(a)whether the Government has conducted any review in regard to child labour and if so, the details thereof and the number of cases of child labour brought to light in the country along with the action taken thereon;
(b)whether there is an increase in cases of child labour in the country due to Covid-19 pandemic and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
(c)the steps taken/being taken by the Government to stop child labour?
MINISTER OF STATE FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
(SHRI RAMESWAR TELI)
(a) to (c): Child Labour is an outcome of various socio-economic problems such as poverty, economic backwardness and illiteracy. As per Census 2011, the number of main workers in the age group of 5-14 years in the country is 43.53 lakhs.
The Government has taken various steps for elimination of child labour comprising legislative measures, project based rehabilitation and emphasis on universal elementary education.
Contd..2/-
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Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 has been amended in the 2016. The amended Act is now called the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 which inter-alia provides for complete prohibition of work or employment of children below 14 years of age in any occupation and processes 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 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 Under the NCLP Scheme, the children in the age group of 9-14 years are rescued / withdrawn from work and enrolled in the NCLP Special Training Centres to provide bridge education, vocational training, mid-day meal, stipend, health care, etc.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 better monitoring.
Ministry of Labour and Employment 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.
As per the information received from National Crime Records Bureau, the latest published data pertains to 2019, and according to which 770 number of cases were registered under Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 during 2019, in the country.
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