Child labour in the Indian subcontinent

Many less developed countries (LDCs) are confronted with the twin problems of pers isting higher fertility and tardy progress in the field of primary education. The main reason for this is held to be the employment of children in gainful activities from a young age. Though the ultimate aim of LDCs is to eradicate child labour, socio economic and cultural factors coupled with conceptual, definitional and measurement problems are serious obstacles in this en deavour. Till such time as LDCs achieve their goal, it is imperative to protect the in terests of working children. And this can best be done by understanding the phenomenon of child labour, which is the purpose of this volume.

The eight papers comprising this book throw new light on the incidence, corre lates and implications of child labour. The contributors explore the causes and conse quences of this phenomenon with particu lar emphasis on rural child labour. They discuss the nature of child labour and its value in relation to that of adults.

Utilising a variety of data sets, methodologies and analytical techniques, a major effort has been made to systemati cally explore the role of children in the life cycle of parents and the implications of this on fertility behaviour and the schooling of children. The hypothesis that high fertility levels are associated with the economic be nefits and costs of having children is consi dered and critiqued in depth as are the pol icy implications that emerge from the analysis.

This volume is a significant contribution to the scanty literature on this important sub ject. Methodologically rich and inter-discip linary in nature, this book will interest sociologists, social workers, policy-makers and planners, development activists, de mographers, and economists.