Employing child below 14 can now land you in jail for 2 years

‘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. 

The Bill, which was passed by Lok Sabha on Tuesday, defines children between 14-18 years as adolescents and lays down that they should not be employed in any hazardous occupations and processes. This bill was passed by Rajya Sabha on July 19.

It provides for enhanced punishment for violators. The penalty for employing a child has been increased to imprisonment between 6 months and two years (from 3 months to one year) or a fine of Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000 (from Rs 10,000-20,000) or both.

The second time offence will attract imprisonment of one year to three years from the earlier 6 months and two years.

According to provisions of the Bill, no child should be employed in any occupation or process except where he or she helps his family after school hours or helps his family in fields, home based work, forest gathering or attends technical institutions during vacations for the purpose of learning.

Labour and Employment Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said the bill is a “historic” and “landmark” legislation which seeks to totally prohibit children below 14 years to indulge in all occupation and processes except where the child helps his family after school hours.

The Bill has proposed stricter punishment and higher monetary penalty, he said, adding it is going to be deterrent and violation would be made a cognisable offence. 

In the bill, the number of ‘occupations’ and ‘processes’ where child labour is banned has been reduced from 83 to 31.

Underlining that the Act will be applicable for both organised and unorganised sectors, Dattatreya said, “Awareness (about the law) is more important. Participation of NGOs and trade unions are also necessary.”

Defending exemptions provided in the legislation for the entertainment industry, the minister said they have been put in place to ensure that the law can be more practical.

“We have also linked the provisions with the RTI Act...The Bill also aims to ensure that children go to school,” he added.

“I have taken a balanced approach... Safeguards are also in place,” he added. Responding to members’ concern about the definition of ‘family’ in the Bill, the Minister said it has been done to ensure that no child is exploited.

Emphasising that enforcement activities are good, Dattatreya said in the last five years, as many as 10 lakh inspections have been conducted under the Act and around 26,000 violations were caught.

He said he had discussions with various entities, including the organisation of Nobel Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi while preparing the bill.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said the Bill brought by the previous government in 2012 was fine and the present one has diluted many provisions, which he termed as “derogatory”.

Taking a dig, he said Dattatreya is bringing such a bill by falling into the “web” of RSS and BJP.

Kharge demanded that certain clauses in the Bill, including those related to government having powers for deciding hazardous industries, should be deleted.

“If amendments are brought, those should be for improvement... If there are regressive steps, then why are they being brought,” he wondered.

Just before the Bill was passed, Left party members walked out. Saying that the Bill was against children, BJD member Tathagata Satpathy said he was also walking out. 

New Delhi: A UN body today has expressed serious concern over the changes made in India’s child labour law which allows children to work in family enterprises and reduction of hazardous professions, saying it could lead to more children working in unregulated conditions.