Incidence of Child Labour and Child Schooling in India: Pattern and Determinants

The issue of child labour is a frontline concern in India, as early entry into labour market at formative stage of life does mean absconding from proper schooling leading to loss of future scope of better livelihood, since the existing literature shows that there is wage premium for education in Indian labour market. In this perspective, this study aims to carry out a supply-side analysis towards examining the incidence and pattern of child labour and child schooling to test out regional and gender disparities, if any, in terms of these incidences. Socio-economic determinants across gender and region also have been identified for an everlasting way out of the crisis. The data-base utilized for the analysis has been extracted from the National Sample Survey on “Employment and Unemployment Situation in India” for the 61st large sample round (2004-2005). The pattern of child employment in a range of industries confirms the malfunctioning of lawful steps to save child labourers from mischief of occupational vulnerability. It also reveals significant discrepancy in incidence of child labour both across region and gender, but for schooling choice no considerable regional gap is substantiated. 1. Introduction The issue of child labour is closely related with human capital formation of a country as early entry in labour market leads to the refutation of normal childhood and absconding from proper schooling, implying a loss in future scope of better earning. Global estimates of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) show that the incidence of child labour is very high in developing countries and statistics reveal that India is the highest in the world. So there is no doubt that in India the issue of child labour is a serious one. Although there is a universal agreement that child labour is undesirable, there is a wide disagreement on how to tackle this problem. The formulation of policies that are effective in curbing child labour requires an analysis of its key determinants, that is, identification of variables that have a significant effect on child employment. The rapidly expanding literature on child labour has focused attention not only on the qualitative features of child labour but also on the quantitative aspects taking advantage of the increasing availability of good quality data on child employment. The empirical literature on child labour has been shifted from mere quantification to an econometric analysis of its determinants. Mention may be made of studies done by Psacharopoulos [1] on Venezuela, Jensen and Nielsen [2] on Zambia, Ray [3] on