Prelim Bits 02-07-2019

Child labour in India

• Government said that instances of child labour detected during 2014 to 2018 have reduced successively.
• “Child” as defined by the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 is a person who has not completed the age of 14 years.
• International Labour Organisation (ILO) defines the term ‘Child labour’ as, “work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development.
• According to 2011 Census, there were more than 10.2 million children in the age group of 5 to 14-5 as Child labour which includes 6 million boys and 4.5 million girls.
• The factors that contribute to child labour includes the poverty and illiteracy, the family’s social and economic circumstances, lack of access to basic and meaningful quality education and skills training.
• There are five states which are the India’s biggest child labour employers- Uttar Pradesh, Bihar Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
• As per 2011 Census, 1 in 11 children are working in India (5-18 years)
• 80% of the child labour in India is concentrated in rural areas

• ILO 2016 data indicates that there are 152 million working children in the world between 5-17 years, of which 23.8 million children are in India. So 16% of working children are in India.

Key legislative provisions regarding Child labour

• The legislations in India which prevents Child labour are,

1. Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act (1986)
2. National Policy on Child Labour (1987)
3. Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000 (the JJ Act) and amendment of the JJ Act in 2006
4. The Right to Education Act 2009
5. Child Labour Amendment (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 2016
6. Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2017

• The Indian Constitution ensures the right of all children under,

1. Article 21 A: Right to Education
2. Article 24: Prohibition of employment of children in factories, etc.

• The key international laws dealing with child labour include the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989

1.  The International Labour Organization (ILO) convention 138 and convention 182 are related to child labour. convention 138 - concerning Minimum Age for Entry to Employment & Work
2. convention 182 - concerning the Worst Forms of Child Labour.

• India has ratified both the Core Conventions.
• Since poverty is the root cause of this problem, and enforcement alone cannot help solve it.
• Government has been laying a lot of emphasis on the rehabilitation of these children and on improving the economic conditions of their families.
• Government is also implementing the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) since 1988 for the rehabilitation of child labour.
• Under the scheme, children aged 9-14 are rescued/withdrawn from work and enrolled in NCLP Special Training Centres before being mainstreamed into the formal education system.
• Children aged 5-8 are directly linked to the formal education system through close coordination with the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.

Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)

• The DMZ has come into the spotlight with Donald Trump becoming the first serving American President to visit the area.
• It is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula.
• It is established by the provisions of the Korean Armistice Agreement to serve as a buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea.
• It roughly follows latitude 38° N (the 38th parallel), the original demarcation line between North Korea and South Korea at the end of World War II.
• The site where the Armistice was signed is called the Joint Security Area (JSA).
• It continues to be the venue where successive peace discussions concerning the region are conducted, including the recent Trump – Kim meet.
• Both North and South Korea maintain ‘Peace villages’ in sight of each other's side of the DMZ.
• In September 2018, an agreement was signed with plans to convert the DMZ into a ‘Peace park’.
• Other major international borders of –

1. Durand Line - Pakistan and Afghanistan.
2. Radcliffe Line - India and Pakistan, India and Bangladesh
3. MacMohan Line - India and China
4. 49^th Parallel, Medicine Line – U.S and Canada
5. Maginot line, Siegfried Line – France and Germany
6. Hindenburg Line - Germany and Poland.
7. 17th Parallel - North Vietnam and South Vietnam.

Jal Shakti Abhiyan

• Jal Shakti Abhiyan was launched as a campaign for water conservation and water security.

· It focuses on 5 aspects -

1) Water conservation and rainwater harvesting,

2) Renovation of traditional and other water bodies,

3) Reuse of water and recharging of structures,

4) Watershed development, and

5) Intensive afforestation.

• It will cover 256 districts across nation with an emphasis on 1592 stressed blocks.
• The campaign will run through citizen participation during the monsoon (July 1-September 15)
• An additional ‘Phase II’ will run from October 1 to November 30 for states receiving the northeast retreating monsoons.
• Officers from the central government, led by additional secrtaries and joint secretaries, have been assigned to these 256 districts.
• The district administration will also nominate two members to join this team.
• The conservation efforts will be supplemented by ‘krishi vigyan kendra melas' to promote efficient water use for irrigation and better crop choices         
• In urban areas, plans with time-bound targets will be developed for wastewater reuse for industrial and agricultural purposes.
• It will help people to work for rain water harvesting, maintenance and upkeep of ponds and village tanks and conservation of water.
• A large-scale ‘Communication campaign’ has also been planned alongside the JSA involving mass mobilisation of different groups.

Compensatory Afforestation (CA)

• Telangana woman forest officer, on plantation drive, as a part of compensatory afforestation for the at Kaleshwaram project site was thrashed by a mob.
• It refers to afforestation and regeneration activities carried out as a way of compensating for forest land diverted to non-forest purposes.
• As per the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980, whenever a forest land is to be diverted for non-forestry purposes, the equivalent non forest land has to be identified for compensatory afforestation.
• In case, non-forest land for CA is not available in the same district, non-forest land for CA is to be identified anywhere else in the State/Union.
• Any project proponent, government or private must apply for forest clearance from Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), before the conversion of land take place.
• If clearance is given, then compensation for the lost forest land is also to be decided by the ministry and the regulators.
• The scheme for compensatory afforestation should contain the following details,

1. Details of equivalent non-forest or degraded forest land identified for raising compensatory afforestation.
2. Delineation of proposed area on a suitable map.
3. Agency responsible for afforestation.
4. Details of work schedule proposed for compensatory afforestation.
5. Cost structure of plantation, provision of funds and the mechanism to ensure that the funds will be utilised for raising afforestation.
6. Details of proposed monitoring mechanism.

• National CAMPA Advisory Council has been established as per the Supreme Court order with the following mandate,

1. Lay down broad guidelines for State CAMPA.
2. Facilitate scientific, technological and other assistance that may be required by State CAMPA.
3. Make recommendations to State CAMPA based on a review of their plans and programmes.
4. Provide a mechanism to State CAMPA to resolve issues of an inter-state or Centre-State character.

• State CAMPA has been constituted across the states.
• The State CAMPA would administer the amount received from the Adhoc CAMPA and utilize the funds collected for undertaking compensatory afforestation.
• The prime task of State CAMPA would be regenerating natural forests and building up the institution engaged in this task in the State Forest Department.
• The government enacted Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act 2016 to provide a proper institutional mechanism for compensatory afforestation matters.
• It established the National Compensatory Afforestation Fund under the Public Account of India, and a State Compensatory Afforestation Fund under the Public Account of each state.
• The act also provides for annual audit of the accounts by the Comptroller and Auditor General.
• The funds for CA are to be recovered from the user agencies on the basis of the rates fixed by the State Forest Department.
• The money received is to be used as per site specific schemes submitted by the State along with the approved proposals for diversion of forest land.
• To compensate for the loss of tangible as well as intangible benefits from the forest lands which has been diverted for non forest use, the net present value of the land is to be recovered from the user to adequately compensate for the loss of natural forests.
• Net Present Value (NPV) of the diverted forest is calculated for a period of 50 years.
• An expert committee calculates the NPV for every patch of forest.
• Availability of these funds will help in creation of more than 15 crores man-days of direct employment, as per the Government data (press release dated 28 July 2016)
• Majority of employment will be generated in tribal dominated and backward areas of the country.
• It will thus help in improvement of the overall living standards of the forest dependent communities.

 Source: Indian Express, PIB