Programmes for Eradication of Child Labour

The Government is contemplating certain amendments to Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 which includes making penalties more stringent for those who employ child labourers. Accordingly the Ministry of Labour and Employment is implementing National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme in 266 districts of the country for eradication of child labour. Under Grant in Aid Scheme, funds to the extent of 75% of the project cost are released directly to the NGOs for elimination of the child labour in the districts which are not covered under the National Child Labour Project. Apart from this, Government is taking various proactive measures towards convergence of schemes of different Ministries like Ministry of Human Resource Development, Women & Child Development, Urban Housing & Rural Poverty Alleviation, Rural Development, Railway, Panchayati Raj Institutions etc. so that child labour and their families get covered under the benefits of the schemes of these Ministries. Further the Ministry is implementing a pilot Project Converging Against Child labour–support for India’s Model in collaboration with International Labour Organisation funded by US Department of Labour with the objective to contribute to the prevention and elimination of hazardous child labour, including trafficking and migration of child labour.  As per 2001 census, the total number of working children between the age group 5-14 years in the country was 1.26 crore. However, as per NSSO survey 2009-10, the working children are estimated at 49.84 lakh which shows declining trend. The State-wise information is given as under:

Data on Child Labour based on Employment Unemployment Survey during NSS 66th Round (2009-10)
Sr. No.	Major State all India	Age group 5-14
		Rural		Urban
		Male	Female	Male	Female
1	Andhra Pradesh	88156	110191	20767	15548
2	Assam	144655	31909	11833	757
3	Bihar	224292	38665	11017	2548
4	Chhattisgarh	3669	7321	636	0
5	Delhi	-	-	18576	0
6	Gujarat	150487	207973	15945	16282
7	Haryana	22664	17471	28073	3988
8	Himachal Pradesh	2300	2942	2156	0
9	Jammu & Kashmir	11274	16872	1139	0
10	Jharkhand	63684	14661	4123	0
11	Karnataka	89796	113429	20793	2479
12	Kerala	1182	0	0	1583
13	Madhya Pradesh	91454	32812	57688	9063
14	Maharashtra	66370	127996	54230	12077
15	Orissa	54390	38288	36522	5363
16	Punjab	16802	6433	15664	9937
17	Rajasthan	93055	261871	43184	7826
18	Tamil Nadu	0	13880	3471	0
19	Uttarakhand	14810	7239	3219	2103
20	Uttar Pradesh	1012294	546320	147820	68899
21	West Bengal	357265	134657	31946	27716
	all India	2511101	1727271	546897

 

Source: PIB