Child is a form of child labor and it is considered so –both in west and in India. As the laws against child labor tell, no child under the age of 14 is allowed to work. In India however, children are allowed to work to contribute to family income after their school hours, and provided their studies don’t suffer.
According to the section on Child Labor of the Indian Constitution, a child can work and earn money after his/her school hours provided the working conditions are not hazardous. Owing to this relaxation, our entertainment industry employs child artists in a great number on various platforms which range from reality shows to movies.
No matter how glamorous and prestigious the life of child artists seem to be, India has come to acknowledge a fact about child labor in entertainment industry which can be summarized as:
“Many of these problems may be inherent and generic to the industry, but children, unlike their adult counterparts, should not be expected to handle the emotional and physical stress. It needs to be remembered that, by and large, children do not join the industry of their own volition. There is always an adult involved – a parent, or caretaker – who takes the decision for them. In the absence of any monitoring mechanism, there is every likelihood of child actors being exploited when it comes to the number of hours worked per day, and short-changed in terms of educational and safety provisions.”
So employment in acting career or entertainment industry too is considered to be a form of child labor but the labor is regulated by certain laws, and certain laws of child labor have also been relaxed when it comes to employment of children in entertainment industry.