2016-07-26 Tue

School is the best place to work. But many are deprived of it and forced to do labour work!

Child labour refers to any practice of having children engage in economic activity that deprives them of their childhood. Every child has the right to a good education, the right to play and the right to enjoy its childhood.

But in most of the developing countries, poverty and exploitive activities lead to the employment of children as cheap labour. India is home to the largest number of children who are working illegally in various industrial sectors. But since Independence India has enacted various laws and acts to prevent child labour and to protect these young innocent souls.

The Constitution of India prohibits child labour below the age of 14 years in any factory or mine or castle or engaged in any other hazardous employment (Article 24) and also promises to provide for the infrastructure and resources for free and compulsory education to all children of the age six to 14 years. (Article 21-A and Article 45).

Various NGOs are also working to create awareness and stamp out this social malice. And the collective efforts have paid off and due to increase of regulations and legal restrictions on child labour there has been a 64 % decline in child labour from 1993-2005.

To promote the cause and to create awareness amongst the people, India Post in 2006 issued a setenant pair of four stamps of INR 5 each with the tag line “Stop child labour”. Each stamp depicts a small child at work.

To view the block four stamps click here.