The Outer District police on Tuesday said it now has enough statements from witnesses to suggest that MCD school teacher Manju Rathee (27) did indeed punish Shanno Khatun and three of her classmates by asking them to squat before the class. However, police denied allegations that the girl was made to stand in the the sun.
Police sources revealed that of the 35 students of class II who have given their statements so far, 26 have told the police that Shanno was asked to squat. A total of 74 students were present that day in the class and statements will be taken from all of them. Some of the students who have already testified, have alleged that they are being harassed by teachers and MCD has decided to probe the allegations.
"We have not found any concrete evidence which can directly indict the teacher of handing out corporal punishment to the girl but an overwhelming majority of the students that we have spoken to so far have corroborated the sister's version that Shanno was punished. It was probably for only a short duration,'' said a senior police official of the district.
Meanwhile, 11-year-old Shanno's father Ayub Khan said he saw some hope in the police investigations. "The fact that Shanno was punished has at least been established. A fair investigation will reveal more truths,'' he told Times City.
On Tuesday, Ayub went to the MAMC and LNJP Hospitals to file his RTI application seeking answers to 102 questions on exactly how Shanno's treatment was done and the findings of her autopsy. "We will now file the RTI at the Maharshi Balmiki Hospital in Bawana,'' said Ayub.
Ashok Randhawa, president of the Sarojini Nagar Traders Association, said the RTI would be filed under the "life and liberty'' clause Section 7 (1) of RTI that makes it mandatory for an authority to furnish a response within 48 hours. "We have also kept our options open for seeking compensation
from the CIC,'' he said. He added that the process of receiving cheques from Sarojini Nagar traders to sponsor the education of Shanno's two sisters Sainaz and Saina had been completed.
Meanwhile, Ayub told Times City that he would shift his two daughters to the Batla House orphanage on Friday. "It is going to be particularly difficult for my wife. We will be allowed to visit the NGO only once a month and we will be allowed a telephone conversation every fortnight. However, I believe that both my daughters will live a better life after this,'' he said.
In another development, leading lawyer Rohit Kocchar indicated that he may file a writ petition on Shanno's behalf on Wednesday. Sources in Shanno's family said they would demand a relook at the postmortem report by an independent body of experts.
[ source Times of India- 28 Apr 2009, 2303 hrs IST, Dwaipayan Ghosh, TNN]
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Swine Flu out break in World and The Children
By courtesy From The Times
April 29, 2009
Hundreds of schoolchildren in New York may be infected with the swine flu virus, the city’s Health Commissioner said last night, as experts acknowledged that the world was on track for a pandemic.
“It does seem scary when they put you in isolation, but it goes away,” Stephanie Maglaras, 14, who tested positive for the virus after catching it at her school in New York, told The Times. “It’s something to be afraid of, but you have to go on with your life.”
The virus linked to the deaths of an estimated 152 people in Mexico has surfaced in countries as far apart as New Zealand and Israel.
It appears to have jumped from America’s largest Roman Catholic secondary school, St Francis Prep, in the borough of Queens, to a nearby school for autistic children, the Robin Sue Ward school. At least one pupil there has siblings at St Francis Prep, which is less than a mile away. Robin Sue Ward, which has 400 pupils, was closed yesterday after dozens of autistic children became ill with suspected swine flu. Teachers’ union officials arrived with boxes of face masks.
Authorities in New York are also investigating reported cases at a third school, Ascension School on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, after six children reported flu-like symptoms. Two people — a two-month-old baby from the Bronx and a woman in Brooklyn — were admitted to hospital in apparently unrelated cases. The baby’s condition is improving and the woman has been released. “So far, the swine flu here looks like the garden variety flu we see every year,” Michael Bloomberg, the New York Mayor, said. “All patients we know of are recovering, with the overwhelming majority having had only mild illness.”
The outbreak at St Francis Prep, which has 2,700 pupils, followed the return of a group of eight students from a spring holiday in Cancún, Mexico. Ms Maglaras, a pupil at the school who did not travel to Mexico, said that she started suffering symptoms on April 21 and went home. After staying at home for a day, she returned to school. “I thought I had a stomach virus,” she said. The publicity about the outbreak prompted her to get tested at a hospital, where swine flu was confirmed. “I am just getting back to my normal ways now,” she said. “Since Tuesday [last week] I have been out of it. I have not really been doing anything.”
Ms Maglaras has started a Facebook page called “Prep Students Tested Positive for Swine Flu” which last night had more than 100 members, mostly St Francis pupils but also including some parents. “At first I think they were hiding a lot from us, which is disappointing,” she said of school authorities. “But now everything is out in the open. I know that it has affected other schools too.”
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday that there were at least 64 confirmed cases of swine flu in five states — 45 in New York, 10 in California, six in Texas, two in Kansas and one in Ohio. Richard Besser, the centre’s acting director, said that deaths in the country were likely. “As this moves forward, I fully expect that we will see deaths from this infection,” he said.
California declared a state of emergency as authorities said that they were investigating two deaths in Los Angeles for possible links to the virus. Three people have been hospitalised in California, and two in Texas. President Obama asked Congress to release $1.5 billion (£1 billion) to enhance both the US and global response to swine flu.
The European Union, the United States and Canada advised people to avoid all non-essential travel to Mexico, while companies adopted wider travel restrictions to countries where cases have been confirmed.
The moves came as the World Health Organisation (WHO) acknowledged that the spread of the virus between humans — a hallmark of pandemics — was a “very serious possibility”. The likelihood that swine flu is being transmitted among many people in two different countries increases the probability of the WHO declaring a phase 5 alert on its pandemic preparedness scale of 1 to 6.
Results are expected today from nine people in Scotland who came into contact with newlyweds who contracted the disease while on honeymoon in Mexico. The couple, Iain and Dawn Askham, are being treated in isolation at a hospital near Glasgow.
Professor Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist at Imperial College London and an adviser to the WHO and the British Government, said: “We are clearly on track for a pandemic in the coming months. We must expect some serious cases and some deaths outside Mexico.”
Keiji Fukuda, WHO assistant director-general, said that a pandemic was not yet inevitable but that all countries should prepare for the worst, especially poorer developing nations. He said that it was “critical” to identify travellers from Mexico who might be infected with swine flu.
Dr Fukuda said that the most recent laboratory-confirmed cases of swine flu included two in Britain and three in New Zealand, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 114. Reports suggest that the rates are already higher, though, with most cases in Mexico still not confirmed officially.
Every household in Britain is to receive a leaflet about swine flu next week, it was announced last night. The Department of Health is understood to have placed an order for millions of facemasks from an American healthcare supplier in recent days. A spokesman said that he could not confirm that an order had been made but said that the Government was “in the market” for all necessary preparations.
The WHO said yesterday that it did not recommend travel restrictions because evidence suggested that at present they would not “substantially” help to slow the spread. Nonetheless, the Foreign Office has updated its advice, recommending no non-essential travel to Mexico. Australia Canada, France and Switzerland made similar announcements.
Several major tour operators grounded flights to Mexico and suspended trips to Mexican coastal resorts. Flights on Thomson Airways, involving those booked on packages with the tour operators Thomson and First Choice, were suspended up to and including May 8 and the company said that it would begin repatriating travellers.
Thomas Cook Airlines, which takes Thomas Cook and Airtours holidaymakers to Mexico, suspended flights for the next seven days. German and French tourism groups also suspended trips.
Around the world
— There have been 114 confirmed cases of swine flu: 26 in Mexico, 65 in the US, 13 in Canada, 3 in New Zealand, 2 in Britain, 2 in Spain, 2 in Israel and 1 in Costa Rica. Cases are suspected in several other countries
— Cuba suspended flights to and from Mexico yesterday, the first country to do so Countries including China, Russia, Lebanon and Ecuador have halted pork imports from Mexico and parts of the US
— Michael O’Leary, chief executive of Ryanair, said that tourists had little to fear from swine flu, because it will only affect people in “slums” in Asia or Mexico
— President Obama asked Congress for an additional $1.5 billion to tackle the outbreak
— The remainder of the Concacaf under17 football championship in Tijuana, Mexico, was cancelled
— Hog futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange fell by the 3-cent daily trading limit amid persistent fears that the spread of swine flu will dent demand
— EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou said that the flu strain should be renamed “novel flu” as the current name was needlessly damaging to the pork industry
— The actor Hugh Jackman canceled a scheduled appearance in Mexico City to promote X-Men Origins: Wolverine
— Arsenal’s Mexican forward, Carlos Vela, was told to stay away from training. The 20-year-old has not been in Mexico recently but had been visited by friends from home last week and has had tests as a precaution. He has now received the all-clear
April 29, 2009
Hundreds of schoolchildren in New York may be infected with the swine flu virus, the city’s Health Commissioner said last night, as experts acknowledged that the world was on track for a pandemic.
“It does seem scary when they put you in isolation, but it goes away,” Stephanie Maglaras, 14, who tested positive for the virus after catching it at her school in New York, told The Times. “It’s something to be afraid of, but you have to go on with your life.”
The virus linked to the deaths of an estimated 152 people in Mexico has surfaced in countries as far apart as New Zealand and Israel.
It appears to have jumped from America’s largest Roman Catholic secondary school, St Francis Prep, in the borough of Queens, to a nearby school for autistic children, the Robin Sue Ward school. At least one pupil there has siblings at St Francis Prep, which is less than a mile away. Robin Sue Ward, which has 400 pupils, was closed yesterday after dozens of autistic children became ill with suspected swine flu. Teachers’ union officials arrived with boxes of face masks.
Authorities in New York are also investigating reported cases at a third school, Ascension School on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, after six children reported flu-like symptoms. Two people — a two-month-old baby from the Bronx and a woman in Brooklyn — were admitted to hospital in apparently unrelated cases. The baby’s condition is improving and the woman has been released. “So far, the swine flu here looks like the garden variety flu we see every year,” Michael Bloomberg, the New York Mayor, said. “All patients we know of are recovering, with the overwhelming majority having had only mild illness.”
The outbreak at St Francis Prep, which has 2,700 pupils, followed the return of a group of eight students from a spring holiday in Cancún, Mexico. Ms Maglaras, a pupil at the school who did not travel to Mexico, said that she started suffering symptoms on April 21 and went home. After staying at home for a day, she returned to school. “I thought I had a stomach virus,” she said. The publicity about the outbreak prompted her to get tested at a hospital, where swine flu was confirmed. “I am just getting back to my normal ways now,” she said. “Since Tuesday [last week] I have been out of it. I have not really been doing anything.”
Ms Maglaras has started a Facebook page called “Prep Students Tested Positive for Swine Flu” which last night had more than 100 members, mostly St Francis pupils but also including some parents. “At first I think they were hiding a lot from us, which is disappointing,” she said of school authorities. “But now everything is out in the open. I know that it has affected other schools too.”
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday that there were at least 64 confirmed cases of swine flu in five states — 45 in New York, 10 in California, six in Texas, two in Kansas and one in Ohio. Richard Besser, the centre’s acting director, said that deaths in the country were likely. “As this moves forward, I fully expect that we will see deaths from this infection,” he said.
California declared a state of emergency as authorities said that they were investigating two deaths in Los Angeles for possible links to the virus. Three people have been hospitalised in California, and two in Texas. President Obama asked Congress to release $1.5 billion (£1 billion) to enhance both the US and global response to swine flu.
The European Union, the United States and Canada advised people to avoid all non-essential travel to Mexico, while companies adopted wider travel restrictions to countries where cases have been confirmed.
The moves came as the World Health Organisation (WHO) acknowledged that the spread of the virus between humans — a hallmark of pandemics — was a “very serious possibility”. The likelihood that swine flu is being transmitted among many people in two different countries increases the probability of the WHO declaring a phase 5 alert on its pandemic preparedness scale of 1 to 6.
Results are expected today from nine people in Scotland who came into contact with newlyweds who contracted the disease while on honeymoon in Mexico. The couple, Iain and Dawn Askham, are being treated in isolation at a hospital near Glasgow.
Professor Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist at Imperial College London and an adviser to the WHO and the British Government, said: “We are clearly on track for a pandemic in the coming months. We must expect some serious cases and some deaths outside Mexico.”
Keiji Fukuda, WHO assistant director-general, said that a pandemic was not yet inevitable but that all countries should prepare for the worst, especially poorer developing nations. He said that it was “critical” to identify travellers from Mexico who might be infected with swine flu.
Dr Fukuda said that the most recent laboratory-confirmed cases of swine flu included two in Britain and three in New Zealand, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 114. Reports suggest that the rates are already higher, though, with most cases in Mexico still not confirmed officially.
Every household in Britain is to receive a leaflet about swine flu next week, it was announced last night. The Department of Health is understood to have placed an order for millions of facemasks from an American healthcare supplier in recent days. A spokesman said that he could not confirm that an order had been made but said that the Government was “in the market” for all necessary preparations.
The WHO said yesterday that it did not recommend travel restrictions because evidence suggested that at present they would not “substantially” help to slow the spread. Nonetheless, the Foreign Office has updated its advice, recommending no non-essential travel to Mexico. Australia Canada, France and Switzerland made similar announcements.
Several major tour operators grounded flights to Mexico and suspended trips to Mexican coastal resorts. Flights on Thomson Airways, involving those booked on packages with the tour operators Thomson and First Choice, were suspended up to and including May 8 and the company said that it would begin repatriating travellers.
Thomas Cook Airlines, which takes Thomas Cook and Airtours holidaymakers to Mexico, suspended flights for the next seven days. German and French tourism groups also suspended trips.
Around the world
— There have been 114 confirmed cases of swine flu: 26 in Mexico, 65 in the US, 13 in Canada, 3 in New Zealand, 2 in Britain, 2 in Spain, 2 in Israel and 1 in Costa Rica. Cases are suspected in several other countries
— Cuba suspended flights to and from Mexico yesterday, the first country to do so Countries including China, Russia, Lebanon and Ecuador have halted pork imports from Mexico and parts of the US
— Michael O’Leary, chief executive of Ryanair, said that tourists had little to fear from swine flu, because it will only affect people in “slums” in Asia or Mexico
— President Obama asked Congress for an additional $1.5 billion to tackle the outbreak
— The remainder of the Concacaf under17 football championship in Tijuana, Mexico, was cancelled
— Hog futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange fell by the 3-cent daily trading limit amid persistent fears that the spread of swine flu will dent demand
— EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou said that the flu strain should be renamed “novel flu” as the current name was needlessly damaging to the pork industry
— The actor Hugh Jackman canceled a scheduled appearance in Mexico City to promote X-Men Origins: Wolverine
— Arsenal’s Mexican forward, Carlos Vela, was told to stay away from training. The 20-year-old has not been in Mexico recently but had been visited by friends from home last week and has had tests as a precaution. He has now received the all-clear
Friday, April 24, 2009
Maternal height linked to child deaths in India
Tue Apr 21, 2009 9:06pm BST
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A study done in India has found that children born to short women were 70 percent more likely to die before age 5 than those born to taller women, researchers reported on Tuesday.
A look at 50,000 young children found that those whose mothers were shorter than 57 inches were 70 percent more likely to have died by age 5 than those whose mothers were at least 63 inches tall.
Shorter women are likely to be less healthy as adults -- height can indicate a woman's overall health and nutrition from her childhood. Women with a smaller uterus may have more complications during gestation, the researchers said.
"What the study shows is the critical need to invest in children, and especially girls, as the payoff is not only for them as children and adults, but for their offspring as well," said S.V. Subramanian of the Harvard School of Public Health who along with colleagues conducted the research.
Their report, published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association, said that more than 2 million children younger than 5 years old died in India in 2006.
This is more than in any other country, accounting for about one in four childhood deaths worldwide, according to United Nations data.
The findings "suggest the presence of inter-generational transfer of poor health from mother to offspring," said Subramanian.
"Since maternal height itself is a consequence of a mother's childhood environment, our study is suggestive of the long-run and durable adverse impact of poor childhood conditions of the mother on the health of her offspring 15 to 30 years later."
While the study did not generalize the findings beyond India, the authors did say that maternal height is a useful benchmark which "reflects a mother's health stock accumulated through her life's course" and that a few other studies have linked stunted growth to childhood mortality. (Written by Michael Conlon; editing by Maggie Fox and Doina Chiacu)
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A study done in India has found that children born to short women were 70 percent more likely to die before age 5 than those born to taller women, researchers reported on Tuesday.
A look at 50,000 young children found that those whose mothers were shorter than 57 inches were 70 percent more likely to have died by age 5 than those whose mothers were at least 63 inches tall.
Shorter women are likely to be less healthy as adults -- height can indicate a woman's overall health and nutrition from her childhood. Women with a smaller uterus may have more complications during gestation, the researchers said.
"What the study shows is the critical need to invest in children, and especially girls, as the payoff is not only for them as children and adults, but for their offspring as well," said S.V. Subramanian of the Harvard School of Public Health who along with colleagues conducted the research.
Their report, published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association, said that more than 2 million children younger than 5 years old died in India in 2006.
This is more than in any other country, accounting for about one in four childhood deaths worldwide, according to United Nations data.
The findings "suggest the presence of inter-generational transfer of poor health from mother to offspring," said Subramanian.
"Since maternal height itself is a consequence of a mother's childhood environment, our study is suggestive of the long-run and durable adverse impact of poor childhood conditions of the mother on the health of her offspring 15 to 30 years later."
While the study did not generalize the findings beyond India, the authors did say that maternal height is a useful benchmark which "reflects a mother's health stock accumulated through her life's course" and that a few other studies have linked stunted growth to childhood mortality. (Written by Michael Conlon; editing by Maggie Fox and Doina Chiacu)
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Corporal Punishment Can not be Tollerated
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) will soon write to Collectors across the country, instructing them to hold meetings with all school heads and convey that no form of corporal punishment will be tolerated.
“These meetings will have to be held ahead of the new academic year,” Commission chairperson Shanta Sinha told The Hindu on Tuesday.
The move followed the recent incident in which 11-year-old Shanno Khan of a Delhi school was brutally punished by her teacher.
“Unless we learn to respect children and treat them as equals, the issue cannot be resolved. It is only because some teachers do not respect children and they call them ‘stupid’ or ‘idiot’. No adult will dare call another adult in these terms, isn’t it?” Prof. Sinha asks.
In 2007, the NCPCR wrote to all Chief Secretaries, stressing the need for abolishing this practice. “…It is being noticed that corporal punishment in schools, both government as well as private, is deeply ingrained as a tool to discipline children and as a normal action. All forms of corporal punishment are a fundamental breach of human rights. A slap is as detrimental to the child’s right as grievous injury. Indeed, there are no gradations since it must be seen that condoning so called ‘small acts’ actually lead to gross violations. It is also legally impermissible…” Ms.Sinha had stated in the letter then. Things have not changed radically in the last two years, if the number of cases of corporal punishment being reported is any indication. “There were a few instances of teachers taking a proactive step to address the issue in States such as Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. Idukki district in Kerala was declared corporal punishment-free. Unfortunately, we did not receive much feedback at the official level.”
Speaking on the role of educational boards in resolving this problem, Prof.Sinha says they play a vital role and need to strictly monitor schools. “In addition to this, parents should be given the confidence to provide feedback at PTA meetings. Many parents, who know that their children are being subjected to corporal punishment, are afraid to raise it at meetings, fearing the students may be victimised further,” she adds.
[source- The Hindu-22.04.2009]
“These meetings will have to be held ahead of the new academic year,” Commission chairperson Shanta Sinha told The Hindu on Tuesday.
The move followed the recent incident in which 11-year-old Shanno Khan of a Delhi school was brutally punished by her teacher.
“Unless we learn to respect children and treat them as equals, the issue cannot be resolved. It is only because some teachers do not respect children and they call them ‘stupid’ or ‘idiot’. No adult will dare call another adult in these terms, isn’t it?” Prof. Sinha asks.
In 2007, the NCPCR wrote to all Chief Secretaries, stressing the need for abolishing this practice. “…It is being noticed that corporal punishment in schools, both government as well as private, is deeply ingrained as a tool to discipline children and as a normal action. All forms of corporal punishment are a fundamental breach of human rights. A slap is as detrimental to the child’s right as grievous injury. Indeed, there are no gradations since it must be seen that condoning so called ‘small acts’ actually lead to gross violations. It is also legally impermissible…” Ms.Sinha had stated in the letter then. Things have not changed radically in the last two years, if the number of cases of corporal punishment being reported is any indication. “There were a few instances of teachers taking a proactive step to address the issue in States such as Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. Idukki district in Kerala was declared corporal punishment-free. Unfortunately, we did not receive much feedback at the official level.”
Speaking on the role of educational boards in resolving this problem, Prof.Sinha says they play a vital role and need to strictly monitor schools. “In addition to this, parents should be given the confidence to provide feedback at PTA meetings. Many parents, who know that their children are being subjected to corporal punishment, are afraid to raise it at meetings, fearing the students may be victimised further,” she adds.
[source- The Hindu-22.04.2009]
Monday, April 20, 2009
A gory Incidence of Corporal Punishment in MCD School
Shano Khan, a Class II student, slipped into coma on Wednesday after Manju, her class teacher at the MCD primary school in Narela, allegedly punished her by making her stand in the scorching heat for more than an hour on Thursday. The girl had reportedly failed to translate a word in English. Shano was shifted to
[source- The Indian Express- 19-04-2009]
According to the sister of Shanno, the teacher even placed seven bricks on her back. Shanno fell unconscious on retuning from school and was admitted to
Municipal commisioner K.S Mehra has ordered an inquiry into the incident abd asked tghe Chief Vigilance Officer to submit a reprt within two days....
[source- The Hindu-19-04-2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Initiatives towards Elimination of Child Labour – Action Plan and Present Strategy
The problem of child labour continues to pose a challenge before the nation. Government has been taking various pro-active measures to tackle this problem. However, considering the magnitude and extent of the problem and that it is essentially a socio-economic problem inextricably linked to poverty and illiteracy, it requires concerted efforts from all sections of the society to make a dent in the problem.
Way back in 1979, Government formed the first committee called Gurupadswamy Committee to study the issue of child labour and to suggest measures to tackle it. The Committee examined the problem in detail and made some far-reaching recommendations. It observed that as long as poverty continued, it would be difficult to totally eliminate child labour and hence, any attempt to abolish it through legal recourse would not be a practical proposition. The Committee felt that in the circumstances, the only alternative left was to ban child labour in hazardous areas and to regulate and ameliorate the conditions of work in other areas. It recommended that a multiple policy approach was required in dealing with the problems of working children.
Based on the recommendations of Gurupadaswamy Committee, the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act was enacted in 1986. The Act prohibits employment of children in certain specified hazardous occupations and processes and regulates the working conditions in others. The list of hazardous occupations and processes is progressively being expanded on the recommendation of Child Labour Technical Advisory Committee constituted under the Act.
In consonance with the above approach, a National Policy on Child Labour was formulated in 1987. The Policy seeks to adopt a gradual & sequential approach with a focus on rehabilitation of children working in hazardous occupations & processes in the first instance. The Action Plan outlined in the Policy for tackling this problem is as follows:
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Legislative Action Plan for strict enforcement of Child Labour Act and other labour laws to ensure that children are not employed in hazardous employments, and that the working conditions of children working in non-hazardous areas are regulated in accordance with the provisions of the Child Labour Act. It also entails further identification of additional occupations and processes, which are detrimental to the health and safety of the children.
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Focusing of General Developmental Programmes for Benefiting Child Labour - As poverty is the root cause of child labour, the action plan emphasizes the need to cover these children and their families also under various poverty alleviation and employment generation schemes of the Government.
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Project Based Plan of Action envisages starting of projects in areas of high concentration of child labour. Pursuant to this, in 1988, the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme was launched in 9 districts of high child labour endemicity in the country. The Scheme envisages running of special schools for child labour withdrawn from work. In the special schools, these children are provided formal/non-formal education along with vocational training, a stipend of Rs.100 per month, supplementary nutrition and regular health check ups so as to prepare them to join regular mainstream schools. Under the Scheme, funds are given to the District Collectors for running special schools for child labour. Most of these schools are run by the NGOs in the district.
Government has accordingly been taking proactive steps to tackle this problem through strict enforcement of legislative provisions along with simultaneous rehabilitative measures. State Governments, which are the appropriate implementing authorities, have been conducting regular inspections and raids to detect cases of violations. Since poverty is the root cause of this problem, and enforcement alone cannot help solve it, Government has been laying a lot of emphasis on the rehabilitation of these children and on improving the economic conditions of their families.
Strategy for the elimination of child labour under the 10th Plan
An evaluation of the Scheme was carried out by independent agencies in coordination with V. V. Giri National Labour Institute in 2001. Based on the recommendations of the evaluation and experience of implementing the scheme since 1988, the strategy for implementing the scheme during the 10th Plan was devised. It aimed at greater convergence with the other developmental schemes and bringing qualitative changes in the Scheme. Some of the salient points of the 10th Plan Strategy are as follows:
-
Focused and reinforced action to eliminate child labour in the hazardous occupations by the end of the Plan period.
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Expansion of National Child Labour Projects to additional 150 districts.
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Linking the child labour elimination efforts with the Scheme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan of Ministry of Human Resource Development to ensure that children in the age group of 5-8 years get directly admitted to regular schools and that the older working children are mainstreamed to the formal education system through special schools functioning under the NCLP Scheme.
-
Convergence with other Schemes of the Departments of Education, Rural Development, Health and Women and Child Development for the ultimate attainment of the objective in a time bound manner.
The Government and the Ministry of Labour & Employment in particular, are rather serious in their efforts to fight and succeed in this direction. The number of districts covered under the NCLP Scheme has been increased from 100 to 250, as mentioned above in this note. In addition, 21 districts have been covered under INDUS, a similar Scheme for rehabilitation of child labour in cooperation with US Department of Labour. Implementation of this Project was recently reviewed during the visit of Mr. Steven Law, Deputy Secretary of State, from the USA. For the Districts not covered under these two Schemes, Government is also providing funds directly to the NGOs under the Ministry’s Grants-in-aid Scheme for running Special Schools for rehabilitation of child labour, thereby providing for a greater role and cooperation of the civil society in combating this menace.
Elimination of child labour is the single largest programme in this Ministry’s activities. Apart from a major increase in the number of districts covered under the scheme, the priority of the Government in this direction is evident in the quantum jump in budgetary allocation during the 10th Plan. Government has allocated Rs. 602 crores for the Scheme during the 10th Plan, as against an expenditure of Rs. 178 crores in the 9th Plan. The resources set aside for combating this evil in the Ministry is around 50 per cent of its total annual budget.
The implementation of NCLP and INDUS Schemes is being closely monitored through periodical reports, frequent visits and meetings with the District and State Government officials. The Government’s commitment to achieve tangible results in this direction in a time bound manner is also evident from the fact that in the recent Regional Level Conferences of District Collectors held in Hyderabad, Pune, Mussoorie and Kolkata district-wise review of the Scheme was conducted at the level of Secretary. These Conferences provided an excellent opportunity to have one-to-one interaction with the Collectors, who play a pivotal role in the implementation of these Schemes in the District. Besides, these Conferences also helped in a big way in early operationalisation of Scheme in the newly selected 150 districts.
The Government is committed to eliminate child labour in all its forms and is moving in this direction in a targeted manner. The multipronged strategy being followed by the Government to achieve this objective also found its echo during the recent discussions held in the Parliament on the Private Member’s Bill tabled by Shri Iqbal Ahmed Saradgi. It was unanimously recognized therein that the problem of child labour, being inextricably linked with poverty and illiteracy, cannot be solved by legislation alone, and that a holistic, multipronged and concerted effort to tackle this problem will bring in the desired results.
(Source-: http://labour.nic.in/cwl/ChildLabour.htm)
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Nithari killings case verdict postponed
Ghaziabad: A special CBI court on Wednesday postponed its verdict in the alleged rape and murder of a minor in the Nithari killings case after it decieded to re-examine a Uttar Pradesh police officer who led the initial probe in the incident. Special CBI judge Rama Jain asked Dinesh Kumar Yadav, a UP police officer, who led the initial probe in the case, to appear before court on April for re-examination. Yadav is also the key witness in the rape and murder case of eight year old Aarti, one of the victims in the sensational serial killings.
(The Hindu- Thursday April 02, 2009)
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