The children of today are the future of tomorrow; this powerful statement assumes special significance in our context as children (0-14 years) comprise one third of the total population in the country. Every child, on provision of a conducive and an enabling environment, may blossom into an ever fragrant flower, to shine in all spheres of life. This reminds us of the onerous responsibility that we have to mould and shape their present conditions in the best possible way. However, even today, after six decades of independence and despite various initiatives both on the legal as well as policy and programme levels, the condition of children remains a cause of concern in the country. The statistics emanating from various censuses, surveys and administrative records underlines this.

Child labour is a concrete manifestation of violations of a range of rights of children and is recognized as a serious and enormously complex social problem in India. Working children are denied their right to survival and development, education, leisure and play, and adequate standard of living, opportunity for developing personality, talents, mental and physical abilities, and protection from abuse and neglect. Notwithstanding the increase in the enrolment of children in elementary schools and increase in literacy rates since 1980s, child labour continues to be a significant phenomenon in India.

Who is a Child Labour?

There is no agreement on the definitions of a ‘child'. According to article 1 of UNCRC (United Nation's Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989), “A child means every human being below the age of 18 years unless, under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.” The definition of the child as given by the UNCRC has definite bearing not only on child development programmes and on budgetary provisions for them, but also on production of statistics as applicable to different cross sections of children in terms of reference ages.

A child domiciled in India attains majority at the age of 18 years. However, various legal provisions address children with differing definitions. The age-groups of 0-14 years, 15-59 years and 60 and above years form a commonly accepted standard in reporting demographic indicators. The child related legal and constitutional provisions are kept in view while statistics are generated for different cross-sections of children that align with specific age-groups standing for specific target groups of children such as, child labourers, children in school education, children in crimes, etc.