ISAS Insights

The Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Amendment Bill of 2012 was passed in Lok Sabha on 26 July 2016 amidst deep controversies surrounding the Bill. The new Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act of 2016 aims at amending the existing Child Labour Act of 1986, which prohibits the employment of children below the age of 14 years in certain types of occupations and regulates the working conditions in several others. It seeks to forbid employment of children below 14 years in all occupations except where they help their families in their free time, as well as to outlaw the employment of those between the age group of 15 to 18 years in certain hazardous occupations. On one hand, the amended Act balances the need for basic income with the need for an extra income, and on the other, it underestimates the adverse consequences of child labour for poverty alleviation in India.