Abolition of Child Labour and Bonded Labour 7.7 Non-formal edacation of children withdrawn from work received a boost in UP in 1999-2000, because of the involvement of the NHRC in the efforts of the UP Labour Department. Tbe Sote earlier had only 120 National Child Labour Project (NCLP) schools. The number grew to 370 with the addition of 250 schools sanctioned in 1999-2000. Ninety af these were for the districts of the carpet belt—40 in Allahabad, 20 each in Bhadoi aad Mirzapur and 10 in Varanasi. All of them had been sited in child labour prone areas and were running to the full capacity of 50 children each. The Sf>ecial Rapporteur inspected some of these schools in Bhadoi, Mirzapur and Varanasi to see that all the components nf the project—accelerated primary education, vocational training, supplementar)- nutrtion and health-care—were receiving full attention. Irregularities and deficiencies pointed out by him received a positive response from the UP administration. 7.8 The Commissi on has involved the NGO sector in the non-formal education of child labourers and a number of such schools/training centres are functioning in the districts of the carpet belt. There has also been a distinct improvement in the level of awareness among the general public about child labour issues. 7.9 Further, the G-ommission has continued to interact with the carpet manufacturers and exporters, urgrig them to participate fully in the effort to eradicate child labour. The Special Rappo«eur has also been in touch with the All India Carpet Manufacturing Association (AICM^) and the Carpet Export Promotion Counsel (CEPC) in order to involve them with he education of the children withdrawn from work. 7.10 The Commision has, in addition, been pointing to the need to substitute child labour with adult abour. A number of women have thus been provided vocational training in carpet weaving in Mirzapur, Bhadoi and Jaunpur districts with the help of NGOs. They are bdng helped, through various schemes of the Government, to acquire looms and work as individual or collective production units. 7.11 The intensil:ed efforts in the carpet belt, with the growing involvement of the Commission, has increasingly helped to dispel the widespread myth that the economically disadvantaged do rot want their children to be educated. The fact that the NCLP schools in the carpet belt a* running to full capacity proves the contrary. More and more families whose children we--e engaged in child labour are approaching the authorities to admit their children in sjch schools. 7.12 To oversee tae implementation of the provisions of the Bonded Labour (Abolition) Act, 1976, in the srutliem States of Andhra Pradesh, Kamataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the Commission hid appointed Shri K.R. Venugopal as its Special Rapporteur. Through his interactions and inquiries, the existence of bonded labour in the silk reeling and twisting units in Magadi and Ramanagaram came to be highlighted, and the Commission brought it to the no«ce of the State Government. This led to detailed discussions with the State 61