Lok Sabha passes bill prohibiting employment of any child below the age of 14

'The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill' makes employment of children below 14 years as cognizable offence for employers and provides for penalty for parents.

News | 25 July 2016
On 25 July 2016, The Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2012, was approved by the Lok Sabha during the monsoon session of the Parliament.

The ILO welcomes Minister Dattatreya’s, Labour and Employment, unequivocal reassurance that both the ILO Conventions  Convention No. 138 on minimum age 1973, and Convention No. 182 on the worst forms on child labour,1999, will be ratified. This will bring India into the ambit of the regular supervisory mechanisms and provide opportunities for further improvements.

The ILO now looks forward to the ratification of the Conventions and working with the Indian Government, social partners, civil society and other actors in ensuring that children benefit from the protection of the law.

The ILO welcomes the Amendment to the Child Labour Act. It helps make the Indian law be more in line with the International Labour Conventions No. C138 on Minimum Age to Employment and C182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour. Significantly, the amended Act will establish a general minimum age for employment that is consistent with the age for compulsory education, and it will raise the minimum age for hazardous work to 18 years from the current 14 years. India presently has no minimum age for employment.

The ILO has been in dialogue with the Government of India and has highlighted areas that may need to be further clarified. These are also some of the ones that were highlighted in Lok Sabha and concern ‘family enterprises’ and the scope of hazardous work. Some of these gaps can be addressed in the process of application of the Act, for instance through implementing regulations, or they may be considered for improvements in view of the comparative labour law practices.