Not a small number! 3,20,488 children rescued from all forms of Child Labour during last five years

New Delhi, July 8: This not a small number that 320488 children were rescued from all forms of child labour, and were rehabilitated and mainstreamed to formal education system during the last five years. This information was received from the District Project Societies set up under the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme.

 

While replying to a question in Lok Sabha, Santosh Kumar Gangwar, MoS for Labour and Employment said that as per information received from the State Governments/UT Administrations, the number of violations detected during the inspections conducted, the number of prosecutions launched and the number of convictions made in the last five years in respect of the Child & Adolescent Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 is given hereunder:-

 

For elimination of child labor, the Government has enacted the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016 which came into force effective from September 2016. The Amendment Act inter alia provides for complete prohibition of work or employment of children below 14 years in any occupation and process and prohibition of adolescents in the age group of 14 to 18 years in hazardous occupations and processes. The Amendment Act also provides stricter punishment for employers for violation of the Act and has made the offense as cognizable.

As per Section 2 (14) (ii) of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) act, 2015 (JJ Act), a child who is found living in contravention of labor laws for the time being in force is included as a ‘child in need of care and protection’, the JJ Act, 2015 mandates a security net of service delivery structures to provide institutional and non-institutional care to these children. The primary responsibility of execution of the Act, as such, lies with the State/UTs.

Ministry of Women and Child Development is implementing ‘Child Protection Services’ (CPS) (erstwhile Integrated Child Protection Scheme), for care, protection, rehabilitation and reintegration of children in difficult circumstances. Under CPS, financial assistance is provided to State Governments/UT Administrations, for, inter alia, undertaking a situational analysis of children in difficult circumstances, for setting up and maintenance of various types of Child Care Institutions (CCIs).