On the eve of International Child labour Day, around 2,000 children and adult participated in the “Run against Child labour”- an initiative to highlight the issue. The event was oragnised by State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR), Department of labour, in association with Save the Children, Plan India, World Vision, Child Rights & You (CRY) and Bhartiya Kisan Sangh (BKS).
K Vijay Kumar, Advisor to the Governor, flagged off the run near Zakir Hussain Park. The participants ran through the main road and went to Zila School where pledge was taken to abolish menace of child labour.
Speaking on the occasion Mahadev Hansda, State Program Manager, Save the Children said, “The recent report - Children in India, 2012 A statistical Appraisal - by Union Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation points to higher Work Participation Rate (WPR) in Jharkhand than the national average. As per the report the State has WPR of 5.07 per cent against national average of 5 percent. This means there are 5.07 per cent (approximately 3 lakhs from 5-14 years) child labourers among total children in the age group of 5-14 years here.”
The report also points that there is considerable increase in the absolute number of child labour between 1991 and 2001 in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, West Bengal, Haryana, Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Nagaland, Assam, Meghalaya, and Delhi, whereas the States of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Orissa, Gujarat and Kerala have shown significant decline in the number of child labour.
Addressing the gathering Roop laxmi Munda, Chairperson, SCPCR called for a united fight against child labour in the state. “The status of child labour is grave in Jharkhand and such events should keep on happening to abolish child labour from the state,” she added.
Sushanto Chakraborty, AGM Kolkata, CRY said, “Despite several acts, laws and actions from the civil societies the issue of child labour is throwing strong challenges to us till date. It must be eradicated at any cost.”
Sanjay Mishra, member of SCPCR called upon the people to take pledge for abolishing child labour from the country. He claimed that the problem can only be solved when child labour becomes socially unacceptable.
“Child labour is a horrible truth and reality in Jharkhand. Children are forced into labour to earn money for their family, when (s)he should have gone to the school,” said Anup Hore, programme coordinator, Plan India.
“We are also responsible for this. By supporting this Run Against Child labour, Plan India, shows solidarity towards eliminating this menace from Jharkhand,” he added.
Officials of World Vision present on the occasion said “While the Government is working towards skill development of the youth in a big way and also provides legal mechanisms to eliminate child labour, World Vision India will focus on the need to take stock of the status of children from our programmes and work with them to create solutions for a future.”
Meanwhile, the children and individuals who have done exceptional work against menace of child labours were felicitated by at the end.