The Orissa government has okayed a blue-print for an action plan on elimination of child labour in the state.
The action plan, prepared by Dr Laxmidhar Misra, special rapporteur, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), will take a final shape after incorporating the opinion of different stakeholders including the non-government organisations (NGOs), sources said.
“The government has formally approved the blue print for an action plan to eliminate child labour in the state. The draft will be recast incorporating the suggestions from different stakeholders and will be placed before the cabinet for approval”, Puspendra Singhdeo, minister of state for labour and employment, Orissa government told Business Standard.
Singhdeo today chaired a high level meeting convened to approve the blue print. Sources said, the state action plan (SAP) aims at complete elimination of the child labour in all occupations and processes by 2012 or 2014.
The universal prohibition of child labour is aimed to be achieved in tandem with the objectives set out in the programme for universal education. The action plan also stressed on rehabilitation and re-integration of all children withdrawn from work through education, nutrition, primary health care, skill training and empowerment of their families. For this, a multi-pronged approach will be adopted involving all the stakeholders. While the children in the age group of 5-8 years will be enrolled in formal schools, children in the age group of 9-13 (who have read up to a certain level) will have to pass through Transitional Education Centres (TEC) for adequate preparation before being enrolled into the formal schools.
On the other hand, the students in the age group of 14-17 age group will receive vocational skill training which will be tailored to their aptitude and interest. However, the draft will be finalised after detail consultation with departments like finance, industry, school and mass education, health among others.
A task force will be formed at the district level for rescue and release, interim rehabilitation, repatriation and full rehabilitation of child labours working in the state and also those migrated outside Orissa in search of work.
While efforts will be made for providing institutional support involving concerned departments of the government, NGOs, social partners and community, an area based approach will be taken up to make a particular village, GP or Panchayat Samiti free from child labour. This is in line with the model adopted by MVR Foundation, Hyderabad.
According to decennial census operations, the number of working children in Orissa was 7,02,293 in 1981, which declined to 4,52,394 in 1991.This further declined to 3,77,594 in 2001. As per the 55th round of National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) survey, the total number of child labour in Orissa is put at 2.4 lakh.
The draft blue print suggests constitution of district level, block level and Grampanchayat level implementation committees for better implementation of the programme. While the district collector will head the district level committee, the chairman of the panchayat samiti will head the block level task force. The Gram Panchayat level task force will be headed by the Sarpanch of the concerned Gram panchayat.
