194

THE GAZETTE OF IND1A : EXTRAORDINARY

[PART 1—SEC. 1]

MINISTRY OF LABOUR

RESOLUTION

New Delhi, the 13 th March, 1981

S.27025/9/80-CL:— Government of India has constituted a Committee on Child Labour vide their Resolution No. S-27025/6/

78-FAC dated 6/7th February, 1979. The Committee submitted its report on the 29th December, 1979. The recommendations of the

Committee were considered by the Government and the decisions of the Government thereon are shown in the Appendix.

APPENDIX

Summary of the recommendations and decisions taken

Recommendations of tne Committee on Child Labour

5 1 The Committee would wish to underline that all future action in respect of

child labour would depend very much on how intensively occupations in

which children are employed are studied and remedial action determined

thereafter. Accordingly, it recommends more studies to be sponsored in

this regard to gather information and data about workingchildren and their

working conditions. This task should be spearheaded by the Ministry of

Labour which should have an appropriate cell to sponsor such studies in

consultation with the Department of Social Welfare, and other concerned

Ministries and to coordinate further action (Paras 1.21, 1.22 and 2.7),

5 2 The Committee recognises that a multiple policy approach is necessary in

dealing witktheproblcmsofworkingchildrcn.

They have to beseen dis-

tinctly in thecategoricsof wage earning employment; as paid family workers;

as apprentices in traditional to crafts and as working and schooling. Each

specific category lias itsown peculiar problems which need to be attended to

comprehensively. (Para 2.16).

5 % The Committee recommends constitution of Advisory Boards both at the

Central and at State levels to keep aconstantsurveillanceon the problems of

working children. These Boards should have representatives of Govern-

ment as well as those of voluntary organisations and trade unions. The

Boards should have the powers and resources to undertake investigative

studios and surveys to locate the specific areas where regulation of child

labour is called for. It should also review periodically the results of the

implementation of the existing legislation and a rcpo ii on the working of the

advisory boards should be placed on the Table of the House for Parliament

or Assembly, as the case may bo (para 3 .163),

Decision of Government

Accepted.

Accepted with the modifications that the Advisory

Boards should only function in an advisory capacity

and the executive responsibility for implementing the

recommendations of the Boards would rcsl wiih the

Government concerned.

195

Recommendations of the Committee on Child Labour

5.4 The Committee is of the view that ths minimum age should be prescribed

for the children for entering any employment. Tt accordingly recommends

that the minimum age for entry into any employment should be 15 years and

that the existing laws which prescribe an age lower than this should be sui-

tably amended. Correspondingly, the age for adolescents should be specified

as between 15 and 18 years (para 3.156 and 3 ,157).

5.5 The Committee is strongly of the view that there w a paramount need for

aa urgont action on the part of the Government to bring into a proper focus

the laws relating to employment of children. To avoid any ambiguity in

respect of the basic objectives, the Committee recommends that the existing

laws relating to prohibition and regulation of employment df children should

be consolidated into a single comprehensive one. The new legislation

should adopt uniform definitions of the expressions of Child' and 'adoles-

ciiit'au.l prescribe the "hours' of'work', 'condition of work', etc. The new

law should also have flexibility of extending gradually the provisions con-

tained therein to other occupations, such as mechanised agriculture, horti-

culture, forestry, fisheries etc. (para 4.1491.

5.6 The Committee recommends that concerted steps be taken within five

years to achieve the objective of providing minimum educational qualifica-

tion, say eighth standard or equivalent for entry into any regulated employ-

ment (paras 3.154 and 4).

5,7 Tho Committee strongly urges that serious attention be given towards

strongthenjng tho existing machinery for enforcement of legislation relating

to employment of children and that duo rccogrition should alno be given in

this regard to the role of voluntary agencies and trade union (para 3.159).

5.8 Th; C)mnittei r«;ommvxds to th~ Givertimsni to initiate dialogue with

the trade unions at an early date so that some institutional framework

could bs evolved for ensuring collective bargaining in rospect of the needs

of working children (para 3.160).

5.9 The Committco recommends that the penalty provided In the existing laws

for violation of provisions relating to child labour should be made more de-

terrent. The punishment for the first offence should be imprisonment which

may extend to one year or fine extending to Rs. 2090/- or both. In the case

of s« i l l or coV.i i '.ling offence, the penalty should bo only imprisonment and

that, too, upto two years (para 3.161).

5.10 The Committee recommends to tho Planning Commission to work out the

fusibility of taking away all children below the age of 15 years from the la-

bour market in or Jir to find employmsnt for the unemployed able-bodied

persons, between the age group of 15 and 59 in the country, and to work out

a cost benefit analysis of this proposition (para 4,2).

5,11 While accelerated efforts are necessary in national planning to improve

th; earnings of adult workers, the Committee feels that stricter enforcement

of the Minimum Wages Act needs to bo ensured. In this regard greater

participation should be sought of the entire administrative machinery, (para

.4.4).

5.12 The Committee feels that a more meaningful and effective educational

policy is called for to take into account the following;—

(a) change of curriculum and integration of educational requirements with

local crafts;

(b) greater involvement of voluntary agencies;

coincide with environmental requirements (paras 4.5 and 4.6).

Decision of Government

The Committee was of the opinion that the time is not

ripe for accepting this recommendation.

Accepted. Subject to the remarks against Para 5.4.

The Committee felt that although the objectives of pro-

viding education for all the children was desirable,

it might not be practicable to achieve this objective

within five years and that it might not also be desirable

to prescribe such qualification for all employments.

The Committee, therefore, decided to accept the re-

commendation with modifications. The modified

recommendations as accepted by the Committee

reads as follows:—

"Steps be taken to achieve the objective of provi-

ding minimum educational qualifications, say eighth

standard or equivalent."

Accepted.

It was agreed that tho Institute of Applied Manpower

Research might be requested to conduct the study.

Accepted,

The representative of the Ministry of Education informed

that the 3 points raised in these recommendations

had already been endorsed by that Ministry for adpp-

tion. Specific details of various programmes which

the Ministry was undertaking in line with these reoom-

m;adations for inclusion in sixth five year plan were

also given by him. The members of the Empowered

Committee however underlined that the Ministry of

Education should also seek involvement of various

other concerned Ministries and Agencies while for-

mulating the details of these schemes.

1445 GI/80—2

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THE GAZETTE OF INDIA : EXTRAORDINARY

[PART I—SEC. 1J

Recommendations of the Committee on Child Labour

5.13 The Committee would also underline more comprehensive statutory pro-

visions for providing educational facilities for child workers and to include

education as a part of labour welfare measures to be adopted by employers.

11 recommends arrangements for non-formal education in areas where there

1 s concentration of working children (paras 4,9 and 4.8).

5.14 The Committee recommends that in rural areas, creches child-care cen-

tres should be established at the school premises, or at the community cen-

tres, so as to encourage girls who have to take care of young siblings in the

family to attend schools. This arrangement would also be of great help to

working parents, (para 4.7).

5. 15 The Committee underlircs the need for periodical medical check-ups to

be linked with national health schemes in respect of child workers,

(para 4.10).

5.16 The Committee feels that constant attention needs to be paid to keep the

working environment hygkmically free especially in places where children

are employed, (para 4,11).

5. J7 Supplementary nutrition is to be provided to working children by the em-

ployers who could be given suitable subsidy for this programme. The possi-

bility of imposing a cess or alternatively, to allow concessions in taxes etc. to

employers who undertake to implement the schemes as envisaged above, and

other welfare schemes, needs to be considered seriously, (paras 4.12 and 4.9)

5.18 Greater emphasis is needed on housing schemes and provisions of basic

amenities in areas in which large number of children are working (para 4.13).

5.19 More library and read ing facilities linked with special teaching classes for

working children need to be established fa selective areas (para 4,14).

5.20 Arrangements for recreational and cultural activities should be provided

in areas in which there are large number of working children (paia 4.15).

5.21 The Committee recommends effective enforcement of the Apprentices

Act and the setting up of separate vocational guidance clinics and employ-

ment bureaus for children (para 4,17).

5.22 The Committoe also underlines the need for a more systematic effort for

identification of hazardous occupations and for detecting occupational disea-

ses and their treatment. There arc several areas both in the organised and

unorganised sectors where children are exposed to serious hazards, but no

efforts have so far been made to regulate their employment (paras 3.162 &.

4.20).

5.23 The Commltteo recommends a more purposeful effort on the part of tho

madia to create greater social consciousness in respect of evils of child labour

(para 4.21).

Decision of Government

The Committee felt that it is not feasible to make any

statutory provisions in

labour laws for providing

educational facilities to child workers, but that the

employers should be otherwise encouraged to include

education to such workers as a part of labour welfare

measures. The Committee accepted the recommenda-

tion for suitable arrangements being made for non-

formal education in areas where there is concentration

of working children.

The Committee agreed with the general spirit behind this

recommendation. It, however, felt that the actual

modalities for developing such facilities should be

considered in greater detail by the Ministry of Social

Welfare in consultation with all other Ministries and

agencies.

The representative of the Ministry of Health infermed

that there was no national health scheme as such but

medical facilities were providod to the citizens as per

the programme decided by the Central and State

Governments. The Committee felt that the recommen-

dations underlined an area of neglect and that it was

necessary to undertake implementation of specific

health schemes both preventive and curative parti-

cularly in areas in which there is large concentration of

child workers.

Accepted.

The Committee underlined that suitable encouragement

should be given to employers to implement such pro-

grammes.

The recommendation was accepted after the clarification

that the housing schemes would be for parents parti-

cularly in areas where there were large number of child

workers so that the parents should have a healthy

environment for their living.

Accepted.

The Committee did not support the idea of separate

employment exchanges for children. It however

accepted that the enforcement of the Apprentices Act

should be made more effective and vocational guidance

facilities should be made available for children of the

age of 14 and above.

The Committee accepted the recommendation in principle

and also decided that for identifying the hazardous

occupations, the Indian Institute of Health and Occu-

pational Diseases and DGFASLI may be asked to

conduct a study.

This recommendation was accepted in principle.

R. K. A. SUBRAHMANYA, Addl. Secy.

MINTED BY THB MANAGES, GOVT. OP INDIA PRESS, WNO ROAD, NEW DELHI-110064

AND PUBLISHED 1Y THE O0NT*OLLH» OF FUBLICATIONi, DELHI-110054,

1981