CHILD LABOR AND THE PROCESSES OF EXPLOITATION

The Child Labour Regulation Act, 1986, is based on the assumption that government's choice regarding child labour is between the two extremes of banning or regulating it. Lack of uniformity in understanding child labour leads to great differences in estimating the number of child labourers in the country. Child labourers are those who are deprived of their right to grow as children and are forced to work for a living paid either in cash or kind. There are various categories of child labourers and various modes of their recruitment. Girl child labourers are even more discriminated against than boys. Poverty itself is a vested interest and is deliberately maintained which makes child labour also a pursuit of the vested interest and it is not a harsh reality as has often been projected.