THE CHILD LABOUR (PROHIBITION AND REGULATION) AMENDMENT ACT, 2016

Key Provisions:

• Complete prohibition of employment of children below 14 years in all occupations or processes except in entertainment & sporting activities and where the child helps his family (family enterprises).
• Addition of a new category of persons called “adolescent”. They are people between 14 and 18 years of age.
• Prohibits employment of adolescents in hazardous occupations as specified (mines, hazardous processes, and inflammable substance).
• Empowers Union Government to add or omit any hazardous occupation from the list included in the Bill.
• Punishment for employing any child increased i.e. imprisonment between 6 months and two years (from earlier 3 months-one year) or a fine of 20,000 to 50,000 Rupees (from earlier 10,000 to 20,000 Rupees) or both.
• Proposes penalty for employing an adolescent in a hazardous occupation i.e. imprisonment between 6 months and 2 years or a fine of 20,000 to 50,000 Rupees or both.
• Empowers the government to make periodic inspection of places at which employment of children and adolescents are prohibited.
• The government may confer powers on a District Magistrate (DM) to ensure that the provisions of the law are properly carried out and implemented.
• Proposes establishment of child fund for child rehabilitation and development and further education of the child

Positives:

• The Bill is aligned with the statutes of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) convention.
• It calls complete ban on child labor so they can get compulsory primary education in light of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.
• Allowing children in familial enterprises has been made taking into consideration the socio-economic condition of families in India.
• While child rights activists say it will promote child labor, the flip side argument is that children need to be trained in traditional arts at an early stage or they will not be able to acquire the required skills like weaving and stitching.
• Increased fines and jail terms will act as a deterrent for employing children.

Concerns:

• Allowing children to work in family enterprises is a contentious provision. Small factories may shift their production to home-based units and may continue to employ children in the garb of home-based enterprises.
• The list of hazardous occupations has been reduced from 83 to 3 — mining, inflammable substances, and hazardous processes under the Factories Act, 1948, even these 3 could be removed by Government at its will.
• There is no regulation on the workings hours of the child.
• Unregulated employment during childhood will have an adverse impact on the health of the child and this will in turn adversely affect the learning capacity of the child.
• The amendments do not completely ban the employment of children. Prospects of economic benefits from employment can lead to increased drop out of children from schools.