CORONA VIRUS, CHILD LABOUR AND IMPERFECT MARKET IN INDIA

Abstract

The objective of the study is to analyse impact of corona virus in child labour in India. Covid-19 pandemic has created a big challenge in front of the world and India its negative impact on the economy has also created the possibilities of an increase in child labour. One impact would be an increase in the number of child workers. Along with the health crisis, and the economic and labour market shock that the pandemic has generated, the vulnerability of millions to child labour is another issue that merits serious attention. Already, there are 152 million child labourers worldwide. Despite the prohibition of engagement of children below the age of 14 in all occupations, India alone is home to 10.1 million child labourers in the age group 5-14 years Census 2011. As per the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy’s (CMIE) weekly tracker survey, the impact of COVID-19 has already pushed the urban unemployment rate to 30.9% as on April 5, which was 8.21% on March 15 estimates show that about 400 million informal workers in India may not get back their livelihood status for a longer period in the near future KEYWORDS:- Child labour, Covid-19, Health, Unemployment, Work