UP begins week-long drive against child labour
Lucknow: Marking the 'World Day against child labour', state labour minister Anil Rajbhar said that a week-long campaign against
child labour
will be held in the state from June 12-19. The 'Child labour prohibition week' will feature various programmes to reinforce the need for the complete eradication of child labour in the state.
The govt has partnered with UNICEF to implement this programme.
Rajbhar made this announcement from Geneva in Switzerland, where he is currently attending the International Labour Conference organised by the International Labour Organisation. The minister addressed a session on child labour, where he spoke about the efforts being made by the UP govt to crack down on child labour and appealed to factory owners to pledge that they would not employ children.
Among initiatives taken by the UP govt, the minister spoke about the Atal residential schools, operational in 17 divisions in the state, especially for children of labourers. He urged the global community to adopt this innovative model from UP and establish similar schools worldwide to prevent children from following their parents into the field.
He further said that over the past 11 years, the Indian govt achieved remarkable success in expanding social security coverage, a crucial step in ensuring that families were not forced to push their children into work.
India's social security coverage grew from 19% in 2015 to 64.3% in 2025, the minister claimed, adding that with over 94 crore citizens covered, India now ranks second globally in social security coverage.
The minister said that currently, around 80 lakh individuals are engaged in the gig and platform economy in India, a number projected to rise to approximately 2.4-2.5 crore by 2030. "Their social security needs must be recognised and addressed. The UP labour and employment department has already begun identifying the specific needs of these workers and is actively developing strategies and frameworks to support them," he said.
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