“Allocations under National Child Labour Project dip by less than half in 2 years”, 6 August 2021

Allocations under the National Child Labour Project (NCLP), a labour and employment ministry scheme, meant to rescue and rehabilitate child labourers, has declined by less than half in the last two years…

While the ministry acknowledged that child labour has not been eradicated...its submissions shows that fund allocations towards the scheme dropped from Rs 90 crore in 2018-19 to just over Rs 41 crore in 2021-21.

The ministry said that even the conviction rate under the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986...remains dismal. In 2019, of the 770 cases registered, 684 cases were charge sheeted and only 88 accused were convicted.

The highest number of cases was registered in Telangana. In 314 cases, only 32 accused were convicted. Karnataka, Assam and Gujarat were next in line with 83, 68 and 64 cases respectively..

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In response to a separate question, the government said 645 children were orphaned between April and June...due to the Covid-19. The highest number of 158 orphaned children was in Uttar Pradesh, followed by Andhra Pradesh at 119, according to government data.