Active Stocks
Thu Mar 28 2024 15:59:33
  1. Tata Steel share price
  2. 155.90 2.00%
  1. ICICI Bank share price
  2. 1,095.75 1.08%
  1. HDFC Bank share price
  2. 1,448.20 0.52%
  1. ITC share price
  2. 428.55 0.13%
  1. Power Grid Corporation Of India share price
  2. 277.05 2.21%
Business News/ Politics / News/  NAC demands complete abolition of child labour
BackBack

NAC demands complete abolition of child labour

NAC demands complete abolition of child labour

A child labour works at a brick factory in Allahabad. Photo: PTI. Premium

A child labour works at a brick factory in Allahabad. Photo: PTI.

New Delhi: The Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC), which seeks to provide policy and legislative inputs to the government, recommended the abolition of child labour under the age of 14 and its regulation between the ages of 15 and 18.

A child labour works at a brick factory in Allahabad. Photo: PTI.

With the Right to Education (RTE) law in place, the demand for complete abolition of child labour assumes greater importance, Mander said. The RTE Act, which was passed by Parliament in April last year, guarantees education for all children between the ages of six and 14.

“We are also demanding that parents should not be penalized in case a child is at work; instead, the employer should be penalized," Mander said.

The draft recommendations of the NAC working group on the abolition of child labour will be put on the body’s website for public comment, along with those of the working groups on the Rajiv Awas Yojana, schemes for minority development, social security for unorganized workers and the scheduled castes sub-plan.

At present, the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, prohibits “employment of children in certain occupations and processes".

While the prohibited occupations include work related to the construction of railway stations, the port authority, slaughterhouses and cinder picking, those under the definition of prohibited processes include bidi-making, carpet-making and soap manufacturing.

NAC in its meeting on Friday, however, did not discuss the recent affidavit of the Planning Commission’s view that the spending threshold per capita for estimating the below poverty line population was 32 a day for cities and 26 for villages.

“We have spoken about it as campaigners for Right to Food; we did not discuss it in the meeting today," said Aruna Roy, an NAC member. Earlier, NAC members including Roy, Mander and N.C. Saxena had criticized the submission of the Planning Commission.

NAC also discussed the modalities for the prelegislative consultative process. The council aims to involve civil society in the formulation of important policies and laws. “We discussed the modalities today; there was nothing final," Roy said.

NAC, which usually meets every month, met after a gap of three months on Friday because its chairperson, Gandhi, was unavailable because of ill health. Gandhi, however, chaired its meeting on Friday.

anuja@livemint.com

Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!

Catch all the Politics News and Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.
More Less
Published: 21 Oct 2011, 10:55 PM IST
Next Story footLogo
Recommended For You
Switch to the Mint app for fast and personalized news - Get App