Media Watch - SOS for Children

An SOS for children
Without safety nets for the poor that would enable them to access basic health and education facilities for their children, it would be well nigh impossible to save our children from the malaise of trafficking, abuse and child labour. Indeed, as our economy takes huge strides forward, we cannot forget the vulnerable need special attention.

Siddharth Agarwal: Fixing ICDS
The need is to focus our attention on the delivery of the public health system to the millions of underprivileged city dwellers who despite being in the neighbourhood of India’s growing millionaires, continue to suffer social, nutritional, health and capability deprivation.

Government continues to sit on policy for child development
A majority of the recommendations of the policy — child crisis intervention centres, special coaching for slow learners, recreational facilities, free legal services for children who get into trouble with the law — have yet to be discussed by the various agencies likely to coordinate in the implementation of the policy.

Centre to create database on missing children
"We will create a database about missing children based on the records that we get from the states," Minister of State for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury told reporters here today. The ministry of women and child development has written to all state governments, seeking data on missing children.

Mumbai’s street fighters
They are the street children of Mumbai, numbering in thousands. Local NGOs put their number at 20,000, but the United Nations estimates that there are about 2.5 lakh street children in Mumbai.

Eagle's Eye: Get an anganwadi on demand
The government has to set up an anganwadi centre within three months of demand from a settlement that has at least 40 children under six but no centre to cater to the nutritional needs of the children.

Commission for protection of children by January-end
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, that will comprise a chairperson and six members, will have the power, among others, to enquire into violation of child rights and recommend initiation of proceedings in such cases.

Child killer suspects undergo ‘truth’ tests
Forensic experts prepared to apply truth serum to a businessman and his domestic help who are charged with killing at least 17 people, mainly children, officials said.

Threatened childhood : Millions In India Deprived Of Their Right To Survival
Over one billion children, half of the world’s population of children, have been denied their childhood. Poverty and AIDS have prevented the world to meet the goals on their improvement. Their rights to a healthy life as adopted in the 1989 convention are often endangered due to the failure of governments to carry out human rights and economic reforms. It is reported that some 540 million children lack adequate shelter; 400 million have no access to safe drinking water; 270 million lack health care amenities and 140 million ~ mostly girls ~ have never been to school.

Rescued child workers benefit from NGO’s outreach programme
Until the law was passed recently, it was legal to employ children of any age as domestic servants in India. Now anyone employing a servant younger than 14 faces up to a year in prison.