Bhubaneswar, Oct 2 — The Odisha government on Friday launched the ‘Shishu Shram Mukta Gram Panchayat’ (Child Labour-Free Gram Panchayat) campaign, a 44-day statewide awareness drive aimed at making Odisha free from the menace of child labour.
Announcing the launch of the campaign, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi said in a video message that child labour is a social evil that deprives children and adolescents of their fundamental right to education.
“Child labour is a social evil that deprives our children and adolescents of their fundamental right to education,” he said.
The Chief Minister said that on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, the government had taken a resolve to make Odisha free from child labour.
Majhi said a 44-day awareness campaign for child labour-free gram panchayats would be conducted across every gram panchayat in the state.
The campaign aims to create awareness against the practice of child labour and encourage collective efforts to eliminate it.
“Freeing our society from the evil practice of child labour is not merely the responsibility of the administration; it is a collective duty of all of us,” the Chief Minister said.
He further stated that the holistic development of children is a key foundation for achieving the goal of a Samruddha Odisha (Prosperous Odisha).
The Chief Minister appealed to the people to join the campaign and contribute to efforts to build a child labour-free Odisha.
“Let us all work together to help build a child labour-free Odisha, where every child can dream and is empowered to achieve those dreams,” Majhi said.
The latest dedicated state survey, conducted in 1997, had identified 2,15,222 child labourers in Odisha.
However, according to the Odisha State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, no systematic statewide survey has been conducted since then.