Gujarat has nearly 4.2 lakh child workers, one of the highest in India: 3.9 lakh in 2004-05

By Rajiv Shah
Latest information, calculated on the basis of the worker-population ratio (WPR) provided by the top statistical collection body of the Government of India, National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO), has revealed that Gujarat has nearly 4.2 lakh child workers – 3.18 lakh in the rural areas and a little above 1 lakh in the urban areas. The calculation is based on the NSSO’s revelation in its latest report, “Employment and Unemployment Situation in India, 2011-12”, released in January 2014. It points towards the fact that Gujarat has 2.2 per cent child workers in the urban areas and 4.3 per cent child workers in the rural areas in the age-group 5-14, which happens to be one of the highest in India.
What should be of particular concern for the state’s powerful policy makers is that the percentage of child workers in Gujarat is higher than 20 major most Indian states, except Jharkhand (6.7 per cent), in the rural areas. As for urban areas, only three states have higher percent of child workers than Gujarat – West Bengal (12.6 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (4.4 per cent) and Odisha (4.1 per cent). A high proportion of child labourers should mean failure of the state government’s efforts to ensure universal primary education, on one hand, and inability to implement government policies to overcome poverty and underemployment, on the other.
The states which have higher number of child workers than Gujarat (both in urban and rural areas) are – Uttar Pradesh (28.83 lakh), Bihar (11.22 lakh), West Bengal (10.47 lakh), Jharkhand (4.75 lakh) and Andhra Pradesh (4.5 lakh). It is not without significant that the states which are good performers in overall social indicators have very few child workers. Thus, if calculations based on NSSO figures are to be taken into account, Himachal Pradesh has the lowest number of child workers, just about 4,500, followed by Kerala, about 16,000. There is no explanation either in the NSSO report, or elsewhere, as to why Gujarat, being sold as the model state all over India, has so many child workers.
Official Gujarat government sources give a very sketchy picture of child workers in Gujarat. The Labour Commissioner’s office has quoted the NSSO report of 2004-05 to say that “the total child labour in Gujarat State 3,99,820, out of which 86,130 lived in urban area and 3,13,700 lived in rural area.” It claimed, “From the data it is evident that Gujarat is on 10th rank on the basis of total number of child labour” (click HERE to see details). Clearly, ever since the 2004-05 survey, Gujarat has drastically slipped in child labour. Not only the numbers have gone up compared to most Indian states, the ranking has slipped to the sixth highest number of child workers compared to 20 major states.
The state government admits that “child labour occurs when children under the age of 14 are used to do labour. Children are usually forced to do adult work to help provide for their families. The working conditions are poor and children usually suffer physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. They work long hours every day and are unable to attend school, which is their fundamental right”. It adds, Poverty forces parents to send their children to even hazardous jobs. Although they know it is wrong, they have no other alternatives as they need money. Poor parents are compelled by their circumstances to put their child to work.”
It also agrees, “In spite of the Constitutional and legal provisions, child labour is bitter truth in Gujarat”, but claims, “On the other hand, it is truth that trend of child labour in Gujarat is decline since 1981”, something which is not proving to be correct. It agrees, “The motto of the state government is not fulfilled in elimination of child labour. It is recognized that elimination of child labour needs multi-pronged strategy. Child labour cannot be viewed in isolation because it is a cause and consequence of the country’s socio-economic and political reality. Examples have proved that child labour can be over-come with a clear political vision and plans of action."

Comments

From colonial mercantilism to Hindutva: New book on the making of power in Gujarat

By Rajiv Shah Professor Ghanshyam Shah ’s latest book, “ Caste-Class Hegemony and State Power: A Study of Gujarat Politics ”, published by Routledge , is penned by one of Gujarat ’s most respected chroniclers, drawing on decades of fieldwork in the state. It seeks to dissect how caste and class factors overlap to perpetuate the hegemony of upper strata in an ostensibly democratic polity. The book probes the dominance of two main political parties in Gujarat—the Indian National Congress and the BJP—arguing that both have sustained capitalist growth while reinforcing Brahmanic hierarchies.

From protest to proof: Why civil society must rethink environmental resistance

By Shankar Sharma* As concerned environmentalists and informed citizens, many of us share deep unease about the way environmental governance in our country is being managed—or mismanaged. Our complaints range across sectors and regions, and most of them are legitimate. Yet a hard question confronts us: are complaints, by themselves, effective? Experience suggests they are not.

Kolkata event marks 100 years since first Communist conference in India

By Harsh Thakor* A public assembly was held in Kolkata on December 24, 2025, to mark the centenary of the First Communist Conference in India , originally convened in Kanpur from December 26 to 28, 1925. The programme was organised by CPI (ML) New Democracy at Subodh Mallik Square on Lenin Sarani. According to the organisers, around 2,000 people attended the assembly.

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan In a groundbreaking study spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.

Dalit woman student’s death sparks allegations of institutional neglect in Himachal college

By A Representative A Dalit rights organisation has alleged severe caste- and gender-based institutional violence leading to the death of a 19-year-old Dalit woman student at Government Degree College, Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, and has demanded arrests, resignations, and an independent inquiry into the case.

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

The architect of Congolese liberation: The life and legacy of Patrice Lumumba

By Harsh Thakor* Patrice Émery Lumumba remains a central figure in the history of African decolonization, serving as the first Prime Minister of the independent Republic of the Congo. Born on July 2, 1925, Lumumba emerged as a radical anti-colonial leader who sought to unify a nation fractured by decades of Belgian rule. His tenure, however, lasted less than seven months before his dismissal and subsequent assassination on January 17, 1961.

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

Search This Blog