Vijayawada: The number of working children in the state registered at 3.80 lakh, according to the 2011 census. It was 13.63 lakh in 2001 and 16.61 lakh in 1991. The issue of child labour and bonded labour gains relevance on the eve of International Workers’ Day on May1.
Data on out-of-school children in the combined state, according to a survey conducted by the Rajiv Vidya Mission (RVM), indicates that there were 6.2 lakh of them in 2003-04, 4.27 lakh in 2004-05, less than three lakh in 2007-08 and 1.04 lakh in 2013. The data is indicating an encouragingly steady downward trend, but child labour continues to hinder the state’s development.
The migration of small and marginal workers for work is one of the main reasons for the existence of child labour, observed Mr N. Ramamohan, secretary of Help, an NGO working for the eradication of child labour in the state.
Mr N. Suryanarayana, deputy commissioner in the state labour department, Vijayawada, observed that they had been conducting continuous raids on establishments using domestic child labour and others. He also stated that they had been campaigning to create awareness on child labour-related crimes. He said that they have been organising open courts at public places.
On the other hand, the allocation of meagre funds towards children’s welfare schemes had also become a problem, NGO spokespersons said. The National Child Labour Project has not been implemented, which mainly focuses on identifying child labour and establishing bridge schools for them, Mr Ramamohan said.
He also stated that though they had lodged criminal complaints against the accused, no one had been punished while government officials did not transfer the amount to the child’s account. He was annoyed that the officials did not collect the money from the accused and transfer the amount properly.
