Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - India (Ratification: 2017)

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Article 1 of the Convention. National policy designed to ensure the effective abolition of child labour and application of the Convention in practice. In its previous comments, the Committee noted the various initiatives undertaken by the Government to eliminate child labour, including the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Education for All) Scheme, Mid-Day Meal Scheme and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). It however, noted the data from Census 2011, which indicated that of the 259.6 million children in the age group of 5–14 years, about 10.1 million children (3.9 per cent of the total child population) were engaged in child labour.

In response to its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s information in its report that since March 2021, the NCLP Scheme has been merged with Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (Integrated Scheme for Education) (SSA) Scheme, 2018 of the Ministry of Education. According to the official website of the Ministry of Education, SSA is an overarching programme ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education from pre-school to senior secondary education in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for Education. The Government indicates that in 2021–22, 200 million Indian Rupees (approximately US$2,432,000) were allocated to the NCLP Scheme which is currently being implemented in 324 districts in 21 States/Union Territories. The Committee further notes the Government’s information that during 2021–22, a total of 13,271 children were withdrawn from work, rehabilitated and mainstreamed to the regular education system under the NCLP scheme, amounting to a total of 1.4 million working children being mainstreamed since its inception in 1988. With regard to the statistical information on the number of children involved in child labour, the Committee notes that the Government refers to the findings of the 2011 Census. The Committee requests the Government to continue its efforts to ensure the progressive elimination of child labour in the country and to provide information on the measures taken in this regard, including within the framework of the existing programmes such as the NCLP and SSA, and on the results achieved. The Committee also requests the Government to take the necessary measures to provide updated statistical information on the number of children under the age of 14 years who are involved in child labour in the country, if possible, disaggregated by gender.

Article 3(1) and (2). Minimum age for admission to and determination of hazardous work.With regard to the adoption of the list of hazardous types of work prohibited to children under the age of 18 years, the Committee refers to its detailed comments under the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182).

Article 3(3). Admission to hazardous types of work from the age of 16 years. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that Part B of the Schedule to section 3A of the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of 1986 (CAL(P&R) Act) (as amended by Notification S.O. 2827(E)/2017 of the Ministry of Labour and Employment) lists 54 types of occupations and processes where children below 14 years are prohibited to help in family or family enterprises. It observed that this list contains certain occupations that may be hazardous to adolescents of 16 years and above, including work relating to the construction of a railway station or any work done in close proximity to, or between, railway tracks; manufacturing or handling of pesticides and insecticides; manufacturing or processing and handling of corrosive and toxic substances; and operations involving dangerous machines like hoists and lifts, lifting machines, chains, ropes, revolving machinery, power presses, and machine tools used in metal trades.

The Committee notes that the Government has not provided any information concerning the adoption of any rules for the health and safety of adolescents pursuant to section 13 of the CAL(P&R) Act or any other measures envisaged in this regard. It notes, however that according to section 18(1) and (2)(f) of the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code of 2020 (OSH Code), read in conjunction with the Second Schedule of the Code, the Government shall declare, by notification, standards on occupational safety and health for workplaces relating to factory mines, dock work, beedi and cigars, building and other construction work and for the employment of adolescents on dangerous machineries. Recalling the provisions of Article 3, paragraph 3 of the Convention, the Committee once again requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that children of 16 years and above can be employed in hazardous work only on the condition that their health, safety and morals are fully protected and that they receive adequate specific instruction and vocational training in the relevant branch of activity.It also requests the Government to provide information on any rules issued by the Central or State Government pursuant to section 13 of the CAL (P&R) Act or section 18 of the OSH Code or any other measures taken or envisaged to protect children between 16 and 18 years who are working in hazardous occupations.

Article 7(1), (3) and (4). Minimum age for admission to light work and determination of light work. The Committee notes that the Government has not provided any information on whether it intends to avail itself of the flexibility clauses under Article 7 of the Convention regarding light work. The Committee therefore once again draws the Government’s attention to the fact that Article 7(1) of the Convention is a flexibility clause which provides that national laws or regulations may permit the employment or work of children aged 13–15 years in light work activities which are not likely to be harmful to their health or development and not such as to prejudice their attendance at school, their participation in vocational orientation or training programmes approved by the competent authority, or their capacity to benefit from the instruction received. It further recalls that Article 7(4) permits member States who have specified a general minimum age for admission to employment or work of 14 years to substitute a minimum age for admission to light work of 12–14years to that of the usual 13–15 years of age (see General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, 2012, paragraphs 389 and 391). In view of the fact that a high number of children under 14 years of age are engaged in child labour in the country, the Committee once again requests that the Government regulate light work activities for children between 12 and 14 years of age to ensure that children who, in practice, work under the minimum age, are better protected. The Committee also requests the Government to take the necessary measures to determine light work activities that children of 12–14 years of age are permitted to undertake and to prescribe the number of hours permitted and conditions of such work, pursuant to Article 7(3) of the Convention.

Article 9(1). Penalties. Following the Committee’s previous comments on the application in practice of section 14 of the CAL(P&R) Act concerning violations regarding the employment of children and young persons, the Government states that according to “Crime in India, 2021”, a publication of the National Crime Records Bureau, 772, 476 and 613 cases were recorded in 2019, 2020 and 2021 respectively under the CAL(P&R) Act. In 2021, 151 cases were convicted and 197 cases were disposed-of by the courts. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the application in practice of section 14 of the CAL(P&R) Act concerning violations regarding the employment of children and young persons, including the number of violations recorded as well as the types of penalties imposed.

Labour inspection. The Committee notes that the Government report does not contain any information with regard to the measures taken by the labour inspectorate and District Nodal Officers in identifying and combating child labour and lacks statistical information on the number of violations of child labour detected. It however notes the information from the official website of the Ministry of Labour and Employment that according to the current statistics, a total of 198,272 children were identified as involved in child labour since the launch of PENCIL (an online Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour), in September 2017. The Committee requests the Governmentto provide information on the functioning of the labour inspectorate and District Nodal Officers in identifying and combating child labour. It also requests the Government to provide statistical information on the number and nature of violations of child labour provisions detected by the labour inspectors, and penalties applied as well as the number of complaints on child labour received through the PENCIL Portal and dealt with by the District Nodal Officers.