No Child Labour (PENCIL) Portal

Union Home Minister launches Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour (PENCIL) Portal

Question: Recently the ‘pencil’ portal was launched by the central government. It is related-
(a) Education
(b) Child wage
(c) Adult education
(d) Medical education
Answer: (b) 
Related Facts:

  • On September 26th, 2017, The Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh launched the Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour (PENCIL) Portal at the National Conference on Child Labour organised by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India.
  • The PENCIL is an electronic platform that aims at involving Centre, State, District, Governments, civil society and the general public in achieving the target of child labour free society.
  • The SOP is aimed at creating a ready reckoner for trainers, practitioners and monitoring agencies to ensure complete prohibition of child labour and protection of adolescents from hazardous labour ultimately leading to Child Labour Free India.
  • The PENCIL Portal (pencil.gov.in) has various components, namely;
  1. Child Tracking System,
  2. Complaint Corner,
  • State Government,
  1. National Child Labour Project and Convergence.
  • It is notable that the Central Government has passed the Child Labor (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016, which was implemented from September 1, 2016.
  • According to this amendment act, the employment of children under the age of 14 years is Prohibited (not allowed) under the law for any occupation and for the children between 14-18 years, the employment is not allowed in occupations that are harmful to their physical and mental health.
  • Government had initiated the National Child Labour Project(NCLP) Scheme in
  • Its aim was to exclude children from all forms of child labor, rehabilitate them and to join them in the main stream of education.
  • On this occasion he quoted the example of special drives undertaken under ‘Operation Smile’, where 70,000-75,000 children could be saved.
  • Appreciating the Ministry of Labour and Employment’s efforts in releasing SOPs for enforcement agencies, he told that these agencies will help in the better implementation of the schemes.

Reference:                
http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=171124
http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintHindiRelease.aspx?relid=67332
http://pencil.gov.in/
https://khabar.ndtv.com/news/india/up-to-2-year-jail-fine-of-rs-50-000-for-child-labour-1438949