The Labour Department has embarked on an ambitious year-long campaign to declare Ernakulam district child labour-free.
The campaign was kick-started with a seminar on Juvenile Justice Act and Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act at the Collectorate on Friday as a prelude to the World Day Against Child Labour that falls on June 12. The year-long campaign is being carried out in association with Childline, Child Welfare Committee (CWC), the police and other relevant departments.
“Instances of child labour have come down considerably in the district thanks to coordinated efforts and the intervention of the Labour Department and Childline. We are confident of eradicating the scourge through year-long sustained efforts,” said a senior Labour Department official. The department has lined up a slew of activities as part of the campaign, including a shop-to-shop inspection starting on World Day Against Child Labour on June 12. ‘Child labour-free’ stickers will be affixed on shops with a clean record. A flash mob has also been organised at Marine Drive the same day.
While child labour is on the decline, it is far from being eradicated as evident from the statistics compiled by Childline authorities alone for the last two years not to mention the cases unearthed by the CWC and the police.
Childine (Kochi) director Fr. V.J. Tomy said while 35 cases of child labour were reported during 2016-17 fiscal, 39 cases were reported the following fiscal.
While children below the age of 14 years are strictly prohibited from being deployed as labourers except for helping their parents with light jobs, children aged between 14 and 18 years and classified as adolescents are permitted to be employed, subject to strict conditions.
“They should not be employed beyond six hours between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. and should be given mandatory rest after three hours. Employers should have in their possession documents proving the payment of salary, besides providing them with decent lodging and proper food. But many employers are unaware of these conditions,” said Fr. Tomy.
Fr. Tomy was confident about the success of the Labour Department’s initiative to free the district of child labour. “We have achieved 60-70% of the targeted goal. With sustained efforts that goal can be attained in the next one year,” he said. Similar sentiments were expressed by CWC chairperson Padmaja Nair who said that child labour cases had drastically come down.
