There are some 1.7 million child workers in the country, and 1.2 million of them are engaged in hazardous work, State Minister for Labour and Employment Begum Monnuzan Sufian said this in Parliament on Wednesday.
The minister said this while responding to a tabled question from Awami League lawmaker Habib Hasan, adding that according to a 2013 survey of the Bureau of Statistics, the number of child workers in the country is 1.7 million.
She also said that as per the survey in 2003, the number of child workers was 3.4 million.
In response to another question of AL lawmaker 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, 391.30 lakh tonnes of food grains, including 380.48 lakh tonnes of rice and 10.82 lakh tonnes of wheat, were produced.
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 AL lawmaker 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 (USGBC).
