“The ban has been imposed under the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, and will be effective from October 10, 2006,” the Labour Ministry said today.

The Act prohibits employment of children as domestic servants or in dhabas (roadside eateries), restaurants, hotels, motels, teashops, resorts, spas or in other recreational centres.

The government warned that anyone employing children in these categories would be liable to prosecution and other penal action under the Act.

The decision has been taken on the recommendation of the Technical Advisory Committee on Child Labour, headed by the Director-General, ICMR. The committee considers the occupations mentioned in the above notification as hazardous for children and has recommended their inclusion in the occupations which are prohibited for persons below 14 years under the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986. 

The committee, while recommending a ban on employing children in these occupations, had said that these children were subjected to physical violence, psychological traumas and at times even sexual abuse. It said that invariably such incidents went unnoticed and unreported as they took place in the close confines of households, dhabas or restaurants. 

It said these children were made to work for long hours and were made to undertake various hazardous activities severely affecting their health and psyche. The committee has said that the children employed in roadside eateries and highway dhabas were the most vulnerable lot and were easy prey to sex and drug abuse as they came in contact with all kinds of people.

The measure is expected to go a long way in ameliorating the condition of hapless working children. The Labour Ministry is also contemplating to strengthen and expand its rehabilitative scheme of the National Child Labour Project, which already covers 250 child labour-endemic districts in the country.