Thirteen year old Sivakami is a pleasant, pony tailed girl whom I see every
day. She is the culinary assistant and assistant waiter at the small mess where
I have breakfast and meals on a regular basis. Besides being cheap, the food one
gets in such messes that can be seen all over Tamilnadu is of excellent quality.However, the quality and low expense comes up
with a specific price tag. The mess depends mainly upon labour of Sivakami as well as her
elder brother Sivanesan, who is studying for his Plus
2. the only silver lining is that both Sivanesan as well as Sivakami have
been allowed to continue with their studies.But this is not the case for many others. The
Planning Commission’s report on Child labour says that
according to the 2001 Census there are
1.26 crores economically active children in the
age-group of 5-14 years. Among the
states, Uttar Pradesh accounts for a larger share of close to one fourth of all
child labour in India followed by Andhra Pradesh.
Maharastra and West
Bengal respectively garnered nine and eight percent of India’s child employment.
The share of Uttar Pradesh has dramatically shot up in the last one decade from
less than 13 per cent in the mid-1990s to close to 23 per cent in 2004-05, which
is a cause for concern. On the other hand, the share of Andhra Pradesh seems to
have declined quite considerably during this period.
Though
there are clear provisions in our Constitution to safeguard the interest of
children by ensuring that they receive education and are not forced to work for
a living, it is unfortunate that the problem of child labour exists to a large extent in our country. In fact,
child labour is the result of various ills in the
society. Poverty and illiteracy are two such manifestations, which are visible
but there are many other factors inbuilt in our society, like the position of
women in the family, traditional and cultural practices and feudal attitudes in
the country, perpetuating this problem.
The Global Picture
The most recent estimates suggest 127 million boys and 88 million
girls are involved in child labour with 74 million
boys and 41 million girls in the worst forms.National laws or
regulations in countries differ from one to another. Some countries may permit
the employment of 13-15 year olds in light work which is neither prejudicial to
school attendance, nor harmful to a child’s health or development. In yet other
countries children in the ages 12-14 can apply for light work. Still other
countries prescribe a minimum age of 14 for becoming employed.
India’s Latest Approach to
Child Labour: 12th Plan
- The strategy for dealing with Child Labour during the 12th Five Year Plan Period has been formulated based on the suggestions given by the members of the working group in the two meetings conducted on 27th May and 8th July 2011 The broad highlights of the suggestions are:
- The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act should be strengthened and amended.
- The problems of working children of the migratory families should be addressed. Child labour survey should specifically capture migration of children. Residential schools should be opened in each Metro and Mega cities and also in every district.
- It is important to run residential schools for rehabilitation of child labour.
- The NCLP (National Child Labour Project) Scheme should expand further to a large geographical coverage.
- Emphasis should be given to the monitoring and tracking of NCLP school children.
- The convergence approach should be followed to enhance social protection and welfare measures for working children.
- The NCLP Scheme should be realigned in the light of Right to Education Act 2009. The teachers of the NCLP Special schools should be properly trained.
- Three tier Monitoring Committee at the District, State and National level should be made for effective implementation and monitoring of the NCLP Scheme.
The
NCLP Scheme
The NCLP Scheme (National Child Labour Project), which began with a
modest number of only 12 districts, has been progressively extended to various
parts of the country with the coverage of 271 districts in 21 States of the
country. It is functioning in 18 districts of Tamilnadu also.
There have been demands from various States for
expanding the coverage of NCLP Scheme to more districts, there is, therefore, a
need to expand the Scheme in all the 600 districts in the country.
Right to Education
India’s
landmark Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE) has been
hailed universally as an essential foundation to ensure that all children are in
school and out of child labour. Education for all was
unanimously agreed as a target towards reaching the goal of elimination of child
labour, in addition to scaling up efforts through
poverty reduction, social protection and building political commitment to
tackling child labour.
The 12th Plan Proposal of the
Planning Commission calls for an effective alignment of the NCLP Scheme with the
provisions of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE Act,
2009). Accordingly, the NCLP Schools will serve as Special Training Centre for
un-enrolled and out-of-school children in accordance with the provisions of
Section 4 of the RTE Act and Rule 5 of the Right of Children to Free and
Compulsory Education (RTE) Rules, 2010. For this purpose, all such children will
be admitted to a neighborhood school of the State Government/local authority.
After such admission, the children will undergo the special training for being
mainstreamed into the regular school in an age appropriate class.
World Day Against Child Labour 2012
The National Commission for Protection
of Child Rights (NCPCR) is commemorating World Day Against Child Labour here on 12 June, 2012. The theme for
this year is- “JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN – END CHILD LABOUR”. The aim of
commemorating this day is to highlight the need to protect the rights of the
child and eliminate child labour and other violations
of fundamental rights of children, in all forms.
The World Day Against Child Labour was launched by the International Labour
Organization (ILO) in 2002 to generate awareness about the practice of child
labour in different sectors. ILO estimates that there
are 21.8 crore child labourers worldwide. The Government of India’s 2001 census
estimated that 1.27 crore are involved in child labour. This means that about 3.6% of the total labour force in India is constituted by children! By
entering the labour market prematurely, they are
deprived of education and training that can help to lift them, their families
and communities out of a cycle of poverty. As child labouers they are exposed to physical, psychological or
moral suffering that can cause long term damage to their lives.
This year the World Day Against Child Labour will provide a spotlight on
the right of all children to be protected from child labour and from other violations of fundamental human
rights. In 2010 the international community adopted a Roadmap for achieving
elimination of the worst forms of Child labour by
2016. This document stressed that child labour is an
impediment to children’s rights and a barrier to development. World Day Against Child Labour 2012 will highlight the work that needs
to be done to make the roadmap a reality
June 12 is World Day Against Child
Labour.
Courtesy: PIB
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