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Child labour is a serious socio-economic problem around the world, particularly in the developing countries. No developing country has been able to eliminate this menace, till date. India has the world's largest number of child labourers and working children which is double in comparison to Indonesia. The situation in Indonesia is not better either, in terms of the percentage of total working children. Both the countries are faced with large incidence of child labours with different policy measures. The number of full-time child labourers' is more in India as compared to Indonesia whereas, the number of child labourers who combined work and study together is more in Indonesia.
The state governments of India are not much concerned with this problem in comparison of the central government. This non co-operation or indifference on the part of state governments adds fuel in fire. For example, despite of a Supreme Court direction on 15th
July 2009 that a minimum of 500 child labourers should be rescued monthly, the government of Delhi has rescued only 3770 child labourers in 4 years, till 2013 while as per Supreme Court directions it should be 24,0002.

A number of similar as well as different measures have been taken by the governments of both India and Indonesia to check this problem. The efforts of both the countries in this regard are not satisfactory. The present research work attempts to find the solutions to combat the menace of child labour from the experiences and best practices of both the countries. Since most of the child laborers in India (67%) and in Indonesia(63%) are engaged in the agriculture or primary activities, they can't be rehabilitated as the legislation of both the countries have made exemptions in the law and therefore a large number of child labourers are not protected any more under related laws. The rescue and rehabilitation covers only those children who are working in service sector or transport, building, or in any listed occupations and processes as hazards'. Hence this problem could not be solved only through legislation, executive or judiciary. It appears that it would be possible only by joint efforts of all the actors of society -- parents, the employers, the cultivators, the media, the police, legislation, executive, judiciary, NGOs, international agencies and the government. Both India and Indonesia had adopted an inclusive approach to address this problem. An inclusive approach includes employment of the parents or elder family members, enforcement of legislative and administrative measures, rehabilitation of the rescued child labourers with proper education and vocational training with the help of all actors of society.

Indian Council of Social Science Research.

English