NATIONAL CHILD LABOUR POLICY 1987

Government recognized the need to protect child labour from exploitation and from being subjected to work in hazardous conditions that endanger such children's physical and mental development, and the need to ensure the health and safety of children at the workplace. It recognized that they should be protected from excessively long working hours and from night work, that work even in non-hazardous occupations should be regulated, and all working children should be provided with sufficient weekly rest periods and holidays. The programme of action plan under the national child labour policy comprises:

-          a legislative action plan

-          focussing on general development programmes for benefiting child labour

-          Project- based action plans in area of high concentration of child labour engaged in wage/quasi- wage employment

The legislative action plan

It envisages the strict enforcement of the provisions of the child labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 and other related legislation. A Child labour Technical Advisory committee had been set up to advise the central Government on addition and processes to the schedule contained in the child labour (prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986. In Tamilnadu, a state level Advisory board for child labour had been constituted under the chairmanship of the Labour Minister.

Focussing on General Development Programming for Benefiting Child Labour:

 In order to successfully rehabilitate child labour withdrawn from employment and to reduce the incidence of child labour progressively, the environment of the child needs to be focused. The on going development programmes in the areas of education, health, nutrition, integrated child development, and the anti-poverty programmes are utilized for the benefit of the child and his family, and this will diminish the compulsions to send the children to work. Children will be encouraged to attend school rather than take up wage employment. 

Area specific projects:

In the areas known to have high concentration of child labour project based approach has been adopted for identification, withdrawal and rehabilitation of working children. The National Child Labour Projects (NCLP) were launched for the first time in 1988 in areas of high concentration of child labour. The NCLPs are area-specific; time bound projects where priority is given to the withdrawal and rehabilitation of children engaged in hazardous employment.

The main objective of the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) is to eliminate the prevalence of child labour in this country. The components of the running of the NCLP are

(i)                   Enforcement of the Child labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, the Factories Act, 1948, the Mines Act, 1952 and such other acts within the project area.

(ii)                 Coverage of families of child labour under the income/employment generating programmes under the over aegis of anti poverty programmes.

(iii)                Formal and non-formal education for child labour in hazardous employments. Also, a stepped -up programme of Adult education

        (Including non formal education) of the parents of the working parents.

(iv)               Setting up of special schools for child workers together with provision of vocational education/training in such special schools, supplementary nutrition, and stipend to the children taken out from the prohibited employments and health care for all the children attending at such special schools

(v)                 Creating awareness among the different target groups in the society through governmental and non-governmental organizations to raise their consciousness on the issue of child labour.

(vi)               Survey of child labour in the project areas and also evaluate the progress of the project periodically.  

In the year 1994, a National Authority on Elimination of Child Labour was constituted under the Chairmanship by Union Labour Minister with Secretaries of nine Departments of Government of India concerned with Child Labour. In Tamilnadu State Authority on Child Labour was constituted under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary. A State Monitoring Committee on Child Labour has been constituted to monitor the National Child Labour Projects in the State.