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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | ‘Weak laws allow child labour in agriculture'

‘Weak laws allow child labour in agriculture'

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published Published on Jun 12, 2012   modified Modified on Jun 12, 2012

-The Hindu

The Rajasthan State Commission for Protection of Child Rights is developing a protocol for elimination of child labour with its contents devoted to various aspects of child trafficking, children being forced into hazardous occupations and rehabilitation of rescued child labourers.

Panel chairperson Deepak Kalra said at a workshop on child labour here on Monday that the protocol would be submitted to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot with request for urgent action to control child labour and “save the childhood” of thousands of kids.

Emphasising the need for a strong protocol, Ms. Kalra pointed out that similar codes of practice exist in Delhi, Maharashtra and Bihar. Adoption of the protocol will facilitate the colossal task of rescuing child labourers, estimated at about 12.60 lakh in the State, she said. Banswara-based advocacy group Vaagdhara organised the half-day workshop in collaboration with Plan India to mark the International Anti-Child Labour Day being observed on Tuesday.

Delivering the keynote address, Ms. Kalra said the Commission recognised child labour as a complex issue needing a multi-pronged strategy and had appointed a separate cell headed by its member Govind Beniwal to deal with the issue. The Commission has also launched a project in association with some voluntary groups to make Jaipur district child labour-free in the next three to five years.

She expressed concern over continuing trafficking of children from southern Rajasthan districts to Gujarat for working in the Bt Cotton fields and said she would be visiting Dungarpur later this month to monitor the situation. About 30,000 to 40,000 children are still being taken from the tribal-dominated regions to Gujarat every year for labour.

“Piecemeal interventions are not going to serve the purpose in the face of a pathetic situation created by weak laws such as the Child Labour Prohibition Act, which allows agriculture as an occupation in which children can be engaged,” said Ms. Kalra. She affirmed that legislations like the Juvenile Justice Act and the Right to Education Act perceive the issue in the perspective of child rights.

Ms. Kalra said it is a myth that child labour exists because of the rampant poverty, destitution and hunger. Studies have revealed that parents willingly sent their children for labour in 70 per cent of the cases without any remorse.

Others who addressed the workshop included State Resource Centre Chairman Rajendra Bora; Commission members Mr. Beniwal and Jyotsana Rajvanshi; Rajasthan University's Centre for Mass Communication head Sanjiv Bhanawat; Vaagdhara secretary Jayesh Joshi and Save the Children's Amit Chowdhury.

Mr. Beniwal said laws framed in 1986 for prevention of child labour were proving to be inadequate. “Wherever child labour is found as a rampant practice, the dropout rate of children in schools is very high,” he said while calling for connecting every child with formal schooling and adoption of a policy on the issue.

Mr. Bora said the child labour issue remains unresolved mainly because of lack of will of the State Government, which should give more powers to the Commission. “Children are nowhere in the priority for the Government because they do not have the right to vote.”

Mr. Joshi said Vaagdhara, which presented a draft plan of action for elimination of child labour to Rajasthan on February 6, is still waiting for its response. The advocacy group has launched an awareness campaign against child trafficking in the tribal-dominated districts of Banswara, Dungarpur and Udaipur, he added.

Mr. Chowdhury made a presentation on the status of child labourers in India and pointed out that Rajasthan occupies the third rank in terms of their number. The laws for prevention of child labour should be revised, he said.

The leading sectors employing child labourers in Rajasthan identified in the workshop were gem polishing, aari tari (embroidery with thin wires) and carpet weaving. Besides, children work at beedi manufacturing units in Tonk, stone quarries and mines in and around Jodhpur and Pali, brick kilns in Nagaur and at hotels and in houses as domestic help in the urban areas in the State.

The Hindu, 12 June, 2012, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article3517461.ece


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