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.