National Child Labour Project (NCLP)

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Last Updated14/07/2022

Centre doesn’t have any data on child labour and a reason for this is inadequate budget for National Child Labour Project (NCLP).

It is often defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development.
It refers to work that:
is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children; and/or
interferes with their schooling by depriving them of the opportunity to attend school; obliging them to leave school prematurely; or requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work.

It is a Central Sector Scheme under the Ministry of Labour.
Under it District Project Societies (DPS) are set up at the district level.
Chairman: Collector/District Magistrate to oversee the implementation of the project.
Children in 9-14 age group are withdrawn from work and put into NCLP Special Training Centres.
They are provided with bridge education, vocational training, mid-day meal, stipend, health care etc. before being mainstreamed into formal education system.
Children in 5-8 age are directly linked to formal education system through a close coordination with the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
A dedicated online portal named PENCiL (Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour) is developed for better monitoring and implementation.

No ministry had any data regarding the status of child labour in our country.
Education Ministry also does not have a mechanism to find out the number of children engaged in child labour.
This is a serious situation.
It is for the first time that a parliamentary panel is engaged in a detailed examination of the national policy on child labour.
Though we have legislation, the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, since 1986 but the menace of child labour is still prevalent.

Article 23 of the Indian Constitution states that any type of forced labour is prohibited.
Article 24 states that a child under 14 years cannot be employed to perform any hazardous work.
Article 39 states that “the health and strength of workers, men and women, and the tender age of children are not abused”.
The Child Labour Act (Prohibition and Regulation) 1986 prohibits children under the age of 14 years to be working in hazardous industries and processes.