Problem of child labour in Punjab: a case study of Sangrur and Barnala districts

Abstract

The problem of child labour is global phenomenon, even today it is not confined to the Third World Countries. It is more or less prevalent everywhere in the world, the difference, if any is only of degree or kind. Hypotheses 1. Child labour in Punjab is prevalent in almost all sectors of unorganized sector of economy including agriculture, households, brick kiln and carpet weaving because of their availability at low wages. 2. Many legislative measures and strategies were adopted to provide protection to children and impart education. The efforts to eliminate child labour and achieve universalisation of primary education have utterly failed in the country. 3. In India in the early stages of the development process, the incidence of child labour is noticed as a symptom of poverty and structural changes in the economy. The government directed its policies towards accelerating the transition process by development efforts to check the growing child labour. But problem could not be tackled due to wide-spread illiteracy and poverty. 4. The legislative measures have failed to eliminate child labour even from hazardous occupations. Research Methodology The data for the present study was collected through primary as well as secondary sources. The primary sources include Annual Reports of Ministry of Labour, parliamentary debates on enactment of child Labour Legislations like Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, the Commissions for Protection of Children Act, 2005 and Right to Education Act, 2009 etc. The secondary sources include books, articles published in journals and newspapers. As the child labour is available in different professions as household servants, Brick kiln, Carpet Weaving, Dhabhas, shops, agriculture etc. So a list of professions was prepared, where the children are working in maximum numbers. The study has been divided into eight chapters. 1. Introduction 2. Gravity of Child Labour in India 3. Profile of Sangrur and Barnala Districts