Childhood is considered to be the golden period of one's life but this doesn't hold true for some children who struggle to make both ends meet during their childhood years. At a tender age, an age which supposed to be spent for playing and going to school, some children are compelled to work in factories, industries, offices or as domestic help. Child labour refers to the employment of children in any kind of work that hampers their physical and mental development and deprives them of their basic educational and recreational requirements. According to the data from Census 2011, the number of child labourers in India is 10.1 million of which 5.6 million are boys and 4.5 million are girls. Out of these 10.1 million children, 8.1 million children are engaged in rural areas as cultivators and agricultural labourers. History of Child Labour in India - Ancient Indian history has seen that children help their parents in agricultural practices such as sowing, harvesting, reaping and taking care of cattle etc. But industrialisation and urbanisation paved the way for different kinds of tasks that were performed by children. Now, children are employed in hazardous work such as bidi rolling, cracker industry, pencil, matchbox and bangle making industries, roadside dhabas (restaurants), hotels, etc. Working in these industries poses a great risk to a child physically and mentally. Some of them are > In the bidi industry, children are expected to perform all the chores of rolling , binding and closing the ends of bidis using their nimble fingers. > The cracker industry poses a threat to the lives of the children due to their direct exposure to the explosive material. > The bangle and pencil making industries make the child susceptible to different respiratory problems and lung cancer, in the worst case. > Besides, children are employed as labourers in the garment, leather, jewellery and sericulture industry where children's health suffers due to the poor working conditions. Causes of Child Labours - A number of factors could be attributed to the rise of the menace. In the poor and lower strata families, children are considered to be an extra earning hand. These families have a convention that every child is an earner. Children are expected to shoulder their parents responsibilities. Thus, children are expected to engage in different livelihood tasks instead of going to schools. Parental illiteracy is also one of the contributors to this problem. As parents remain uneducated, they seldom understand the importance of education. As a result, education tends to take a backseat in the lives of these children. Further in the unorganised sector employers also prefer child labourers in comparison to adults. This is because they can extract more work and pay the children a lesser amount. In addition, the misproportion between population and job opportunities, also indirectly causes child labour. Hardship Faced by Child Labourers- The child labourers are subjected to unhygienic conditions, late working hours and different atrocities which have a direct effect on their cognitive development. Due to poor working conditions and undernourishment, a child suffers from various health complications. The young and immature minds of the children find it difficult to cope with such situations leading to different emotional and physical problems. Uneducated/unguided children who work in society sometimes get influenced by criminal activities and commit crimes at a very young age. Bounded child labour is one of the worst forms of child labour. In this, the children are made to work in order to pay off a loan or debt of the family. This type of labour further becomes problematic as it has resulted into trafficking of the children from rural to urban areas in order to work as domestic helps or in small production houses or to just lead the life of street beggers. Efforts to Stop Child Labour- To prohibit Child Labour in India, Nobel Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi took an initiative and founded the Bachpan Bachao Aandolan (BBA), an organisation dedicated towards the eradication of child labour and rehabilitation of the rescued former child workers. The former President Pranab Mukherjee launched a "100 million for 100 million" campaign which was conceptualised to end child labour, child slavery, violence against children, etc. Role of Government and NGOs - The government has an important role to play in the fight against child labour. As poverty is one of the major causes of child labour in India, the government needs to assure that it provides basic amenities to all its citizens and there is an equal distribution of wealth. It needs to generate sufficient jobs to assure employability to the poor. At the same time, NGOs can provide vocational training to people in order to get them good jobs or to make them self-employed. The government, in collaboration with various NGOs, should reach out to the poor people to make them understand the importance of education. They should be made aware of the government's initiative to provide free education to all the children between the age group of 6-14 years. The parents of such children must be encouraged to send their children to the schools instead of workplaces. Educated citizens can contribute significantly in spreading awareness about the harmful effects of child labour. High income group families can pool children in funds to support the education of poor children. Schools and colleges can come up with innovative teaching programmes for the poor children. The principle of 'Each one, teach one' can be followed. Children of the support staff (peons, clerks, etc.) of such schools and colleges can be offered free education. There are certain things we can do at our level to combat the menace of child labour. The need of the hour is to expand the machinery for enforcing the various laws on child labour. If child labour is to be eradicated from India, the government and those responsible for the enforcement need to do their jobs sincerely. Laws to Safeguard Children's Right- The Indian Government has enacted many laws to protect child rights, namely the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) act, 1986, the Factories Act, 1948, the Mines Act, 1952, the Bonded Labour System Abolition Act and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of children) Act, 2000. Most of these acts prohibit the employment of children below the age of 14 years in factories, hazardous occupations or in bondage. Further, there is the National Policy on Child Labour, 1987 which looks into the rehabilitation of children working in hazardous occupations. The government had initiated the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme in 1988 to rehabilitate working children in 12 child labour endemic states in India. Article 39 of the Indian Constitution declares that it is the duty of the state to provide the children the facilities to develop in a healthy and congenial environment and in conditions of freedom and dignity. Article 24 specifically states that a child under 14 years cannot employed to perform any hazardous work. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 mandates free and compulsory education to all children between the age group of 6 to 14 years. Apart from this, it also reserves 25 percent seats in every private school for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) of the society. In May 2015, the government approved a proposal allowing children below 14 years of age to work in family enterprises or entertainment industry with specific conditions. In July 2016, the Parliament passed the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2016 which amended the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) act, 1989 by widening its scope against child labour and providing for stricter punishment for violation. This Act completely banned employment of children under 14 years in certain occupations like bidi-making, mines, powerlooms, domestic work, etc. and also provides for the rehabilitation of children. Key international laws dealing with child labour included the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), 1989 and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention on the Minimum Age for Admission to Employment of 1973 and on the worst forms of Child Labour Convention 1999. Indian Government has ratified both the ILO Conventions which deals with the minimum age for admission to employment and with prohibition of the worst form of child labour. Conclusion- The government needs to ensure that it has foolproof laws which are properly executed as well as implemented with respect to child labour. Strict measures need to be taken against those who encourage child labour in any form. Children are the future of a country and it is the childhood which has a profound impact on the future of a child. A nation full of poverty-ridden illiterate children cannot make progress. So, it becomes the collective responsibility of the citizens, society and the government to provide them and environment which helps them to bring out the best of their capabilities, thus, participating in the nation building process.