SunCorp

Authorities in India Tuesday geared up to enforce a complete ban on hazardous child labour and free thousands of children working as domestic servants and in the hospitality sector, officials said. India's Labour Ministry which previously banned employment of children under 14 in factories, mines as well as other hazardous jobs, had in August announced new rules to broaden the definition of hazardous work.

The ministry declared that the ban on child labour was being extended to include children working as domestic help and at roadside eateries, hotels, resorts and recreational centres and would be implemented from October 10.

"State governments would start identifying and rescuing child workers from today. Many employers would voluntarily release such children," Labour Ministry spokesman ML Dhar said.

"We also expect that people would complain about such workers to the police and local authorities," Dhar added.

The penalty for flouting the law is a jail term ranging from three months to two years with or without a fine of up to 20,000 rupees (437 dollars).

According to the UNICEF, India has about 44 million child labourers, between the ages of 4 and 14, the largest child workforce in the world.

But government puts the figure at 12 million. According to official data, 185,000 children are working as domestic servants while another 71,000 are employed at road-side eateries.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has already appealed to people to support the government's endeavour in ensuring the law is implemented.

He also urged people to stop employing children as workers and actively encourage children to join schools.

Singh said arrangements had been made by state governments to accommodate children freed from such bondage in the government's universal elementary education programme.

But NGO activists said the new ban wouldn't work in the absence of a complete rehabilitation plan.

The activists said scores of children were still working in hazardous industries such as fire-works and match-stick factories showing that the earlier law was poorly implemented.

There was no deterrent effect on employers because of low conviction rates and impoverished families continue to send children to work in absence of any rehabilitation package.

"I've been told to leave work..I do not know what's going to happen now. I am my family's main breadwinner, how will we survive?" asked Binod Mahato, a 13-year old boy, who works at a tea-stall at New Delhi's main bus terminus near Kashmere Gate.

Dhar maintained that the state governments had made adequate rehabilitation arrangements and would ensure that the children join schools.

"At the same time, the Labour Ministry is also expanding its National Child Labour Programme, that covers 250 child labour endemic districts, to rehabilitate them and prepare them for joining schools," he added.

 At SunCorp we stand against child labour and never employ children in our manufacturing process.