The Commission has urged the Uttaranchal Government to make human development the main objective of administration and to ensure that the newly created State serves as a role model for other States by way of good governance and humane administration. The Chairperson, Justice Shri J.S. Verma highlighted this issue while addressing the Chief Minister Shri Nityanand Swamy and senior officers during his visit to the State.

The Chief Minister has assured that the setting up of the State Human Rights Commission was under consideration, while a Human Rights Cell has already been established in the office of the Director General of Police, in compliance with the directions of the NHRC.

To the claim of the Secretary Labour that the State was practically free of child and bonded labour, the Commission’s Special Rapporteur Shri Chaman Lal, who accompanied the Chairperson, responded that the bonded labour system continued to exist in some parts of the State. The Secretary Labour was asked to examine the bonded labour situation in the light of Supreme Court guidelines and the state of implementation of the Minimum Wages Act. Regarding the child labour situation, the Chairperson observed that any child of school-going age who was out of school was either being used as a child labourer or was a potential child labourer. He said that the surest way of dealing with the problem was by ensuring cent percent enrolment of children in schools.

The Chairperson was informed that, following the Commission’s recommendation, the State Government was actively considering amending its conduct rules in order to prohibit all of its employees from employing children below the age of 14 years as domestic help. The draft State Policy for Women included NHRC’s suggestion concerning the compulsory registration of marriages in order to combat the problem of child marriage. This draft policy would also address the concerns of NHRC in respect of sexual harassment at the workplace.

On the issue of the abolition of manual scavenging, the Commission was informed that the practice of having dry latrines was widely prevalent in the State because its terrain was predominantly hilly. However, the Government recognized the need for a change from dry to wet latrines and a survey had been proposed to assess the magnitude of the problem and identify and prioritize areas of action.