News Watch - Kids Sold as Donors?

Kids Sold as Donors ?
"If you have baby markets, you cannot stop people from exposing those children to harm," the Organs Watch director said. "There could be real instrumental reasons of wanting that child, which could include wanting that child to serve as a donor to an older child."

Wealth 'may not lead to health'
"The figures for child mortality in India are shocking," said Shireen Miller, from Save the Children India. "They are close to sub-Saharan Africa, and one does ask that if we can make such rapid development economically then why can we not do the same socially?

Nutrition plan way off target, report finds
According to Saxena, the poorest compliance is in states that need the programme the most: “25% of India’s districts are responsible for more than 50% of malnourished children, and these districts are mostly located in the poorer states. Yet, the poorest states and those with the highest levels of under-nutrition have the lowest levels of programme funding, supervisory staff, capacity to utilize funds and monitor progress, resulting in poor outcomes.”

‘Malnutrition should be tackled in first two years’
“Malnutrition must be addressed in the first two years of life, the crucial period for a child’s physical and cognitive development,” according to Marie Ruel, lead author of The Lancet article and director of the Food Consumption and Nutrition Division at IFPRI. “If nutrition programmes wait until children have already become malnourished, their benefits are significantly diminished.”

Move to make primary education a fundamental right
"The main component of this legislation will be 'free and compulsory' education. This was the main problem faced by the flagship Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Education for All programme)," said a senior official in the Ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD).

News watch - Child Labour

Child Labor
Even as India gallops toward First World status--with its booming economy, roaring stock market and rapid progress in autos and steel--it is still a giant back-yard sweatshop to the world, staffed by underage boys and girls.

PM calls for investment, reform in national education system
"We need a system that is both compassionate and demanding. No child should ever feel left out for no fault of his or her. No child should nurse a grievance that his creativity has been suppressed. We need a humane, creative and forward-looking system," he said.

CHILD TRAFFICKING: An awakening
The trafficking of human beings is a persistent and wide-reaching phenomenon, and in an increasingly integrated world of interconnected communications and commerce it truly represents a violation of human rights on a global scale. A lucrative market, the trade in human flesh is a multi-billion dollar industry that amounts to a modern-day slave trade.

Child scheme fine on ‘casual’ states
The idea is to affix responsibility on states. “Currently, we fund the scheme, but also get all the blame, particularly from the Supreme Court. If they can’t share the blame, let them at least share the funds,” a senior official in the women and child development ministry said.

Delhi to set up commission for children`s welfare
`We have realised that there is a need for a forum to look into the welfare of children. The cabinet has given its nod to a state commission for the protection of children`s rights. And Delhi will soon have one,` Raghuraman said on the sidelines of the national consultative meet organised by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).

Child marriage is one of the biggest injustices: Patil
"Child marriage is one of the biggest injustices committed against a minor and adversely affects a girl child turning her into a baby-producing machine," Patil said here after launching the 'Mukhya Mantri Kanya Vivah Yojana'.

News Watch - 77% caste groups in MP still marry off children

77% caste groups in MP still marry off children
According to a recent study by the Delhi-based Centre for Social Research (CSR), the proportion of people whose caste/community still practises child marriage is 41% in Rajasthan and only 10% in Uttar Pradesh. "Enforcement of the Child Marriage Prohibition Act continues to be a major problem," says the study conducted in two districts in each of the three states.

Children of a lesser god
Child trafficking is rife in India but the law on trafficking is still ambiguous. A new law that’s in the works may, however, change this, reports Amrita Johri.

Know disaster, no disaster
Over 400 children from 36 schools in Pune participated in the two-day event on 'Children - Disasters and Sustainable Futures' on 4-5 January this year. They gathered knowledge about disasters and how to best manage in such situations, ensuring minimum loss of life and property.

Mr Finance Minister, Lend Your Ear To The Children, Please!
ICDS was started more than 32 years back in 1975, in pursuance to the adoption of the National Policy for Children in 1974. This Policy recognised children as the ‘nation’s supremely important asset’ and called upon the state ‘to provide adequate services to children, both before and after birth and through the period of growth, to ensure their full physical, mental and social development’ and to cover ‘all children in the country’ ‘within a reasonable time’.

News Watch - Taking baby steps around the holy fire

Taking baby steps around the holy fire
When the child brides and grooms were asked what marriage meant to them, nearly 67 per cent in UP said it was “celebrating a festival”, 42 out of 100 said it was about “being the centre of attraction” and 25 per cent it was an “occasion to get new clothes”. These were the common responses received from the married children in the other two states as well.

India home to a quarter of world's hungry
Ironically, people who grow the food we eat are fighting hunger. If the faces of the poor and the figures on the official documents are anything to go by, India is losing its most important battle, the battle against hunger

Without a home
n Delhi, shifting or closure of industries, relocation of slum-dwellers far away from their place of employment, sealing operations to curb commercial activities in residential areas have all contributed to a livelihood crisis, fuelling the problem of homelessness.

How to Get 100 Million Children in India Reading
The difference that an education, literacy and competency in English makes in the future of a child cannot be overestimated – especially a marginalized or disadvantaged child; a child like Santosh. One of the main factors that makes children vulnerable to street life, trafficking, early marriage, child labor or adult unemployment is lack of education.