CB BureauThe Centre for Health
Education, Training and Nutrition Awareness (CHETNA), a non-government
organisation reviewed the national policy for children and generated a set
of recommendations for the new policy, which is expected to be announced by the
centre on November 14.
A team of 26 experts from city’s various NGOs and educational
institutes including Dr Vikasben Desai, technical director of Mahila Sahkari
Udyog Mandir, Prof. KV Ramani, from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad,
Dr Indu Kapoor and Minaxi Shukla from CHETNA, and Dr Jayendra Gohil, from Govt
Medical College, were part of the review team.
Minakshi
Shukla, deputy director for CHETNA, said, ‘The increasing percentage of
under-nutrition citizens and deterioration in the condition of children
persists in every state in the country, which proves that the national policy
for children that was formed in 1974 has serious flaws and requires major
alterations. The list of recommendations would be handed over to the authorities
at the centre on June 30.’
The experts recommended that for drafting the new policy, the
centre must refer to the latest policy of The United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child (UNCRC). “According to UNCRC, the age to consider a
person a child is 18 years,’ added Shukla.
‘In India, there is no uniform age bar for children. Under child
labour laws, the age for child is 14 years, while for legal matters, the age
bar is 18. Under the new policy, there must be a uniform age bar for children
in India applicable for all policies,’ said Shukla.
The second alteration that the team recommended is to make
registration of birth and death of a child compulsory.
CB bureau