Ban on employment of children as domestic servants or in dhabas (roadside eateries), restaurants, hotels, motels, teashops, resorts, spas or in other recreational centers is now in force  from 10^th October 2006 under the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986. The Union Ministry of Labour had earlier issued a notification  giving three-month mandatory notice. The Ministry has warned that anyone employing children in these categories would be liable to prosecution and other penal action under the Act.

Rehabilitating Children

The Labour Ministry has sought necessary support from the State Governments in enforcing the ban on employment of children as domestic servants and also in eateries etc. In a letter to the Chief Ministers, the Minister for Labour and Employment has also sought their support in rehabilitating children withdrawn from work due to this ban. The Ministry is holding zonal level meetings to sensitize the concerned state level officials, civil society organisations, NGOs and other stakeholders.

The Secretary, Labour and Employment, has also written to his counterparts in several Central Government Ministries requesting them for infrastructure support by the concerned departments towards rehabilitation of the released children from work and their families as an immediate objective. He has also urged them to make specific provisions in the schemes of their Ministries for working children and their families as a long term measure. The Secretaries who have been approached include those from the Ministries of Women and Child Development, Human Resource Development, Rural Development, Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation, Social Justice and Empowerment. The views and cooperation of industrial associations and NGOs are also sought in providing necessary support towards rehabilitation as a consequence of ban. Government servants have already been prohibited from employing children as domestic servants.  

Child Helpline

A toll free 24-hour telephone help line 1098 for children in distress can be accessed in 72 cities of the country. This number can be available by any child or concerned adult on his or her behalf.  This helpline, easily remembered in Hindi as “Dus, Nau, Aath”,  is presently working in the following 72 cities:

Agartala, Aurangabad, Chennai, Guwahati, Kanchipuram, Kozhikode, Nadia, Pune, South 24 Paraganas, Varanasi, Shimla, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Kanyakumari, Kutch, Nagapattinam, Puri, Thiruvananthapuram, Vijayawada, Ludhiana, Ahmednagar, Baroda, Cuddalore, Imphal, Karaikal, Lucknow, Nagpur, Rourkela, Thirunelveli, Vishakhapatnam, Akola, Bhopal, Delhi, Indore, Kochi, Mangalore, Nasik, Ranchi, Thrissur, Waynad, Allahabad, Bhubaneshwar, East Midanapore Jammu, Kolkata, Madurai, New Jalpaiguri, Salem, Tiruchirapalli, West Midnapore, Alwar, Chandigarh, Goa, Jaipur, Kollam, Mumbai, Patna, Shillong, Udaipur, Agra, Amarawati, Cuddalore, Gorakhpur, Kalyan, Kota, Murshidabad Port Blair, Sholapur, Ujjain and Gurgaon.

NCLP

The ban is expected to go a long way in ameliorating the condition of hapless working children. The Labour Ministry is also contemplating to strengthen and expand its rehabilitative Scheme of National Child Labour Project (NCLP), which already covers 250 child labour endemic districts in the country.           

Development Projects                                               

There are several other schemes and programmes being implemented by different Ministries and Departments to improve the overall status of the children of the country. These  include : Integrated Child Development Services Scheme (ICDS), Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, National Rural Health Mission, Pulse Polio Immunization Programme, National programme for education of girls at elementary level, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya, Mid-day Meal Scheme, Integrated Programme for Street Children, Integrated Programme for Juvenile Justice, Shishu Greh Scheme.  

Working in Unison

The citizens, forums representing voices of all sections in the society, employees of government and other public institutions should join the Government’s endeavour in ensuring that the law is implemented. All have to work together to create a moral force to build India free of child labour, paving the way for children enjoying the right to education. (PIB Features)

* Inputs from Ministry of Labour and Employment and  Ministry of Women and Child Development