1.7m child workers in country, says state minister for labour

Quoting from the report of a survey, conducted nearly nine years ago, state minister for labour and employment Begum Monnuzan Sufian on Wednesday said there are some 1.7 million child workers in the country.

The state minister said this in the Jatiya Sangsad (national parliament) responding to a tabled question from ruling Awami League MP, Habib Hasan, reports news agency UNB.

Of the 1.7 million child workers, nearly 1.2 million are engaged in hazardous works, she added.

Begum Monnuzan Sufian said that according to a 2013 survey of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) the number of child workers in the country is 1.7 million.

As per the survey in 2003, the number of child workers was 3.4 million, she added.

In response to another question of AL MP Abul Kalam Azad, food minister Sadhan Chandra Majumdar said that at present there is no food shortage in the country.

In the last fiscal year, 39.13 million tonnes of food grains including 38.05 million tonnes of rice and 1.09 tonnes of wheat were produced, he informed the House.

The minister also claimed that there is no danger of food shortage in the country even in the current financial year.

In response to another question from the ruling party’s MP, M Abdul Latif, commerce minister Tipu Munshi said that currently 183 garment factories in Bangladesh have been recognised as green factories from the US Green Building Council.