Kailash Satyarthi appeals to MPs to pass Bill banning child labour

NEW DELHI: Ahead of Parliament's Winter Session, Nobel laureate and child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi today appealed to all the MPs to ensure passage of a Bill seeking complete ban on child labour.

"I want to make an earnest appeal to all the Member of Parliaments to pass the key legislation and it is also a moral responsibility on their part to pass the Bill..." Satyarthi said at a summit organised by a media house.

The government is likely to introduce the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment ( CLPRA) Bill which, once passed, will prohibit employment of children below 14 years in any occupation, bringing the law in consistency with the Right to Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009.

Expressing optimism over eradication of the scourge of child labour, Satyarthi said that India might have a hundred problems but it is also country of a "billion solutions".

"I always say that India is the land of one hundred problems but the mother of one billion solutions," he said.

Pitching for Indo-Pak amity, Satyarthi, who has been jointly awarded the prize with Pakistani teenage education activist, Malala Yousafzai said that peace is a "fundamental human right" of every child born anywhere in the world.

"I have been active in Pakistan as well in trying to build a movement against child labour. Peace is not something which is partly negotiable. Peace is a fundamental right of every child wherever he is born. In India and Pakistan if we really prioritise the welfare of children then nobody can stop us from creating a strong relationship," he said.

Admitting that proper enforcement of child labour laws is a major cause of concern, Satyarthi said that he has full faith in the Indian judiciary.

"Enforcement is a major challenge but I have great respect for judiciary which has redefined constitutional guarantees which was not clearly spelt out in the law," he said.