The Orissa government would soon set up a Commission for Protection of Child Rights in line of the National Commission of Child Rights (NCCR).
The draft rule for the purpose has already been approved by the law department and now the rule awaits approval of the government for notification, said a senior officer of state of women and child development department.
The Central government has asked the states to constitute state commissions for protection of child rights (SCPCR) and to safeguard the rights of the children in their respective states. The SCPCR, which would play a crucial role in protecting the child rights, should be constituted by the end of March 2010, the Centre told the states.
The child right activists have been demanding formation of the state level commission for the children to protect their rights.
“We have demanded a constitution of the state commission for children in the line of the state commission for the women,” said Sudhir Sabat, the director of Indian Society for Rural Development (ISRD)-Child Line, an NGO.
Even though India is one of the signatories to United Nations Convention on Rights of the Child (UNCRC), thousands of children continue to live in utter deprivation and abject poverty, he said.