child labour: Over 14 ministries to run national plan for ‘child labour-free India’

Over 14 union ministries have joined hands to abolish child labour across sectors.

This comes after a parliamentary panel recently questioned the government over a lack of adequate effort in eliminating child labour.

The ministries will also work in ‘mission mode’ to rescue, rehabilitate and support such children and their families through an all-round governmental outreach.

ET has gathered that a nudge to industry to work towards ‘child labour free’ branding and ‘no child labour’ certification is also being suggested as part of a national plan.

In a June 29 meeting, the Parliamentary panel on labour, skills and textiles – chaired by Biju Janata Dal‘s Bhartuhari Mahtab – had instructed that a draft ‘National programme for child labour free India‘ be drawn up.

The draft – now under circulation to over 14 ministries – calls for proactive action on the ‘multi-dimensional’ problem. The first priority that has been identified is reaching the child.

While the labour ministry will engage with employers and enterprises on the issue and monitor enforcement, the education ministry is being asked to ensure enrolment of all “out of school” children, including child labour under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), besides identification of children missing school.

Special attention is sought towards girl children, the migrant population and SC/ST children as the drop-out rates and the incidence of child labour is higher among these segments. The ministry has also been asked to work out scholarships, special assistance and mentoring for all such segments.

The skill development ministry will give skills training to adolescents rescued from hazardous occupations and vocational training to the students of Classes 9 to 12 that are vulnerable to child labour.

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and Tribal Affairs will help prepare livelihood plans/projects for the households where incidence of child labour has been noticed to ensure sustainable income for these households.

The ministries of woman and child development and panchayati raj have been advised strengthen mechanisms at the state/district level for enforcement, besides generating awareness among elected representatives against child labour.

The second part is enforcement of laws to check child labour and to push for ‘child labour free’ business.

On the former, the home ministry has been asked to speed up fund release to the states/UTs for setting up anti-human trafficking units and ensure proper enforcement of the Child Labour and Adolescent (Prohibition and Regulation Act, 1986).

On the latter, several ministries are involved.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has been asked to consider issuing instructions saying that no bricks or building materials be sourced from those units where child labour is employed.

A similar instruction is sought to be issued by the Ministry of Mines as well as Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises for respective units at the time of registration itself.

Similarly, the Ministry of Textiles has been asked to work on elimination of child labour from the supply chain and the commerce ministry to examine the possibility of use of “Child Labour Free” branding.