India has too many labour regulations: Rajan

NEW DELHI, MARCH 15:  

India has the least number of workers protected under law in the world even as the country’s labour market has too many regulations, Raghuram Rajan, Chief Economic Adviser in the Finance Ministry, said today.

“India’s labour market is over regulated ... One of the features of the Indian labour market is that it gets the strongest protection under law. But if you look at workers’ protection in India compared to world, we have the least number of workers protected,” Rajan said while addressing the India Today Conclave here.

“We have too much regulation, we have too many regulations at the wrong time, sometimes little less regulation at the right time. We need to figure out what we need and pick out what we don’t need,” he added.

Labour reforms have been pending in India for long.

Amendments to various labour laws have been awaiting Parliamentary approval.

Rajan also emphasised careful implementation of the Government’s welfare programmes.

“The Government’s subsidies have to be carefully targeted, and subsidy programmes have to be efficient, we as a poor country, cannot afford a poorly targeted or inefficient welfare programme,” he said.

On growth and equity, Rajan said, “We currently have programmes such as food, education health and pensions but the key question is, how much should we do, who should be target.”

Rajan, a former chief economist of IMF, predicted that the welfare state in Europe and the US is unsustainable. Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com

High court seeks report on child labour, missing children

NEW DELHI: Taking a serious view of the problem of missing children and child labour in the capital, the Delhi high court on Wednesday sought a comprehensive report from the state government and Delhi Police.

A division bench of Chief Justice D Murugesan and Justice V K Jain ordered the authorities to give details of how many child labourers were rescued and action taken against employers since 2009 when it first took suo moto cognizance of the issue. 

HC gave time till May 1 for a comprehensive report on a PIL filed by Save the Childhood Foundation, an NGO, seeking elimination of child labour from the capital. 

"How many raids have you conducted, how many children were rescued, what action you have taken to prosecute the employers and what steps have been taken to rehabilitate the children since 2009," the bench demanded, wondering why just 74 raids were conducted during two years in which 900 children were rescued. 

The petitioner's counsel Prabhashay Kaur highlighted that the labour department has failed to comply with the directions passed by HC in 2009 to rescue the child labourers and rehabilitate them as per the action plan formulated by a committee comprising officers from various departments. 

Referring to a report filed by the labour department, Kaur said the court had earlier directed to rescue 500 children per month but as per the report, only 682 children were rescued last year.

High court seeks report on child labour, missing children

Rajasthan rank high in child labour

TNN | Mar 12, 2013

JAIPUR: Rajasthan accounts for nearly 10% of the total child labour in the country with Jaipur alone having more than 50,000 child labourers in the age group of 5-14 years. The state stands third after UP and Andhra Pradesh as far as child labourers are concerned.

According to a report, " Children in India-2012" released by Union ministry of statistics and programme implementation, there has been considerable increase in the number of child labourers in the state. The data is based on 2001 census.

The rescue of 284 children from 55 child traffickers in the past two days has brought to light the ugly reality in Rajasthan. "The situation is quite alarming. If you count the total figures for the state, it will stand at around 13 lakh," said Vijay Goel, general secretary, Resource Institute for Human Rights. The latest figures available are of census 2001, but it must have certainly gone worse with the figures of census 2011 coming out in few months," added Goel.

However, the annual health survey of 2010-11 in the work status category mentions that Rajasthan constitutes 5% of work force in the age group of 5-14 years. The worst performing among all is Jhunjhunu district with 10.8%.

Interestingly, a large number of children working in Rajasthan are brought from Bihar, West Bengal and Jharkhand. In western Rajasthan, most of these children are forced into salt industry while in south Rajasthan they are engaged in farming of BT cotton. The worst situation is in the districts of Alwar and Bharatpur where children are forced to work in cracker industry where the risks are too high.

"The prime industries where children are employed are in manufacturing of bangles, embroidery and weaving of carpets. These products need soft hands to give the finesse. These children are then pressed to work for 14 to 16 hours a day on a meager salary of Rs 800 to Rs 2,000 per month," said an official.

Source claims that labour department which is mandated to check such units are both apathetic and unequipped. Recently, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights ( NCPCR) too detected large-scale child labour at brick kilns in Bhilwara district and expressed surprise over the district administration's indifference on the issue.

Rajasthan rank high in child labour