Govt committed to eradicate child labour in India: Dattatreya

Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya has said in a consultative committee meeting that government is committed to eradicate child labour in the country.
The meeting of the Consultative Committee attached to the Ministry of Labour and Employment was held here last evening, the Labour Ministry said in a statement.
According to the statement, the agenda for discussion was "Child Labour (including amendment to Child Labour Act and ratification of the ILO Conventions No. 138 & 182)".
Chairing the meeting, Dattatreya briefed members on the agenda and said that the government is committed to eradicate child labour from the country.
Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016 has been passed by the Parliament on July 26, 2016.

Dattatreya said that under the act complete ban has been imposed on employment of children below 14 years in any occupation or process.

However, he said that children are allowed to help in their family enterprises only in non-hazardous occupations and that too only after school hours or during vacations.
Further, he said that no adolescent (14-18 years) shall be employed or permitted to work in any of the scheduled hazardous occupations or processes.
More stringent punishment is proposed for violations and separate fund has been created for the rehabilitation, he said.
The ministry also made a detailed presentation on "Child Labour (including amendment to Child Labour Act and ratification of the ILO Conventions No. 138 & 182)".

The members commended the initiatives taken by the ministry to eradicate child labour and suggested new ways for the eradication of child labour.
The suggestions included separate initiative for the education of children belonging to Minorities and ST/SC.
The Members of Parliament who attended the Committee's meeting include Ladu Kishore Swain, M K Raghavan, Manohar Untwal, N K Premachandran, Sankar Prasad Datta and K K Ragesh.