MillenniumPost
Delhi

Play throws light on child labour laws

On the occasion of the Anti-Child Labour Day, about 30 child rights volunteers and students voiced their demands to review the existing law of Child Labour Act through a play here.

The play Abhi ek muskaan baaki hai [One face is yet to smile] throws light at the current situation of child labourers in the capital and stresses the need to review the existing Child Labour [Prohibition And Regulation] Act, 1986.

The play was enacted at India Habitat Centre by children associated with NGO Child Rights and You. The national policy on child labour envisages that in special schools, these children be provided formal/non-formal education along with vocational training, a monthly stipend of Rs 100 for children withdrawn from work, supplementary nutrition and regular health checkups so as to prepare them to join mainstream schools.

'The age of an individual in order to be determined a child is not uniformly defined in the Act and consequently it offers guilty a chance to escape punishment. We should follow the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child [UNCRC] which defines every human being in the age group of 0 to 18 years as a child who is entitled to the right to education, nurturing and protection as opposed to a childhood of work,' Director of CRY, Soha Moitra said.

‘The sight of a child working on the streets or in anyone’s home propels us to find out why he or she is here. It evokes anger in us,’ Amilty, a Delhi University student, said. ‘There is a serious need to amend The Child Labour [Prohibition & Regulation] Act of 1986. Every kind of child labour should be considered hazardous to children,’ Chairperson of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Shanta Sinha said.

The 2001 Census estimates the number of child labourers in India to be about 12.7 million, a figure which experts say is grossly understated. Meanwhile, decrying the persistent practice of employing children in various sectors, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights [NCPCR] batted for amendment of the Child Labour Act and for inclusion of adolescent labourers under its purview.

‘Despite a series of awareness programmes and various measures, child labour continues to persist in the country as people are making use of the loopholes in the present law. This calls for serious deliberations and an amendment in the law,’ Chairperson of NCPCR, Shanta Sinha said.

The head of the child rights body also advocated the need to redefine the word ‘child’ and ‘child labourer’ under the Act.

In spite of the fact that the definition of a ‘child’ under the Juvenile Justice Act is 18 years, adolescents have been left out of the law relating to child labour and are governed by regulation under by the Minimum Wages Act, she pointed.
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