Gujarat government today announced to wipe out child labour from the state and a massive drive will be launched next month in this regard.
Gujarat Minister for Labour and Employment Vijay Rupani told this to reporters here today.
"We will eliminate child labour from the state...In the first phase, we have planned to make six districts - Arvalli, Mahisagar, Narmada, Chhotaudepur, Amreli and Dang-child labour free by December this year," the minister said.
"From July, we will launch a drive, which includes awareness campaigns, surprise inspections, door-to-door checks and raids, in these six districts. The raids will be conducted by the task force officers," he added.
According to Rupani, these six districts were chosen on priority as the school drop out ratio was found to be higher as compared to other districts.
"We want to first concentrate on those districts, where the drop-out ratio is higher. One of the possible reasons could be that children may have been forced to work as labourers. We will take all the steps required, including raids, to find out about such children," he said.
As per the law, children below the age of 14 cannot be employed at any commercial establishment. However, those children who help their parents in their traditional work involving some art and skill are not considered as child labourers, even if they are under the age of 14, said Rupani.
Giving details about the children rescued by the state Labour Department in the past couple of years, Rupani stated that 369 were rescued in 2013, while 333 were rescued in 2014.
"Out of 702 children rescued in 2013 and 2014, 504 were from other states, including Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, while 198 were from Gujarat," Rupani said.
