World Day Against Child Labour observed

Bhubaneswar: In last five months, only 4-5 cases have been registered with State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR), said one of its members Rajalaxmi Das. She blamed it on lack of awareness among people about the issue.

Speaking at a State-level seminar organized on the occasion of ‘World Day Against Child Labour’ by National Centre for Child Rights here today, Das said, “People are more aware of Human Rights Commission or Women’s Commission etc, but most of the people do not know about the existence of SCPCR.”

Terming the problem of child labour a serious one, she said children, being the most vulnerable ones, should be protected from every possible danger like physical and mental abuse which is by product of child labour.

According to 2011 census, the State has 62,400 child labourers in the age group of 5-9 years and 2,72,016 in the age group of 10- 14 years.

Accusing the State governments of negligence, State Child Labour Advisory Board member S.B. Kar said, “The number of child labourers, school drop-outs and malnourished children are very high in our State. Not only Orissa, unfortunately, most of the States neglect the children. In fact, they spend the least for the welfare of children.”

In another programme organized on the occasion by voluntary organization World Vision at Regional Science Centre in the city, Child Welfare Committee (CWC) member Arun Kumar Pradhan shared his experience with the audience.

Pradhan said, “In most of the cases, children are forced to work as labourers due to acute poverty. The age when they should go to school or play with other children, they have to work hard. I request the government and the NGOs to help us to map every child of the locality so that we can do something for them.”