Andhra Pradesh - Eluru   

Campaign against child abuse begins

— Photo: A.V.G.PRASAD

For a cause: Child artistes perform a street show in defence of child rights at Eluru on Sunday.

ELURU: It’s a blend of fun and social cause with tender children as its central theme. This is how one could sum up on the street show performed by a small group of children from Prakasam district here as their campaign-on-wheels rolled into West Godavari district from the neighbouring Krishna on Sunday with a message against child abuse. The campaign was launched at Sullurupet on the Andhra-Tamil Nadu borders on October 2 and is scheduled to be wound up at Itchapuram on the Andhra-Orissa borders on October 9 with a cause to free children from all sorts of abuse and harassment at home, at work and at school.

Any vacation means fun and joy for children. But it’s not so for a group of 25 boys and girls in 12-17 age group from Ongole. The children of sex workers and fisher folks, armed with drums and trumpets, take a plunge into the campaign during the Dasara vacations to drum up support for the cause of their fellow children.

Their show with the theme woven around the beating of children at home by parents under the influence of alcohol, at workplace by employers, by teachers at school and child trafficking, made the dignitaries at the programme, who included police officers, the Assistant Commissioner of Labour and Fr. Moses of the Andhra Pradesh Social Service Centre listen in rapt attention. The show ends with the shrilling slogan, “Spare the rod and save the child”.

K. N. Narayana Murthy, Director, HELP, a child advocacy group, told The Hindu that collection of about 10,000 signatures from cross section of the people en route in support of the charter of children’s demands also forms part of the campaign. The memoranda with the signatures will be submitted to the Governor and the Chief Minister Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy on November 14.

The charter of demands include formation of a State-level Commission for Children on the lines of the Women Commission, comprehensive legislation to free children from all sorts of violence and constitution of a grievance cell at the district level so as to provide a ventilation for children to redress their grievances.

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Campaign against child abuse begins

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