New Delhi, June 12: From now on, it will not be easy for film and TV serial producers to recruit children in the showbiz. “They will have to adhere to certain guidelines and make sure that children are working under proper conditions,” said Minister for Women and Child Development (WCD) Renuka Chowdhury on the occasion of the World Day Against Child Labour on Thursday.

The Minister has directed the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to frame guidelines in this regard. The NCPCR will soon form a committee comprising representatives from the Women and Child Development Ministry, NCPCR, Labour Ministry, Health Ministry and psychologists who will work on the guidelines. “Parents think if their children are working, it adds to their profile. What’s important here is to see under which conditions their children are working. Kids perform like animals. This will not be tolerated,” said Chowdhury. “There should be a law to check this.”

According to the UN convention, children should work only four hours a day. However, the NCPCR has got to know the children are made to work during night hours. “Once the guidelines are framed, surprise checks will be conducted in the states where the programmes are shot at. The main aim is to ensure that children should not be made to overwork,” said Sandhya Bajaj, member, NCPCR. The members will check if the children are getting proper food while they work, whether the food is nutritious and whether working timings are fine.

Chowdhury said she would also soon talk to the I and B Minister about the kind of advertisements shown during the programmes meant for children. “We have seen that ads which are telecast during the children’s programmes at times do not match kids’ frame of mind. It should be taken care of,” she added.

The Minister said if she had her way, she would have announced capital punishment for those employing child labour. “It’s shameful on our part to recruit children as domestic help. Police verification should not be confined to checking their criminal record but it should also check their age,” she added.

Chowdhury, in fact, came up with a slew of measures to curb child labour — there are 12.5 million children employed as labour, according to her Ministry. “I’ll talk to the HRD minister and make sure that flexibility is shown to the children who want to study, irrespective of their age,” she said.

She will also speak to Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and request him to allocate money to states after checking their women and child fund allocation. “This will ensure that states are doing enough for them,” she added.