Child labour is an age-old phenomena in India. It is considered as harmful when it dampens the healthy development of the children. The Indian census provides information on working children by their age group, sex, residence, literacy status. This information is consistent in terms of the definitions adopted and its coverage and thus provides comparability. However, some of the cross tabulations of the information are not done in a comparable fashion. The present paper is an attempt to highlight the changes in child work participation rate (CWPR) by different components namely, by their age group, sex and residence. The paper concludes with a note on possible implications of that change on different policies and programmes.