Child Trafficking and Labour Issues

As per Section 2 (14) (ii) and (ix) of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (JJ Act), a child who is found working in contravention of labour laws for the time being in force or is found begging, or living on the street and who is found vulnerable and is likely to be inducted into drug abuse or trafficking is included as a “child in need of care and protection”, among others.

The JJ Act, 2015 mandates a security net of service delivery structures to provide Institutional and non-Institutional care to these children. The primary responsibility of execution of the Act, as such, lies with the State/UTs. Ministry of Women and Child Development is implementing “Child Protection Services” (CPS) (erstwhile Integrated Child Protection Scheme), for care, protection, rehabilitation and reintegration of children in difficult circumstances. Under CPS, financial assistance is provided to State Governments/UT Administrations, for, inter-alia, undertaking a situational analysis of children in difficult circumstances, for setting up and maintenance of various types of Child Care Institutions (CCIs) for providing various rehabilitative services through institutional and non-institutional care.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development and Ministry of Railways have jointly taken up an initiative to ensure the care and protection, security and well being of run away, unaccompanied and trafficked children who may come in contact with Railway. The scheme supports 24×7 outreach helpline service for children in distress. This service is available through a dedicated toll free number, 1098 which can be accessed by children in crisis or by adults on their behalf from any place in the geographical location of India.

As per Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India has amended the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 and enacted Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016 which inter-alia covers complete prohibition on employment or work of children below 14 years of age in all occupations and processes; linking the age of prohibition of employment with the age for free and compulsory education under Right to Education Act, 2009; prohibition on employment of adolescents (14 to 18 years of age) in hazardous occupations or processes and making stricter punishment for the employers contravening the provisions of the Act. The amendment provides for stricter punishment for employers for violation of the Act and the employment of children or adolescents in contravention of the provisions of the Act has now been made a cognizable offence.

The Government of India is implementing the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme since 1988 for rehabilitation of child labour. Under the NCLP Scheme, children in the age group of 9-14 years are rescued/withdrawn from work and enrolled in the NCLP Special Training Centres, where they are provided with bridge education, vocational training, mid-day meal, stipend and health care, before being mainstreamed into the formal education system. Children in the age group of 5-8 years are directly linked to the formal education system through close coordination with the SarvaShikshaAbhiyan (SSA).

To ensure effective enforcement of the provisions of the Child Labour Act and smooth implementation of the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme a separate online portal PENCIL (Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour) has been developed. One of the components of PENCIL portal is the Child Tracking System which functions to monitor and track the rehabilitation of rescued children so that they do not fall in this vicious cycle of child labour.

As per latest data provided by National Crime Bureau (NCRB), State-wise and Gender-wise case registered, children missing during the year and total children missing during 2016 is given below:

SL	State/UT	Cases Registered			Children Missing during 2016 (Upto 18 years)			Total Children Missing (including previous years)
SL	State/UT	Girls	Boys	Total	Girls	Boys	Total	Girls	Boys	Total
1	Andhra Pradesh	1269	703	1972	1365	790	2155	2015	1309	3324
2	Arunachal Pradesh	26	9	35	29	9	38	47	14	61
3	Assam	857	524	1381	857	524	1381	1474	939	2413
4	Bihar	3730	1087	4817	3730	1087	4817	4325	1571	5896
5	Chhattisgarh	1637	599	2236	1643	619	2262	2172	955	3127
6	Goa	17	8	25	17	9	26	29	28	57
7	Gujarat	940	363	1303	944	371	1315	1342	665	2007
8	Haryana	911	709	1620	973	795	1768	1787	1788	3575
9	Himachal Pradesh	93	77	170	93	77	170	158	122	280
10	Jammu & Kashmir	138	165	303	138	166	304	481	589	1070
11	Jharkhand	231	202	433	260	219	479	515	493	1008
12	Karnataka	596	693	1289	889	1054	1943	1951	2273	4224
13	Kerala	707	675	1382	768	756	1524	871	864	1735
14	Madhya Pradesh	5578	2260	7838	6037	2466	8503	8622	3446	12068
15	Maharashtra	2318	1658	3976	2532	1856	4388	5827	4155	9982
16	Manipur	43	83	126	49	97	146	74	112	186
17	Meghalaya	68	56	124	68	56	124	100	84	184
18	Mizoram	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
19	Nagaland	43	24	67	47	24	71	49	28	77
20	Odisha	1363	538	1901	1363	538	1901	4215	1576	5791
21	Punjab	408	176	584	414	183	597	699	591	1290
22	Rajasthan	1254	577	1831	1338	642	1980	2597	1606	4203
23	Sikkim	74	32	106	77	32	109	93	57	150
24	Tamil Nadu	2618	931	3549	3162	1470	4632	3771	2030	5801
25	Telangana	2104	1219	3323	2277	1402	3679	2921	1779	4700
26	Tripura	126	34	160	132	37	169	144	53	197
27	Uttar Pradesh	1457	1405	2862	1465	1438	2903	2529	2640	5169
28	Uttarakhand	224	211	435	224	211	435	432	427	859
29	West Bengal	4155	1352	5507	5986	2349	8335	12286	4595	16881
	TOTAL STATE	32985	16370	49355	36877	19277	56154	61526	34789	96315
30	A & N Islands	36	11	47	36	11	47	40	13	53
31	Chandigarh	123	72	195	127	74	201	231	204	435
32	D&N Haveli	0	1	1	0	2	2	6	2	8
33	Daman & Diu	8	13	21	10	19	29	18	21	39
34	Delhi UT	3828	2829	6657	3982	2939	6921	8536	6125	14661
35	Lakshadweep	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
36	Puducherry	35	18	53	35	18	53	37	21	58
	TOTAL UTs	4030	2944	6974	4190	3063	7253	8868	6386	15254
	TOTAL (ALL INDIA)	37015	19314	56329	41067	22340	63407	70394	41175	111569
Source:CrimeinIndia