The Government of India, in cooperation with the US Department of Labor and the International Labour Organization (ILO) launched last month a US$ 40 million programme aimed at eliminating child labour that targets directly some 80,000 children in ten hazardous industries. This is the largest child labour programme ever undertaken by the ILO at the country level.

The programme is jointly funded by the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) and the Government of India which are providing equal amounts of the total cost of the plan. The ILO's International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) will be the executing agency.

The project for the elimination of child labour in selected hazardous sectors is a collaborative effort to provide programme support in a co-ordinated manner to on-going efforts undertaken by the Government of India towards a progressively child labour free country.

The project targets directly 80,000 children below 18 years of age working in hazardous industries such as manufacturing fireworks, beedi cigarettes, footwear, locks, matches, bricks, silk, glassware.

Activities will be carried out during the next three years in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu states.

The immediate objectives include the identification of children working in selected hazardous occupations in selected zones; withdrawal of children from hazardous work and providing them with transitional and prevocational education and social support to prevent relapse; economic security for the families who withdraw their children from hazardous work; monitoring and tracking of children who have been released from hazardous work; and strengthening of institutional capacity at national, state, district and local level to combat child labour.

You may consult the ILO press release.