The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) team has identified 9 children as child labourers and an FIR lodged against a mining owner of a stone crushing unit in the remote Vijaynagar village in Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan. NCPCR got an FIR lodged against the Company immediately after this.
The Commission had conducted a two-day visit on 15.9.2011 to Jodhpur and Jaisalmer districts following the receipt of a number of complaints concerning various incidents of child rights violation.
NCPCR™s team headed by Dr Yogesh Dube, Member, NCPCR found that at least nine children, in the age group of 3-10 years, were employed in the stone crushing mine.
The NCPCR delegation saw that at least nine children have been employed in a stonecrushing unit operating at Vijaynagar village in Jaisalmer. On NCPCR™s intervention an FIR has been lodged against the erring mine owner Mr Raidmal Singh,™™ Dr Dube informed.
The delegation also later visited a children™s home–Rajkiya Samprekshan Aivam Kishore Grah and Samajik Nyay Aivam Adhikarita Vibhag, Jaisalmer–to find out the living conditions of children in conflict with the law and those in need of care and protection.
According to the Census of India, 2001, there were 12.26 million working children in the age group of 5-14 years as compared to 11.3 million in 1991 revealing an increasing trend in absolute numbers though the work participation rates of children (5-14) has come down from 5.4 per cent during 1991 to 5 per cent during 2001.
The recent round of the National Sample Survey (NSSO) estimates suggests that child labour in the country is around 8.9 million in 2004/2005 with a workforce participation rate of 3.4 per cent (NSSO 2004/05).
