The number of children rescued or withdrawn from work has increased for the past four years, according to Union Labour and Employment Ministry data provided to the Lok Sabha.
In 2020-21, over 58,000 children were rescued across India from work, rehabilitated and mainstreamed under the National Child Labour Project, according to figures tabled by Minister of State for Labour and Employment Rameshwar Teli.
He was responding to a question by Congress MP Vishnu Prasad M K Madhya Pradesh accounted for half the rescued children that year.
He said in reply to a question about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on child labour that the number of children rescued and mainstreamed had been 58,289 in 2020-2021, an increase from 54,894 in 2019-2020, 50,284 in 2018-2019 and 47,635 in 2017-2018.
