A Critical Analysis of Child Labour in India

Child labour is a serious problem from many decades and a challenge for many developing countries. It has existed over the centuries not only in the impoverished areas of developing countries but also in developed countries until the beginning of the 20th century. Many countries have enacted various laws and have taken serious initiative to eradicate child labour, yet still the problem is very widespread throughout the world. The problem of child labour appears in severe form and various factors are involved with it. The causes for the incidence of child labour in India are complex and deeply rooted into the society. Poverty seems to be the main cause. Child labour can be found in both urban and rural areas. However the vast majority of child labour occurs in rural areas since poverty is more rampant. Although many poor rural families struggle for a better life in urban areas, this pushes families to force their children to work in order to increase the family income and ensure survival. This paper analysis the various responsible factors for child labour and attempts to find out those areas where there is discrimination in child labour. In addition the objective of this paper is to make a critical analysis of child labour in India. The findings reveal that child labour was a serious evil for the developing country -India. But now as per census report 2011, The total number of working children in the country has declined from 1.26 crore as per the census 2001 to 43.53 lakh as per census 2011 which shows 65 percent reduction.