Counting Child Labour in India: A Critique of Epistemology

This paper underscores the significance of reliable and up-to-date data bases on child labour for an informed understanding of policy formulation, implementation and evaluation. The available data sources on child labour in India have been examined to illustrate the arguments. The paper concludes that, the available data bases have indeed proved helpful in understanding some critical dimensions of child labour. But these do not capture all the dimensions of child labour and hence cannot be fully trusted for a systematic analysis of the processes of socialization of children or even policy formulation for the abolition of child labour. There is need for fresh data generation on a sustained basis. The paper is organised in three sections. Section I explains the backdrop of the subject. Section II deals with the epistemological issues using the available data bases on child labour as the reference material. The last section presents summary and conclusions.