12 lakh children employed in hazardous occupations

New Delhi, Dec 13 (UNI) As many as 1,85,505 children in the 5-14 year age group are engaged as domestic servants and 70,934 in restaurants, dhabas, tea shops etc in the country as per the 2001 census, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.

Labour Minister Oscar Fernandes said during Question Hour that 12 lakh children in the 5-14 year age group are employed in major hazardous occupations and processes. Of these 2.52 and 2.08 lakh children are working in bidi/paan/cigarette and construction industry.

He said that under the notification issued on October 10, two more categories of occupations had been added to the prohibited list bringing a total of 15 occupations and 57 processes under the list.

The list includes processes in agriculture where tractors, threshing and harvesting machines are used and chaff cutting.

Replying to another question, the Minister said the government was considering enacting a legislation and formulating a Social Security Scheme for workers in the unorganised sector.

The government also proposes to expand the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme during the 11th Five Year Plan.

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