Cabinet nod to changes in Child Labour Act, under-14 can work in family business

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved amendments to the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986, which will pave the way for children below 14 years to work in family enterprises and as artists in audio-visual entertainment industry after school or during vacations.

Barring these exceptions, the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2012 has proposed acomplete ban on employment of children below 14 years in all occupations and processes, an official statement said. The bill will now be presented in the Rajya Sabha during the monsoon session. It has also proposed banning adolescents between 14 and 18 years from working in hazardous occupation and doubling the penalty in case of contravention of the Act.

The amendments seek to align the age of prohibition ofemployment to age under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, which enjoins the state to ensure free and compulsory education to all children in the age group of 6 to 14 years. The Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act ( CLPR Act) 1986 prohibits employment of a child in 18 occupations and 65 processes and regulates the conditions of working of children in other occupations and processes including domestic work, automobile workshops, bidi-making, carpet weaving, handloom and power loom industries and mines.

“Further, CLPR Act is not in conformity with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions 138 and 182, which provide for minimum age of entry into employment and prohibition of employment of persons below 18 years, in work which is likely to harm health, safety and morals,” the statement said. The proposed changes raised the penalty for employing any child or adolescent in contravention of the Act to Rs 50,000 from Rs 20,000 and imprisonment for six months to two years, up from three months to a year.