Our Reporter
Dimapur, April 30 (EMN): Nagaland and Assam are the only two states in the Northeastern region where the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) has been implemented till date.
The NLCP scheme started in 1988 to rehabilitate working children in child labour endemic districts of the country.
According to the Ministry of Labour and Employment, out of 324 districts where the scheme is sanctioned in India, only one was for Nagaland in Dimapur, and five in Assam at Nagaon, Kamrup, Bongaigaon, Nalbari and Lakhimpur districts.
Under the NCLP scheme, children in the age group of 9-14 years, withdrawn from work are put into special training centres, where they are provided with bridge education, vocational training, mid-day meals, stipend, health-care facilities etc. and finally mainstreamed to the formal education system.
Further, it was informed that children in the age group of 5-8 years are directly linked to the formal education system through close coordination with Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).
Adolescent labour, identified in the age group of 14 to 18 years, working in hazardous occupations/processes are provided with vocational training opportunities through existing schemes of skill development, the report stated.
The Ministry under this scheme also funds awareness generation campaigns against the evils of child labour and enforcement of child labour laws through electronic and print media. “At present, there are around 2705 NCLP training centers being run in the country with an enrolment of approximately 75 thousand children. Since inception about 13.50 lakh working children have already been mainstreamed to the regular education system under the NCLP Scheme”, it said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry maintained that there were around 149.8 million female workers in India.
Out of the 149.8 million female workers, 35.9 million females were working as cultivators and another 61.5 million as agricultural labourers. Of the remaining female workers, 8.5 million were in the household industry and 43.7 million were classified as other workers.
However, the overall unemployment rate of female workers was 5.6% and the unemployment rate of females in rural areas was 3.8% and 10.8% in urban areas.
In its assistance to women job seekers, the Ministry maintained that Employment Exchanges take special care to cater to the job needs of women registered with them. During 2016, a total of 59722 were placed through various employment exchanges, while during January 1, 2017 to August 31, 2017, a total of 67141 (provisional) women workers were placed.
The Ministry further stated that among the various acts, the Equal Remuneration Act 1976 was enacted to provide equal remuneration to men and women workers for the same or similar nature of work protected.
‘No discrimination is permissible in recruitment and service conditions except where employment of women is prohibited or restricted by or under any law,’ it added.