By IANS,
Guwahati : Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi Tuesday said the government planned to enact a law to prevent employment of children below 18 years by public servants and public representatives.
The legislation will ensure punishment to those who engage minors in household chores, Gogoi said while launching here a vision document that aims at improving the living conditions for women and children by 2016.
He unveiled the document ‘Chief Minister’s Vision for Women & Children 2016’ and highlighted 16 targets to be achieved in the next four years.
These targets include improvement in the infant mortality rate (IMR) and the maternal mortality rate (MMR), increase in the enrolment of girl children in schools, increase in female literacy rate, end to trafficking of women and children, check on child labour and 33 percent reservation for women in all skill development programmes.
“If the women and children lag behind, no state or society can march ahead. We can build a prosperous Assam only if the condition of our poor women and children improves by leaps and bounds,” said Gogoi.
“Though the IMR and the MMR has gone down in the past five years, the state has to step up its efforts to bring it down further,” he said.