Peer-reviewed article
Protecting Children from Exploitation: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Child Labour Provisions in India
Mohd Usman ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study evaluates how well India's child labour laws are working in practice. Despite having strong laws like the 2016 Child and Adolescent Labour Amendment Act, the researchers found that only 8% of identified child labourers are successfully helped to attend school instead. The main problems are weak enforcement by authorities, ambiguous laws that allow exceptions, poverty, and poor access to education. The authors recommend stronger policy enforcement, digital monitoring systems, better educational access, and financial support for poor families.
Key points
- Only 8% of identified children engaged in child labour are successfully mainstreamed into education
- The 'family enterprise' exception in legislation allows child labour to continue legally in family businesses
- Weak enforcement machinery and inadequate resources for monitoring are critical failures in implementation
- Deep-seated poverty and lack of quality education access are root causes enabling child labour to persist
- Solutions require collaboration between government, NGOs, and communities with real-time digital monitoring and socio-economic support
Limitations
The study is primarily analytical and based on field data from rescue operations and NGO reports, so it may not capture the full scope of child labour across India or provide representative prevalence data. The document does not present a controlled evaluation comparing different enforcement or intervention approaches.
Abstract
Child labour remains a persistent challenge in India, depriving many children engaged in agricultural, industrial, and domestic work of their education and a secure childhood. Despite the enactment of a robust legal framework, including the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016 (CLPRA), effective implementation is critically constrained by deep-seated poverty, inadequate access to quality education, and legislative compromises. This paper critically evaluates the effectiveness of existing child labour provisions, arguing that the primary failure lies in the systemic weakness of the enforcement machinery and legislative ambiguity, particularly the 'family enterprise' exception. Drawing upon direct, first-hand insights from rescue operations and quantifiable data from grassroots organisations, the analysis highlights that only 8% of identified children are successfully mainstreamed. The paper argues that eradicating child labour requires a rights-based, collaborative approach involving strengthened policy enforcement, real-time digital monitoring, improved educational access, and targeted socio-economic support for vulnerable families. Achieving social transformation in India hinges on this commitment, which aligns directly with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This socio-legal study combines doctrinal analysis of statutes and case law with field-validated qualitative data from rescue operations and NGO reports, and concludes with targeted recommendations for legislative reform, strengthened digital monitoring, and expanded rehabilitation financing (Author’s field data; Ministry reports).