|
|
Society
The Right Name
Child Rights and You
by Smita Jain
When asked what she would like to become when she grows up, Khushboo,
12, promptly responds, "A doctor". Firoza, 10, beams and says: "I want
to become a teacher so that I can teach many children." Ask Subodh why
he attends school and he says, "Because I want to learn more about the
world and gain knowledge. I also want to go to America!"
In the mall-studded metros of our country, it is not uncommon for
children to harbor such gilt-edged aspirations. Yet, for Khushboo,
Firoza and Subodh, simply imagining career trajectories requires an
enormous leap of the imagination. Like slum-dwelling children across the
nation, they live virtually invisible to our modern-day social
structures - non-existent to the government and civil society, bereft of
dependable educational and medical welfare - they live, literally, in
the fly-infested, dung-splattered crevices of our society.
CRY's statistics are staggering: 17 million Indian children (the largest
number in the world) are child laborers, less than 50 per cent between
the ages of 6 and 14 go to school, 74 per cent below the age of three
months are anemic. And the list goes on and on.
"What is happening to India's children is constitutionally illegal, and
demands immediate accountability from the State," says Ila Hakku of CRY.
To draw national attention to the alarming state of child rights in
India, CRY - formerly known as Child Relief and You - formally changed
its name to
Child Rights and You
on March 30, 2005 and unveiled a Child
Rights Charter. "The name change reflects the evolution of our work
towards a rights-based approach over the last 27 years, and is not meant
to represent any dramatic shift in our work. It is merely a formal step
in the process," explains Ingrid Srinath, Chief Executive Officer, CRY.
However, the name-change represents a shift in CRY's public message,
intended to bring child rights into the political arena to demand
justice for children. "Every alternative to a rights-based approach is
illegal, unjust and ineffective," says Srinath. "A relief-based approach
can provide a 'Band Aid' type of solution, but it is not long-term or
sustainable." CRY advocates a holistic approach to promoting child
rights, which comprises examining the root causes of the injustice meted
out to children and seeking the implementation of policies and laws that
address these causes.
Critiquing the scheme-based, relief-oriented approach adopted by many
governmental and non-governmental organizations, Hakku says, "We need to
move from the narrow prisms of education, health and violence to the
underlying causes of injustice, such as caste, gender and slum
demolitions, and mobilize efforts to address these."
The change of name is also a not-so-subtle exhortation to citizenry: CRY
strongly believes that ordinary citizens, especially from the middle-
and upper-classes, must get involved in order for children's rights to
figure on the national, corporate and media agendas. "Child rights can
only become central to a country's agenda if its people choose to make
it a priority by ensuring government accountability to actualize the
rights of children," says a CRY press release.
Through a diverse array of newly-unleashed communication strategies -
such as films, public service announcements and web-based initiatives -
CRY aims to incite action from local citizens and, ultimately, the
government. Referring to the apathy of citizenry and media to the
enormous number of child-deaths in this country, Srinath rhetorically
asks, "A 'genocide' of sorts occurs on a daily basis in this country,
yet why do we not see a public outcry similar to that produced after the
acquittal of the murderer of a page 3 model?"
Activists Aruna Roy and Jean Drèze were present at the press meeting to
discuss the relevance of a rights-based approach based on their
experiences with rights movements. Roy, who has pioneered the
path-breaking Right to Information movement, noted the ways in which the
various rights-movements could benefit from and support each other on a
national scale.
Right to Food activist Drèze says, "India has some of the worst
indicators of health in the world despite its runaway economic growth.
The most astonishing aspect is that health goes virtually unnoticed and
unspoken of in Indian media. Emphasizing a rights-based approach is a
means to challenge this silence." Putting an issue in the 'rights
framework', he stresses, can create a large impact on a macro and
micro-scale, as rights lend bargaining power to citizens, can be put in
a legal framework to bolster the directive principles enshrined in the
Constitution.
It is in this context that CRY had put forward its demands of the
government's budget in February 2006 to coincide with the Union Budget
Session. These demands, in brief, were:
-
Increase
expenditure on education to 10 per cent: Additional resources - and
not just the two per cent cess and foreign loans - should be
committed to ensuring quality secondary education. This would mean
taking a broader, long-term view. It would translate to:
- providing quality education till the age of 18;
- ensuring that secondary schools are within a one km radius of
hamlets;
- employing well-trained educators on tenure , instead of hiring
inadequately trained para-teachers on contract.
-
Renew
commitment to child protection
-
Provide
for a universal healthcare programme
-
Prioritize child rights
The Child
Rights Charter drafted by CRY "to stress its commitment to the fact
that all children have equal rights, promised to them in our
Constitution and in international treaties" is to be presented to
the President of India, in CRY's first political effort to demand
State action. In a country where youth are often left out of
decisions - both in the private and public spheres, CRY's message to
the public is well timed, and much needed.
April 16, 2006
By arrangement with
Women's Feature Service
Top
| Society
The Week of April 16, 2006
Choice Before China : Dalai Lama Tests Beijing's
Credentials by Rajinder Puri
Oh God, I wish to be Sonia ... by Usha Kakkar
India MUST NOT Lose Nepal to the Maoists by
Dr. Subhash Kapila
Will the US Strike against Iran? by B. Raman
Antulay's Proclamation for Vicious Vivisection of
India by V. Sundaram
Earthquakes Threaten Obelisks of Culture by
VK Joshi
Leaders Must Set the Example so Others will
Follow by William C. Gladish
The Song and Science of Dance by Rajgopal
Nidamboor
Misuse of Myths by Foolish Fundamentalists by
Gaurang Bhatt, MD
Is there an Alternative for the Wars of the
World? by TA Ramesh
Next Stop Iran! by Usha Kakkar
When Bangalore Burnt! by Garima Gupta
Some Vastu Questions by Niranjan Babu Bangalore
A Humble Indian's Grand Vision for India by
Aruni Mukherjee
Global Search for Software Patents by M.
Qaiser & P. Mohan Chandran
VoIP : Technology to Cut
Phone Bills by Ruchi Gupta
Irom Sharmila, a Living Icon of Liberty-Famished
Indians by Marc-Olivier Parlatano
Call for Papers: Development Studies (Volume 2)
edited by Dr. Presenjit Maiti
Film Making as a Career by Pallavi
Bhattacharya
The Strange Case of Homeopathy by Dr. Muneeb
Faraaz
Silicosis – A 'Dusty' Tale in Rajasthan
by Deepak Malik
Meditation and Beauty by Sugandha Indulkar
Parents are People Too! by Garima
Gupta
Damned if I do, damned if I don't by Monisha Sen
Biking to Work by Subra Narayan
Poster Women by Deepti Priya Mehrotra
Chainsaw-Wielding Women by Stephanie Hiller
Mothers Sued, Docs go Free by Sreelatha Menon
The Right Name: Child Rights and You by Smita
Jain
100-Day Schools by Vinita Deshmukh
|
|
