Author Details-

Name-Deepali 

BALLB (3rd year) 

UILS, Panjab University

ABSTRACT

India is a country with a vast population, where children are born in every single minute. They are considered as the foundation of Human society. As the crimes against children are increasing at rapid rate in the countries, protecting them has become a social responsibility. In the recent years though had developed separate laws for children in India and other countries. One of the most serious crimes against children is Labour, children are forced to do Labour irrespective of their age. Generally, a child in India is considered as a person who is less than 18 years of age, depending upon the countries. During the year of 1989 the UN Convention on the Right of the child stated that child is any individual who is of 18 years. There are around 2 million children living in developing nations out of the 2.2 billion children in the world. Out of all the developing nations, 19% of the world’s children live in India. Additionally, the demographic scale indicates that 42% of the population is children who make up India’s whole population, with 50% of youngsters directly in need of care and protection. Regretfully, over half of the 218 million children who engage in child labor worldwide suffer from its most severe forms. According to the India Census report, there are around 10.13 million children in India between the ages of 5 and 14 and 22.87 million between the ages of 15 and 18 who work as young people. 

This paper deals with child Labour in India along with US and further discusses the legislative framework adopted by both India and US in respect of Child Labour in their respective countries.

KEYWORDS: Child Labour, Law, Crimes, US, India.

WHO IS CONSIDERED AS A CHILD?

In India a person is considered as a child who is below the age of 18. Many legislations have been introduced in respect of children and they define children based on the being addressed in the law. For instance, The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 defines a child as a person who is less than 14 years of age whereas The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 states that a person is considered as a child when he is under 18 years of age. So, the age is not fixed, it is dependent on the law. 

Remonstrating about US, they have also made many legislations regarding children. In US child is defined as a person who is Unmarried and under 21 years of age.

BACKGROUND

Nearly 10 million children worldwide are ensnared in contemporary slavery21. Furthermore, children are frequently separated from their homes with little chance of returning, and most of them work as forced labor in other people’s homes, companies, and on the streets. The most extreme types of exploitation include sexual exploitation, engaging in child pornography, working in unsafe industries where kids are forced to perform risky tasks in mines, and engaging in illicit activities such as prostitution and drug trafficking. In the worst situations, these kids are coerced into labor under threat of harm or death.

India is an underdeveloped country where people were not treated equally, one is discriminated based on their standard of living. In ancient era even children were not treated open mindedly, they were discriminated based on their religion, race, caste, sex. Cautiously India started instituting different legislations for children based on the problem they were facing. The legislations include: –

• The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986
• The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015
• The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006
• The Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986

Whereas in US discrimination based on their ethnicity, language, race is still proceeding. Adolescent along with children face criticism in the society. In US the most evident occupation particularly in Children were Agriculture and handicraft. The United States’ manufacturers needed laborers during the Industrial Revolution so they considered children as the suitable employees They were less inclined to go on strike against their owners and may get lower pay.

Though US had undergone major changes in their Law and had developed legislations to control the subject matter.

WHY CHILD LABOUR?

Child Labour is considered as a global issue as it not only prevents the child from satisfying his potential but it also obstructs their status and education. Child labour in many countries is considered as a serious crime and extensive level of punishment is been given to the accused. Child labour is where children are forced to work in industries or hazardous factories, indulging them in pornography and forcing them to work in drug related and prostitution activities. The central motive of child labour is poverty, illiteracy, and population. It is believed that the greater number of children the more is the money which is wrong. Some families of the children are solely on them for their livelihood and in some rare situation the dreadful situation of the families even leads to sell their children in the child trafficking which is considered as a heinous crime in some countries which in result leads to premature ageing, depression, malnutrition and caused mental, physical, social and moral harm among the children in early age and foremost important is the lack of education due to which the illiteracy rate keeps on increasing. 

PROVISIONS IN INDIA

• Under Indian Constitution– Various provisions Indian constitution explicitly mentions about the children rights, as it aims to protect the rights of every individual and directs states to make such laws. It states that all children have the right to receive education and early childhood care until they become six years old. The government should also make sure that all children between the ages of six and fourteen get free, mandatory education. Furthermore, as stated in the constitution, parents and the state share duty for giving their children between the ages of 6 and 14 access to education. As stipulated by the constitution, children under the age of fourteen are not permitted to work in mines, factories, or other dangerous jobs. Additionally, it has made clear that human trafficking and other types of forced labor are a problem, calling beggars a heinous crime against humanity and promoting laws to outlaw them, which eventually aids in reducing child labor.

• Under Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023- The new Indian criminal system has been introduced in the year 2023 replacing the British colonial criminal laws. Though it does not specifically mention about the provisions for children but includes certain crimes along with their punishment like Any anyone involved in the kidnapping of a juvenile for the purpose of begging or employment faces penalty.
  However, the individual engaging in such actions would face consequences if someone was abducted, severely harmed, or exploited as a slave. BNS also forbids the use of forced labor and stipulates penalties for human trafficking and slavery.

• Alternative legislations- Various other legislations have been initiated by the government in India which includes Child about (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Rules, National Child Labour Policy, The Mines Act, National Authority for Elimination of Child Labour, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan or Education for All Programme and Anganwadi. 

• Indian Judiciary- 

• The Supreme Court ruled in Bachpan Bachao Andolan that children should not be allowed to work in circuses but should instead get compulsory education. Children who are rescued from such circuses should also be rehabilitated in Care and Protection Homes until they turn eighteen. 
• In M.C. Mehta v. State of Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court prohibited minors from working in the match and fireworks production operations, with the exception that they could only assist with packing and should not be allowed near the manufacturing area. The court also emphasized the value of education for kids up until the age of 14, and that there should be a balance struck between their school and job schedules so that none should interfere with the other.                                                           
• In Bandhua Mukti Morcha v. Union of India, decided a year later, the Supreme Court reiterated the rulings made in the M.C. Mehta case and talked about the importance of putting them into effect right away. Additionally, it stated that government policies have to guarantee health examinations, wholesome meals, a wholesome atmosphere, and mandatory education for every child.

PROVISIONS IN US 

• The Senate legislated a indigenous correction in 1924 that proscribed child labor, but it was no way ratified since there was not a state majority. The Fair Labour norms Act, one of the main civil laws in the United States that forbids child labor, was eventually approved in 1938. 
• The civil frame that the USA adheres to gives the countries the power to legislate their own laws. As a result, child labor is governed by a limited number of civil regulations, and work by minors and adolescents is controlled independently at the civil and state situations. The United States Department of Labor oversees the country’s child labor regulations. 
• The Beet Sugar Act- The Act forbids the employment of minors under the age of 14 in the civilization and harvesting of sugar club and sugar beets. also, it says that children between the periods of 14 and 16 should not work longer than eight hours a day, and if 

 a planter violates these conditions, his weal payments may be withheld. 

• The Children’s Act for Responsible Employment (CARE Act)- The CARE Act was introduced to amend the Fair Labour norms Act, 1938 by evolving the description of rough child labour and revised the immunity given under the 1938 Act. It further states that the U.S. Secretary of Labour should determine particular type of ranch work which can be safe enough for children between 14 and 15 times of age. also, it requires that the children below 18 times should be confined from engaging in dangerous ranch work and their employment should be banned particularly in fungicides handling jobs. 

• The Occupational Safety and Health Act- It’s a general law that was legislated with the intention of covering hand health and icing their safety and protection at work. This Act ensures the protection of all workers, including minors to everyone, despite the fact that it contains no particular clauses pertaining to children’s protection.

US Judiciary-

• In the historic McLaughlin v. Stineco case, the court ruled that it is illegal to hire minors between the ages of 14 and 16 to do roofing labor, which is deemed dangerous by the Labor Secretary. 
• In Perez v. Buffet, an employer was accused of breaking the FLSA’s rules pertaining to minimum wage and child labor overtime in a restaurant. The Court had imposed severe sanctions, including liquidated damages, for breaking the terms of FLSA. 

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Child labor is a problem that both the US and India have been addressing. Both have made actions to address this issue at different levels, which are compiled and examined as follows: –

• In order to eradicate and prevent children from engaging in hazardous child labor, the Indian government, in partnership with the US government, launched the INDUS Project124 initiative in 21 Indian districts. It is important to remember that the USA has worked with a number of different developing nations to end the most severe forms of child labor, but it hasn’t taken any steps to do the same in its own nation. 

• In both the countries the children were working particularly in agricultural fields. Both the countries have taken safety measures to prevent such children from such hazardous activities but such practice in US is becoming aggravated as the United States has laws to prevent child labor, but they are written in a way that permits children to work for an indefinite amount of time. Paradoxically, US laws that forbid child labor actually allow it in one way or other. Since several age groups of children have been prescribed, they are able to operate within the specified parameters. 

• India has implemented several child labor regulations at both the federal and state levels to end the issue nationwide via coordinated, uniform efforts by the federal government and the states. However, the United States has very few federal laws, and the independence has been granted to states so they can enact their own laws. Therefore, the United States lacks sufficient federal legislation to address this issue consistently throughout all of its states.

• Due to the rising severity of the problem of child labor, international organizations were forced to implement laws and initiatives aimed at eradicating this pervasive social ill. The laws that deal with it that are the most important and precise consist of the Worst Form Convention, MAC, and UNCRC. The USA has only ratified the Worst Form Convention; the other two have not yet been approved by the US. In contrast, India has signed and ratified all three agreements. This demonstrates unequivocally that perhaps the US does not want to address the problem of child labor. 

CONCLUSION AND PREVENTIVE MEASURES 

The problem of child labour prevails almost in every single country whether developing or under developed. Though countries have now started developing different preventive measures along with legislations to combat the serious issue of Child Labour in the counties. India has enacted several laws and policies, but they have not been adequately enforced, in contrast to America, which has few laws addressing child labor. Thus, both nations require a well-balanced set of laws and their execution to eradicate child labor from our population.

Subsequent are the suggestions which should be embraced to reconcile the issue of Child Labour: –

• Adopting a uniform definition of who is considered as child is necessary since various laws define children differently, which further contributes to uncertainty or confusion.
• The government should take disciplinary action against employers that use children in dangerous jobs, and severely penalize those who engage children in the worst types of child labor, such as prostitution, modern-day slavery, etc.
• Poverty is the main obstacle to children’s growth, which leads to child labor. Therefore, the government should offer respectable employment options to adults and parents of children as well as implement programs to reduce poverty. 
• Providing educational facilities to both the children and parents will reduce child labour specifically if the educational institutions are providing free meals to the impoverished children.
• The legislation framework should be made strong enough to protect children from hazardous activities and imposition of strict penalties for the offenders should be adopted.
• Awareness programs must be started commenced to fade away the issue of child labour worldwide.