By Matters India Reporter
Hyderabad: Members of the Children’s Parliament in Telangana on September 20 sought the help of Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi to eradicate child labor and child marriages from their southern Indian state.
“Today, I, the Prime Minister, together with my Cabinet of Ministers, present you sir, a trust worthy adult, these resolutions, with the faith that you will do everything that is possible on our behalf to make these real in our lives,” S Kavya told Satyarthi at a function held at Montfort Social Institute, in Hyderabad, the state capital.
Satyarthi, an Indian children’s rights activist, education advocate and a crusader against child labor, received a set of resolutions the Hyderabad City Children’s Parliament passed at its Monsoon session held three days earlier at the same venue.
Accepting the resolutions at the end of a rally, Satyarthi declared that children in India have sounded the bugle for a war on child sexual abuse and violence. He said the resolutions are “a strong indictment” of the state and the civil society dominated by the adult world. “This has to change,” Satyarthi asserted.
At the parliament on “Violence Against Children – Our Concerns and Response” 96 teenagers representing the children of Hyderabad city and Telangana state shared their views and experiences on the explicit and overt violence as well as attitudes of care givers, families, teachers, political parties and other adults responsible for safeguarding children.
The children, who also talked about what they termed as glaring gaps in budgets, capacities and systems, ended their session by resolving to work for speedy implementation of the resolutions.
The parliament quoted National Crime Records of 2015 to bemoan that their state ranked fourth in Human Trafficking in India.
“Children are being trafficked for labor and sexual exploitation. They are kidnapped for ransom, and even sold,” the parliament noted and urged the government to take all possible steps to help the children’s resolve to eradicate child trafficking in Telangana by June 1, 2008.
The parliament termed as unacceptable that nearly 125,000 children are given marriage in Telangana every year. It resolved to end this practice by 2020 and asked government and civil society organizations to join their efforts. It ordered the government to draft a law to penalize public representatives and officials from village council to parliament if child marriage takes place in their area.
The Children’s Parliament commended the government for its plan to curb child labor, but noted that nearly 1.2 million children are victims of this social evil in the state. It resolved to make Telangana child labor free by June 1, 2019. It wants the labor department of the state to allocate necessary funds to meet the deadline. The children have decided to hold “Operation Smile” until the last child is free.
They have resolved to address malnutrition among Telangana children. The National Nutrition Monitoring Board Survey has found that 36.6 percent children in the state are underweight, and 44.7 percent have stunted growth. The parliament urged the government to review its mid-day meals program to ensure quality and zero leakage.
It also resolved to serve nutritious breakfast to all children in government schools in the state with the cooperation of community leaders and mothers committees along with government departments. The parliament wants to educate mothers committees and community leaders on the issue. A pilot project will be launched on January 1, 2018 in all government schools under the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation area. This will be extended to all 31 districts within the next two years.
The parliament regretted non implementation of the Right to Education Act in the state despite court orders. The children want every child between 6 and 14 to be in school by the academic year in 2019.
Another resolution tackles dwindling sex ratio in the state. The parliament expressed dismay at the low status of the girl child in the state and condemned the practice of female feticide. It has resolved to achieve a sex ration of 1:1 among children below five by 2022.