“The government has formally approved the plan. The draft will be recast incorporating the suggestions from different stakeholders and will be placed before the cabinet for approval”, told Puspendra Singhdeo, Orissa’s minister of state for labour and employment.

Singhdeo today chaired a high level meeting convened to approve the blue print. Sources said, the state action plan (SAP) aims at complete elimination of the child labour in all occupations and processes by 2012 or 2014.

Rehabilitation

The action plan stressed on rehabilitation and re-integration of all children withdrawn from work through education, nutrition, primary health care, skill training and empowerment of their families.

For this, a multi-pronged approach will be adopted involving all the stakeholders. While the children in the age group of 5-8 years will be enrolled in formal schools, children in the age group of 9-13 (who have read up to a certain level) will have to pass through Transitional Education Centres (TEC) for adequate preparation before being enrolled into the formal schools. Students in the age group of 14-17 age group will receive vocational skill training which will be tailored to their aptitude and interest. However, the draft will be finalised after detail consultation with departments like finance, industry, school and mass education, health among others.

A task force will be formed at the district level for rescue and release, interim rehabilitation, repatriation and full rehabilitation of child labourers working in the state and also those migrated outside Orissa in search of work. An area based approach will be taken up to make a particular village, GP or Panchayat Samiti free from child labour. This is in line with the model adopted by MV Foundation. Building and Woodworkers International (BWI), partner of FNV Mondiaal, also works in the state Orissa.