The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 is one the most debated acts regarding children in India. It outlines where and how children can work and where they cannot.
The act defines a child as any person who has not completed his fourteenth year of age. Part II of the act prohibits children from working in any occupation listed in Part A of the Schedule; for example: Catering at railway establishments, construction work on the railway or anywhere near the tracks, plastics factories, automobile garages, etc. The act also prohibits children from working in places where certain processes are being undertaken, as listed in Part B of the Schedule; for example: beedi making, tanning, soap manufacture, brick kilns and roof tiles units, etc.
Part III of the act outlines the conditions in which children may work in occupations/processes not listed in the schedule. The number of hours of a particular kind of establishment of class of establishments is to be set and no child can work for more than those many hours in that particular establishment.
Children are not permitted to work for more than three hour stretches and must receive an hour break after the three hours. Children are not permitted to work for more than six hour stretches including their break interval and cannot work between the hours of 7 p.m. and 8 a.m. The employer of the child is required to send a notification to an inspector about a child working in their establishment and keep a register of all children being employed for inspection.
If there is a dispute as to the age of the child, the inspector can submit the child for a medical exam to determine his/her age when a birth certificate is not available. Notices about prohibition of certain child labour and penalties should be posted in every railway station, port authority and workshop/establishment.
The main provisions of the Act are:-
No child shall be required or permitted to work in any establishment