UP ranks first child labour, AP second

Tirupati, Feb 1 (UNI) Uttar Pradesh has the largest number of child labourers in India while Andhra Pradesh occupied the second rank, with 13.6 lakh child labourers as per the 2001 census, International Labour Organisation (ILO) programme officer Neetu Lamba said here today.

Addressing a press conference here, she said ILO had selected three urban towns - Tirupati, Guntur and Warangal - for taking up a pilot project on identification of child workers and initiating steps for their rehabilitation.

Civil Society Network Intervention was necessitated to eliminate the child labour project successfully and the programme would be extended to all the districts in Andhra Pradesh in a phased manner, she added.

ILO unit of the Andhra Pradesh State Based Project (APSBP) officer Krishna Murhty said child labourers would become unskilled workers. As many as 5,700 child labourers were rescuced during the last one- and a half years and were admitted into skill training centres.

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