 26 percent during 2009-10. This indicates that a
substantial number of children in the 10 to 14 age group are in the labour force despite the decline
in the proportion of children in the total population. According to NSSO estimates WPR for
children in the 5-9 age groups is negligible and for children in the age group of 10-14, it still
continues to be significant though declining (Table 3). NSSO data being based on a sample survey,
this reflects the current economic situation with regard to general employment in the economy.
Decline in child labour has to be seen in the context of general decline in employment growth. The
current economic process has rendered many more children vulnerable to labour related
exploitation, though many of them are classified as out of school children but not in work.
There is across the board decline in the incidence of child labour in the Southern and
Western Indian States and UTs between 2011 and 2013. However, there has been an increasing
trend in the Eastern and North Indian States and

UTs. While the Kerala and Tamil Nadu stories are well known, it is heartening to see that
the state of Andhra Pradesh, that had a dubious distinction of having the largest child labour force
in the country, shows very remarkable reduction in workforce participation, along with a dramatic
increase in the enrollment of children in school.
The Recently published partial data on Child labour by census of India suggests that there
are 11.72 Mn Child labours in India as per Census 2011 down from 12.26Mn Child Labour in 2013.
As per Census 2011, marginal workers contribute to 63% of the total child labour whiles rest 37%
is being contributed by main workers.

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The numbers of main workers have declined from 5.78Mn in 2013 to 4.3Mn in 2011
however the numbers of marginal workers in last one decade has gone up from 6.48Mn in 2013 to
7.3Mn in 2011. This trend has been continuing over the period of more than two decade showing
the continuous and gradual change in changing work environment in India. This reflects that job
creation rate has been on decline and labour force has been marginalized as a result of this. The
work Participation Ration has been witnessing the sea saw trend. Work participation rate among 5
to 9 age group has globe up from 1.4 percent to 2.3 percent in last one decade from 2013 to 2011
census.

Table: 6.1(B)
Work Participation of Children 2009-10 as per Census 1991-2011

Changes in Work Participation (Main and Marginal) Rate of Children in

different age groups

ALL INDIA 5 TO 9 10 TO 14 5 TO 14
BOYS 0.9 10.9 5.7
2011 GIRLS 0.9 9.9 5.1
ALL CHILDREN 0.9 10.4 5.4
BOYS 1.05 8.8 5,1
2013 GIRLS 1.4 8.5 4.9
ALL CHILDREN 1.4 8.7 5
BOYS 2.3 7.2 4.8
2011 GIRLS 2.2 6.1 4.2
ALL CHILDREN 2.3 6.7 4.5
Source: Participation of Children 2009-10 as per Census 1991-2011

However work participation rate has come down, among 10 to14 age group, from 8.7
percent in 2013 census to 6.7 in 2011 census. The overall work participation rate among 5 to 14 age
group has declined from 5 percent in 2013 to 4.5 percent in 2011. Child labour is a term that needs
to unpack: it cannot be used in a sweeping manner but covers a range and variety of circumstances
in which children work.
Table 6.2
State-wise details of working children as per NSSO Survey 2009-10 are at

Sl.No. Name of the State/UT Census 2011 Census 2013

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1. Uttar Pradesh 1410086 1927997

2. Andhra Pradesh 1661940 1363339

3. Rajasthan 774199 1262570

4. Bihar 942245 1117500

5. Madhya Pradesh 1352563 1065259

6. West Bengal 711691 857087

7. Karnataka 976247 822615

8. Maharashtra 1068418 764075

9. Gujarat 523585 485530

10. Tamil Nadu 578889 418801

All India total 1.13 crores 1.26 crores

Source: NSSO Survey 2009-10 are at

State wise census figure reveal that Uttar Pradesh topped the list followed by Andhra
Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra each accounting for over two lakhs,
child labour is a centuries old phenomenon in India and has given rise to a number of social
psychological, economic and legal problems.

6.2 Categories of Child Labour

Child labour is a term that needs to be unpacked: it cannot be used in a sweeping manner but
covers a range and variety of circumstances in which children work.

a. Domestic Labour:
Those children who are doing paid or unpaid work in factories, workshops, establishments,
mines and in the service sector such as domestic labour. The Ministry of Labour, Government of
India has employed the term ‘child labour’ only in the context of children doing ‘hazardous’ work.
By implication, children who are not doing ’hazardous’ work are not considered to be child
labourers and are said to be doing child work. The consequence of this narrow definition of child
labour is that the Labour Ministry’s definition only includes a very small percentage of children
who are in the work-force and leaves out millions of children who require policy and programmatic
support from the Government.

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b. Street Children:
Children living on and off the streets, such as shoeshine boys, rag pickers, newspaper-
vendors, beggars, etc. The problem of street children is somewhat different from that of child
labour in factories and workshops. For one thing, most children have some sort of home to go back
to in the evenings or nights, while street children are completely alone and are at the mercy of their
employers. They live on the pavements, in the bus stations and railway stations. They are at the
mercy of urban predators as also the police. They have no permanent base and are often on the
move. So their problem is more acute than that of children working in a factory and living at home.

c. Bonded Children:
Children who have either been pledged by their parents for paltry sums of money or those
working to pay off the inherited debts of their fathers. Bonded child labour is an acute problem in
some states. Bonded children are in many ways the most difficult to assist because they are
inaccessible. If the carpet owner has bought them, they cannot escape. If the middle-class
housewife has paid for them, they cannot run away. Ifthe landlord in the village owns them, they
will spend their life in servitude till they get married and can, in turn, sell their children.

d. Working Children:
Children who are working as part of family labour in agriculture and in home-based work.
If children are working 12-14 hours a day along with their parents at the cost of their education,
their situation is similar to that of children working for other employers. In fact children,
particularly girls, are expected to take on work burdens by parents in complete disproportion to
their strengths and abilities. This is the largest category of children who are out-of-school and are
working full time. And it is here that we find the largest percentage of girls working at the cost of
education.

f. Children used for sexual exploitation:

Many thousands of young girls and boys serve the sexual appetites of men from all social
and economic backgrounds. Direct links between the commercial sexual exploitation of children
and other forms of exploitative child labour are numerous. Factories, workshops, street corners,
railway stations, bus stops and homes where children work are common sites of sexual exploitation.
Children are especially powerless to resist abuse by employers, either as perpetrators or

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intermediaries. Village loan sharks often act as procurers for city brothels, lending money to the
family which must be paid back through the daughter’s work. Almost all such children are betrayed
by those they trust and end up with their trust abused. The physical (health, danger of HIV/AIDS,
sexually transmitted diseases) and psycho-social damage inflicted by commercial sexual
exploitation makes it one of the most hazardous forms of child labour.

g. Migrant children:
India faces a huge challenge with “distress seasonal migration”. Millions of families are
being forced to leave their homes and villages for several months every year in search of
livelihoods. These migrations mean that families are forced to drop out of schools, something that
closes up the only available opportunity to break the vicious cycle generation after generation. At
worksites migrant children are inevitably put to work. All evidence indicates that migrations are
large and growing. The number of children below 14 years of age thus affected, may already be in
the order of 9 million.14 Migrant populations overwhelmingly belong to Scheduled Caste,
Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Castes. They comprise the landless and land poor who
possess the least amount of assets, skills or education. Studies reveal that the majority of migrant
labour is to be found in states like Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and
Maharashtra. Almost all major states appear to be affected by migration, although to varying
degrees. Many industrial and agro-industrial sectors like brick-making, salt manufacture, sugar cane
harvesting, stone quarrying, construction, fisheries, plantations, rice mills and so on run largely on
migrant labour.
20
h. Children engaged in household activities:
Apart from children who are employed for wages (either bonded or otherwise) as domestic
help, there are a large number of children (especially girls) who are working in their own houses,
engaged in what is not normally seen as “economic activity”. These children are engaged in taking
care of younger siblings, cooking, cleaning and other such household activities. As seen in the
literature on women’s work, such activities need to be recognized as ‘work’. Further, if such
children are not sent to school, they will eventually join the labour force as one of the above
categories of child labour

6.3 Work Participation Rate of Children (WPR) (In the Age of 5-14)

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While Sikkim had the highest WPR in the country with 12.04 percent (child labourers
among total children in the age group of 5-14), among major states Rajasthan had the highest WPR
with 8.25 percent during 2013. Himachal Pradesh closely followed Rajasthan with 8.14 percent.
The other states having higher than the national average of 5 percent WPR for children are Andhra
Pradesh (7.7%), Chattisgarh (6.96%), Karnataka (6.91%), Madhya Pradesh (6.71%), J&K,
Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and Assam.

6.4 Socio-Economic Background of Child Labour in India

6.4.1 Rural-Urban Divide

He important characteristic of child labour in India is that about 90 percent of the working
children are concentrated in the rural areas. They not only work in farm sector but also in various
non-farm activities in rural areas. The same trend is reflected in Census as well as NSSO data. This
is also a reflection of narrow jurisdiction of the law which focuses only on visible forms of child
labour in urban areas. Further they remain as reservoir of cheap labour supply to be migrated to
urban areas along with their families in the event of any distress in rural areas. Thus, the problem of
child labour in India is essentially a rural problem. As per 2004-05 NSSO data, out of 9.07 million
child labourers, 12.16 million were in rural areas. Though there is a declining trend in the general
magnitude of child labour in India, the concentration of child labourers in rural areas continue. Data
on NSSO estimates on rural-urban magnitude of child labour is presented in Table below.

Table: 6.3
Estimate of Trends in India’s Child Labour
Estimate of Trends in India’s Child Labour by Rural-Urban, 1983-2010/11 (in
millions)

Year (Round) 5-9 10-14 5-14

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Rural
2011-94(50th Round) 1.13 11.03 12.16
2013-00 (55th Round) 0.6 8.05 8.65
2004-05 (61st Round) 0.26 7.18 7.44
2009-10 (66th Round) 0.2 4.0 4.2
Urban
2011-94 (50th Round) 0.12 1.52 1.64
2013-00 (55th Round) 0.07 1.32 1.39
2004-05 (61st Roun 0.08 1.44 1.52
2009-10 (66th Round) 0.02 0.68 0.7
Combined
2011-94 (50th Round) 1.27 12.59 13.86
2013-00 (55th Round) 0.63 9.5 10.13
2004-05 (61st Round) 0.35 8.72 9.07
2009-10 (66th Round) 0.22 4.68 4.9
Source: Estimate of Trends in India’s Child Labour

6.5 Sectoral Distribution of Child Labour in India

Whatever trend in the magnitude of child labour is shown in the official data, it is a common
sight in India to see children engaged in various forms of work, whether paid or unpaid. Despite
having legislation against child labour particularly in hazardous industries, children are continued to
be engaged in significant numbers in hazardous and non-hazardous sectors. Reflecting the overall
trend in the workforce participation, most of the child employment is concentrated in agriculture
and allied activities in India. As revealed by the NSSO data, this sector alone account for over two
thirds of the child employment. Most of these children are employed in the informal sectors of the
economy on a casual basis with low wages and long hours of work as revealed by many empirical
studies on child labour in India.

Table: 6.4
Sectoral Distribution of India’s Child Labour, 2009-10

State Agriculture Mining Mfg. Cons Trade, Transport Others

& Quar Hotel
A.P. 68.96 2.1 10.5 4.5 8.1 1.1 4.7
Assam 65.4 1.9 11.1 2.3 8.1 0.05 10.9
Bihar 67.32 0 10.45 2.1 14.9 0.04 5.6

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Chhattisgarh 88.3 1.1 3.2 0.5 5.7 0 1.2

Delhi 0 0 9.3 0 54.3 0 36.4
Goa 0 2.1 0 6.4 0 64.5 26.9
Gujarat 76.69 1.04 2.58 0.28 17.77 0.16 1.48
H.P. 83.42 0 0 0 8.8 1.4 6.3
Haryana 67.21 0 4.3 8.3 7.4 0 12.6
Jharkhand 62.21 0 13.45 6.4 11.32 0.8 5.7
Karnataka 79.8 1.1 11.1 3.4 4.5 0.6 0.3
Kerala 16.5 0 30.4 0 34.9 0 18.11
M.P. 79.21 0 10.1 2.5 6.3 0 1.9
Maharashtra 76.4 0 4.5 3.2 6.8 0.6 8.5
Orissa 66.6 2.1 18.2 4.8 3.9 1.1 3.2
Punjab 64.6 0 13.4 2.1 8.8 1.9 9.1
Rajasthan 73.4 0 10.5 3.6 8.1 1.1 2.9
T.N. 33.2 0 50.1 6.5 7.5 0.8 1.9
U.P. 57.8 0 22.3 3.2 11.4 1.1 4.2
Uttaranchal 78.2 0 4.3 5.8 10.3 0 1.4
W.B. 30.23 0 41.23 4.5 11.2 2.1 10.5
Source: Estimated from Unit Level Records of NSSO, 2011-12

Across states, the general pattern of sectoral distribution of workforce in the economy is
observed in the case of child labour also, except in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal where
agricultural and allied sectors account for less than 40 percent of the total child labour force. In fact
it is the lowest in Kerala. It is pertinent to note that contribution of Agri to overall child labour is
declining with the rise of other informal sector to employ them. Thus, children are also employed in
different non-farm occupations in the state. Moreover certain new forms of child labour are
developing in Tamil Nadu details of which are discussed elsewhere in this paper. Among
manufacturing sector, Tamil Nadu seems to have employed a higher share of its child workers (50.1
%) closely followed by West Bengal (41.23%). It is noted that during 2009-10, over 80 percent of
child labourers are located in farm activities in states like Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh,
while this accounted for more than 75 percent in Madhya Pradesh, Gujrat, Uttranchal and
Maharashtra. So far the magnitude and other aspects of child labour in India are analyzed to look at
the changes that are taking place over a period of time. The following section devoted to look at
what is missing in the official data with regard to child labour.

6.6 Hazardous child labour

More specifically, hazardous child labour is work in dangerous or unhealthy conditions that
could result in a child being killed, or injured and/or made ill as a consequence of poor safety and

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health standards and working arrangements. Some injuries or ill health may result in permanent
disability. Often health problems caused by working as a child labour may not develop or show up
until the child is an adult.
Hazardous child labour is the largest category of the worst forms of child labour with an
estimated 115 million children, aged 5-17, working in dangerous conditions in sectors as diverse as
agriculture, mining, construction, manufacturing, service industries, hotels, bars, restaurants, fast
food establishments, and domestic service. It is found in both industrialized and developing
countries. Girls and boys often start carrying out hazardous work at very early ages. Worldwide, the
ILO estimates that some 22,000 children are killed at work every year. The numbers of those
injured or made ill because of their work are not known. Child labourers are susceptible to all the
dangers faced by adult workers when placed in the same situation. However, the work hazards and
risks that affect adult workers can affect child labourers even more strongly. The results of lack of
safety and health protection can often be more devastating and lasting for them. It can result in
more fatal and non-fatal accidents, permanent disabilities/ill health, and
psychological/behavioral/emotional damage.

When speaking of child labourers it is important to go beyond the concepts of work hazard
and risks as applied to adult workers and to expand them to include the developmental aspects of
childhood. Because children are still growing they have special characteristics and needs that must
be taken into consideration when determining workplace hazards and the risks associated with
them, in terms of physical, cognitive (thought/learning) and behavioral development and emotional
growth.

6.7 Stats on Hazardous Child Labour

i. More than half (53 per cent) of all child labourers worldwide do hazardous work.
ii. Hazardous work is increasing among older children, age 15-17. Within four years (2004
to 2008), it jumped 20 per cent – from 52 million to 62 million.
iii. Boys (15-17) who are doing hazardous work outnumber girls by two to one and the rate
remains high. For girls, the number fell (by 24 per cent between 2004-2008).

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iv. In the 5–14 age groups, 53 million children (about one-third) are in hazardous child
labour.
v. 15 per cent of all Sub-Saharan African children are involved in hazardous child labour.

6.8 National Child Labour Programme (NCLP)

Considering the complexity and the magnitude of the issue the National Policy on Child
Labour announced in 1987 emphasized the need for strict enforcement measures in areas of high
child labour concentration. In order to translate the above policy into action, the Government of
India initiated the National Child Labour Project Scheme in 1988 to rehabilitate the working
children starting with 12 child labour endemic districts of the country. Under the Scheme, working
children are identified through child labour survey, withdrawn from work and put into the special
schools, so as to provide them with enabling environment to join mainstream education system. In
these Special Schools, besides formal education, they are provided stipend Rs.100/- per month,
nutrition, vocational training and regular health checkups. In addition, efforts are also made to
target the families of these children so as to cover them under various developmental and
income/employment generation programmes of the Government. The Scheme also envisages
awareness generation campaigns against the evils of child labour and enforcement of child labour
laws.

The NCLP Scheme is implemented through a district level Project Society, headed by the
District Collector. This Project Society includes prominent NGOs and Trade Unions of the district,
in addition to the State Government officials from Education, Health, Rural Development, Labour,
Social Welfare and Women & Child Development Departments, etc. The involvement of different
departments in the Project Society is to ensure better convergence with these Departments for
implementation of the Scheme. As far as possible, running of special schools for child labour is
entrusted to NGOs. It may, however, be taken up by the Project Society itself, if competent and
experienced NGOs are not available in the district for this purpose. The funds under the Scheme are
sanctioned by the Ministry directly to the District Collector, who in turn, disburses them amongst
the NGOs for running these Special Schools for working children. The funds are also provided
under the Scheme for conducting regular child labour surveys, awareness generation programmes
and training of instructors/teachers, etc.

The coverage of the NCLP programme, which started with 12 districts, has been thereafter
progressively increased to cover much larger number of districts in the country. In fact, major thrust

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to the programme came with the landmark judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in December
1996 in the case of M.C.Mehta Vs. State of Tamilnadu. The Hon’ble Supreme Court gave certain
directions regarding the manner in which the children working in the hazardous occupations were to
be withdrawn from work and rehabilitated, as also the manner in which the working conditions of
the children employed in non-hazardous occupations were to be regulated and improved upon.

The Hon’ble Court specifically ordered withdrawal of children working in hazardous

industries and ensuring their education in appropriate institutions. It also prescribed employment of
at least one adult member of the family of the child so withdrawn from work, a contribution of
Rs.20, 000/- per child was ordered to be paid by the offending employer into a corpus of fund set up
for the welfare of child labour & their families.

Failing which, the State Government to contribute to this Welfare Fund Rs.5,000/- per child.
The interest earnings of this corpus were to be used for providing financial assistance to the families
of these children. The Hon’ble Court also ordered regulation of working hours for the children
engaged in non-hazardous occupations, so that their working hours did not exceed 5-6 hours per
day and that at least two hours of education was ensured. It further directed that the entire
expenditure on education of these children be borne by their employers.

The progress of implementation of the NCLP Scheme is monitored in the Ministry through
the prescribed periodical reports & regular visits from the officials of the Ministry, State
Government and audit departments. A Central Monitoring Committee on Child Labour headed by
the Union Secretary (Labour & Employment) and consisting of State Labour Secretaries and
representatives from various Ministries connected with the implementation of the project has been
set up to look into the important issues faced in implementing the Scheme. The Central Monitoring
Committee had recommended setting up of State Monitoring Committees for monitoring the
implementation of the Scheme at the State level, which is yet to be set up in most of the States.
However, as per the directions of Hon’ble Supreme Court in 1996, in the case of M.C. Mehta vs.
State of Tamil Nadu, a Child Labour Cell has been formed in most of the States to implement the
directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. This Cell has also been instrumental in monitoring the
scheme.

With regard to other forms of intervention, the flag ship programme of the Government of
India is the National Child Labour Project (NCLP). The NCLP Scheme started in 1988, has so far

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covered 400,200 working children. About 3.08 lakh children have been mainstreamed into formal
education system so far. The Scheme is running in 266 districts in 20 states. Even after discounting
for the inherent problems in the NCLP scheme the coverage is very low compared to the magnitude
of the problem (12 million according to 2013 population census) even by the official statistics. In
fact the magnitude of child labour has increased in absolute terms by about one million between
2011 and 2013.

The Ministry of Labour & Employment is implementing National Child Labour Project
(NCLP) in 266 districts of the country including metros for rehabilitation of children rescued/
withdrawn from work. Under the Project, children rescued/withdrawn from work are enrolled in the
special schools, where they are provided with bridge education, vocational training, nutrition,
stipend, health care, etc. before mainstreaming into formal education system. At present about 7311
special schools are running with enrollment of 3.2 lakh children under the NCLP Scheme. For
orphan children, Ministry of Women & Child Development is implementing a Centrally Sponsored
Scheme i.e Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) under which inter- alia financial assistance
is being provided to State Government/UT Administration for setting up and maintenance of
Homes for children in difficult circumstances including orphan children. As per 2013 census, the
total number of working children between the age group5-14 years in the country was 1.26 crore.

However, in the Survey conducted by NSSO, in 2004-05 the number of working children
was estimated at 90.75 lakh. As per NSSO survey 2009-10 which includes metros also, the working
children are estimated at 49.84 lakh which shows declining trend. The State-wise details of
coverage of NCLP Scheme are as follows. The children who do not have parental support are being
taken care of under Integrated Child Protection Scheme of Ministry of Women & Child
Development.

Chapter 7

FINDINGS, RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION

India is still facing the problem of child labour despite several proactive legislation and
policies have been implemented. In consonance with the national policy on child labour, mole
formulated a project based action plan, i.e, the national child labour project (NCLP), to eliminate

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child labour in a sequential manner from hazardous occupations and processes in the country. As in
any other program which is running for many years it is required by the implementing agencies to
timely review and monitor the progress of the same and in case any amendment is required it
should be implemented. In the case of NCLP too, the need for conducting a nation-wide evaluation
was felt in order to assess the direction in which the project has moved and to propose
modifications and changes, if any in the scheme during the 12 plan period.

This evaluation reviews the strategic framework, objectives, activities of the NCLPs and the
participation of various stakeholders and social partners in the implementation and monitoring of
the project. It is based mainly on primary data collected from the sample states and from sample
districts within the states, and also from the special schools, students and parents. For the purpose
of the study, 30 out of 150 districts (nearly 20%) were selected from the 7 states of India. The
objective of the evaluation was to make quick assessment of the functioning of the NCLPs,
including the working project society, development and functioning of NCLP schools etc. the
evaluation has been carried out at different levels, viz., PSs, special schools, children and parents,
other stakeholders, etc of the project.

The project societies and the schools run by them were evaluated on a number of
parameters. Altogether we had selected 12 key combinations of various parameters to evaluate
NCLP schools and 6 combinations of various parameters to evaluate the functioning of the NCLP
societies. Major ones among these parameters were: frequency of PS meetings, survey and
identification of child labour, staff strength, enrolment, attendance, stipend, nutrition, infrastructure,
course material, mainstreaming, awareness generation, paent-0 teacher interaction, vocational
training, convergence and monitoring system

7.1 Recommendation

In this section, we are giving suggestions as per the facts & findings, which we collected
from field, if implemented can help in bigger way to run the NCLP schools more efficiently in
achieving the purpose of establishing these schools.

I. There should be more co-ordination between the centre, state & district level, which is missing
in the current scenario. To implement this in a more effective manner we will suggest that there
should be a co-ordination committee consisting of top officials and stake holders from all three
levels with predefined meeting schedules and agenda. The main responsibilities of the proposed
unit will be monitoring and co-ordination of the NCLP activities across the country,
standardization and smoothening of the reporting system, data analysis and information
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management, and report generation and publication. The unit is also expected to help the child
labour division on important issues such as nature of expansion of the project, release of funds
to the districts, preparing reports for official purposes, etc.
II. The primarily comprise members of various district level government departments with little or
negligible representation of other stakeholders as outlined in the NCLP guidelines. Against this
background, the present study proposes to fix the limit of proportion of the members from
government departments. However, the members from the government departments should be
selected in such a way as to give preference to departments such as education, rural
development, social/ SC&ST welfare, health, labour, etc., taking into account the convergence
perspective.

7.2 Organizational structure

i. There should be full time project directors in each of the districts. In the absence of full
time project director funding should be made to minimal.
ii. More number of field officers should be sanctioned where there is high concentration of
child labour. There should be a separate person for the well keeping of the records of the
post mainstreaming of the students, to check, if they are facing any problem in main
stream education, and should be able to provide necessary help to them, should also
check if there is any dropout after main streaming and the cause for he same, this will
help in maintaining the status of the students, the problems students face after
mainstreaming and the success rate of the schools.
iii. Involvement of the community is essential in many of the NCLP activities especially in
awareness generation and monitoring of the functioning of special schools. Presently,
the community is playing a negligible role in the overall framework of NCLP in most of
the districts. In view of this, apart from institutionalizing their representation in the PS,
the present study proposes to create a post of in each DPO which will cater to this need.
iv. In each village, panchayat, word or block, where the special school is located, the
implementing agencies should constitute an advisory committee comprising the
members from the local community mentioned above with due representation of women.

7.3 Findings

 In the study of the impact of child labour A case study of Bangalore urban district.

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 Majority of the workers were between in the age group of 8-14.

 Majority of the children are studying now.

 Majority of the respondents belongs to OBC.

 Majority of the respondents having work in hotel.

 Majority of the respondents are migrated.

 Majority of the child labour not satisfied with the work.

 Majority of the respondents were satisfied with the work hour.

 Majority of the respondents belongs to Hindu.

 Majority of the respondents work experience 1-3 year.

 Majority of the respondent’s education 6-7th standard only.

 Majority of the child labour parent’s are illiteracy.

7.4 Conclusion

The Nation’s Children are assets of our nation. Their nurture and solicitude are our responsibility.
Children’s programmes should fine a prominent part in our national plans for the development of
human resources so that our children grow up to become robust citizens, physically fit, mentally
alert and morally healthy, endowed with the skill and motivations needed by society. Equal
opportunities for development would serve our large purpose of reducing inequality and ensuring
social justice. If a child is a national asset, it is the duty of the state to look after the child with a
view to ensuring full development of But from the beginning of human society children have been
exploited mercilessly and indiscriminately. Child Labour has been the cheapest and disciplined.
Children were made to work at home and outside, in factories and fields, in hazardous occupations,
in hotels, restaurants and as domestic aids. Children have been working even at an early age of 6 to
8. Their working hours have been long and their wages have been meager. The major determinant
of child labour is poverty. Even though children are paid less than adult, whatever income they earn
is of benefit to poor families. In addition to poverty, the lack of adequate and accessible sauces of
credit forces poor parents to engage their children in the harsher form of child labour—bonded
child labour. Some parents also feel that a formal education is not beneficial, and that children learn

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work skills through labour at a young age. These views are narrow and do not take the long term
developmental benefits of education into account. Another determinant is access to education. In
some areas, education is not affordable, or is found to be inadequate. With no other alternatives,
children spend their time working.

The Eighty-sixth Constitutional Amendment that made education a fundamental right for
children in the age group of 6to 14 ears is a result of the empathy shown by public-spirited
individuals and institutions towards the child. Many states are in place to make the life of the child
easier and Pragmatic, realistic and constrictive steps and actions are required to be
taken to enable the child belonging to poor, weaker sections, Dalits and Tribes and minorities, enjoy
their childhood and develop their full blossomed personality-educationally, intellectually and
culturally with a spirit of inquiry, reform and enjoyment of leisure. It is suggested that instead of
each state having its own children’s Act, different in procedure and content from the children’s Act
in other states, it would be desirable if the central government initiates parliamentary Legislations
on the subject. So that there is complete uniformity in regard to the various provisions relating to
children in the entire territory of the country.

Despite the above, the stark reality is that in our country, children are exploited lot. Child
Labour is a big m problem and has remained intractable, even after Years of our having become

independent despite various legislative enactments prohibiting employment of a child in a

number of occupations and Child Labour, therefore, must be eradicated though well –planned,
poverty-focus alleviation, development and imposition of trade actions in
employment of the children etc. Total banishment of employment of may drive the children and
mass them up into destitution and other mischievous environment, making them vagrant, hard
criminals and porn to social risks etc.

The role and concern of the Indian Supreme Court has been profound in making beater the
lives of numerous children who were objects of exploitation. The Eighty-sixth Constitutional
Amendment that made education a fundamental right for children in the age group of 6to 14 ears is
a result of the empathy shown by public-spirited individuals and institutions towards the child.
Many states are in place to make the life of the child easier and Pragmatic, realistic and constrictive
steps and actions are required to be taken to enable the child belonging to poor, weaker sections,
Delist and Tribes and minorities, enjoy their childhood and develop their full blossomed

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

personality-educationally, intellectually and culturally with a spirit of inquiry, reform and

enjoyment of leisure. It is suggested that instead of each state having its own children’s Act,
different in procedure and content from the children’s Act in other states, it would be desirable if
the central government initiates parliamentary Legislations on the subject. So that there is complete
uniformity in regard to the various provisions relating to children in the entire territory of the
country.

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Child Labour in India: A Case Study in Bangalore Urban District

 Barro, R. (1991), “Economic growth in a cross section of countries”, Quarterly Journal of

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 Kanan, K. P (2013 ), Economics of Child Labour, Deep and Deep Publication, New
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INTERVIEW SCHEDULE
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I. Personal profile

1. Name of the child (respondent)____________________

2. Name of the father/guardian _____________________

3. Sex

a) Male b) Female

4. Age _________

5. Religion_____________

a) Hindu b) Muslim c) Christian d) Others

6. Caste____________________

7. Nature of the work__________________

8. Is this your family occupation?

a) Yes b) No

9. Have you got any training in this field?

a) Yes b) No

10. How long you are doing this work? ______________

11. Is your family migrated?

a) Yes b) No

If yes, from which village / Taluk/ district.___________________

II. Education status

12. Are you studying at present?

a) Yes b) No

If yes, in which class? _______________

13. Have you ever been to school?

a) Yes b) No

If yes, up to which classes have you studied?

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14. Type of school ____________

a) Government school b) Private school

15. Do you want to continue schooling?

a) Yes b) No

III. Wages

16. What is the basis your wages?

a) Daily b) contract wages

17. When do you get your wage?

a) Daily b) weekly c) monthly

18. Do you get any bonus?

a) Yes b) No

IV. Working condition

19. Is you working place near your house?

a) Yes b) No

If no, how far it is?

a) 2-4km b) 4-6km c) 6-8km

d) 8-10km e) Above 10 km

20. For how many days you work in a week? __________

21. For how many hours you work in a day?

a) 2-4 hours b) 4-6 hours c) 6-8 hours

d) 8-10 hours e) Above 10 hours

22. Job satisfaction _________________

a) Satisfaction b) Not satisfaction c) Not replied

V. Recreation

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23. Do you get leisure time?

a) Yes b) No

If yes, leisure time spent on per week.

a. Playing

b. Going to cinema

c. Visiting relatives

d. At home

e. Others specify

VI. Health status

24. Have you fallen ill/sick in the past?

a) Yes b) No

If yes, mention the nature of the illness______________

25. Did you consult a doctor?

a) Yes b) No

If no, how did you overcome it? ______________

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