National Child Labour Project fails to takeoff in JK

The National Child Labour Project (NCLP), an anti-child labour flagship programme of the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment, has failed to take off in Jammu and Kashmir.

NCLP was implemented in Srinagar and Udhampur in 1996 but due to resource crunch the project could not be implemented in rest of the state.

Ghulam Rasool Kumar, Deputy Labour Commissioner (Kashmir) while talking to us said, “Labour Department is facing hurdles in terms of conducting a pre-implementation survey due to lack of manpower. The Labour Department does not have adequate staff to conduct a survey prior to implementation of NCLP in rest of the state. For any field survey on child labour we have to rely on the 1200 anganwari workers across Srinagar,” Kumar said. According to Kumar, Union Labour and Employment ministry has recently allocated funds to the State Labour Commissioner for conducting a survey on child labour so that a time bound implementation of NCLP in J&K takes place.

To mention, Deputy Commissioner Srinagar is the Chairman of NCLP while Deputy Labour Commissioner is member secretary of this flagship programe.

Pertinently, the last child labour survey that was undertaken in Srinagar was in 2011 which had mentioned total number of child labour in the summer capital as 546. Subsequently, 102 child labour have been brought into the mainstream education under NCLP by Labour Department. No formal survey on number of child labour has been undertaken since then, however various NGOs suggest that Budgam district in central Kashmir has the highest number of child labour in the state.

Commenting on the action being taken by the Labour Department to keep a check on practices of child labour, the Deputy Labour Commissioner pointed out flaws in the Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act. “Technicalities such as establishing a father and son involved in child labour as an employer and an employee is a challenge for the Department. We also cannot touch upon the domestic workers as this would lead to breach of privacy,” he said.

Lack of Labour Inspectors is also proving to be a hurdle for the Labour Commissioner to take action against employers who employ children below the age of 14 years. “There are only 27 labour inspectors with the Department at present. In our proposal to the government for implementation of NCLP we have urged them to double up the number of labour inspectors,” said Kumar.

Among other loopholes in attracting child labour to take up education as a part of NCLP is a meager monthly stipend of Rs 150 which the students receive after being enrolled in NCLP schools. At present there are six such schools being run by the Labour Department, where apart from the stipend children are also provided mid-day meals as part of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme. “In our proposal for implementation of NCLP across the state we have put forth a suggestion that the stipend amount be increased from Rs 150,”he said.

As a part of a value addition to NCLP, the center is planning to directly put the stipend money into the bank account of the beneficiaries on the lines of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). “The proposal for DBT is in the final phase but the NCLP will reap actual benefits only once it is implemented throughout the state. Making NCPL a reality in the state will need a synergetic effort from Education and Social Welfare department,” he added.