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 - Love, hope for shunned kids in India AIDS school

Love, hope for shunned kids in India AIDS school
They used to throw water on me and tear up my books," Komal said as she reminisced about her days at a regular school. "Still, I wanted to go to school, but one day my teacher said don't come back."

A take on the reality bites of child labour [Blog: Opinion]
Progressive step of expanding the scope of law to include Child labour prohibition law to include the child labour at hotels, dhabas and as house hold workers is much appreciated. But the same old story of legislation’s continue, though the laws are present, no one seems bothered about the enforcement, they are just meant to be black letters at the Government Gazette.

NUEPA's Educational Development Index (EDI) for states - southern states on top
The top 8 states include the five southern states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh and the three northern states - Delhi, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh.

Poor Nutrition Causes One-Third of Child Deaths, Lancet Says
A quarter of those lives could be saved through simple programs such as promoting breast-feeding and handing out vitamin supplements, researchers including Zulfiqar Bhutta, a professor of child medicine at Pakistan's Aga Khan University, wrote in the Lancet today.

Needed: Legislation against child abuse
Though India claims to have achieved development goals in many sectors, it is yet to adopt a legislation against child abuse and there is no mandatory reporting and available infrastructure to curb the unfortunate practice.

Child scheme: Yechury asks PM to ensure Rs 12,000 cr in Budget
Sitaram Yechury said this amount should include Rs 2,500 crore “exclusively for improving the conditions of the Anganwadi employees and for providing them pension and other social security benefits.”

Women to have greater say in planning through gender-budgeting
The policy would be about incorporating a gender perspective and sensitiveness at all levels and stages of the developmental planning, policy and programme formulation.

The age of labour
Government officials and NGOs in Maharashtra want the Centre to increase the age limit for child labour to 18, up from 14 at present, which they feel will help curtail the exploitation of children in all kinds of business establishments.

News Watch - Babalog see Orissa hunger first hand

Babalog see Orissa hunger first hand
Sachin Pilot of Congress, Supriya Sule of NCP, Jay Panda, BJD, Shyam Benegal, nominated member to Rajya Sabha, and Shahnawaz Hussain from BJP made up the political quorum of the alliance — Feroze Gujaral and Gauri Karnik added the celebrity factor to the group. Supported by Unicef, the group visited four villages in two blocks of Cuttack district — Salehpur and Tangi. The first two were villages planned for a visit in advance.

Experts stress on importance of breast-feeding
Bhanu, a lactating mother, who works as a teacher in a private school maintained that after the two months maternity leave given to them which also are varies from one school to another, it is difficult for them to breast-feed their children properly and regularly.

A Democracy called India (Blog: opinion)
One such problem is child labour. The Parliament has banned all forms of Child Labour under an Act and yet this loss of innocence continues. While traveling to college everyday I come across a little girl less than ten years old standing beneath the familiar traffic light. Everyday she hurtles towards halted cars as soon as the traffic light turns to flaming red. She begs for money using steel can wrapped with marigold flowers and adorned with Lord Shiva idols.

Kid organises computers for tribals
Karan's dream of teaching computers to these underprivileged kids has been realized, with HP agreeing to sponsor 30 computers through the Sankya project of Rotary Club, Bangalore South.

New Research Shows Nutrition Programs Targeting Pregnancy and First 24 Months of Life Dramatically Improve Child Survival and Overall Health
A landmark series of research papers on maternal and child undernutrition published in the leading international medical journal The Lancet today shows that children will suffer irreversible damage into their adult life if proper nutrition interventions are not delivered before the age of 24 months.

Image courtest Hindu Businessline

2007 in retrospect - But the children cannot wait

“We are guilty of many errors and many faults, but our worst crime is abandoning the children, neglecting the fountain of life. Many of the things we need can wait, the child cannot,” said to Gabriela Mistral, Nobel Prize winner.

India’s first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru set a great example by expressing his love for children. So much so that he was called ‘Chaacha Nehru’ and his birthday is still celebrated as Children’s Day.

But as each New Year and yet another Children’s Day comes along, the celebrations ring hollow in the face of the growing atrocities that are committed against children. Some of our happy memories are that of being a child. But, being a child in India may not be such a great thing after all. The figures below speak for themselves.

If you are child below the age of three there is a 50 % change that you are malnourished – if you are not one of the 10 % who do not live to see their first birthday.

If you survive this age, and somehow get into school there is a 30 % chance that you will drop out of school – the probability is even higher if you are a girl. And you have to do all of this on your own, without support from the state, as it has no constitutional obligation to educate you till you are six years old.

Wait. There is more.

There is a 41% chance that you will be sexually abused or molested, most probably by a close family member or friend. Again, the chances are higher if you are a girl.

While recent figures show that around 70,000 children in India are HIV positive, a seemingly low number – uncounted are the number of children whose parents are infected or dead from AIDS making them vulnerable to child labour, trafficking and abuse.

While we know to the minute how high or low the sensex rises and the reasons behind the same, we are still arguing on how many child labourers there are in our blessed country. Estimates range from 10 – 100 million children – and recent reports about widespread child labour in the cotton and garment industries seem to favour the higher figure.

And in a country where every day there is a natural disaster, the impact it has on children is unknown.

The horror that is Nithari should have brought us to our feet in anger. But all we have left is despair at the speed with which enquiries move in India as the main perpetrator (or the politically correct “accused”) is languishing in a ‘first-class’ cell.

What is wrong with us?

Just a case in point – child related issues were allocated only a measly 1.2% of the total budget from 1990 – 98 on average according to a HAQ: Centre for Child Rights report. India ratified the UN convention on the rights of the child in 1990 and still we do not have comprehensive legislation that makes the convention a reality for children.

The image that comes to mind is that of an Ostrich with its head stuck firmly in the ground as the world around it crumbles. And maybe if we keep our head down long enough, the children will get tired of waiting and create a revolution. For that is what we need.

Photo courtesy: Anish Premson@World Vision

Horror stories - India top child trafficking nation

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has reported that India tops as the list of countries that are source, transit and destination for human trafficking. Namita Kohli of the Hinudstan Times has a powerful report that starts by saying "It’s(Human trafficking) a two-way street: of greed and need. When traffic flows, at the dead end are unsuspecting people, bartered every day in a consumerist society."

Horror stories on trafficking, especialy of children by the same reporter should compel the government to take action. Urgently.

Links courtesy: N-CAT

India’s ‘common’ child abuse problem needs a community-based response

India’s child abuse report released by Ms. Renuka Chowdry, Union Minister for Women and Child Development department, on Monday was a body blow. The survey found that two in three of the over 12,000 child surveyed in 13 states across the country have suffered some form of abuse. More than half of the children surveyed reported having been sexually abused and 50% of these children reported that the abuse was from a ‘persons known to the child or in a position of trust and responsibility’. More often than not, the child did not report the abuse at all.

There have been warning signs. In July 2006 Reuters released a survey that found India to be the sixth most dangerous place for children. India fared worse than conflict hotspots like Afghanistan, Palestinian territories, Myanmar and Chechnya because of the high incidence of child labour as well as female foeticide and infanticide.

Then the ‘Horror of Nithari’ happened. The country and the world watched in horror and disgust as the remains of 34 children and youth were pulled out of the gutter of a high value suburb close to the national capital, New Delhi. These were children from the nearby village of Nithari that were lured by sweets and other platitudes, abused, sexually assaulted and killed with impunity.

“We always say our children are safe, we take good care of them, these bad things don't happen here. We never had any kind of introspection that this is not true," said Ms. Chowdry according to the English service of Al-jazeera.

In the wake of Nithari the government framed legislation that would strengthen child protection in the country. The initiative envisages creation of child protection units at the state and district levels and more involvement with the families and children of the community to create a safety net for children in crisis.

The saying ‘Justice delayed is justice denied’ cannot be more poignant than in dealing with cases of child abuse. This latest report calls for stiffer penalties and a better system for dealing with cases of child abuse quickly that children will feel secure to come out and report abuse. While legislation and fast-track courts address the governance issues, the capacity of communities to protect children needs to be built up so that we nip this challenge in the bud.

World Vision has been responding as a priority to the rising incidence of child labour, child trafficking and other violence against children. In communities where World Vision works, child protection committees have been created to monitor children’s well being and protect them. Every village has a child protection committee consisting of community leaders, especially women, children, district and Panchayat (grass roots governance body) leaders and is tasked with making sure that children in the community are safe and secure from abuse, trafficking, violence and are educated and protected.

More is needed. It is not very often that any government would bring out a report that tells such a negative story. “The courage of our Women and Child development minister is to be appreciated,” says Dr, Jayakumar Christian, National Director, World Vision India, “But, if we do not move urgently to reverse these findings, the next such report may tell an even more dismal story.”

And by that time we may have lost another generation of our children.