The Government of Tamil Nadu has been in the forefront in the fight against the evil of child labour by taking a proactive stand on eradication of child labour by initiating measures to tackle the problem of child labour in a systematic and effective manner. The Government has adopted multipronged strategy which includes both stringent legislative and project based approach. The concerted efforts taken by the State Government have resulted in perceptible decline of the number of child labour in the State.
Due to effective enforcement, rescue and rehabilitative measures taken by the Government, the number of child workers have reduced to 1.51 lakh in 2011 census as against 4.19 lakh in the 2001 census. SSA conducts out of School Children survey every year during the month of May . The details of survey for the past 5 years are as indicated below:-
| S.No. | Year | No of out of School Children | No.of Children under earning compulsion |
| 1 | 2014-2015 | 43,024 | 5,323 |
| 2 | 2015-2016 | 43,455 | 3,127 |
| 3 | 2016-2017 | 41,034 | 2,340 |
| 4 | 2017-2018 | 36,930 | 2,320 |
| 5 | 2018-2019 | 33,519 | 1,732 |
| 6 | 2019-2020 | 31,512 | 73 |
| 7 | 2020-2021 | 29,568 | 282 |
The Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 and the Allied Acts prohibiting employment of Children are implemented in the State by the officers of Commissionerate of Labour and Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health. The Assistant Commissioners of Labour (Enforcement) are notified as District Nodal Officer vide G.O. (Ms) No.35, Labour and Employment (U1) Department, dated 14.03.2018.
To ensure effective implementation of the provisions of the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, and the Allied Acts prohibiting employment of Children, the Assistant Commissioners of Labour (Enforcement) along with the officials of the Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health are taking stringent action to prevent the engagement of child labour in any Industries. In order to strengthen the enforcement, a District Level Task Force is functioning in all the districts under the Chairmanship of the District Collector since 2007 and the same was reconstituted by the Government vide G.O. (2D) No.2, Labour and Employment (U1) Department dated 11.01.2021.
In order to ensure complete prohibition of employment of children below 14 years, the Government of India has introduced a vibrant enforcement mechanism in the form of an online portal “PENCiL” (Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour).
12th June of every year is observed as “Anti Child Labour Day” to create awareness among the public. All Districts have taken up various activities for awareness creation like oath taking in Government offices, rallies, human chains and awareness campaigns. “Anti Child Labour Day” - message from the Hon’ble Chief Minister is being published in various Tamil dailies.
State level Anti-Child Labour Day awareness programme was observed on 10.06.2022 in the Anna Nagar Tower Park, headed by the Hon’ble Minister for Labour Welfare and Skill Development Department. On that day, awareness was created by flying balloons containing Anti Child Labour slogans, taking Anti Child Labour Day Pledge, Awareness rally, Street Play and Signature Campaign against employment of Child Labour have been organized.
The Union Government subsumed the National Child Labour Project functioned in 12 Districts under Samagra Shiksha of Ministry of Education and allowed the Districts of Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri and Vellore to continue operations of National Child Labour Project upto March 2023.
A State Action Plan (SAP) for eradication of child and Adolescent Labour has been approved by the Government vide G.O. (Ms) No.8, Labour and Employment (U2) Department, dated 30/01/2019. State Action Plan is aimed at providing guidelines to the Enforcement officials and the role of the other line departments and suggest implementation measures which will result in the elimination of child / adolescent labour in the State.
In order to achieve uniformity and certainty, information on steps to be taken for identification, rescue, rehabilitation and effective implementation of the Act need to be provided to the enforcement officers. Therefore, simple step by step Standard Operating Procedure is developed for creating awareness, conducting survey, rescue and rehabilitation of child and adolescent labour in Tamil Nadu and to ensure effective enforcement of the Act has been approved by the Government vide G.O. (Ms) No.58, Labour and Employment (U2) Department, dated 28/05/2019.
After the introduction of new amendments in the Child Labour Act, for smooth and effective implementation of the Act, the Government of Tamil Nadu has initiated action by amending the Tamil Nadu Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Rules, 1994 vide G.O. (Ms) No.220, Labour and Employment Department, dated 15.11.2019 and the same was published in the Tamil Nadu Gazette No.52, dated 25.12.2019.
The State Authority on Elimination of Child Labour and the State Level Monitoring Committee Meeting for NCLP were held on 25.07.2022 under the Chairmanship of Chief Secretary to Government in which instructions were issued by the Chief Secretary for effective implementation of the Act.
The Child /Adolescent Labour families are given priority in the existing poverty alleviation and self employment schemes. The parents of the child/adolescent labour are registered in the relevant unorganized workers welfare boards.