PENCIL portal being used for effective enforcement of Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act

• Recently, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment informed Rajya Sabha about the PENCIL portal and implementation of the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme.

PENCIL Portal

• Full Name: Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour (PENCIL).
• Objective: It is a separate online portal to ensure effective enforcement of the provisions of the Child Labour Act and smooth implementation of the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme.

What are the Components?

• The PENCIL Portal has various components, namely Child Tracking System, Complaint Corner, State Government, National Child Labour Project and Convergence.

Features of the portal

• The Portal connects Central Government to State Government(s), District(s), all Project Societies and the General public.
• Further, online complaints regarding child labour can also be filed by anybody on the Pencil Portal.
• The complaint gets assigned to the concerned Nodal Officer automatically by the system for further necessary action.

What is the National Child Labour Project (NCLP)?

• The National Child Labour Project (NCLP) is a Central Sector Scheme for the rehabilitation of child labour.
• Under this Scheme, funds are provided directly to the District Project Societies headed by the District Magistrate/Collector/Deputy Commissioner who in turn allocates the funds to NGOs/Voluntary Agencies, etc. for running Special Training Centres.

Prelims Take Away

• NCLP
• PENCIL Portal