Government has reviewed the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme to make it more effective and the revised NCLP Guidelines issued in this regard have come into force w.e.f. 1.4.2016. Under the revised Guidelines the Special Training Centres (STCs) for rehabilitation of child labour have been aligned in line with RTE Act; the target group has been expanded to all working children below the age of 14 years and to adolescents (14-18 years) working in hazardous occupations and processes; the procedure for setting up of Project Societies and opening of STCs has been simplified; payment of stipend to the children is made on modular basis for a minimum of three months through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT); the budget of Project Societies/STCs and rate of honorarium for volunteers/staff has been enhanced; procedure for conducting survey has been simplified; Monitoring mechanism has been strengthened at National, State and District level etc. At present the scheme is sanctioned in 280 Districts of 21 States in the country. 

The Rehabilitation of Bonded Labour, 2016 Scheme would also be implemented through the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Societies in existence. Creation of additional NCLP Societies is a continuous process depending upon the need thereof. 

This information was given by Shri Bandaru Dattatreya, the Minister of State (IC) for Labour and Employment, in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today. -WTN