- According to the Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Union Minister of State (IC) for Labour and Employment, total 66,169 child labourers were rescued, rehabilitated and mainstreamed under National Child Labour Project Scheme
- During 2018-19 Total 1,44,783 child labourers were rescued & rehabilitated During Last three Years.
About Child Labour
- Child Labour is an outcome of various social-economic problems such as poverty, economic backwardness and illiteracy. Government is following a holistic and multi-pronged strategy for elimination of child labour completely.
Measures
- The Government has amended the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 and enacted Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016 which inter-alia covers complete prohibition on employment or work of children below 14 years of age in all occupations and processes; linking the age of the prohibition of employment with the age for free and compulsory education under Right to Education Act, 2009; prohibition on employment of adolescents ( 14 to 18 years of age) in hazardous occupations or processes and making stricter punishment for the employers contravening the provisions of the Act.
- Subsequent to the amendment in Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986, Government has framed Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2017.
- The Government is also implementing the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme for rehabilitation of child labour. Under the NCLP Scheme, children in the age group of 9-14 years are rescued/withdrawn from work and enrolled in the NCLP Special Training Centres, where they are provided with bridge education, vocational training, mid day meal, stipend, health care, etc. before being mainstreamed into formal education system. Children in the age group of 5-8 years are directly linked to the formal education system through a close coordination with the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).
- The number of child labourers who were rescued/withdrawn from work, rehabilitated and mainstreamed under National Child Labour Project Scheme during the last three years, State-wise is given in the table below-
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Sl. No. State 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 Andhra Pradesh 814 203 778 Assam 434 915 4562 Bihar 0 2800 0 Gujarat 0 187 100 Haryana 40 0 90 Jharkhand 334 2014 715 Karnataka 681 679 752 Madhya Pradesh 4442 11400 21387 Maharashtra 1692 5250 3721 Punjab 592 994 579 Rajasthan 630 105 0 Tamil Nadu 2850 2855 3021 Telangana 1431 2137 915 Uttar Pradesh 3066 0 7374 West Bengal 13973 17899 22114 Nagaland 0 197 61 Total 30979 47635 66169
