Protecting rights of children is moral responsibility of society: Labour Commissioner

From a Correspondent

Tezpur, June 10: “In Assam there is 1 in every 20 children between 5 to 14 years old who is a victim of child labour, according to the 2011 census and it is pertinent to highlight that in India 26 per cent out of the 1,000 child do not live up to first 28 days of birth (MFHS4-2015-16),” said Suchendra Roy, Planning and Monitoring Officer of UNICEF, Assam, while attending a day-long regiol workshop on observance of World Day against Child Labour, 2017 as a distinguished guest, organized by the Sonitpur district administration in collaboration with the Department of Labour and Welfare and Asom Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, Sonitpur supported by UNICEF, Assam, on Saturday at Ban Theatre.

Roy further said that the Government of India had taken a project to root out child labour by 2025 but the Assam Government had projected an expeditious venture and stern efforts would be executed to obliterate child labour by two years, considering the fact that Article 24 of the Constitution of India prohibits hazardous child labour. Additiolly, various laws and the Indian Pel Code, such as the Juvenile Justice (care and protection) of Children Act, 2000, and the Child Labour (Prohibition and Abolition) Act, 1986 provide a basis in law to identify, prosecute and stop child labour in India, he added.

The programme was conducted by Doly Lahkar, District Child Protection Unit, Sonitpur Astha Rani Laskar, Councilor of District Child Protection Unit, Sonitpur and attended by the representatives of various departments and NGOs from Sonitpur, Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Biswath Chariali, gaon, Morigaon and Hojai, including Kakeswar Sarma, chairman of  Child Welfare Committee and ADC, Sonitpur, Kulen Sarmah, Kishan Kumar Darma,  Parag Kakati, T. Patar, Pradip Sutradhar, among others.

Earlier attending the august programme as chief guest, Tapan Sarma, Labour Commissioner, after lighting the lamp, said that child labour and bonded labour had become a disaster in Assam. Most of the cases of child labour emerged from the higher sections of the society and the standard of human civilization in contrast to other developed countries was considerable very high and every right of a child were violated to a great deal. He added further that poverty, lack of good schools and growth of informal economy were considered as the important causes of child labour in Assam. However, it was a moral responsibility of the society to handle the children sensibly and protect every right of children for better vision and it was the accountability of every citizen to prevent children from being engaged for household or business works by neighbour, relatives and friends, he further stressed.

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