Child labour is the practice of having children engage in economic activity, on a part- or full-time basis. The practice deprives children of their childhood, and is harmful to their physical and mental(mind) development.
Poverty, lack of good schools and the growth of the informal economy are considered to be the key causes of child labour in India. Some other causes of Child Labour in India are cheap wages and accessibility to factories that can produce the maximum amount of goods for the lowest possible price.
Corruption in the government of India also plays a major role in child labour because laws that should be enforced to prevent child labour are not because of the corrupt government.

The 1998 national census of India estimated the total number of child labourers, aged 4 to 15, to be at 12.6 million, out of a total child population of 253 million in the 5 to 14 age group. However, in 2009�10 a nationwide survey found the prevalence of child labour had reduced to 4.98 million children (or less than 2% of the children in the 5 to 14 age group). The 2011 national census of India found the total number of child labourers, aged 5�14, to be at 4.35 million,and the total child population to be 259.64 million in that age group.[6] The child labour problem is not unique to India; worldwide, about 217 million children work, many full-time.