Briefing about the outcome of the two-day proceedings, Punalekar said the participants opined that the state should look after the child labour's health needs and educate him so that he could become self-reliant. Also the state should rehabilitate those who had lost their parents and train them in technical fields so that they could earn a living.

The delegates also stressed the need for preparing an outline on the magnitude of the problem in rural and urban areas of the city and designing micro policy in terms of industry, trade, commerce to ensure that it does not have any adverse impact on the child's status.

Punalekar said he was preparing a child labour profile in Gujarat -- based on the seminar, where 12 papers were presented and discussed -- and would submit it to the UNICEF.

He expressed hope that based on the profile, an action-oriented policy would be worked out to ``minimise the complex and all-pervasive problem of child labour in the state''.

According to professor Punalekar, the policy on child labour will be prepared in collaboration with various agencies, including the state government, NGOs, and other groups.

While describing the seminar as a fruitful exercise in terms of understanding the complexities of the problem, he admitted that eradication of child labour was an unrealistic expectation as there were many factors contributing to it. For example, parents migrate from rural to urban areas, from one state to other in search of a job and force their children to work, he observed.