Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Drive against child labour, beggary

Special Correspondent

Children at risk to be rehabilitated

Thiruvananthapuram: The district administration on Saturday decided to launch an intensive drive to curb child labour and child beggary. Presiding over a meeting of the monitoring committee under the Social Welfare Department District Collector N. Ayyappan said the administration had received reports about the exploitation of children for illegal activities.

Mr. Ayyappan informed the meeting that a district-level task force had been set up to identify and rehabilitate children at risk.

He directed officials to take stern action to check the abuse of children. “We have come across cases in which children from other States are offered jobs and brought here, sometimes even with the consent of their parents. Many of them are then forced to beg on the streets. We have decided to invoke the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000 to put an end to the practice,” he said.

Under the provisions of the Act, children subjected to cruelty and forced into begging are to be protected and rehabilitated.

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1998 also bans the employment of children under 14 as domestic servants or labourers at hotels, restaurants and wayside eateries, tourist centres, motor workshops and estates.

Mr. Ayyappan stressed the need to utilise funds from the Childline scheme and grant-in-aid projects of the State and Central Governments to rehabilitate the exploited children. District Social Welfare Officers, Probation Officers and Programme Officers should monitor the programme, he said.

Additional District Magistrate K. Surendran, District Social Welfare Officer, District Labour Officer, Probation Officer and other officials participated in the meeting.

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