Question : Impact of Covid-19 on Child Labour

(a)whether the details of the true extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on child labour are yet to be measured but all indications show that it would be significant as children are unable to attend school and parents are unable to find work;
(b)if so, the details thereof;
(c)whether it is true that not all the factors that contribute to child labour were created by the pandemic, most of them were pre-existing and have been exposed or amplified by it; and
(d)if so, the details thereof along with the corrective steps being taken by the Government in this regard, State/UT-wise including Andhra Pradesh and Telangana?

MINISTER OF STATE FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
(SHRI RAMESWAR TELI)

(a) to (d): COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all section of the society including children. Child Labour is an outcome of various socio-economic problems in the country. The Government is following a multi-pronged strategy for elimination of child labour comprising of legislative measures, project-based rehabilitation and emphasis on universal elementary education.
Contd..2/-
:: 2 ::

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 has been amended in 2016. The amended Act is now called the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986, which inter-alia provides for complete prohibition of work or employment of children below 14 years of age in any occupation or process and prohibition of adolescents in the age group of 14 to 18 years in hazardous occupations and processes. The Act also provides for stricter punishment for employers for violation of the Act and has made the offence as cognizable. The Rules framed under the Act provide for District Nodal Officer (DNO) and Task Force at district level under chairpersonship of District Magistrate to ensure that the provisions of the Act are properly enforced.

The Ministry of Labour and Employment is also implementing the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme for rehabilitation of child labourers. Under the NCLP Scheme, the children in the age group of 9-14 years are rescued / withdrawn from work and enrolled in the NCLP Special Training Centres to provide bridge education, vocational training, mid-day meal, stipend, health care, etc. before being mainstreamed into formal education system. The children in the age group of 5-8 years are directly linked to the formal education system through a close coordination with the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan. An online portal- “ PENCIL (Platform for Effective Enforcement of No Child Labour)” has also been developed for its better monitoring.

Ministry of Labour and Employment also decided to relax the norms in respect of functioning of the Special Training Centres, and the financial grants under National Child Labour Project from April’20 to Sept’20 were released with relaxed norms in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Number of children rescued/withdrawn from work, rehabilitated and mainstreamed under National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme since 2017-18, State-wise, including Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, is placed at Annexure.

* ******