CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA
(Labour Files - January 1997)
Estimates of child workers Worldwide
Data on child workers is virtually non-existent. A recent survey by the International labour organisation showed 73 million children aged 10 to 14 work. The survey, however, did not cover all countries - for example, China and all industrialised nations were not included. Also, not all categories of child workers were counted by the survey.
In all, if children under 14 who are economically active were included, the figure would rise to around 250 million. And if those who carry water for the family were counted, the total would jump to 400 million. Other child workers are hidden from the statistician's view, particularly girls doing domestic work; their numbers would push the total still higher .
Magnitude of Child Labour in India
The estimates on the magnitude of child labour in India vary:
- 13.6 million - The 1981 Census
- 17.36 million - The Planning Commission, 1983
- 44 million - The Operation Research Group, Baroda, 1983.
- 20 million - Labour Minister, August 1994, when he announced a plan to liberate 20 million children working in hazardous employment.
All these estimates fall short of the actual figure for a number of reasons like multiplicity of defenitions, different methods of computation, diverse sources of data, lack of information on the vast unorganised sector of the economy which, in fact, employs most children and non inclusion of domestic workers.
There are some recent estimates which are based on the number of families living below the poverty line:
- 111 million - The Balai Data Bank, Manila. If nearly half of the India's over 800 million population lives in poverty, the number of working children in India is likely to be over 100 million.
- 77 million - Commission on Labour Standards and International Trade, Government of India, 1995. Estimate c˜mputed on the basis of families living below the poverty line. Campaign Against Child Labour, based on the number of non school going children and families living in destituton.
- 70-80 million - Campaign Against Child Labour, based on the number of non-school going children and families living in destitution.
 |
Home page |