From CK Nayak
New Delhi: In a significant development, the Director General Mines Safety has constituted a high-level task force to look into the rampant deployment children as labourers in coal mines of Jaintia Hills district.
The three-member task force, which will have a member from the Meghalaya Government, will submit its report within a specific timeframe, Dr Yogesh Dube, Member of the National Commission for Protection of Child’s Rights (NCPCR) informed The Shillong Times here on Tuesday.
Dr Dube recently visited the coal mines of Meghalaya and held a series of meetings with all concerned.
The Dhanbad based DG was recently summoned by the NCPCR since the state Government failed to take any substantial action against the rampant deployment of children as labourers in the rate hole coal mines, Dr Dube said adding the DG constituted the task force following a directive from the NCPCR.
The Directorate General of Mines Safety, DGMS in short, is a regulatory agency of the Central government for safety in mines and oil-fields.
The NCPCR recently came down heavily on the State Government for its “lackadaisical” attitude towards addressing the problem of child labour in the State especially in Jaintia Hills.
Dr Dube said, “The commission is monitoring the situation in the Jaintia Hills where child labour is rampant.”
Incidentally, following Dr Dube’s visit the National Commission for Human Rights had also taken up the matter with the Meghalaya Government.
Meanwhile, the rampant deployment children as labourers in the rat hole coal mines of Jaintia Hills found its echo in a function organized on the occasion of “World Day Against Child Labour” here on Tuesday.
The function was organized by NCPCR in collaboration with ILO and UNICEF where many rescued child labourers from different parts of the country participated.
Ms. Neela Gangadharan, Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development in here speech emphasised how child labour whether in coal mines or in other places robs children of their childhood depriving them of their fundamental right of having quality education. “We have come a long way in our policies and programmes. But still we need to constantly remind ourselves of this (child labour) issue,” she said.
Dr Lakshmidhar Mishra, Special Advisor, North East Cell, NCPCR, in his address, said that there is a positive co-relation between work, age, health and strength of the person doing that work. Under no circumstances children should be allowed to work in hazardous coal mines of Meghalaya, he said.
Harping on the need to have an adolescent-centric reform, Dr Shantha Sinha, Chairperson, NCPCR, said: “It is hoped that there are strong legal instruments to abolish all forms of child labour for adolescents in the age group of 14 to 18 years. Providing education to adolescent children, especially after 14 years of age, is a challenging but not an impossible task, she added. A joint statement by NCPCR, ILO and UNICEF issued at the meeting called for ratification of international instruments against child labour.