SPECIAL DAY: Children participating in a rally from Gandhi statue to Bal Bhavan in Bangalore on Tuesday. The rally was organised by the Labour Department on the occasion of the World Anti-Child Labour Day. — Photo: K. Gopinathan

Bangalore: Can the Health Minister take the place of the Labour Minister, especially on the occasion of World Anti-Child Labour Day celebrations?

Labour Minister Iqbal Ansari was conspicuous by his absence at the programme organised at Bal Bhavan by the Labour Department.

So, the onus of delivering the main speech fell on Health Minister R. Ashok.

Minister for Industries Katta Subramanya Naidu made a brief appearance at the programme and left after the inauguration.

Project progress

As Mr. Ashok, quite understandably not clued into the nitty-gritty of child labour programmes in Karnataka, could not throw any fresh light on the progress of the child labour project in Karnataka.

He said Karnataka was committed to eradicating child labour by 2012 and was spending Rs. 10 crore annually on various child labour programmes. This target could be met only if child labour is regarded a taboo by the common people, he said.

Special schools

The Health Minister pointed out that the State Government was targeting children employed in silk industries and setting up special schools for them at Anekal, Kolar and Sidlaghatta at a n estimated cost of Rs. 90 crore.

The Government had earmarked four acres of land to run a special training centre for children aged above 14, he added.

Pressure

The Health Minister then sidetracked into a completely different topic and spoke about how parents in cities were building pressure on children to perform well excel in academics, not sparing them even during summer vacation.

The other speakers at the function included Labour Commissioner Manjunath K.S., Joint Labour Commissioner Manjunath Shastry, Sanjiv Kumar, Project Director of International Labour Organisation, Sudha Murali of the UNICEF and B.L. Sridhar, Principal Secretary (Labour).

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