The Hindu : Karnataka News : The aim is to bring every child to school: expert

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 26, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Karnataka

Karnataka

The aim is to bring every child to school: expert

Staff Correspondent

‘Efforts will be made to eradicate child labour’

Agriculture sought to be categorised as hazardous sector
International pressure on India to eradicate
child labour

Chitradurga: The Ministry of Labour and Employment will ensure that every child goes to school, Vice-Chairman, Central Advisory Board on Child Labour, Sayed Naseer Hussain, has said.

Addressing presspersons here on Monday, he said eradication of child labour should be directly linked to the education of children, which in turn would help rehabilitate them purposefully.

Admitting that the socio-economic conditions in the country would make it difficult to eradicate child labour, he, however, said a comprehensive and broad-based system could be introduced to remove it in a phased manner.

“With this aim in mind, the Union Government has introduced the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) in schools to impart primary education to children. This will help bring them back into the mainstream,” he added. The project was under way in 250 districts of the country, where 8,887 schools had been set up with nearly 5.5 lakh children being admitted, he added.

Mr. Hussain said the Government had entered into an agreement with the U.S. Government for a similar project called INDUS, which was being undertaken in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh, where over 80,000 child workers had been admitted to school.

“A special project, in association with the Government of Italy, has been launched in Karnataka, through which international funds are being used to plan programmes for the eradication of child labour,” he said.

Mr. Hussain said such issues were considered serious at the international level. India was also under pressure from various countries to curb this menace. Quoting an example, he said the Dutch Government had refused to import a few items of export from India stating that child workers had been engaged in manufacturing them. “The Union Government has also taken this issue seriously, and hopes to eliminate child labour,” he said.

Mr. Hussain said the Board would soon submit its recommendations to the Centre to bring in amendments to the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation ) Act 1986.

He said the recommendations were expected to be tabled before Parliament in its next session.

He said the Government would recommend categorisation of agriculture as a hazardous sector. “So far, the sector has been considered non-hazardous. But, owing to excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, it is now not safe for children. Thus, they should be spared from such activities,” he added.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka