No child labour after 2007, says Govt

The Centre plans to eradicate child labour from the country by 2007.

Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma has said the government aimed to ensure that all children working in identified hazardous occupations were withdrawn and join the formal education system during the Tenth Five-Year Plan period.

The Centre has made an allocation of Rs 602 crore for the programme for the Plan period.

In the first phase, 100 districts across 13 child labour endemic states were covered and 200,000 working children were brought under the NCLP.

Fifty districts were added today and 100 more would be added within a few more days, Verma said.

The major activity undertaken under the NCLP include the establishment of special schools to provide a bridge school mechanism where formal education, vocational training, stipends, health check-ups and supplementary nutrition are provided to children in the 6-14 age group.

In his address, Juan Somavia, director-general of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), said rules of trade were unfair to developing countries. They were pressurised to open their economies despite prevalent protectionism in the developed countries.

Labour secretary PD Shenoy said though the number of child workers in the country had come down to around 10 million in 1999-00, from 13.6 million in 1981, the task of eradicating child labour remained a stupendous one.