Sunday, 21 May 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The Women Empowerment and Child Development minister Rekha Arya said that child labour deprives the children of their childhood, health and education which is a blatant violation of child rights. The minister exhorted all to help put an end to child labour and beggary by children. The minister said this while speaking as the chief guest at a workshop on eradication of child labour, child beggary and rehabilitation of children organised by the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) here on Saturday.
Arya said that the government is providing alternative employment to families of child labourers while ensuring proper education for children rescued from child labour. She asked the SCPCR office bearers to set up stalls and distribute material published by the commission at fairs and crowded places to raise public awareness on this issue.
The SCPCR chairperson Geeta Khanna said child beggary is driven by the parents. She said that she had requested all the departments concerned to spread awareness among people concerning child beggary, child labour eradication and rehabilitation. Child beggary is mostly done at the behest of the parents more than as part of an organised mafia, she added. “The reason for child beggary driven by parents is poverty, ignorance, low standard of living, impractical behaviour and lack of knowledge and conduct resulting from a life spent struggling to fulfill the basic needs. Lack of rehabilitation in custody was cited by them as another major reason. Therefore for prevention of such incidents the family also needs to undergo proper counselling,” said Khanna.
The director general of police Ashok Kumar spoke on the Operation Mukti conducted by the State police to tackle the problem of child beggary. Apart from raising awareness through means like street plays under Operation Mukti the police also facilitated rehabilitation of a number of children rescued from beggary, he said. Representatives of various departments concerned and voluntary organisations also expressed their views on the issue during the workshop.
