Indian Government Displeased with Progress in Chec
Allahabad, India, September 23, 2005 -- The comptroller and auditor general of India has criticized Uttar Pradesh's government for failing to put a check on child labor through effective enforcement of Child Labor (prohibition and regulation) Act, according to Manorama Online.
In its report for the year ended March 31, 2004, the CAG has noted with concern that in the state, famous world over for its carpet industry which is heavily dependent upon child labor, there was no systematic survey for identification of working children.
In fact, the data on child labor in the state also appeared to be grossly understated at 0.66 lakh as of March 2004, against 19.28 lakh working children as per the 2001 census report, says the CAG. Besides, there appeared to be laxity on part of the state labour department in implementing the provisions of the child labour act.
Cases involving penalty of Rs 7.28 crore for employing child labor in hazardous industries were either withdrawn or cancelled by the labor department until December 31, 2004. Besides, there were stay orders in cases involving Rs 9.86 crore until that date, which indicated inadequate or defective documentation of cases for initiating legal action and recovery of penalty, the CAG report said.
The state has also fared badly in terms of rehabilitation of children withdrawn from various industries.
