A study of Socio-economic Determinants and Working Conditions of Child Labourers of Uttar Pradesh

India has the dubious distinction of hosting the largest number of child labourers in the world. The 2011 census puts the number at 4.35 million working children in the 5–14 age brackets. Today the problem of child labour is considered as a growing issue in Indian society. This problem is one of the biggest challenges being faced by the developing and under developed countries in the world. In this paper, we have identified various causative factors related with the persistence of child labour in Uttar Pradesh, India.

To study the working profile and main causes of child labour in different parts of Uttar Pradesh.

Total 250 children who are currently working were randomly selected by two stage sampling method from five districts of Uttar Pradesh (Raibareily, Varanasi, Mau, Muzaffarpur, Bhadohi) as study subject. A Pre-structured Interview Schedule was used to collect data from the respondents.

Data was analyzed with the help of statistical software SPSS 16.0 trial version.

Result shows that most of the child labourers are from the rural area and the proportion of male child labour is high in comparison to female child labours. Results also shows that majority of the children are literate up to primary. Most of the child labours are working as vendors and the children said that they are bound to work in this age due to poverty.