GUWAHATI, Nov 6 - The chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), Stuti Kacker has said that denial of economic empowerment to the tea plantation work force may lead to the downfall of the industry as a whole.
Kacker, while speaking at the inaugural day of the two-day national conference on 'Protection of Child Rights in Tea Plantations of India' held here on Friday, said that there is a need to have a time-bound road map to do away with the problems faced by the tea garden population, especially the women and the children.
�It is a denial of economic empowerment that has led to law-and-order problems time and again, and the tea garden population cannot be treated as the exception,� she said and pointed out, �The tea garden management must invest on the welfare of the workforce as they are irreplaceable.�
�We should preferably have a five-year target plan and the progress on all possible welfare indicators should be assessed after every year,� Kacker stated.
Earlier, Javier Aguilar, Chief of Child Protection, UNICEF India, said that implementation of the child rights protection laws in the real spirit is still a challenge and there is a need to have a better accountability mechanism in place to complete the unfinished business in child rights protection.
�The goal is to reach those hardest to reach. Time has come when we will have to turn the aspiration into practice,� he said.
Aguilar further said, �We must invest on the prevention aspect before the problems become unsolvable.� Earlier, Chief Secretary of Assam VK Pipersenia and Principal Secretary of Social Welfare Department, Ravi Capoor stressed on the need to find solutions to the problems gripping tea garden population � be it health, education or aspects like social security.
�Narrating the problem over and over again is not going to solve the problem. We need a comprehensive road map so that these problems cease to be there by 203O,� Capoor said, adding that the Government is not at all happy with the way the tea garden managements are dealing with the problems.
�The Plantation Labour Act has not been implemented in the right spirit,� he said. He suggested that the recommendations which would come up after the conference must cover the administrative part focusing on what the Government is expected to do. �Further, the recommendations must also underline the responsibility of the tea garden managements as well. Legislative changes are another aspect which should find place in the recommendations,� he stated.
Runumi Gogoi, Chairperson, Assam State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (ASPCR) also highlighted the challenges that lie in the State. A number of guest speakers spoke on various aspects of child rights protection during the course of the conference organised by ASPCR in association with the Department of Labour & Employment and NCPCR.
