On 21st February, 2013, at a function in Ranchi an MoU was signed between Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh and the Central Government, under the auspices of the ILO, for co-operation to implement a project to reduce the vulnerability to bondage in India. Shri A.K. Garg, Registrar (Law), NHRC in his key-note address lauded the efforts. He also said that these would be more successful if the States took care of the statutory provisions of the Bonded Labour Act and imple-mented them properly. Vigilance Committees should be constituted at District level to monitor bonded and child labour.

Shri Garg high-lighted the Commission's interventions on the issue and re-quested the authorities to ensure that all the functionaries at various levels were sensitized on bonded labour and NHRC guidelines on the issue.

Shri A.K. Parashar, Joint Registrar (Law) was also present at the function. The project is based on the experience of four States during several workshops held with co-operation from the Centre and the ILO and the common concerns about the exploitative labour practices. It was decided to prepare and implement a time bound and result oriented project to benefit workers in the identified sectors, such as, brick kilns wherein Intra-State and Inter-State migrant labourers are engaged.