Experts welcome child labour ban, but say more needs to be done

Mumbai, Aug 20 (UNI) The recent decision of the Union Government to prohibit employment of children under the age of 14 in households, roadside restaurants, spas and hotels in India from October 10, has led a fresh crackdown on the country's most severe social problem.

The Government notification has warned that anyone employing children below 14 years of age would be liable for prosecution and penal action under the Child Labour (Prohibition&Regulation) Act, 1986. Incidently, the Government had earlier banned its employees from hiring children as domestic servants. However, the latest restrictions cover every segment of the society.

In India, rights activists and civil society groups consider the 1996 Supreme Court judgement on child labour as a historical verdict further tightening up ''loose ends.'' The apex court, in its verdict, had laid down conditions and stringent norms such as fines, compensation by employers, alternative employment for parents or guardians, as well as State grants and rehabilitations for children working in hazardous industries.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)-TAHA project coordinator for Mumbai Mr Nitin Thakore, welcoming the latest notification of the Government on child labour, ''as a relief for all those distressed children trapped in disguised employment against their wishes,'' said the new notification must be obeyed by all walks of society and people should be restrained from employing children. ''It is the fundamental right of children in any civil society to study and not to be forced into labour,'' he asserted.

The Child Labour (Prohibition&Regulation) Act, 1986 was brought into effect on the recommendations of the Gurupadswamy Committee (1979). At present, under the existing provisions of the Act, children are banned from working in a number of industries including mining, handloom, cigarette manufacture, glass-making and meat-processing.

The Ministry of Labour periodically expands list of hazardous occupations based on the recommendations of Child Labour Technical Advisory Committee. It has also argued that occupations in question in the latest notice are hazardous for children, as in these places they are subjected to physical violence, psychological trauma and at times, even sexual abuse.

However, households employing children as domestic help maintain that they are doing a favour for poor families. Now with no stigma attached to the existing practice of employing child workers as domestic help, civil society groups are crying for a strong change in perception and attitude towards child labour to eradicate it socially.

MORE UNI GVS GK MS KN1437