#India – The National Policy for Children, 2012

Pib press Release

The Union Cabinet today gave its approval to the National Policy for Children, 2012. The Policy reaffirms the government`s commitment to the realisation of the rights of all children in the country. It recognizes every person below the age of eighteen years as a child and that childhood is an integral part of life with a value of its own, and a long term, sustainable, multi-sectoral, integrated and inclusive approach is necessary for the harmonious development and protection of children.

The policy lays down the guiding principles that must be respected by national, state and local governments in their actions and initiatives affecting children. Some of the key guiding principles are: the right of every child to life, survival, development, education, protection and participation; equal rights for all children without discrimination; the best interest of the child as a primary concern in all actions and decisions affecting children; and family environment as the most conducive for all-round development of children.

The policy has identified survival, health, nutrition, education, development, protection and participation as the undeniable rights of every child, and has also declared these as key priority areas.

As children`s needs are multi-sectoral, interconnected and require collective action, the policy aims at purposeful convergence and strong coordination across different sectors and levels of governance; active engagement and partnerships with all stakeholders; setting up of a comprehensive and reliable knowledge base; provision of adequate resources; and sensitization and capacity development of all those who work for and with children.

A National Plan of Action will be developed to give effect to the policy and a National Coordination and Action Group (NCAG) will be constituted to monitor the progress of implementation. Similar plans and coordination and action groups will be constituted at the state and district levels. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights are to ensure that the principles of the policy are respected in all sectors at all levels. There is a provision for review of the policy every five years. The Ministry of Women and Child Development will be the nodal ministry for overseeing and coordinating the implementation of the policy and will lead the review process.

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Punjab: 6-Year Old boy Singed With Cigarette Butts by Father #Torture #WTFnews

Patiala | Apr 01, 2013, Outlook

A six-year-old boy was allegedly singed with cigarette butts and slashed with a shaving blade by his father who inflicted injuries all over his body.

The harrowing tale of torture was narrated by the child himself in a local court, hearing a divorce case of his parents.

The court was shocked and dismayed to see injury marks on the body of the child and ordered the police to get the child medically examined in the local Government Rajindra Hospital.

The child told the doctors yesterday that his father Baljit Singh inflicted injuries all over his body.

There were about 16 blade cut marks on different parts of his body, doctors said, adding his back had burn marks caused by cigarette butts.

The parents of the child had filed a divorce case and the court had earlier given custody of the child to the father.

It also directed the accused that the child would be allowed to meet his mother once every month.

When the boy insisted on meeting his mother, Singh was so annoyed that he started torturing the child.

A case has been registered against the accused Baljit Singh at the Patiala Sadar police station under various sections of the IPC, police said, adding, efforts are on to arrest him.

 

Immediate Release- Norwegian child confiscation case

CHILD WELFARE COMMITTEE, BURDWAN

163, BELHATI ROAD, DHALDIGHIPAR, BURDWAN-713101

PRESS RELEASE

8 November 2012
The Child Welfare Committee of Burdwan (CWC) has today passed interim
orders for release of the siblings Abhigyan Bhattacharya (4 yrs) and
Aishwarya Bhattacharya (23 months) from foster care and restoration to
their mother, Smt. Sagarika Chakraborty.

With the help of a panel of experts, we have evaluated the children,
their condition in the foster home and the capability of their mother
to care for them. We have found the mother to be fit to take care of
the children and their foster carer to have failed in his duties
towards the children.

The care of Abhigyan and Aishwarya is governed by Indian law by virtue
of their residence in India and the agreement under which the children
were given in foster care to their paternal uncle. Under Indian law,
foster care is a temporary measure with the aim of restoration of
foster children to their parents wherever possible. Notwithstanding
any agreements or court orders as to foster care, the Child Welfare
Committee is duty bound to change the foster carer or restore foster
children to a parent if continuation in foster care is no longer
necessary or beneficial for them. Foster children have a right to the
love and care of their parents, if the parents are able to raise them.
In this case, the father does not reside in India and the children are
being restored to the mother as the parent present in India.

The Norwegian orders under which the children were released to foster
care of their 26-year-old bachelor uncle do not justify an absolute or
permanent separation of the children from either of their parents. Our
findings as to the fitness of the mother and her interaction with the
children at visitations arranged by us establish a reasonable basis
for giving an opportunity to the children to be re-united with their
mother. We are keeping the case open for further review once the
children re-commence life with their mother.
We were unable to take charge of the children today for handover to
their mother owing to unavailability of police assistance to control
an unruly mob that had gathered around the foster home. We have
ordered police to ensure law and order so that the children can be
peacefully handed over at the earliest.

WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW

Why did they take my children away

 

NCPCR draws guideline to eliminate corporal punishments

Image via Wikipedia

 

Aarti Dhar,TheHindu

Suggests Corporal Punishment Monitoring Cells in every school

With the number of incidents of schools practicing corporal punishments showing an increase, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has asked the schools to constitute special monitoring cells to take prompt action in cases of physical punishment or harassment of children.

The NCPCR guidelines on elimination of corporal punishment, unveiled here on Monday to mark the foundation day of the child rights panel suggest that Corporal Punishment Monitoring Cells (CPMCs) should hear grievances related to corporal punishment, child sexual abuse, mental harassment and discrimination without any delay and should forward recommendations to district level authorities within 48 hours of the occurrence.

The panel has suggested that school boards should ask the schools affiliated to them to ensure “corporal punishment-free environment” that would be one of the conditions for granting affiliation or recognition while practice of physical punishment or mental harassment should be one of the grounds for withdrawal of affiliation, it said.

The guidelines suggest that school teachers should provide a written undertaking that they would not engage in any action that could be construed as amounting to physical punishment, mental harassment or discrimination.

It also says that schools should have annual social audits of physical punishment, harassment and discrimination. The guidelines suggest that results of the audit should be made public before start of every new academic year.

All schoolchildren should be informed through campaigns and publicity drives that they have a right to speak against physical punishments, mental harassment and discrimination.
Aarti Dhar, The Hindu
The NCPCR constituted comprehensive guidelines following a detailed study which was conducted in 2009-10 involving 6,632 children across seven States that showed that 6,623 children had reported experiencing some kind of punishment. As many as 81.2 per cent children had been subject to outward rejection by being told that they were not capable of learning or some other kind of verbal punishment.

Based on the findings of the report the NCPCR experts have come out with guidelines which stress on “positive engagement” with children.

The guidelines advise teachers to pay positive attention to children and appreciate good efforts while ignoring minor lapses. They also lay down that life skills education should be made a part of school curriculum and should address issues of self esteem, aggression, drug abuse, decision making, coping with stress and others.

The guidelines also suggest that school authorities should hold meetings with parent-teacher bodies on the guidelines and decide which procedures they should adopt to protect children and their rights in schools.

Speaking on the occasion, the NCPCR chairperson Shantha Sinha said that the “Commission has brought together some of the best minds and experts to draft its guidelines on corporal punishment.”