Child Labour

Child labour refers to the engagement of children in economic activities that deprive them of their childhood, interfere with compulsory schooling, and impede their physical and mental development.

Under Social Issues

• It directly intersects with constitutional guarantees under Articles 21A and 24, serving as a critical metric for fundamental rights enforcement and state policy implementation.
• The persistence of child labour reflects structural vulnerabilities in the informal economy, where household poverty and lack of social protection drive distress employment.
• Eliminating child labour is essential for India to maximize its demographic dividend, improve learning outcomes, and fulfill international labor standards.

UPSC frames questions on child labour by examining the convergence between regulatory prohibitions, such as the statutory framework governing child and adolescent labor, and ground-level socio-economic realities. Questions typically require candidates to analyze how educational access under the Right to Education Act and social security interventions work together to dismantle child labor supply chains. Successful answers emphasize administrative coordination, informal sector regulation, and holistic rehabilitation rather than punitive legislative measures alone.

• Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections GS2