The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Act, 2015
(See GS2 -> Acts)
Repealed the old 2000 Act.
Changed the nomenclature from ‘juvenile’ to ‘child’ or ‘child in conflict with law’ — to remove the negative connotation associated with the word ‘juvenile’
Inclusion of several new definition — orphaned, abandoned, and surrounded
Mandates setting up of Juvenile Justice Boards and Child Welfare Communities in every district. Both must have at least one Woman member each.
JJB will conduct a preliminary inquiry to determine whether a juvenile offender is to be sent for rehab or be tried as an adult.
Allows juveniles 16 years or older to be treated as adults for heinous offence like rape and murder
Heinous crime — under IPC >7 years of imprisonment like Rape, Murder, acid attacks etc
Child Welfare Committees will look at institution care for children in their respective districts.
A separate chapter on Child Adoption to streamline adoption of orphaned, abandoned and surrendered children. (CARA’s source)
Often Hawala Traders uses abuse this provision of not treating the children between 16-18 as adults — to use them to transfer money — children having no idea about the crime being committed by them.
Child Labour
LEGAL PROVISIONS
Child Labour Prohibition Act, 1986 (2016)
No work till 14 years in any case whatsoever
14-18 new category “adolescent” — no hazardous employment
Super strict punishment
National Policy on Child Labour, 1988
This is mainly wrt rehabilitation of children saved from child labour
9-14 years = children are put in NCLP Special Training Centres before putting them in mainstream education system
5-8 years = put directly into the mainstream educational system | Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan
Juvenile Justice Act, 2000 (2006) (2015)
RTE 2009 | Article 21A
SC/ST Atrocities Act
Separate cells for children in Police, Courts
NGOs Involved —
Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Kailash Satyarathi)
CARE India
Global March Against Child Labour
RIDE India
Asia-Pacific region is child labour abundant region- responsible for 52.83 percent global child labour.
South Asia is a home for the largest number of child labourers
There is no conclusive and direct relationship between Globalisation and Child Labour, per se. It varies as per the country’s performance in other sectors and among the sectors involved.
Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016
Amended the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 — to widen the scope of the law against child labour and stricter punishments for violations.
Key provisions
Prohibition of employment of children below 14 years | except where child helps family.
Addition of a new category of persons called “adolescent”(14-18 yrs)
Prohibition | hazardous occupations as specified (mines, hazardous processes and inflammable substance).
Empowers Union Government (Not Parliament) to add or omit any hazardous occupation from the list
Punishment — imprisonment or fine or both
Periodic inspection by the concerned authorities
Critical analysis
One, it has slashed the list of hazardous occupations for children from 83 to include just mining, explosives, and occupations mentioned in the Factory Act. This means that work in chemical mixing units, cotton farms, battery recycling units, and brick kilns, among others, have been dropped. Further, even the the ones listed as hazardous can be removed, according to Section 4 — not by Parliament but by government authorities at their own discretion.
Two, section 3 in Clause 5 allows child labour in “family or family enterprises” or allows the child to be “an artist in an audio-visual entertainment industry”. Since most of India’s child labour is caste-based work, with poor families trapped in intergenerational debt bondage, this refers to most of the country’s child labourers.
The clause is also dangerous as it does not define the hours of work; it simply states that children may work after school hours or during vacations.
The amendments in the new law make it practically impossible to implement the Right To Education. Its clauses put such a burden on poor low-caste families that instead of promoting education, the Act actually increases the potential for dropouts.
And parents, scared of the huge fines that they may have to pay for employing their children, are likely to lie about school attendance and may unwillingly comply with contractors in employing them.
The Central government provided a Rs.6 billion fund for implementing the policy. Unfortunately, this budget has been cut massively in education (28 per cent) and for women and children (50 per cent) in the last two years alone, leading to the the closure of 42,000 schools.
Taxes charged for the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaigns have reportedly been misused.
The only funds for the rehabilitation of children are through monies and assets seized from convicted employers.
Three, Not only do the new amendments reverse the gains of the 1986 Act, but actually contradict the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of Children Act of 2000 that makes it punishable for anyone to procure or employ a child in a hazardous occupation.
They also contravene the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Minimum Age Convention and UNICEF’s Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which India is a signatory.
The devastating health consequences of the new Act may be the worst blow on India’s poor yet.
There are 33 million child labourers in India, according to UNICEF. As per the 2011 census, 80 per cent of them are Dalits, 20 per cent are from the Backward Classes. This law will restrict these children to traditional caste-based occupations for generations.
If the amendments intended to preserve Indian art and craft by enabling parents with traditional skills to pass them on to their children, this should be done through reform and investment in education.
Slashed budgets should be restored;
Mid-day meals should re-instituted;
Secure housing should be provided through the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan boarding schools to homeless children.
Artisans should be hired as teachers to pass on traditional knowledge and skills to the next generation
PENCIL (Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour)
Why in news?
PENCIL was launched by the Home Minister to foster the creation of a child labour-free India, which will seamlessly integrate implementing and monitoring mechanisms for both, enforcement of the legislative provisions and effective implementation of the National Child Labour Project (NCLP).
Standing Operating Procedures (SOPs) were also launched for the enforcement of legal framework against child labour.
PENCIL
PENCIL is an electronic platform for effective enforcement of ‘No child labour’.
It is developed by Ministry of Labour and Employment to make Child Labour Free India.
Aim
It is aimed at providing step by step guidelines by creating ready reckoner for trainers, practitioners and monitoring agencies to ensure complete prohibition of child labour and protection of adolescents from hazardous labour.
