Bonded labour and Child labour situation in UP
A review of the bonded labour and child labour situation in UP with focus on the Districts of the Carpet Belt during the period 1 April 2004 to 30 June 2005 was carried out by the Special Rapporteur, Mr. Chaman Lal. This included visits to Varanasi, Mirzapur Bhadoi, Allahabad and Kanpur from 2 - 7 September 2005 and holding of meetings with the District officials and NGOs. The salient features of the review are -
Bonded Labour
· Detection of bonded labour is found to be very low but not NIL.
· Rehabilitation of bonded labourers identified and carried out with exemplary interest and efficiency.
· Vigilance Committees have been set up at all the 70 District Headquarters and 292 out of a total of 297 Sub Divisional Headquarters.
· Funds received from the Union Labour Ministry for survey of bonded labourers in 5 Districts released to the Labour Department through NHRC's intervention have been utilized with remarkable sincerity.
· The grant received from the Government of India for evaluation studies and awareness generation measures has been utilized carefully and with good results.
· Prosecution of accused employers has now started receiving proper attention.
Child Labour
· Acting on the NHRC's observation, the State Government modified its order in December 2004 to allow inspections and raids on Factories and Establishments on receipt of specific complaints and with permission from the District Magistrate about violation of Labour Laws. However, this has not made any difference in terms of detection of child labour so far.
· Labour Department's effort in accessing number of working children through non-invasive surveys and bring them under various schemes of non-formal schooling deserves appreciations.
· As a result of the Commission's involvement, the National Child Labour Project has been extended from 11 Districts (1999) to 47 Districts (2004). The number of Child Labour schools has gone up from 530 to 1089. .
· Prosecution of offenders has now started receiving proper attention.
· Pending cases are being cleared expeditiously.
· The conviction rate is however almost zero.
(for more details see reports under Index)
Bonded Labour
· Detection of bonded labour is found to be very low but not NIL.
· Rehabilitation of bonded labourers identified and carried out with exemplary interest and efficiency.
· Vigilance Committees have been set up at all the 70 District Headquarters and 292 out of a total of 297 Sub Divisional Headquarters.
· Funds received from the Union Labour Ministry for survey of bonded labourers in 5 Districts released to the Labour Department through NHRC's intervention have been utilized with remarkable sincerity.
· The grant received from the Government of India for evaluation studies and awareness generation measures has been utilized carefully and with good results.
· Prosecution of accused employers has now started receiving proper attention.
Child Labour
· Acting on the NHRC's observation, the State Government modified its order in December 2004 to allow inspections and raids on Factories and Establishments on receipt of specific complaints and with permission from the District Magistrate about violation of Labour Laws. However, this has not made any difference in terms of detection of child labour so far.
· Labour Department's effort in accessing number of working children through non-invasive surveys and bring them under various schemes of non-formal schooling deserves appreciations.
· As a result of the Commission's involvement, the National Child Labour Project has been extended from 11 Districts (1999) to 47 Districts (2004). The number of Child Labour schools has gone up from 530 to 1089. .
· Prosecution of offenders has now started receiving proper attention.
· Pending cases are being cleared expeditiously.
· The conviction rate is however almost zero.
(for more details see reports under Index)