Campaign Against Child Labour national convener P Joseph Victor Raj in Patna on Sunday. Picture by Jai Prakash

The Campaign Against Child Labour (CACL) will organise a Bal Sansad on “Voice of Children” at Gandhi Sangrahalaya on Monday.

Their objective is to highlight the need for stringent laws to curb child labour in the country.

They have chosen Monday, September 15, as it marks the ninth anniversary of the Khusrupur (Patna) firecracker factory blasts of 2005, which claimed 35 lives.

At the sansad on Monday, CACL members will highlight the state of child labour in the country as a whole and in Bihar in particular.

According to CACL national convener P. Joseph Victor Raj, as per the 2011 census in the country, there are around 43.53 lakh child workers aged 5 to 14 years in India.

Of these, Bihar alone accounts for around 4.5 lakh child labourers.

Raj said: “Though Child Labour (prohibition & regulation) Act, 1986, was introduced in the country in 1986, it has failed to check child labour in the country.

This proves that child labour cannot be eradicated with the help of the existing act.” CACL is thus demanding a more stringent legislation to ban all forms of child labour up to 18 years of age in the country.

The CACL convener said the Indian constitution defines as child labourer anybody who is below 14 years of age and is made to work.

But CACL is demanding a constitutional amendment under Section 24 to define any person below the age of 18 years as a child in all legislations in the country.

Nawlesh Kumar Singh, state convener of CACL, said the organisation would press the state government to accept its various demands in support of child labour lawa so that every child is able to reach school, where he or she rightfully belongs.

On September 15, a firecracker factory in a residential area blew up, killing at least 35 people. Among the victims of the tragedy were 12 children who were illegally employed to assemble Diwali firecrackers.

The CACL members said that even after having child protection laws, the state and Union government have failed to look after protection of child labour in India.