National

'Child labour will be eliminated by 2007'

By Our Staff Correspondent

Schoolchildren at a rally organised to take a pledge against child labour in New Delhi on Wednesday. — Photo: R.V. Moorthy.

NEW DELHI, JAN. 14. A few years ago Malleswari was a child labourer in an agriculture field in a village in the Rangareddy district of Andhra Pradesh.

Today, she is a Class XI student of a Government school, having passed her Class X examination with 70 per cent marks, and hoping for a bright future.

It was a small camp held by a voluntary organisation in her village in 1999 that changed her life forever.

The camp was aimed at inspiring the young underprivileged children to receive education, even if in an informal way.

Malleswari seized the opportunity and joined the school run under the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) where she did a bridge course up to Class VII before joining the mainstream education.

"I call upon the people to ensure that all the children in the country are removed from work and sent to regular school,'' she made a plea at a function held here to cover 50 additional districts under the NCLP. The Director-General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Juan Somavia, and the Union Labour Minister, Sahib Singh Verma, launched the projects jointly.

Rabia Begum's life was no different than that of Malleswari, probably worse, until she was enrolled in a hostel run under the NCLP in Hyderabad.

Rabia Begum worked as a domestic servant in two households where her employers invariably beat her up.

All this until she was taken to a school by a voluntary organisation where she is now studying a bridge course.

The success stories of the NCL Projects being run in 100 districts — now in 150 — were related before Mr. Somavia, evoking appreciation from him. "Consciousness about the necessity to eliminate child labour has grown enormously in society. An indicator towards this is that the Non-Government Organisations, trade unions and members of the civil society are working together towards it,'' he said.

Assuring the ILO that child labour would be eliminated from India by 2007, Mr. Verma said that the NCL projects would be initiated in 100 more districts in a few days from now and an Indo-US project, worth $ 40 million, for eradication of child labour would be launched next month.

Apart from the Government assistance, some schools have come forward to help the working child by providing them education, he said.

Earlier, thousands of children took a pledge to eliminate child labour from the country at a function held at Rajpath.

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