‘No to Child Labour – Yes to Education’

DIMAPUR, JUNE 12 (MExN): Hundreds of children ran a marathon today from the Holy Cross Traffic Point in Dimapur in order to mark the World Day against Child Labour and call for the total eradication of child labour.  

The marathon was flagged off by Labour Commissioner, L Nungshiyanger Aier at 7:00am. It was organised by the Community Educational Centre Society (CECS) in partnership with the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) and Wipro Cares, and supported by the Department of Labour and Employment. The event was held under the theme for this year’s World Day against Child Labour: ‘No to Child Labour – Yes to Education.’  

The marathon was organised with the objective of creating awareness against the evils of child labour and to draw attention to the role of social protection in keeping children out of child labour and removing them from their predicament.

It comprised of around 500 participants including various college students and faculty, with Dimapur Deputy Commissioner, Kesonyu Yhome, NCLP children and volunteers also taking part.  

The rally stressed on the need to create awareness among the public on the evils of child labour and encourage people to stand up against the harm caused to children. It also highlighted the global extent of child labour and raised awareness on the situation of millions of children, girls and boys, working across the globe and reiterated that every child has the right to a free quality public education.  

It asserted that all children should be protected from child labour and from other violation of human rights. The event also acted as a platform to ask the government to enact and implement strict laws to deter child labour in society. It was an endeavour to seek support from individuals, the civil society, schools, youth and women groups as well as the media to continue the campaign against child labour, which will reach out to a greater number of people in an effective manner.  

The World Day Against Child Labour is observed across all countries on June 12 every year. It was launched by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations body which regulates the world of work, in 2002 in order to bring attention and join efforts to fight against child labour.  

Child Labour in India: What you need to know

India ranks on top when it comes to number of children involved in child labour. This is proved by a report published in 2012 by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme implementation titled “Children in India 2012- a statistical appraisal”. The report says there was an increase in the number of child labourers from 11.28 million in 1991 to 12.66 million in 2001. The major occupations engaging child labour are pan, bidi & cigarettes (21%), construction (17%), domestic workers (15%) and spinning & weaving (11%).  

As per the National Family Household Survey -3 (2005-06), nearly 11.8% children age 5-14 years works either for their own household or for somebody else.  

It is found that the very young children (age 5-7 years), both boys and girls, are mainly doing unpaid work for someone who is not a member of their household. The older boys ages 12-14 are mainly engaged in paid work or family work, whereas girls in this age group are involved mainly in household chores or family work.  

Rural children in the age group 5-14 years accounted to almost 13% of these workers where as urban children in the same age group constituted 8.6%.

A report by National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) in 2014 took into account the 2011 census. It said that the total of main and marginal workers in the age group of 5-14 years was a horrifying 82,28,481 across the country. Uttar Pradesh alone had 18,50,566 in this age group followed by Bihar (9,12,879) and Maharashtra (6,73,260). When the age group of 15-19 years is also taken into the account, the grand total comes upto 3,53,89,898 with numbers plunging across the state too.