Ban on child labour is a paper tiger, said Regina Thomas, regional director, South, Child Rights and You (CRY), on completion of one year of the ban on child labour.

The Ministry of Labour issued a notification banning children from working in residences and the hospitality sector on October 10 last year. A year later, child labour is still very visible through the reports in the media and real life experiences, she said.

Failure to address root causes, gaps in the notification, weak enforcement mechanism and no provisions for rehabilitation are the main reasons for the little impact of the ban, said John Roberts, general manager- Development Support, Southern Region, CRY.

The law is not clear about small family-run units, where a vast number of children are employed. The conviction rate for the already existing Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 is abysmally low , Mr Roberts said.
It ignores children's right to safe and facilitating environment for development. The ban also fails to address the reasons like demand for cheap labour, unemployed adults, marginalisation, migration, poverty, lack of coherent education policy and schools, due to which children are forced to work, CRY emphasised.