Out of school and (probably) in work: child labour and capability deprivation in India

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Summary: This paper explores the hypothesis that the phenomenon of child labour is explicable in terms of poverty that compels a household to keep its children out of school and put them to work in the cause of the household's survival. Specifically, the authors examine the link between child labour and poverty in the Indian context.The authors use a mix of analytical reasoning, micro-level findings, and macro-level data in order to elucidate a simple relationship between the phenomena of child labour and generalised capability deprivation. They argue that, as a result, they have advanced the case for adopting a more expansive and inclusive approach to reckoning both child labour and deprivation than is customarily the case. They found that the utcome of such an exercise in the Indian context suggests that:

  • the prevalence of child labour is larger than conventionally allowed
  • the level of deprivation that obtains is also larger than conventionally allowed
  • there is a much stronger association between the phenomena under review than conventionally uncovered
  • spatial inequality - in terms of a deep north-south divide - in the distribution of both child labour and deprivation are pronounced. This is similarly true for a partitioning of the population by sector of origin (rural/urban) and by caste (Scheduled Castes and Tribes/the rest).

The authors conclude that anti-child labour policy is not sensibly served by calls for blanket bans on the phenomenon which do not address its underlying causes. A more rational, and sensitive, approach to the problem would reside in efforts aimed at relieving the punitive want of access to basic amenities which, in many villages, keeps children out of school and into work.

Owner: Jayaraj, D.; Subramanian, S.pdf: http://www.crin.org/docs/out of school.pdf

Organisation: 
World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU/WIDER)
Attachment Link: 
http://www.crin.org/docs/out of school.pdf
Link : 
http://www.crin.org/docs/out%20of%20school.pdf

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