Question : Child Labour

(a) whether despite enactment of various statutes, the menace of child labour still persists and if so, the reaction of the Government thereto;
(b) the details of vocations/sectors vulnerable to employ child labour;
(c) whether any surprise raids/checking have been conducted to unearth child labour and if so, the details thereof;
(d) the total number of cases registered under the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 during the last three years and the current year; and
(e) whether any action has been taken against the guilty and also against the officials for not fulfilling their responsibility of checking child labour and if so, the details thereof, State-wise during the above period?

MINISTER OF STATE (IC) FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
(SHRI BANDARU DATTATREYA)

(a) to (e): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 186 RAISED BY SHRI RAM TAHAL CHOUDHARY AND SHRI PRATAPRAO JADHAV FOR ANSWER ON 03.08.2015 REGARDING CHILD LABOUR

(a) : The total number of working children in the age group of 5-14 years in the country has declined from 1.26 crore as per the Census 2001 to 43.53 lakh as per Census 2011. The Government has taken multi-pronged action to eradicate child labour in the country.

(b): Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 prohibits the employment of children below 14 years of age in 18 occupations and 65 processes and regulates the working condition of children in employment where they are not prohibited. As per 2001 Census, the details of the number of children found employed in the Occupation/ Processes prohibited is given at Annexure-I.

(c): Central Government is the appropriate Government for enforcement of the Act in respect of Central Government establishments, railways, major ports, mines or oil fields and in all other cases, State Government is the appropriate Government for implementation of the Act. The appropriate Government may appoint Inspectors for the purposes of securing compliance with the provisions of the Act. As per the information received by the Ministry so far, the total number of inspections in Central and State sphere under Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 during the last three years i.e. 2012, 2013 and 2014 were 189018, 219085 and 175709 respectively.

(d) & (e): As per the information furnished from various States so far, the total number of violations, prosecutions and convictions against the guilty under Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 during the last three years, State-wise is given at Annexure-II.