ABSTRACT
Child labour is considered a social evil. Statutory provisions and efforts have been concerted towards its eradication and prevention in different parts of the world. However, despite all efforts and statutory provisions, child labour continues to be a problem of enormous dimension, especially in the developing countries. According to ILO (2002), one in every six children between 5 and 17 years of age – or 246 million children – is involved in child labour. Out of the 246 million, about 170 million child workers were found in different hazardous and illegal activities. There is no gainsaying that the incidence of child labour worldwide has decreased over the last few years both in absolute and percentage terms. According to ILO (2013) estimates, 168 million children aged 5-17 were involved in child labour in 2012 (10.6 per cent) compared to 215 million in 2008 (13.6 per cent). However, the aggregate number of child labour is still quite high. Besides, if the invisible workers who perform unpaid and household jobs are included, the estimates are likely to shoot up significantly.
