Director (Planning) of District Child Labour Department Raghuveer Singh Thakur has said that the Children’s Parliament programme has been introduced to help children list out problems of a particular constituency and make the respective elected representatives take them up in Legislature sessions and get relief. He was addressing a gathering at a district-level Children’s Parliament programme in Kandkur village in Yadgir district on Friday.
Mr. Thakur said that children should make use of the opportunity that has been given to them to discuss the problems faced by children at all levels with the local representatives and even with the Chief Minister during the State-level Children’s Parliament and find solutions.
“Children are now faced with many problems such as child marriages, child labour, bonded labour, missing cases and sexual abuse. But, most of them remain silent without raising their voices due to several reasons. The Children’s Parliament programme will help them raise their voices against injustice done to them and get relief,” he said.
Referring to the Census conducted in 2011, he said that a total of 47 crore children had been identified in the 10-18 age group. But, the shocking fact is that the ratio of children suffering from malnutrition and anaemia is very high. And apart from this, evil practices such as child marriage, trafficking in children, child labour and using children for illegal activities are still being reported. Therefore, children should come out and highlight these issues, if any, for the elected representatives to find solutions and also get punishment to perpetrators as per child protection laws.
Mahalakshmi Sajjan, Adviser, District Tobacco Prevention Cell, said that those selling tobacco items in violation of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) 2003 will be punished.
Shivashankar Talawar, Labour Inspector, spoke. Sharanappa from Ananth Seva Trust and others were present.
