NCLP stands for National Child Labour Project. It is a government-funded project in India that aims to eliminate child labour and promote education for children in the age group of 9-14 years who are working in hazardous occupations or processes. The project now includes 312 districts across 21 states. The identified children are removed from the dangerous work and offered facilities like non-formal education, vocational training, a midday meal, a stipend of Rs. 150 per child per month, and healthcare through a doctor appointed for a group of 20 schools. They are also removed from hazardous work. Since its inception in 1988, the NCLP project has been able to save around 1.2 million children who describe how child labour manages to avoid the state's attention and spread throughout many industries.
It targets the elimination of child labour in all its aspects by starting with:
Identifying children who are involved in child labour in the project area.
The provision of appropriate vocational training in order to prepare the youngsters who have been removed from regular education.
Ensuring that they profit from the vast array of services that are offered by the many government agencies.
By identifying teenagers and removing them
By utilizing the present skill development programmes, it is possible to facilitate training programmes for these teenagers.
The purpose of this campaign is to increase understanding of how the NCLP operates among the target communities and other stakeholders with regard to child labour.
Establishing a system for monitoring, tracking, and reporting child labour in order to stay informed of the problem
The government helps to identify, categorize, eliminate, and remove children and adolescents from dangerous occupations.
Enrolling the rescued children into appropriate local schools and registering them with Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).
With the help of improved talents, better educational programmes may be developed for communities and the Indian population at large.
Compensation for the families who are freeing their children from employment and allowing them to enrol them in training or educational institutions.
Self-help groups (SHGs) are frequently set up for the mothers of such harmed children.
Joint cooperation with civil society, state and district government allowed the programme to be successfully executed.
The different state governments and the Ministry of Labor and Employment are both charged with carrying out the obligation.
The programme was initially introduced in regions with a high prevalence of child labour, and district-level District Project Societies (DPSs) have been established to ensure that the programme is properly implemented at all levels.
Since the program's commencement, 13.63 lakh children have been mainstreamed through Special Training Centers established under the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme.
Major advantages that will result from this programme include:
Assist in identifying and eliminating all cases of child labour.
Assist in the identification and removal of young people from risky jobs and procedures in the target area.
Awareness of the negative impacts of child labour.
All children who have been removed from child labour and rehabilitated through the NCLPS have been successfully mainstreamed into regular schools.
In 2017, the government unveiled PENCIL, a novel internet site (Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour). It had been developed under the NCLP plan:
To make sure the plan can be implemented easily and effectively.
It has a Complaints section and a Child Tracking System.
Anyone may use the portal to report child labour concerns.
As soon as a complaint is received, the system instantly assigns it to the appropriate Nodal officer so they can take any additional action that may be required.
A total of 1010 complaints have been submitted through the site, 361 of which have been reported as being addressed by Nodal officials.
The portal can establish connections between various State Governments, districts, project societies, and ultimately the general public and the Central Government.
Anyone found guilty of hiring a minor (under 14 years old) or an adolescent (14-18 years old) for an illegal job faces a jail sentence of 6 to 24 months as well as a fine of 20,000 to 50,000 rupees. If a person is discovered to have engaged in child labour again after already receiving punishment, they may spend one to three years in jail.
The Indian government has adopted a number of initiatives to eliminate and prevent child labour. The National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme, the INDUS Project, the Child Labor (Prohibition & Regulation) Amendment Act of 2016 and the Right to Education Act of 2009 were all implemented with the goal of preventing and eradicating the problem of child labour. The government has also collaborated with a number of organizations to raise public awareness of the same problem.
Child labour has been linked to issues such as lack of focus in class, a rise in teenage pregnancies, drug usage, and participation in armed conflicts.
Child labour damages a child's social and mental growth, makes it harder for them to enjoy childhood, and also restricts their access to school. Without education, children develop the employment-related skills they need as adults, increasing the likelihood that they will eventually send their own children to work.
Some of the worst types of child labour include slavery, child trafficking, debt bondage, forced labour, child soldiers, and minors engaged in illegal activities. One of the worst types of child labour is hazardous labour.