More stringent penalties on employers hiring children below 14 years are in the offing. The Government is planning to bring in amendments to Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 to enforce this.
According to a National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) report in 2009-10, the number of working children in the age group of 5-14 years has dipped to 49.84 lakh from 1.26 crore in 2001.
To facilitate eradication of child labour, the Ministry of Labour and Employment has put into action the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme in 266 districts, under which the Government fully funds special schools and rehabilitation centres aimed at victims of child labour, a Labour Ministry release said.
Grant-in-aid
Under the Grant-in-Aid scheme, 75 per cent of the project costs are directly released to non-Governmental organisations in districts not covered under NCLP.
Also, the Government is trying to converge schemes of different Ministries, such as Human Resource Development, Women and Child Development and Urban Housing and Rural Poverty Alleviation among others to help working children and their families reap the benefits of Government schemes.
Pilot project
The Labour Ministry is also implementing a pilot project Converging Against Child Labour in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation to prevent trafficking and migration of child labour, the release added.