The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act prohibits the engagement of children in certain employments and regulates the conditions of work or children in certain other employments.
Section 3 of the Act prohibits employment of children in certain occupations and processes.
- No child shall be employed or permitted to work in any of the following occupations: Set forth in part of ‘A’ of the schedule or in any workshop where in any of the process set forth in part ‘B’ of the schedule to this Act.
Part A of the Act prohibits employment of children in certain occupations, such as: Transport of passengers, goods; or mails by railway; cinder picking, clearing of ash-pits or building operation in the railway premise; work related to selling crackers and fireworks in shops with temporary licenses; automobile workshops and garages; foundries; handling of taxies or inflammable substance or explosives, etc.
Part B of the Act prohibits employment of children in certain manufacturing processes, such as: Beedi making; carpet weaving; cement manufacture, including bagging of cement; cloth printing, dyeing, and weaving; manufacture of matches, explosive and fireworks; mica cutting and splitting; shellac manufacture; soap manufacture, etc.
Part III of the Act outlines the working conditions in which children may work in occupations/processes not listed in the Schedule of this Act.
- Section 7 lists the hours of work to not exceed what has been prescribed by such establishment. The period of work on each day shall not exceed three hour, and no child shall work for more than three hours before he has had an interval for rest for at least one hour. No child shall be permitted or required to work between 7 p.m. and 8 a.m., and no child shall be required or permitted to work overtime.
- Section 8 provides for the right to get weekly holidays.
- Section 13 provides for maintenance of appropriate safety and health rules, such as: cleanliness in the place of work and its freedom from nuisance; disposal of wastes and effluents; ventilation and temperature; dust and fume; artificial humidification; lighting; drinking water; latrine and urinals; spittoons; fencing of machinery, etc.
The full text of the law and its provisions can be accessed here: https://labour.gov.in/sites/default/files/act_3.pdf