Child Labour and ‘Nowhere’ Children in Post-reforms India

Child labour is not only detrimental to individual children, but also to the society, community and the nation as it negatively affects the pace of economic growth by preventing full realization of positive externalities associated with human capital formation. It is also one of the major causes and consequences of poverty. Until early 1990, India had one of the highest incidences of child labour and out of school children in the world. Following the launching of economic reforms, India’s economy started growing at an accelerated rate in the post-reforms era, along with faster decline in the incidence of poverty. In the post-reforms era, the state of India also launched a slew of policies and programmes to eradicate child labour and to increase school enrolment in the country. But, had there been a phenomenal decline in the incidence of child labour and ‘nowhere’ children in the country? Had there been a phenomenal increase in school enrolment and decline in gender educational disparity in the post-reforms era in India? This article addresses these issues.