‘Child labour rampant in urban areas too’

Encouraging child labour would only be inviting a bad future, observed Prof. D. Balakrishna of NALSAR University.

Addressing the students at KITS College here on Saturday, he said there were many legislations and articles of Constitution that prohibit child labour. However, the child labour is rampant in society. “Unfortunate that we find child labour even in towns and cities where the level of awareness is supposed to be high compared to rural parts,” he pointed out.

Awareness meeting

The KITS College has organised an awareness meeting ‘Child is meant to learn and not to earn’ on the sidelines of their national-level technical symposium ‘Electrocom-2015’ on January 23 and 24.

Assistant Commissioner of Labour S. Mogilaiah explained students that engaging children between 5 and 14 years is viewed as serious crime that could attract imprisonment of six months to two years and a fine of Rs.20,000. “You should all engage in creating awareness against the child labour in your way both at home and college,” he said.

Principal Dr. K. Ashoka Reddy told students that there were 10.12 million child labourers in India which was bad indeed. “In order to sensitise students on various aspects of society, the college has been espousing the social causes along with academic rigour,” he said.

Prof. G. Raghotham Reddy, Head, Department of ECE and Convenor of Electrocom-15 said that each child of the nation aged below 18 years should get best nutrition food to strengthen mentally and physically.

Student co-ordinators Sumanth and Sunil, faculty Prof. K. Shivani, S.P. Girija, E. Suresh, A.Vijay, B.Ramadevi, R.Srikanth, Narsihama, V. Raju, Narender and Pradeep and PRO D. Prabhakara Chary were among those present.

Encouraging child labour would only be inviting a bad future: Balakrishna of NALSAR University