Low reporting, fewer convictions hit efforts to curb child labour in state: Activists

Bhubaneswar: Illegal employment of children in different labour-intensive sectors continues in the state but there has been no dedicated survey by the labour department to identify them in the past one decade, child rights activists alleged.The last survey carried out by the govt in 1996, following a Supreme Court directive, found 2.15 lakh child labourers.The state implements the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986, which bans the employment of children below 14 years in any work, and stray inspection and rescue drives continue throughout the year. Child rights activist Benudhar Senapati said not all child labour cases reach police, which is why rescue operations end up only in fines and don’t act as a deterrent.The ministry of labour and employment operates ‘PENCIL’ (Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour) for online reporting of cases. Only 135 complaints of child labour were filed from Odisha from 2017 till date on the platform. Of these, 97 complaints were closed, but no action was taken in 37. Only in one case, a police complaint was filed.However, in the same period, over 3,000 children were rescued and mainstreamed under the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) scheme of the ministry.

Under NCLP, which was implemented in Deogarh, Jharsuguda, Kendrapada, Keonjhar, Koraput and Sundargarh districts, 3,384 child labourers have been rescued so far. Of them, 2,589 were enrolled in NCLP schools, where children rescued from hazardous occupations are provided bridge education and vocational training.

Of the rescued children, 2,568 were brought back into the mainstream.On Tuesday, labour minister Ganesh Ram Singkhuntia, replying to a query by MLA Satyajeet Gomango on steps being taken to rescue and rehabilitate child labourers in Rayagada, told the assembly that 124 inspections were carried out in the district since 2024 and 13 children were rescued.

However, only three cases led to prosecutions.The minister had earlier informed the assembly that 101 child labourers were rescued between 2022 and 2025 and 116 cases were registered against their employers.He said the govt is implementing a ‘State Action Plan’ for the elimination of child labour, involving several departments to conduct inspections, rescue operations and awareness campaigns.