New child labour bill: Pre-teens can ‘help’ family, can’t be employed

Giving employment to a child below 14 years of age in any occupation or processes except where the child helps his family will now invite a imprisonment of up to two years under the provisions of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill which was passed by Parliament on Tuesday.

The legislation makes employment of children below 14 years as a cognisable offence for employers and provides for penalty for parents. It was passed by the Lok Sabha on Tuesday while the Rajya Sabha had already passed it last week. It defines children between 14-18 years as adolescents and lays down that they should not be employed in any hazardous occupations and processes.

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 to 20,000) or both. A second time offence will attract imprisonment of one to three years from the earlier 6 months and two years.

According to 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 learning.

The labour and employment minister, Bandaru Dattatreya, while replying to the discussion on the legislation in Lok Sabha 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 that it is going to be deterrent and violation would be made a cognisable offence.