SHILLONG, JULY 23: Vindicating the stand of the state government that the child labour in Meghalaya, especially in the Jaintia hills district, is not as bleak as the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) had projected last year, the Directorate of Census Operation (DCO) under the Office of Registrar General of Census Office of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) report has pegged the total number of child labour in the state at 44, 469.
In the 2011 census figure for workers under the 6- 14 years of age prepared by the DCO – which functions independently of the state government- of the 44,469 , 6 373 child labourers are working in Jaintia hills in the hazardous and non-hazardous profession including in the coal mines- which now has been closed because of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) ban on rat-hole mining.
The DCO figure on child labour is a succor for the state government as the NCPCR member Yogesh Dubey had pilloried the state government and the labour department last year alleging that the child labourers working in the Jaintia hills coal mines were between 70, 000 to1 lakh. He relied heavily on the figure provided by a local IMPULSE ngo.
Interestingly Dubey himself lost his job as member of NCPCR after the Delhi high court struck down his appointment on November 13, 2013 after his appointment was challenged by the Association for Development (AFD) questioning his qualifications to hold such position.
It is alleged that Dubey made a false representation of his qualifications and the court in its order said, “That the selection and appointment of Dr Dubey is contrary to the mandate of Section 3 (2) (b). The materials on record do not show that he possessed of qualifications relating to the field or discipline he has chosen for in the NCPCR.”
A labour department’s official said that the NCPCR member had pilloried the state unnecessarily relying heavily on the concocted figure supplied by the ngo. He said, “The NCPCR member tried to paint a bleak picture as far as child labour is concerned in the state, but truth finally came out as the figure provided by the DCO report clearly indicates that Dubey was quoting an imaginative figure.” – By Our Reporter
If there is one child labor or 1 lac we cannot deny the fact that we have child labor and what has the Govt done about it? Why did they keep mum and not counter the allegation? did the Govt conduct a survey of how many mines are there and how many children are there working in these mines then?