What is Child and Adolescent Labour Act

What are Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986

The Act prohibits private, government, or semi-government companies, organizations, civil departments, or child’s family from employing a Child or Adolescent in any occupation or process, intended to aid his family or guardian.

The Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986  is a Law enacted on 23 December 1986 by the Parliament of India and Ministry of Labour and Employment.  Any occupier or employer caught doing such a thing in which a child is being used as a Labourer, is regarded as a serious offensive crime.

 

What does the act Say?

Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill 2016 was passed by Rajya Sabha on 20 July 2016. as per the Child labor act, a child is defined as any person below the age of 14, prohibits employment of a child in any employment including as domestic help -But everything comes with an exception. This law is an exception to family-owned businesses and child actors (s).

 

The objective of the Law

There are a number of Acts that prohibit the employment of children below 14 years and 15 years in certain specified employments. However, there is no procedure laid down in any law for deciding in which employments, occupations or processes the employment of children should be banned. There is also no law to regulate the working conditions of children in most of the employments where they are not prohibited from working and are working under exploitative conditions.

What does the Act intend to

(i) ban the employment of children, i.e. those who have not completed their fourteenth year, in specified occupations and processes;

(ii) lay down a procedure to decide modifications to the Schedule of banned occupations or processes;

(iii) regulate the conditions of work of children in employments where they are not prohibited from working;

(iv) lay down enhanced penalties for employment of children in violation of the provisions of this Act, and other Acts which forbid the employment of children;

(v) To obtain uniformity in the definition of “child” in the related laws.

 

Whom does the Act apply to?

The act is applicable to the whole of India.

 

Terms for Reference:

• Adolescent” means a person who has completed his fourteenth year of age but has not completed his eighteenth year
• “child” means a person who has not completed his fourteenth year of age or such age as may be specified in the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act.