by Edgar K. 10 September 2021
Introduction:
Child Labour has been one of the most grievous forms of human rights violation throughout history, especially after the Industrial revolution. Historians are ambivalent about the origin of child labour, however, they are unanimous about the fact that it reached its zenith in the late eighteenth century during the Industrial Revolution was approaching its pinnacle.[i] From then on, mankind has been witnessing this persistent form of inhumane practice in various parts of the world and it burgeoned in all directions. It grew so much that by the end of the nineteenth century, almost 20 per cent of the American labourers were less than 16 years of age.[ii] After the 20th century, several organizations and humanitarians came together for the cause of eradicating this. Several international conventions, NGOs, domestic legislation, policymakers and civil society altogether is contributing towards alleviating child labour for decades now. But the bigger picture that humanitarians need to look at is how far we have moved from the serious historical forms of child labour and made this place a better place for children. The report by International Labour Organization in 2017 said that the total number of child labours in the world came down from around 250 million in 2000 to almost 150 million in around one and a half-decade later.[iii] Although this may indicate that the globe in its entirety is making slow and steady progress in mitigating child labour, there are still several parts of the world where child labour is one of the major national issues. For a fact in India, almost 12.9 million children are indulging in labour work constituting nearly 9 per cent of the global number. Despite the Indian government’s policies to address this issue, it has been a far fetched attempt and the child labour in the country is still in its worrying stage. In this research article, the author would unravel the inhumane conditions of child labour in India and the indigestible reasons contributing to the same. Also, the paper would investigate how the coronavirus pandemic and its consequential lockdown has exacerbated the condition boosting up poverty and malnutrition among children. Furthermore, the research would analyse the laws in hand both nationally and globally to address the issue and how far the country has tried to keep its standards meeting the global conventions.
The Indian Version of Child Labour:
To analyze and make policy measures to alleviate any problem, one first needs to determine the nature of the issue, its region-specific causating agents and then look into ways of addressing it. In such a manner, India also has several common and few peculiar causating agents for child labour. Many factors including poverty, low income of parents, lack of education, access to knowledge and policies by government, caste and other intersectionalities have a huge impact on the labour market participation of children. In the forthcoming sections, we will investigate the main reasons one by one.
Money has an ultimate effect on every aspect of individual life and on most social issues that we see. Similarly, child labour is also highly influenced by the family’s financial and economic well being. In India, one of the most important reasons for children not being enrolled in schools is that the school fees are exorbitantly high and that the economic status of many families couldn’t afford to send their children to get enrolled in schools.[iv] Complemented with this, children who are being idle in homes are supporting the family’s financial stability by involving them in labour participation. In some instances, they try hard to financially facilitate their children and this also pulls the children to earn some money and to participate in child labour. Parents’ attitudes and mindsets have a huge impact on child labour that they want their children to compensate for that cost by working in their free time after school.[v] Economists call it opportunity cost which earns them the next best alternative to earn something which is in this case, child labour participation to earn money as an alternative to human rights/child rights.[vi] Thus, one well-established reason for child labour in India is the lucrative attitude of parents wanting their children to contribute financially vis-à-vis their educational expenses and this has considerably impacted the future human capital of the country and the cognitive and social skills at an individual level.[vii] However, this trend has warped a little after the enactment of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act or Right to Education Act (RTE), 2009.[viii] It was a combined effort of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), International Labour Organization(ILO), United Nations Children‘s Emergency Fund, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO) and the then ruling UPA government of India. This law has made a huge impact in India that children in large numbers started joining schools and leaving the labour force participation as it gave compulsory education free of cost up to age 14 that only 3.3 per cent of children in rural India between the age of 6 to 14 were not enrolled in schools by 2016.[ix]
This Table shows the increase in student enrollment in primary education after RTE Act.[x]
| Year | No. of students enrolled in class VI-VIII (upper primary) | Year-on-year increase (in %) |
| 2007-08 | 50,911,110 | NA |
| 2009-10 | 54,467,415 | 6.5 |
| 2011-12 | 61,955,154 | 12 |
| 2013-14 | 66,471,219 | 6.8 |
| 2015-16 | 67,593,727 | 1.7 |
Although the RTE campaign helped curb child labour to a certain extent. It could not achieve its whole objective citing other reasons. The NDA government in 2016 did a preposterous move which in a way nullified the improvements in child labour alleviation. It was the amendment of the Child Labour Act in 2016 that met huge public disapproval because of its dire consequences and effect on reversing the gains. This amendment removed the hazardous activities and included only mining, explosives in the Factory Act, it changed the family enterprises clause which opened the doors for the danger of caste-based intergenerational debt bondage where children’s labour could be potentially exploited.
Most of the issues around child labour that were conspicuous in this paper hitherto are surrounded by the causes of money and education which also includes other allied factors lack poverty, illiteracy etc which are common in many countries experiencing child labour. But one causating agent, which is very powerful and highly determining in any Indian social issue is the evil of the caste system. A study shows that in the home-based industry in India, 99% of the labour participation comes from the Dalit and Muslim community and over 15% of them were child labourers.[xi] Another industry that shows a worse example of a ruthless cast implication is the granite industry. India being the second-largest exporter of raw granite after china contributes to almost 20% of the global granite industry. In this industry, the nature of work is extremely hazardous and it is worrisome that in most states, more than 80% of labourers belong to the scheduled castes.[xii] The most alarming factor is that in two of the major granite producing states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka child labour participation in the granite industry is alarmingly high despite prohibitive laws.[xiii] These children mostly hail from a particular lower caste called ‘vaddera’ which is known to be traditionally working on stone cutting and processing.[xiv] Despite laws prohibiting children from working in hazardous mining and other related labour, this is the dark picture of Indian child labourers. Making children toil physically in the granite industry is highly contradictory to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Bandhua Mukti Morcha v. Union of India & Ors wherein it opined that every child should be assured social and physical health by the state.[xv] In Northern parts of India, children from the Ravidassia Scheduled Caste community predominantly involve themselves in agricultural labour and due to hours of toil every day, they mostly lose the chance of going to school.[xvi] Another threatening practice related to caste-based child labour is the devadasi system where little girls belonging to the Dalit community are pushed to prostitution. The system of Devadasi and Jogini refers to sexual abuse of innocent girls sanctioned religiously and young Dalit girls serve as prostitutes to men of dominant castes.[xvii] A study on the practice of ritual sexual slavery revealed that 93% of Devadasi were from Scheduled Castes (Dalits) and 7% from Scheduled Tribes (indigenous) in India.[xviii] In a constitutional perspective, the court has in multiple instances stressed the importance of protecting children from child labour. In the landmark case of M.C. Mehta vs State of Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court held that protecting a child from economic exploitation and giving him/her education is a fundamental right prerogative to every child of the country under article 21.[xix] Article 15(3) of the Constitution of India allows the State to make special provisions for women and child, Article 24 prohibit the employment of Children, Article 45 of DPSP suggests the state to give free and compulsory education to children and a few more articles in the constitution prohibits child labour and despite all this, we are in a grave situation.
From all of these data, it is evident that the ‘Indian form of child labour and the exploitation of children in other ways exists in a very serious and peculiar manner. In addition to the globally common factors for child labour like poverty and illiteracy, the Indian version has much more severity and oddity with caste, an identity of birth being an important determinant of child labour. Besides, some of the government policies and domestic laws have made some progress and few others reversed the progress i.e the incongruous nature of different governments(ruling parties) made the efforts regressive. Alongside, the recent pandemic that shook the world has made more harm to children from poor families i.e this pandemic has worsened the already prevailing child labour in India.
Pandemic and the Child Labour:
This global pandemic has wreaked havoc on global human health, concomitantly it has warped the other important aspects of human life like emotional well-being, poverty, the education sector, increased domestic violence etc. One of such devastations is the accentuation of child labour. From the Indian point of view, poverty-stricken along the pandemic combinedly contribute to the increase in child labour. A US-based think tank named Pew Research Centre conducted a study in India categorizing into 5; poor($2 or less per day), low income ($2.01 to $10 per day), middle income ($10.01 to $20 per day), upper middle income ($20.01 to $50 per day) and high income ($50 or higher). The study found that amid the pandemic last year in India, the number of poor people doubled from 6 crores to 13.4 crores.[xx] In addition, the strength of India’s middle class has shrunk to 6.6 crores, down a third from a pre-pandemic estimate of 9.9 crores marking a drastic rise in the poverty level of the country.[xxi] The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund warned last year that the pandemic has turned into a child rights crisis especially in a country like India with the largest child population of 472 million children.[xxii] Millions of people in the country especially migrant workers were pushed to hunger, food security and nutrition posing a major threat according to the United Nations Food Programme.[xxiii] Migrant workers crisis being a severe concern, it brings shock to child rights activists when data suggests that almost 25 per cent of the migrant workforce in India constitute children, divulging a severe human rights crisis kicked by the pandemic.
In many states of India, several civil rights groups conducted studies unravelling the shocking harsh truths of child labour in India. A child rights NGO, Campaign Against Child Labour(CACL) conducted research in several districts of Tamil Nadu and submitted its report, identifying around 800 children who were pushed to labour participation to supplement their family income due to the pandemic.[xxiv] Among these children, 231 already were not going to school but this pandemic pulled an extra 650 children from schools to work marking a 270% increase in the number. A notable fact is that most of these children are from vulnerable communities in schedule caste and scheduled tribes.[xxv] This study initiated by notable child rights specialists R. Vidyasagar, adviser for CACL and K. Shyamalanachiar, coordinator, CACL showed that children were in the manufacturing sector, service sector and home-based cottage industry. Childline, a national helpline for children in distress, reported last year they received over 192,000 calls between March and August, most of them related to cases of child labour. The helpline also said that this number(192,000) is around 11% more than the previous year, marking a clear impact of the pandemic driven poverty. The CEO of Child Rights and You(CRY) said that a few of the major reasons for pandemic driven child labour are due to reverse migration of adult labourers, there is a shortage of them and child labourers are relatively cheap. Thus, the financial losses of employers and shortage of adult labourers, cause the children to fill the gap. Besides, children staying at homes due to lockdown especially girl children are made to do the household work averting them completely from school.[xxvi] She also in a Ted Talk mentioned that the environment of children has completely changed physically and mentally due to this pandemic leading to severe damage to their emotional well being. This is also attributed to poverty-stricken malnutrition because nutrition plays an important role in physical as well as mental health.[xxvii] Besides shoving children into labour participation, physical/sexual abuse of children, child trafficking was also augmented by the pandemic resulting in sheer human rights and constitutional violations. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported that children are at the highest risk of exploitation, sex trafficking and physical abuse as a consequence of this pandemic ridden closure of schools, financial losses, poverty and loss of livelihood of parents.[xxviii]
This being the poor state of the millions of poor Indian children, policymakers, child rights activists and other related non-profit organizations persistently working towards protecting children especially after the havoc caused by the pandemic. A grassroots movement to create a child-friendly society named Bachpan Bachao Andolan started in 1980 by Nobel Laureate Mr Kailesh Satyarthi does empirical researches on child exploitation and has saved more than 84500 victims of child trafficking and bonded labourers.[xxix] Lots of their findings reveal the harsh truths about the situation of India’s children in the pandemic. The government has taken several measures to address the same and according to the ILO’s report, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme(MNREGA) had a huge impact on children’s education, parent’s expenditure on child’s schooling, nutrition and ultimately saving them from child labour.[xxx] However, some other studies are claiming that MNREGA in itself augmented child labour in terms of the dearth it created in the agricultural labour force.[xxxi] Keeping all government attempts and initiatives aside, it is an irrefutable fact that this pandemic has reversed the child rights progression in India. At this juncture, it is also important to know how international human rights bodies and other regional cooperations have taken affirmative actions against child labour. In addition to this, one should analyze how India has taken steps to adhere to the international set for protecting the rights of children.
International Steps for Attenuation:
Until the mid 20th century, the world had no limits in the human rights violations burgeoning around. It was only after the end of the second world war and the beginning of some international organizations that the globe together fought towards several human rights infringements and one among them is child labour. After the United Nations Organization was formed, one of its agencies International Labour Organization(ILO) started working on international labour standards especially in eradicating child labour. The formal protection children to children under the law came in 1949 by the adoption of the 4th Geneva Convention as from then on, they were part of the civilian population.[xxxii] In this respect, the International Committee of Red Cross is a major player in protecting their rights. It was due to the ICRC’s efforts that the rights of the child were included in the International Humanitarian Law. Especially, Additional Protocols 1 and 2 specifically prohibits the recruitment of children in any kind of armed conflict, both international and non-international.[xxxiii] The United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child is a remarkable global step towards calling upon the nations of the countries and other organizations to take affirmative actions against child exploitation and the need for domestic laws.[xxxiv] In addition, the Hague Convention of Rights of Child is a very effective attempt as the convention itself through the International Criminal Court criminalizes people who exploit and perform trafficking of children.[xxxv] One of the main convention wholly dedicated to child labour is the ILO’s Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 which defines grave forms of child labour including all forms of slavery, the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict; child prostitution and pornography; using children for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs; and work which is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.[xxxvi] These being some of the major global attempts to fortify children’s rights, citizens of specific nations must look at their selves regarding the actions they have taken to adhere to these conventions and take the cause forward.
When it comes to the Indian government’s actions towards international steps towards child labour, it has always been a bit late in all its steps. India ratified the UN Convention on Rights of Child in 1992 only more than three after it was adopted.[xxxvii] When it comes to the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, which is a very relevant convention for India as we have the worst forms of child trafficking and exploitation, India ratified it only in 2017, almost 20 years later the convention was adopted.[xxxviii] The irony is that most of the developed nations of the country including the United States of America, the Russian Federation, Japan, the United Kingdom and France ratified in the early 2000s i.e within a very few years after the convention was adopted. But, India being one among the top 25% worst affected nations of child labour ratified it so late. However, nationalists and pro-government actors may think that this qualitative criticism towards the government may at times go illogical. Even looking at it from a qualitative perspective, the data given by ILO during the previous child labour day in 2020 puts us all in shock about India’s performance. ILO regularly takes the help of international consulting firm Maplecroft to compile the available data and generate the International Child Labour Index with six key indices for human rights and development such as covering labour rights, civil and political rights, human security, poverty, education and health.[xxxix] The report said that India didn’t make any tangible improvement since 2014 and its score in the child labour index is 3.05 out of 10, with 48th rank globally.[xl] The 2020 report by UNICEF and ILO said that India is among the high-risk countries and also indicated that the covid crisis may push millions of Indians into child labour.[xli] It also said that although we had seen a decrease in child labour by 94 million since 2000, the current surge in numbers driven by the pandemic is a huge risk in decades.[xlii] Many international leaders have raised concern over this, especially with India with a huge amount of poverty and children population. Feeding the frenzy, India was recently ranked 94th among 107 countries in the Global Hunger Index last October marking a significant causative agent for child labour.[xliii]
Thus, many but one important reason for India’s situation is less governmental action towards protecting child rights. Despite, domestic laws, international conventions, NGOs and civil rights activists working towards the cause, there has been no significant improvement in the field. There can be many reasons for the same. Some of the reasons that the researcher points out are late ratification of international treaties, loopholes in-laws, insufficiency of criminalization and stringent actions towards exploiters of children, less government intervention and most imperatively, no awareness among the general population. If at all the government sense the gravitas of the issue and come forward with come action plan, this country can potentially be a better place for children.
Conclusion:
This research was a cogent attempt to analyze how India in specific is suffering from child labour, the peculiar determinants of our nation’s child exploitation, government attempts and the fraction of output it has created. The paper investigated and found that this pandemic has had a huge impact on the lives of India’s poor children and their very basic human dignity. Among the core determinants of child labour in India, child labour, the income of parents and education is the most significant causes. To gauge the government intervention, schemes, policies and laws were analyzed and the result is truly ambivalent due to various reasons including less awareness, loopholes in-laws and other reasons. The Indian government has for a long time been less adhering and late concerning International conventions and this was be understood by reviewing the time interval between the adoption of conventions and ratification by India.
Our children are the rock on which our future will be built, our greatest asset as a nation. They will be the leaders of our country, the creators of our national wealth, those who care for and protect our people.[xliv]
These words came from the mouth of one of the greatest revolutionaries the history has ever seen, Former South African President, Nelson Mandela. The children of our country should indeed be nurtured, physically mentally and taking care of in the most possible manner and one of the significant ways to do this is to eradicate child labour. Unfortunately, the pandemic has taken aback the progressions we made in this respect. However, the researcher feels that through vigorous policies, rigorous punishments, financial schemes, relief packages, intensifying plans like MNREGA, encouraging NGOs and civil rights activists and creating huge awareness to the general population of the country, this far fetched dream could come closer to creating a safer space for children. (the future of the nation-building)
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[v]Mukherjee, D., and U. B. Sinha. 2009. “Attitude to Schooling, Wage Premium and Child Labour.” Indian Growth and Development Review 2 (2): 113–125. Retrieved from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/igdrpp/v2y2009i2p113-125.html
[vi]Bhalotra, SR. (2001). Measuring the Opportunity Cost of Child Labour. Research Paper for International Program for Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), International Labour Organisation (ILO). Retrieved from https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/measuring-the-opportunity-cost-of-child-labour
[vii]Joseph Boniface Ajefu (2018) Parental income, child labour, and human capital accumulation: evidence from trade liberalisation in India, Development in Practice, 28:8, 1071-1082, DOI: 10.1080/09614524.2018.1505828https://doi.org/10.1080/09614524.2018.1505828
[viii]Right to Education a potent tool to curb child labour’. (2021). Retrieved 9 June 2021, from https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/lsquoRight-to-Education-a-potent-tool-to-curb-child-labour/article16242978.ece
[ix] Aser Centre. (2017). Annual Status of Education Report (Rural) 2016. New Delhi: asercentre.org. Retrieved from http://img.asercentre.org/docs/Publications/ASER%20Reports/ASER%202016/aser_2016.pdf
[x]Sanchayan Bhattacharjee, “Ten Years of RTE Act: Revisiting Achievements and Examining Gaps”, ORF Issue Brief No. 304, August 2019, Observer Research Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.orfonline.org/research/ten-years-of-rte-act-revisiting-achievements-and-examining-gaps-54066/#_edn1
[xi] Study finds Dalits working in forced and child labour in India’s garment industry – International Dalit Solidarity Network. (2019). Retrieved 9 June 2021, from https://idsn.org/study-finds-dalits-working-in-forced-and-child-labour-in-indias-garment-industry/
[xii]Modern Slavery and Child Labour in South Indian Granite Quarries. (2015). Retrieved 9 June 2021, from http://www.indianet.nl/pdf/RockBottom.pdf
[xiii]Our mining children: A Report of the Fact Finding Team on the Child Labourers in the Iron Ore and Granite Mines in Bellary District of Karnataka.(2005). Retrieved 9 June 2021, from https://www.eldis.org/document/A19439
[xiv]South India’s granite stone workers are vulnerable to debt bondage due to burden of huge advances. (2018). Retrieved 9 June 2021, from https://counterview.org/2018/02/07/south-indias-granite-stone-workers-are-vulnerable-to-debt-bondage-due-to-burden-of-huge-advances/
[xv]Bandhua Mukti Morcha v. Union of India & Ors. (1997) 10 SCC 549
[xvi]The Intersection of Caste and Child Labour in Bihar. (2020). Economic And Political Weekly, 55(4). Retrieved from https://www.epw.in/engage/article/intersection-caste-and-child-labour-bihar
[xvii]Forced Prostitution – International Dalit Solidarity Network. (2020). Retrieved 9 June 2021, from https://idsn.org/key-issues/forced-prostitution/
[xviii]Women in Devadasi, Jogini and Mathamma in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, Southern India. (2007). Retrieved 9 June 2021, from https://idsn.org/wp-content/uploads/user_folder/pdf/New_files/India/WomeninRitualSlavery.pdf
[xix]M.C. Mehta State of Tamilnadu, AIR 1997 SC 699
[xx]Das, K. (2021). Covid-19: Poverty doubled in India in 2020. Will second wave make it worse?. Retrieved 9 June 2021, from https://www.indiatoday.in/business/story/covid-19-poverty-doubled-in-india-in-2020-will-second-wave-make-it-worse-1793826-2021-04-22
[xxi]Pandemic pushed over 3 crore Indians out of middle class: Pew Research. (2021). Retrieved 9 June 2021, from https://www.indiatoday.in/business/story/pandemic-pushed-over-3-crore-indians-out-of-middle-class-pew-research-1781297-2021-03-19
[xxii]Reddy, R. (2020). How the COVID-19 crisis is affecting child labour in India and recommendations for government action. M Venkatara Foundation. Retrieved from https://respect.international/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/How-the-COVID-19-crisis-is-affecting-child-labour-in-India.pdf
[xxiii]Khanna, A. (2020). Impact of Migration of Labour Force due to Global COVID-19 Pandemic with Reference to India. Journal Of Health Management, 22(2), Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0972063420935542
[xxiv] Khanna, A. (2020). Impact of Migration of Labour Force due to Global COVID-19 Pandemic with Reference to India. Journal Of Health Management, 22(2), 181-191. doi: 10.1177/0972063420935542. Referred from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0972063420935542
[xxv]Child labour on the rise among vulnerable communities in T.N.: study. (2021). Retrieved 9 June 2021, from https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/child-labour-on-the-rise-among-vulnerable-communities-in-tn-study/article33987590.ece
[xxvi]Marwaha, P. (2020). COVID-19: A pandemic cannot justify child labour | India Development Review. Retrieved 9 June 2021, from https://idronline.org/a-pandemic-cannot-justify-child-labour/
[xxvii]Marwaha, P. 5 Feb 2021, (The State of Children in India)TEDxBangaloreStudio, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsAfiZPnb04
[xxviii]United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2021). IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS. Vienna. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/ruleoflaw/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Thematic-Brief-on-COVID-19-EN-ver.21.pdf
[xxix]Bachpan Bachao Andolan. (2021). EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN IN HAZARDOUS AND FAMILY RUN BUSINESS. New Delhi: Bachpan Bachao Andolan. Retrieved from https://bba.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/employment-of-children-in-hazardous-and-family-run-business.pdf
[xxx]International Labour Organization. (2021). Impact of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme on CHILD LABOUR. India: International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC). Retrieved from http://file:///C:/Users/Edgar/Downloads/Doc_02_India_Convergence_MGNREGS_Report_Web.pdf
[xxxi] Saswati Das & Diganta Mukherjee (2019) The impact of MGNREGS on child labour and child education: an empirical analysis, Development in Practice, 29:3, 384-394, DOI: 10.1080/09614524.2018.1557110
[xxxii]Protection of Children in International Humanitarian Law – ICRC. (2021). Retrieved 9 June 2021, from https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/resources/documents/article/other/57jmat.htm
[xxxiii] Additional Protocol I, Article 77(2) (adopted by consensus) (cited in Vol. II, Ch. 39, § 379); Additional Protocol II, Article 4(3)(c) (adopted by consensus) (ibid., § 380).
[xxxiv] Geraldine Van Bueren, The International Law on the Rights of the Child 10-11 (Dordrecht/Boston/London, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1995. 35 International Studies in Human Rights).
[xxxv]THE CHILD RIGHTS CONVENTION AND INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE. (2021). Nordic Journal Of International Law 84 (2015) 248-269 Brill.Com/Nord N, 84(248-269). Referred from file:///C:/Users/Edgar/Downloads/SSRN-id2959712.pdf
[xxxvi] Article 3, C182 – Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182)
[xxxvii]United Nations Treaties Collection. (1990). Retrieved 9 June 2021, from https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-11&chapter=4&clang=_en
[xxxviii]Ratifications of ILO conventions: Ratifications by Convention. (2021). Retrieved 9 June 2021, from https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:11300:::NO:11300:P11300_INSTRUMENT_ID:312327:NO
[xxxix]Verisk Maplecroft. (2019). Child Labour Index 2019 Overview and findings. London. Retrieved from http://file:///C:/Users/Edgar/Downloads/Verisk_Maplecroft_Child_Labour_Index_2019_Report.pdf
[xl] Anand, C. (2020). World’s worst countries for child labour: Guess where India stands?. Retrieved 9 June 2021, from https://in.finance.yahoo.com/photos/worlds-worst-countries-for-child-labor-082701117/
[xli]International Labour Organization. (2020). Covid-19 And Child Labour: A Time Of Crisis, A Time To Act. New York: UNICEF. Retrieved from https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—ed_norm/—ipec/documents/publication/wcms_747421.pdf
[xlii]Singh, Y. (2020). Yahoo is now a part of Verizon Media. Retrieved 9 June 2021, from https://in.news.yahoo.com/covid-19-may-push-millions-064118029.html
[xliii]Global Hunger Index 2020: India ranks 94 out of 107 countries, under ‘serious’ category. (2020). Retrieved 9 June 2021, from https://indianexpress.com/article/india/global-health-index-2020-india-6757899/
[xliv] Mandela,N. (2011). “Nelson Mandela By Himself: The Authorised Book of Quotations”, p.77, Pan Macmillan