Abstract

The most innocent phase in human life is the childhood. It is that stage of life when the human foundations are laid for a successful adult life. Child labour is a practice usually followed in developing and underdeveloped countries. India, unfortunately, is one of them. Child labour is work that harms children or keeps them from attending school. The socio-economic conditions play a significant role in giving rise to the problem of child labour. While governments and civil society commemorate the World Day Against Child Labour on June 12, over 20 crore children are still engaged as child laborers. More than half of them face the worst forms of child labour. As per the census report, the number of children in the age group of 5-14 years engaged in work (including main and marginal workers) was 45,400 in 2011, registering an increase of 74% over 2001. The number of children in this age group engaged in child labour in 2001 was 26,200.The present study was conducted in Alappuzha district.