**Executive Summary**
This document contains the answer provided by the Minister of State for Labour and Employment in response to Unstarred Question No. 1276 in Lok Sabha to be answered on 08.12.2025. The question sought details on child labour, including the number of children working, details of hazardous work, and the number of child laborers rehabilitated in the country. The response refers to the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 and the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme.
**Key Points / Main Content**
* **Legal Framework:**
* The Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, prohibits work or employment of children below 14 years in any occupation and process.
* The Act covers adolescents (14-18 years) in hazardous occupations and processes.
* The Act provides strict punishment for employers who violate the provisions, making the offenses cognizable.
* **National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme:**
* The Ministry of Labour & Employment had been implementing the NCLP Scheme.
* The scheme focused on rescuing and rehabilitating child laborers aged 9-14 years.
* Rescued children were enrolled in NCLP Special Training Centres (STCs) and provided with bridge education.
* The NCLP scheme has been subsumed with Samagara Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) of the Ministry of Education with effect from 01.04.2021.
* An annexure provides state-wise data on the number of children rescued, withdrawn from work, rehabilitated, and mainstreamed under the NCLP scheme from 2018-19 to 2022-23.
**Impact Analysis**
**Ministry of Labour and Employment**
* **Impact**
* Responsible for implementing policies and schemes related to child labour rehabilitation.
* **Action Required**
* Monitor the implementation of the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986.
* Continue rehabilitating and mainstreaming rescued child labourers through SSA.
**Employers**
* **Impact**
* Subject to legal action and penalties for employing children in violation of the Act.
* **Action Required**
* Ensure compliance with the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986.
* Refrain from employing children under 14 years and adolescents in hazardous occupations and processes.
**Child Labourers**
* **Impact**
* Benefit from rescue and rehabilitation efforts to remove them from work environments.
* **Action Required**
* Participate in education and training programs to facilitate their mainstreaming into the formal education system.
Key Entities Referenced
National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme: Scheme for rescue & rehabilitation of child labourers, subsequently subsumed by Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)
Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986: Provides for the prohibition of work or employment of children below 14 years and regulates work for adolescents
Ministry of Labour & Employment: The ministry that was implementing the NCLP Scheme.
Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA): Scheme of Ministry of Education, that has subsumed NCLP with effect from 01.04.2021
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1276
TO BE ANSWERED ON 08.12.2025
CHILD LABOURERS
1276. SHRI PARTHA BHOWMICK:
Will the Minister of LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT be pleased to
state:
(a)the details of the number of children under 14 years working in the
country;
(b)the details of the number of children under 16 years working in
hazardous industries in the country; and
(c)the details of the number of child labourers rehabilitated during the
last five years and the current year in the country, year-wise?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
(SUSHRI SHOBHA KARANDLAJE)
(a) to (c): The Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and
Regulation) Act, 1986 provides for the complete prohibition of work
or employment of children below 14 years in any occupation and
process and adolescents in the age group of 14 to 18 years in
hazardous occupations and processes. The Act provides for strict
punishment of employers for violation of its provisions and makes the
offences under the Act cognizable.
The Ministry of Labour & Employment had been
implementing National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme for
rescue & rehabilitation of child labourers under which the children in
the age group of 9-14 years were rescued from work, enrolled in the
NCLP Special Training Centres (STCs) and were provided with bridge
education before being mainstreamed into formal education system.
The NCLP scheme has been subsumed with Samagara Shiksha
Abhiyan (SSA), a scheme of Ministry of Education with effect from
01.04.2021. The details of the number of children rescued / withdrawn
from work, rehabilitated and mainstreamed under NCLP scheme
state - wise, during 2018-19 to 2022-23 is at Annexure.
* *****Annexure
ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) TO (c) OF LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1276 FOR 08.12.2025 RAISED BY SHRI PARTHA
BHOWMICK REGARDING CHILD LABOURERS
No. of children rescued / withdrawn from work, rehabilitated and mainstreamed under NCLP
Scheme during 2018-19 to 2022-23.
Sl. No. State 2018-19 2019-2020 2020-2021 2021-22 2022-23
1 Andhra Pradesh 778 1049 622 2090 441
2 Assam 4562 6175 2800 0 1291
3 Gujarat 101 341 531 50 0
4 Haryana 171 NA NA NA --
5 Jharkhand 1225 2940 3239 755 410
6 Karnataka 763 363 275 230 0
7 Madhya Pradesh 4910 4010 29179 1268 172
8 Maharashtra 8122 9337 2031 2537 337
9 Odisha NA 6 495 76 1415
10 Punjab 915 483 1307 986 2504
11 Rajasthan NA 1712 NA 301 18
12 Tamil Nadu 2534 3928 1456 2183 2628
13 Telangana 935 214 300 618 935
14 Uttar Pradesh 8020 10371 9383 1833 339
15 West Bengal 17137 13879 6671 5207 3270
16 Uttarakhand NA 62 -- 3 1
17 Nagaland 111 24 -- -- --
Total 50,284 54,894 58,289 18,137 13,761
Source: Ministry of Labour & Employment
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