Union Labour Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar has said that government is committed to eradicate the problem of child labour from all parts of the country.
In a written reply in Lok Sabha, the Minister said that over 3,20,000 children have been rescued from various forms of child labour during last five years.
He said, the government is implementing the National Child Labour Project scheme since 1988 for rehabilitation of child labourer.
Women and Child Development Ministry is also implementing Child Protection Services for care, protection, rehabilitation and reintegration of children in difficult circumstances.
According to media reports, India’s children used to almost entirely work on farms but are now moving to non-farm jobs, especially in the services sector, suggests census data. Within non-farm jobs, children are increasingly working in the services sector.
As per the latest available census (2011), there were 10.1 million child workers under the age of 14—with significant disparities across states.
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According to Live Mint newspaper, nationally, the percentage of working children fell from 5% in 2001 to 3.9% in 2011 but the bigger change occurred in the nature of employment.
Across the world, child labour tends to be concentrated on farms—and this is true to an extent in India where 60% of working children are engaged in agriculture-related activities. But, in India, the number of child farmers has come down as an increasing number of children are doing non-farm work. Between 2001 and 2011, the share of children engaged in non-farm work doubled to 40%.
