'Children Shouldn't Work In Fields, But On Dreams': Laya Madduri

Our Correspondent

SILCHAR: The dismal picture of child labour across the country has become a matter of concern. If this issue is not addressed at the earliest, it may lead to catastrophic results. In a bid to create awareness regarding the ill-effects of child labour, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) of the United Nations Organisation (UNO) declared June 12 as World Day Against Child Labour in the year 2002. District administration of Cachar led by Laya Madduri, Deputy Commissioner, in collaboration with the Labour Welfare Department, office of the Assistant Labour Commissioner, Cachar, Karimganj, Hailakandi and Dima Hasao districts, organized an awareness programme at Zila Parishad conference hall here on Wednesday.

In her enlightening and informative speech, Laya Madduri urged upon all sections of people to come forward to eradicate child labour. "It is necessary to wipe off this evil from this world. This year's theme is 'Children shouldn't work in fields, but on dreams!'. A mere action plan will not serve the purpose, policies to eradicate child labour should be enforced and implemented. Child labour is a socio-legal, socio-economic problem which should be resolved at the earliest. The government wants to do away with this evil by 2025. For this it has implemented Pencil Portal, child helpline number and so on. District task force will be deployed so that such children can be identified and taken good care of," she added to say.

"Child abuse, child marriage and all kinds of atrocities on children are inter-linked. "1098 is the child helpline number. If anyone finds such a case, he or she should call 1098 and report it immediately," said Laya Madduri. MLA Dilip Kumar Paul, speaking as the chief guest, said, "Child labour is the result of human civilization. The more civilized we are becoming, the more we are depending on the labour and services of children. Such children do not have a childhood. They have to work very hard for their bread and butter. People have become more self-centred, self-centric and self-seeking now. We no longer think about other children. The breaking down of the joint family system is a root cause of the steep rise in instances of child labour across the country." Among others present included advocate Bithika Acharjee, Dipankar Doley, chief executive officer, Zila Parishad, Partha Sarathi Bhattacharjee of district legal services authority, Cachar, Rasaraj Das, project director, DRDA.

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