“Life of little ones are destroyed, When child lab our is employed.”

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Poverty is consider to be the most important cause of child labour and it deprives children of schooling and acqurining human skill. The poor children grow as unskilled workers and earn low wages in adulthood. So, poverty persists and the parents are forced to send their children to work and a child labour trap is formed.

The econometric analysis using state level panel data in the Indian context demonstrates that poverty, illiteracy and child labour are significantly correlated. The results show that poverty adversely affects children’s schooling and education and results in persistence of poverty thereby creating a child labour trap.

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Child labour deprives children of their childhood, their potential and dignity. It is believed to be harmful to their physical and mental development. It hinders in their human capital accumulation.

Less human capital accumulation results in lower productivity. Thus, they earn less and remain poor. When these uneducated, unskilled and poor people become parents they are not able to invest in human capital of their children.

Their income remains very low so they look towards these little hand to do child labour and supplement the household budget. This study investigates the relationship between poverty and child labour.

It also measures the impact of poverty alleviation on child labour. It finds that poverty breeds child labour and child labour perpetuates poverty. At the end it makes some policy recommendations to break this vicious cycle and reduce poverty and labour.

5 Lines on child labour

1. Child labour is a practice of involving children in business activities either by force or by consent.

2. This practice deprives children of their childhood and hampers their physical and mental development.

3. The 2011 census of India reports shows that there were 10.1 million child labours in the age group of 5-14 years.

4. Children agree to work in cheap wages, and it increases the profit of the business which fuels the issue of child labour.

5. The constitution of India does not support child labour.