Policy document
CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS - AN ASSESSMENT
T SUBRAMANI ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This document assesses child labour in India and its relationship to the Sustainable Development Goals. It defines child labour as employment that exploits minors and prevents school attendance or harms their development. The document identifies that over 75% of Indians are farmers and argues that income-generation schemes like MGNREGA and agro-based enterprises are needed to reduce child labour and poverty. It recommends prioritizing law enforcement, coordinated policies, free education, and rehabilitation of child labourers by 2025.
Key points
- Child labour in India prevents school attendance and harms children's mental, physical, social, and moral development
- Over 75% of Indians are farmers, making large-scale income strategies essential to reduce child labour
- MGNREGA and women's self-help groups with microfinance are proposed as mechanisms to eradicate child labour in rural areas by 2025
- Governments must prioritize law enforcement, coordinated policies, and labour rights to address the issue
- Free education, rescuing and rehabilitating child labourers, and stronger public policy are identified as essential interventions
Limitations
This document is a policy assessment or advocacy piece rather than an empirical study, so it cannot provide evidence about the actual effectiveness of proposed interventions. It does not include data on the current scale of child labour in India or measurable outcomes from existing programmes.
Abstract
Child labour refers to the exploitation of minors through any type of employment that robs them of their youth, prevents them from attending a regular school, or is detrimental to their mental, physical, social, or moral development. Child labour enriches minors and infringes their rights. MGNREGA lacks funding but offers unskilled labour. By utilizing women's self-help groups and microfinance, UBIS hopes to eradicate child labour in rural areas by 2025. Prioritizing knowledge production and evidence translation, rescuing and rehabilitating labourers, and implementing free education are essential. By 2025, governments have to prioritize law enforcement, coordinated policies, and small labour rights. Over 75% of Indians are farmers, and large-scale income strategies like MGNREGA and agro-based enterprises are needed to reduce child labour and poverty. By 2025, UBIS, increased budgets, social safety nets, and stronger public policy are needed.