Between Custom and Constitution :Indigenous Childhood, Education, and Labour in India’s North-East: A Constitutional, Human Rights, and Customary Law Perspective

Author(s)	Ms. Ziti Apon
Country	India
Abstract	This paper examines the tension between constitutional guarantees, human rights norms, and customary governance in shaping indigenous childhood, education, and labour in North-East India. It argues that in tribal contexts, children’s participation in subsistence and community economies blurs the boundary between learning and labour, challenging conventional legal definitions of child labour. While Indian law formally protects children’s rights, its implementation is weakened by legal pluralism, geographic isolation, and socio-economic realities. Through a socio-legal analysis, the paper demonstrates how rights are often “culturally translated” into negotiated social norms, creating regulatory gaps. It concludes by advocating context-sensitive legal and policy approaches that reconcile child protection with indigenous livelihoods and knowledge systems.
Keywords	Indigenous children; North-East India; child labour; right to education; legal pluralism; customary law; constitutional law; socio-legal analysis; tribal economies; child rights
Field	Sociology > Administration / Law / Management
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 3, May-June 2026
Published On	2026-05-03

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