Child labour, protection of child rights and development of children has been a significant issue among the policy makers and all social scientists at national and international levels. Child labour is a socio-economic problem alive in every country of the world, but it varies in nature and scale depending on the existing socio-economic structure of society. Though, it is difficult to estimate

accurately the overall magnitude of child labour in India, it is important to study its trends, issues and policies in India. At present there are 215 million child labourers in the world, out of which 23.08 million are working in south Asian countries. India continues to host the largest number of child labour in the world but there is a large variation of child labour both state-wise and sector-wise. Agriculture and allied activities in India and the rest of the world report for largest child labour. The most child labour concentrated state in India is Uttar Pradesh. It is observed that the main reason of child labour is poverty, and the relationship between these two create a circle. This circle shows that child labour is a cause as well as result of poverty. The other reasons which give rise to child labour are unemployment, underemployment, and population explosion, lack of educational facilities, illiteracy and ignorance of parents. The government of India have been taking a variety of steps from

time to time for development of children and elimination of child labour from the country. Child education is a very effective instrument for the elimination of child labour.