Government plans only on paper?

BANGALORE: Though June 12 is observed as World Anti Child Labour Day globally, the world is still not free from this social hazard. The state government has proposed new programmes to eradicate child labour, but the success of these programmes is debatable.Government officials, NGOs, and over 1500 children, including children freed from labour bondage, united to support abolishment of child labour in the state.“The labour department has freed 1,03,478 children from their employers since 2001 from across the state,” claims B N Bacche Gowda, Labour Minister. He delivered a speech at the Kanteervra Indoor stadium to commemorate World Anti Child Labour Day celebrations.A procession from the Mahatma Gandhi statue to the Kanteevra indoor stadium was held on Sunday morning.In 2010-11, the government has collected `74,77,285 as penalty from the employers who had employed children.Also, Gowda announced that a control room has been established in most of the districts, wherein people can register complaints against child labour.Commenting on the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme, a project set up to take care of child labourers, Gowda said that for the year 2011-12, Central government has permitted to start 372 NCLPs in 17 districts of Karnataka and in 13 districts State Child Labour Projects (SCLP) Scheme will be implemented. Also, the state government has announced `600 lakh for rehabilitation centres for child labourers, which will be set up in major districts.Under the NCLP scheme 50 students from every school will be funded `2,44,000 per year, wherein, `13.39 paise cost will be incurred on each student, as for SCLP under this scheme `4,30,000 will be spent on 50 students from every school, where `23.56 paise will be incurred everyday.” There are no schoolsSources from NCLP schools in the city question, “Where are 1,03,478 child labourers rehabilitated. Does the government have any records of the children? Since 2001, there have been barely any NCLP and SCLP schools so where are these children, since a lot of the NCLP schools are shut. Currently in Bangalore there are 9 NCLP schools, which was 30 when started.” Also, the labour inspector never registers a case against any employer, said the source.“It is only on this day that the government wakes up to child labourers in the state, the rest of the year all the child labour activities are forgotten.”