With the number of working children around 12 million according to the labour ministry, the allocation for eradicating child labour has remained static at Rs 156 crore  (Rs 1.56 billion) - an average of Rs 10 a year.

The Budget for 2008-09 for the Ministry of Labour reads exactly the same as the Budget for 2007-08 as far as child labour goes. It is just Rs 3 crore more.

It rose from Rs 153 crore (Rs 1.53 billion) to Rs 156 crore for expenses under the head improvement in working conditions of child/women labour. And the amount divided by the children is Rs 130 which in a month would be Rs 10.

Ministry officials are on the defensive. "It is not wholly true. The amount is not meant for all children who work.  It is meant for the 9,000 National Child Labour Project (NCLP) schools in 250 districts," says an official.

These schools have about 450,000 children who are between the age of nine and 14 years.

As for the rest of the 12 million children, the ministry has been waiting for the last three years for funds as well as for approval of their recommendations for improvement of the child labour schools.

The 11th Plan gave these proposals a cold shoulder. The ministry had proposed residential schools for children rescued from labour besides linkage with open schools. But these have not been considered so far.

The budget reflects the ultimate blow to the cause of rehabilitating child labour with even the existing 9,000 NCLP schools being totally ignored.

The allocation will provide Rs 3,466 per child a year to meet expenses incurred in the NCLP school. This amounts to Rs 10 or Rs 9 a day, which is slightly better than Rs 10 a year, which is the government's commitment for working children in the whole country.