By IANS
Bhubaneswar : An anti-child labour body Saturday demanded an amendment to article 24 of the Indian constitution to end child labour in the country.
The National Coordination Committee of the Campaign Against Child Labour (CACL), an umbrella organisation of over 6,000 groups, held a two-day meeting that ended in Hyderabad Saturday.
Article 24 of the constitution “unfortunately provides legal validity to the child labour system in India”, CACL national convenor Ranjan Mohanty told IANS from Hyderabad.
The article states that “no child below the age of 14 years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment”.
“The committee felt that this provision in itself means that any child below 14 can be legally employed in non-hazardous sectors. And the word ‘hazardous’ has not been defined in the constitution,” Mohanty said.
“CACL has demanded amendment to article 24 and it should be read thus: ‘No child below the age of 18 years can be employed to work in any sector’,” he said.