Bengaluru: Labour Minister Santhosh Lad has urged officials and citizens alike to commit themselves to the complete eradication of child labour across the state. He said society must not entertain expectations of labour from children whose rightful place is in schools and playgrounds.

Speaking at an event organised to mark World Day Against Child Labour near the Mahatma Gandhi statue on MG Road, the minister said, “The observance of this day should not be limited to a symbolic annual event. Every two months, Deputy Commissioners, Police Superintendents, and Chief Executive Officers of all districts must carry out awareness campaigns and enforcement drives to identify child labourers, especially in dhabas, hotels, factories, shops, and malls.”

Lad underlined that children found working in such establishments must be rescued, rehabilitated, and re-integrated into the education system. “No child should be deprived of education. This is a primary objective of the government,” he said. The minister pointed out that child and adolescent labourers are most often found in remote or informal setups like home-based industries or small workshops, where regulatory oversight is limited. These areas, he said, require targeted interventions to detect and rescue child workers.

He further blamed a flawed education system for indirectly encouraging the continuation of child labour. “Unless every citizen actively participates in this movement, the government alone cannot eliminate the scourge of child labour,” Mr. Lad said, calling for community-level vigilance and cooperation. Highlighting Karnataka’s early response to the issue, he said the state had become the first in India to launch a Child Labour Eradication Action Plan back in 2001. Reiterating that employing children is a punishable offence, Lad cited the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, amended in 2016. Under the law, first-time offenders may face six months to two years in prison and fines ranging from Rs20,000 to Rs50,000. Repeat offences could attract up to three years’ imprisonment.