GULBARGA: Union government has proposed to ban all forms of child labour systems, including hazardous and non-hazardous categories, said Union Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge here on Sunday. He informed reporters that an amendment to Child Labour Prohibition Act will be made in this regard and the bill will be presented in the ensuing Budget Session of the Parliament. Care would be taken not to punish the parents of such child labourers, but the employer would be punished for hiring children as labourers in spite of knowing the laws. A meeting of Child Labour Advisory Committee was held in New Delhi on January 19, in which the modalities of framing the bill on banning all categories of child labour were discussed, he informed. He said that as per the survey conducted by National Sample Survey organisation, there were 49 lakh children aged below 14 years who worked as child labourers in the country. He said that in the year 2004-05 this figure was at 90 lakh. There is improvement in curbing child labour due to the implementation of schemes like mid-day meals, MGNREGS, etc. The figure should further decline as the Right to Education Act has come into force. For this, an amount of `41,000 crore has been reserved by the Human Resource Development Ministry, said Kharge. He said that as per a recent survey, there were nearly 18 crore children, of which 17 crore are enrolled in schools. Out of the 1.3 crore children who are not enrolled in schools, 49 lakh are child labourers, Kharge said.
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