22 Government Departments of Jharkhand sensitized on the issue of child labour

The Department of Labour, Employment and Training, Government of Jharkhand organized a sensitization workshop on the issue of child labour under the International Labour Organization supported initiative “Converging Against Child Labour: Support for India’s Model” at Hotel Capitol Hill, Ranchi. This training program aimed at familiarizing all concerned departments on the issue of child labour and to discuss with them the legal provisions, schemes as well as roles that different departments can play in tackling the issue. The ultimate objective was to create a pool of trainers in the issue who can further sensitize their respective departments on the issue and on the strategies that can be adopted to help move towards elimination of the issue. “Education of every child is very important and the Right to Education has to be actualized. Awareness on the issue has to be created at the grass root level, for instance, at the Panchayat level”, said Sri Vishnu Kumar, I.A.S., Principal Secretary, Department of Labour, Employment & Training, Jharkhand inaugurating the two days training programme.

“Child Labour is not only an issue of Labour Department and all our stakeholders have to converge to tackle the issue. The Convergence Model initiative supported by ILO has brought in a model which is being piloted in two districts viz. Ranchi and Sahebganj and is already showing positive results in abating the issue of child labour,” add Smt. Aradhana Patnaik, I.A.S., Labour Commissioner, Jharkhand. Secretary, Child Labour Commission cum Nodal Officer, Convergence Model Project Dr Shyam Sunder Pathak coordinated the event along with State Resource Cell, ILO Convergence Model Project staff.

The departments who attended the training were Department of Labour, Employment & Training, Department of Human Resource Development, District Administration, District Social Welfare Women and Child Development, Welfare Department, Information & Public Relations Department, Department of Health & Family Welfare, Department of Rural Development, Department of Urban Development, Panchayati Raj, Department of Finance, Environment & Forest; Law, Officers from Department of Personnel Administrative Reforms and Rajbhasha, Food, Public Distribution & Consumer Affairs, Child Welfare Officers of Special Juvenile Police Units, Agriculture & Sugarcane Development, Industries, Animal Husbandry & Fisheries, Food, Public Distribution & Consumer Affairs among others.

The Resource Persons were from Department of Labour, Employment & Training, UNICEF and Department of Social Welfare, Women & Child Development. Besides this, I.G. C.I.D. Police, Sri Anurag Gupta sensitized the participants on the issues of human in Jharkhand and various penal provisions for the issue. The training programme was entirely participatory and well taken by all participants.