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Child Rights and You

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Isn’t it phenomenal when a bunch of young women get together and pledge to raise awareness among their friends on the issue of the rights of young girls across the country? That is just what the campus ambassadors from CRY have been doing in the last one week. They’re very driven and there is nothing that can come in the way of their fight for child rights in the campus.

The last one week, they celebrated the fierce, young girls and women across the Capital that they work for, at CRY.

While Aarushee, the Child Rights Leader from Hansraj set up a stall at her College fest and spread awareness on the issue of education of girls through games, Himani, from IP College for women got about a 100 plus young women, migrant labourers and girl children to complete the sentence on a board with the line, “I am a Girl and I can…”. Just watching the women write sentences like, “I’m a girl and I can dance on the streets”, I am a woman and I too can fight” was overwhelming.

hansraj-1           hansraj-4       ip-college-4

Dimpy too from Miranda House initiated the ‘Make a wish for a girl’ campaign at her college. She asked her friends put in their wishes for girls across the country. The college wished for education, health, protection, safety etc for girls across the country.

miranda-house

With such passion and commitment, we can’t wait to see the magic they create in Delhi University this year.

 

Have you ever wondered why some people around us stand out for how short or skinny they are? Or noticed the children in or around construction sites, a little infant who seems to walk/crawl but looks not older than 6 months to 7 months? Dear reader, these observations infact point to a very big problem that we as a nation have failed to address. A frail body or being too short for their age is nothing but a manifestation of childhood malnutrition which is taking a toll on our future. A deeper understanding of the scourge is well evident from the appalling statistics that came up in a research undertaken by CRY, a non-profit organisation that works for Child Rights in India.  

An Opportunity Missed

The 0-6 age group is the time when most of our physical, mental and social growth and development happens. The impact of early childhood care and nutrition remains telling throughout our lives. Children who fall prey to malnutrition at this age are very likely to fall short in a lot of areas for almost all of their lives, while those who get the right nutrition, immunization and education would do much better in all indicators of growth, intelligence and social development.

The Glaring Reality

In an effort to see whether children in India are getting ahealthy start, CRY carried out a study on malnutrition in children between the ages of 0-6 years in 18 Slums across 5 metro cities. The results show a very dismal picture with over half the children being too short for their age, and about half of them being underweight for their age. It was also found that other essential services such as timely immunization, regular deworming and provision of nutritional supplements were also not optimal.

 

Nutritional Status of Children

 

Reaching children who missed out

There remain gaps in the effort to reach the affected children as the study found that the planned interventions reach less than half of the beneficiaries. Only 47 per cent of the children were enrolled in  Anganwadi Centres through which most of the schemes for children are channeled. The outreach efforts that are planned to educate parents about the right nutrition for their child are also effective only 20 per cent of the times.

Making the difference

In the face of these challenges, the green shoots that stand out are promising, for example 83 per cent  children like going to the Anganwadi Centre. The study also pointed that if the quality of services at the centre is bettered then the incidence of child malnutrition also falls. Therefore, there are clear signs which point to the direction which policy should take to create a better future for the children of this country. Let’s move and give our children the bright future they deserve!

 

-Pankhuri Jha

(Intern, CRY – Child Rights and You)

Pankhuri Jha is an intern with CRY, Delhi. An alumni of Lady Shri Ram College college herself, Pankhuri’s interest lies in the field of development economics, especially the financial and health risks faced by the poor. At CRY she worked very closely with the research team in the analysis of data of the nutritional status among children from the age of 0-6 years in slums across Delhi.  The research, in her words helped her, “get a practical insight into the health consequences of living in poverty and a first hand idea as to how this can be corrected”

Image Courtesy : CRY Database 

 

When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.– Malala Yousafzai

There are no qualms about the fact that children are the buds of a countrys future and it is the blooming of these buds that ultimately decides any states fortune. Taking the same thought forward, CRY (Child Rights and You), an esteemed non-profit organisation in India, that aims to restore children’s rights, has initiated a Child Rights Leader Program across Delhi University this year.

Child Rights Leader program is a unique youth intervention strategy where only oneChild Rights Leader has been handpicked from every college. The chosen leader will not only lead a movement for child rights in his/her campus but will also be involved in bringing awareness among young college students on issues of Child Rights with a special focus on Child Labour.

Out of a total of approximately 100 application that were received in the north region itself, a total of 8 students were shortlisted on the basis of their application forms and interviews as Child Rights Leaders for their colleges.

Final Shortlisted Students for the program are:

  1. Nupur Bhardwaj Miranda College, University of Delhi.
  2. Rijuta Pandey Hindu College, University of Delhi.
  3. Yeshi Lhamu Bhutia Daulat Ram College , University of Delhi.
  4. Vedant sachdeva Govi Kirori Mal College , University of Delhi
  5. Saniya Singh Jesus and Mary College , University of Delhi.
  6. Tanya Agrawal Indraprastha College for Women , University of Delhi.
  7. Archita Lahiri Delhi College of Arts and Commerce , University of Delhi.
  8. Archit Singhal Ramjas College, University of Delhi.

The selected Child Rights Leaders were inducted on 11 September 2015 where they were not only briefed about the history of CRY and its vision, but were also given a presentation on Child Labor, the issue that they will be working on in their campaign. The final CRLs are  all set to lead a movement against Child Labour in their campuses with zeal and enthusiasm for a change.

Riya Chhibber

[email protected]