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Manmohan meets Medvedev to ink nuclear deal, defence pacts
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India and Russia have reached a broad agreement to break the logjam over the protracted price renegotiation over the aircraft carrier 'Admiral Gorshkov'.
The two sides are also expected to sign a landmark civil nuclear pact during summit talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday.
Seeking to resolve the Gorshkov price issue, the two countries have worked out a general agreement, sources said. A pact in this regard, however, is unlikely to be signed during Singh’s visit here.
The prime minister arrived here on a three-day visit that will also see the inking of three agreements in the field of defence, including one for ending ad-hocism in servicing Russian military equipment.
As a special gesture, the Russian president will host a private dinner for Singh and his wife at his countryside residence in Barvikha outside Moscow.
The path-breaking civil nuclear pact is significant as it will ensure uninterrupted uranium fuel supplies from Russia in the event of termination of bilateral ties in this field for any reason, the sources said. The agreement is considered by India as a “major improvement” over the 123 pact with the US which provides for not just termination of ongoing cooperation but also for the return to the country of already supplied components and fuel in the event of the accord being scrapped.
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Child Labour and Education Policy in India
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A number of policy initiatives and programmes have been undertaken in this country over the last decade with the basic objective of dealing with the problem of the rapidly increasing number of child workers. The formulation of a new National Child Labour Policy, the enactment of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986, the setting up of a Task Force on child labour, the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and so on have all formed a part of this process. Corresponding initiatives were taken in the related area of education where a New Education policy was formulated which incorporated a separate component for working children. It is the objective of this paper to examine whether the policy initiatives taken by the Government of India over the last few years can make an impact on the child labour situation in the country. In particular, the paper examines the basic understanding of the issue of child labour in the Indian context, which has influenced the policies and strategies adopted by the Government. In doing this it is argued that the government policies governing child labour are based not only on assumptions which are fundamentally flawed but also on a faulty appreciation of the situation in the field. It is further argued that, because of this, the set of policy prescriptions and strategies that follow cannot adequately deal with the problem. Consequently, unless the basic premises adopted by the policy makers are abandoned, no significant change can be made in the child labour situation in the country.
The paper also examines the role of the education policy in relation to child labour. It shows how, in proposing Non Formal Education as a major strategy for dealing with illiteracy among working children, the Government has failed to realize the potential of formal primary education as a powerful tool for withdrawing children from work. In the end the paper asserts that compulsory education, at least at the primary level, is not only desirable but also a viable and practicable solution to the problem of increasing child labour.
Two assumptions have broadly influenced Government's policies in respect of child labour. The first is that, child labour is a 'harsh reality' and one can only mitigate some of the harshness of the exploitative aspects of child labour. The 'harsh reality' of child labour arises out of the fact that in the present state of development in the country many parents, on account of poverty, have to send their children to work in order to supplement their income and the income derived from the cild labour, however meagre, is essential to sustain the family. This is the 'poverty argument of child labour.
The second assumption is that there is a distinction between child labour and exploitation of the child labour. It has been accepted that a certain amount of child labour will persist under the family environment which is non-exploitative. This is not only inevitable but also desirable. At the same time, there are other forms of child work such as in hazardous occupations, factories and other organized establishments which are reprehensible and should not be allowed to continue.
The above assumptions have defined the framework of all policies adopted by the government. It would be appropriate at this stage to see exactly how policies of the Government have been influenced by this framework.
The Legal Framework
The legislative apparatus brought in by the government is by far the most clear expression of the influence of the assumptions made by the policy makers in regard to child labour. The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, itself talks more of regulation than prohibition of child labour. Child labour is prohibited only in certain sectors (Part A and Part B of the Schedule) laid down under the act which provides for regulation in certain other areas. At the same time, there is a proviso which lays down, that '... nothing in this section shall apply to any workshop wherein any process is carried on by the occupier with the aid of his family or to any school established by, or receiving assistance or recognition from Government'.
It does not require a legal expert to realize the sort of loopholes that this formulation provides for. An analysis of data indication the number of prosecutions launched under this Act and convictions obtained would clearly indicate that this Act, despite all its intentions, has achieved very little. Even under the best of circumstances, an Act of this nature cannot be implemented unless there is a demand for it from the affected parties, i.e. that children or their parents. In this case, where the Government itself has proceeded on the assumption that child labour cannot be eliminated and that certain forms of child labour are inevitable, it is even less likely to serve any purpose
Action Plans to Eliminate Child Labour
The legislative apparatus by itself is unlikely to yield results as legal Action is only the first step in a process. The crucial aspect, however, is the subsequent step in this process which involves constructive rehabilitation of the child withdrawn from work. This, according to the government, is provided in the second and third parts of the National Policy relating to General Development Programmes for benefiting child labour and the project based Action Plan.
As far as the General Development Programmes are concerned, the Task Force that was formed specifically to make an assessment commented that "First, the size of the total resources for general development programmes remained the same and they have always been so meagre that a small frAction out of those negligible resources could never be meaningful. Secondly, no specific allocations were carved out or earmarked. No proportions or percentages were prescribed. No weightage for child labour mandated."
Further, commenting on the Action Plan the Task Force remarked.... 'Broadly and briefly, we feel that the Action Projects which were meant to be the testing ground for the implementation of the Act and Policy have so far failed to yield any sizable worthwhile results.'
The reason why the views of the Task Force have been quoted here is that despite such strong criticism from a committee appointed specifically to study the implementation of the Act and the Action Plan, the Government of India has not in any way altered its approach. It is interesting to note that whereas the Task Force submitted its report in 1989, its recommendations are said to be still 'under examination'. To compound matters the Government of India has brought out, as already mentioned, a fresh plan which is nothing but an extension of the earlier Action PLan. The new scheme once again concentrates on areas of high incidence of child labour, in hazardous occupations and involves withdrawing children from work, provision of training, education and rehabilitation. The scheme, however, in no way answers the questions posed by the Task Force in respect of the earlier Action Plan. Further, even accepting the official figure of 20 million working children in hazardous occupations belong to families who have migrated from rural areas. Lacunae of this nature are essentially the consequence of the Government's pre-occupation with only a part of the child labour force and its restricted definition of what constitutes child labour. Any comprehensive plan of actin would have to cover the entire range of working children without making an artificial differentiation between those in hazardous occupations and in other works.
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| Posted by : Guna kovintha
gunasw@aol.in
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Interview With Red News |
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