New Delhi, October 18: Three years after the passing of the law prohibiting domestic child labour, the Union Labour Ministry has no record whatsoever of its implementation during the year 2009.
The department could only provide data for the years 2006 and 2008. And even for these two years, the data makes for a dismal reading.
Most of the states and the Union Territories have not bothered to check how many child workers are employed in homes and eateries.
Delhi, that is suspected to have the highest number of child labourers, has had no inspections at all so far this year.
And among the 36,430 inspections carried out between Oct 2006 and April 2008, only 1,700 child labour law violations were detected all over the country.
Out of these only 138 cases were filed.
Raids and rescue operations resulted in sending only 145 children to shelter homes. About 528 children were sent back to their parents without any legal formalities.
“They need to have greater response towards the children welfare, education and rehabilitation. Unless the govt works on these three factors, it will not yield positive result,” says Ravi Shankar pradsad, spokesperson, BJP.
Out of 1500 cases detected in Andhra Pradesh which was the highest in India, there are only 26 families who have received economic benefits for rehabilitation. It also shows that the Bonded Labour Act is not being implemented.
Besides the lack of political will, the government isn’t even prepared to implement the law properly.
Many children work 18-hour shifts in the ‘hazardous’ industries of Delhi and the NCR, but evidently little is being done to check the practice.
–PTI