Government taking proactive steps to eliminate child labour: Kharge - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Union Labour and Employment Minister Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday said that every effort would be made by the Government to eliminate the menace of child labour from the country. Addressing the Consultative Committee attached to his Ministry, Kharge said: "Child labour is directly linked to abject poverty and hence difficult to eliminate, yet the Centre, on its part has taken proactive steps to contain and gradually eliminate the child labour." Kharge also said that his Ministry would approach the Finance Ministry and the Planning Commission to enhance the annual allocation for the National Child Labour Projects (NCLP) Scheme, which is presently Rs. 100 crore for the year 2009-10. The Minister also assured that the Centre would also strengthen the monitoring mechanism to ensure that the Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) and other agencies engaged in the task of implementing NCLP scheme, make the best use of monetary resources provided to them. In this task, he said, the proactive measures are also required from the State Governments and the commitment of NGOs engaged in the task is vital for the success of projects being run for mainstreaming the rescued child labourers. Kharge further said that he would discuss the implementation of NCLP with the State Labour Ministers very soon. The Minister also pointed out that the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme and the Right to Education act would help in containing the menace of child labour.