The Center has lacked data on child labor in the country and a reason for this is the waned of budgetary provisions denoted for the National Child Labor Project scheme (NCLP) which was kept under systematic review this issue for about 10 years. The numbers drought arouse the National Child Labor Project was amalgamated with Campaign Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan in 2016.
The Labor Ministry is learned to tell the Parliamentary Standing Committee on labor in Biju Janata Dal BJP MP, Bhartruhari Mehtab that après- the NCLP was amalgamated with Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan in 2016, the Ministry has no data/information on child labor.
Currently, accessible data is from the 2011 census which says India has more than 1 million child laborers. Last year the panel had pulled up the center for lack of facts on immigrant workers.
Searching for the right information or figures on child labor the Standing Committee wrote a letter to Home Ministry, The Women and Child Development Ministry including 14 Union Ministries and Departments, and several States. Almost all Ministries have imparted they don’t have any figures or data.
The Labor Ministry answered and wait for the next census to evaluate the number. The NCLP’s school for child laborers works for 3 to 4 years and they have stopped performing due to the shortage or lack of funds. Education Ministry is inexplicable and will to find out mechanism for the number of children engaged in child labor.
It is for the first time that a parliamentary panel is engaged in a detailed examination of a national policy on child labor. The members said that the menace of child labor is continuing unchecked despite the Child Labor Prohibition and Regulation Act 1986. There are reports by certain NGOs that child labor has increased after the pandemic. It means children are more vulnerable now and the lack of data will hamper any efforts to help them. NGOs like Aide et Action, Save the Children, Prayas Juvenile Aid Centre, Bachpan Bachao Andolan, Childline India Foundation, and SOS Children’s Villages before the panel on the issue. The NGO also does not have any proper assessment of the number of children in labor.
The Governments of Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Odisha, Assam, Jharkhand, and Tamilnadu will give concise data to the council on the issue of Child Labor in their respective States.
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