Those employing child labourers should be socially boycotted and none should render any service to them, observed district Collector N. Mukteswara Rao here on Sunday. Inaugurating a legal awareness programme organized by the Labour department and the Rajiv Vidya Mission, to mark the World Anti-Child Labour Day, he called on everyone to take upon themselves the social responsibility to banish child labour.
Mr. Rao asked officials to regularly conduct raids on establishments employing children. He said they should immediately respond to instances that are highlighted in the media.
Senior civil judge Ranoji said if officials do their duty properly and efficiently, child labour could be eliminated from society. He explained the penal provisions for forcing a child to work and expressed distress that only a handful of cases were being registered. The judge noted that legislations alone would not be enough to eradicate child labour. Officials should have commitment to implement the laws and people should be made aware of such legal provisions.
Suggestions and solutions
Junior civil judge Aruna Kumari suggested that children employed by affluent families, factories and as agricultural labourers should be identified and enrolled in schools. She pleaded for a permanent court building in the town to try juvenile offences.
Beemarjun Reddy and Jawahar, members of the legal services authority, suggested that anganwadi workers should be involved in identifying child labourers who can be enrolled in schools.
N. Narasimha Reddy, president of the Nalgonda District Bar Association, educationist Chinna Venkat Reddy, Seshu Kumari, project director of the Women and Child Welfare and Babu Bukya, project officer of the Rajiv Vidya Mission, were also present.
