The Child and Adolescent (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 was promulgated by the Government of India in order to regulate child labour provisions within the country. Amendments took place in the Act in the year 2016 and 2017.

This 4-part Act, followed by a Schedule is formed with the object to address the social concern, along with that prohibit the engagement of children under fourteen years of age in specific employment. The Part C of the Act sets forward the regulations of conditions of work of children, on which the present report is based.

The Act prohibits employment of child in about 13 occupations and about 51 processes.

The Following Occupations Have Been Prohibited:

1. Transport Of Passengers, Goods Or Mails By Railways
2. Bidi Making
3. Carpet Weaving
4. Manufacturing Of Matches, Explosives And Fire
5. Soap Manufacture
6. Wool Cleaning
7. Building And Construction Industry.

The Government Has Also Prohibited Employment Of Children In The Following Occupations Or Processes:

1. Abattoirs/Slaughterhouses
2. Hazardous Processes And Dangerous Operations As Notified
3. Printing, As Defined,
4. Cashew And Cashew Nut Descaling And Processing
5. Soldering Processes In Electronic Industry.

History

1. Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986
   As per Article 24 of the Constitution of India, "No child below the age of fourteen years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or employed in any hazardous employment". The Act designated a child as a person who hadn't completed fourteen years of age with an aim to regulate the working hours and conditions, and to prohibit employment of children in hazardous industries.
2. Child and Adolescent (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016
   This amendment Act completely prohibits the employment of children who have not completed fourteen years of age. The prohibition of employment of children in hazardous occupations and processes has been increased to the age group of fourteen to eighteen years old, meanwhile regulating the working conditions where they are not prohibited.
   
   Punishment for employers who violate the Act was also made stricter while making the offence of employing any child or adolescent in contravention of the Act by an employer cognizable.
   
   It is here when the name of the Act was also amended.
    
3. Child And Adolescent (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2017
   An amendment in the Child and Adolescent (Prohibition and Regulation) Central Rules was made for providing a specific broad framework for prevention, prohibition, rescue and rehabilitation of child and adolescent workers, while throwing light on the issues related with help in family and family enterprises. Definition of family with respect to child have been incorporated in the rules along with some specific provisions. Safeguards for artists in terms of hours of work and working conditions have also been provided for.

Summary
The topic refers to Part III of the Act, it includes Section 6 to 13. It contains certain regulations which are required to be followed by the employer while employing an adolescent. The following is a summary of the Part.

1. Application
   The provisions of this Part of the Act shall apply to an establishment or any class of establishments in which the occupations or processes which are referred to in Section 3 are not being carried on.1
    
2. Hours and period of work
   As mentioned in Section 7:
   
   1. No adolescent employee shall work over the hours which have been decided and prescribed for the establishment or class of establishment.
   2. The establishment shall fix the number of hours
   3. A time period of three hour must not be exceeded without giving s break of one hour
   4. Maximum work hours for a day shall be six, including an hour of interval.
   5. No adolescent employee to work between 7pm to 8 am
   6. An adolescent cannot work in two establishments on the same day.
   Exception: Where a process is carried on by the occupier with the aid of Government or it receives assistance or recognition from Government for it.
    
3. Weekly Holidays (section 8)
   
   1. One holiday a week in mandatory
   2. A permanent notice must be exhibited in a conspicuous space, regarding the day of the week be taken as a holiday, which cannot be altered ore than once in three months.
   Exception: Where a process is carried on by the occupier with the aid of Government or it receives assistance or recognition from Government for it.
    
4. Notice to Inspector (Section 9)
   1. On employment of an adolescent a written notice is to be sent to the Inspector within the local jurisdiction, within 30 days.
   2. It should contain the following particulars:
      
      1. the name of the establishment and place in which it is situated,
      2. name of the person who manages the establishment,
      3. the postal address of the establishment,
      4. the details such as the nature of occupation or process which is carried on in the establishment.
      Exception: Where a process is carried on by the occupier with the aid of Government or it receives assistance or recognition from Government for it.
       
5. Dispute as to age (Section 10)
   In case of dispute between an Inspector and the occupier of the establishment on the age of adolescent, the Inspector can prescribe a medical authority to decide the age of such adolescent if the birth certificate is not available.
    
6. Maintenance of Register (Section 11)
   Occupier to maintain a register of adolescent employed or permitted to work in any establishment. The register should be available for inspection by an inspector throughout the working hours of the establishment.
   The register should contain:
   
   1. the name and date of birth of every adolescent employed or permitted to work
   2. hours and periods of work of any such adolescent and the intervals of rest to which they are entitled
   3. nature of work
   4. any other particulars as may be prescribed.
       
7. Display of notice containing abstract of sections 3A and 14
   A notice containing the abstract of sections 3A and 14 must be displayed in a conspicuous and accessible place at every railway station by every railway administration, every Port Authority and every occupier. This notice should be in the local language and the English language.
    
8. Health and Safety
   Appropriate government 2 make rules for the health and safety of adolescent employed or permitted to work in any establishment or class of establishments by notification in the Official Gazette. The Act contains a list of matters on which rules are required to be made on all or any of them.

Analysis
upon going through the provisions of part III of the act, a major amendment which can be observed throughout is the use of the word adolescent instead of child, while banning the child labour entirely. Making a distinguishment between child adolescent was a step in the right direction. As before the amendment child labour was not fully abolished. Only children working in hazardous industries was banned which employed that the legislation is encouraging the children to work.

While it was always advocated that the objective of the act was to address the social concern and prohibit the engagement of children in employment, the provisions implied something else altogether.

We have come a long way from 1986 where child labour wasn't banned to now in 2016 when child labour is explicitly banned, while still leaving a lacuna the adolescents Being employed.

drawing a distinction between children adoloscents based on whether they have attained 14 years of age or not if a concept which is being debated vastly.

Many believe that this amendment of 2016 is regressive in nature putting special emphasis on the fact that it took 30 years to finally be able to do it.

Even though the penalty has been increased I'm the offense husband made cognizable, the incidents of children being employed and adolescents working in hazardous industries are still being heard. Which leads us to believe that stricter provisions are required. The role of the executive needs to be strengthened.

Conclusion
In conclusion, we figured out that the topic pertains to a part of a recently amended child and adolescent (prohibition and regulation) act.

in this report we went through the history and need of having an act as such in enforcement. we discussed the various regulations which are imposed by this act on the occupier when they employ adolescent. the list of duties, requirement to maintain a register, instructions on working hrs, holidays through the week and requirement to send a notice.

We also discussed the amendments which has been brought in this act through the time, the major one being inclusion of the word adolescent wild banning child labour altogether. The effect of this can be seen in the name of the act, which went from being the child labour (prohibition and regulation) Act to child and adolescent (prohibition and regulation) act.

Finally, we went through an opinion on the amendment, it's timing and the need of further amendments.