Fix targets periodically to eliminate child labour: Kalam

New Delhi, Jan 3 (UNI) Expressing concern over the increase in child labourers in the country, President APJ Abdul Kalam today called for fixing periodical targets to reduce their numbers.

Dr Kalam -- pointing to the sharp increase in the number of working children in the country during the 90s -- suggested that rehabilitation be made part of the programme to eliminate child labour.

The President was releasing a stamp album containing a set of four postage stamps on child labour -- presented by Minister of State for Labour&Employment Oscar Fernandes to Dr Kalam -- at a function held at Rashtrapati Bhawan here.

These stamps on the theme of 'Stop Child Labour' were released recently by the Department of Posts following a request by the Ministry of Labour&Employment for creating public awareness on the issue.

Dr Kalam, referring to the huge network of over 150,000 post offices in the country, suggested they be used for developmental activities.

Answering queries on the issue of child labour, Minister Fernandes told the President that the Labour Ministry was taking several proactive measures for the elimination of child labour in the country.

He said the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme, launched in 1988 to rehabilitate the working children, was the single largest programme of the Labour Ministry accounting for almost one-half of the Ministry's budget during the current plan.

The NCLP Scheme was started in 9 districts and, since then, its coverage has been progressively increased to cover 250 districts in the country. For the 11th Plan, it has been proposed to expand the Scheme to cover all the districts in the country.

The function was attended by Labour&Employment Secretary Sudha Pillai and Secretary - Posts IMG Khan besides other senior officials of the Ministry.

The function was held to highlight the issue of child labour in the country. This was part of the various measures taken by the Ministry of Labour&Employment to create wide scale public awareness on the issue in the last few months following the Government's decision to ban employment of children as domestic servants and, among others, in dhabas, restaurants and teashops from October 10 last.

UNI