Under the banner of ‘Hamara Manch’, CUTS Centre for Consumer Action, Research & Training (CUTS-CART) jointly with Save the Children (UK), North Central India office in Jaipur, organised a Seminar on “Advocacy & Networking for Child Rights” in Jaipur on Thursday 3^rd February 2005 at Hotel Maharani Plaza, to kick start the activities of ‘Hamara Manch’ in the State of Rajasthan.

The objectives of the seminar were multi-folded.      

The Seminar started at 10.15 a.m. with a welcome and introductory remarks by Mr. George Cheriyan (CUTS-CART). He said the seminar is mainly aimed to establish a linkage between Hamara Manch, and other stakeholders, to raise voice collectively for child rights and advocate the for the State Child Policy. He said, some of the figures related to the status of the children in the state is alarming. High incidence of infant and maternal mortality, high levels of malnutrition, upto 51% in children below 3 years, increasing number of children subjected to sexual exploitation and abuse, cases of child marriage and early pregnancies, HIV/AIDS etc. are serious matters of concern. Ms. Mini Bhaskar (SC-UK) briefly spoke about the activities of Save the Children and about the Hamara Manch programme initiated by Save the Children along with 7 partners in Rajasthan. She said ‘Hamara Manch’ is a forum for children, to express their views, perceptions and opinions on issues concerning their lives and environment. The purpose is to raise voice collectively for child rights and adequate policy inputs for the best interest of children.

Mr. R.K. Sharma commented on the final draft of the State Child Policy. He mentioned about the contributions made by the voluntary organisations in drafting the child policy and also pointed out few missing components in the final draft like the accountability of different stakeholders.  Mr. Sudhir Kumar, Programme Executive of DWCD said, the draft for child policy is ready but to make it more transparent, suggestions from other non-government organisations and departmental officers have been invited and it will be soon finalised.

Mr. Bruce Hershfield (USA) introduced CWLA (Child Welfare League of America) and spoke about the exposure & exchange visit programme. Mr. Bruce said, they are also working in the field of child rights and among other activities the project for children is on national priority.  With regard to the child rights, he said effective steps have been taken to remove the existing social evils by educating the families and parents of the children.

After the brief inaugural session, each of the participants introduced briefly about their organisations and their main activities with regard to children.

In the second session, Mini Bhaskar introduced the topic ‘Child Participation in Advocacy & Networking for Child Rights’ for discussion and the floor was open for comments. Several participants expressed their views about the ‘real involvement of children’ in such activities and ‘NGOs trying to fit in Children in their own agenda’.

Ms. Alak Kala, Principal Secretary of Dept. of Women & Child Development (DWCD), Govt. of Rajasthan, who was supposed to inaugurate the seminar as the Chief Guest, attended the seminar in the last session due to her official engagements, and shared her thoughts on the theme of the seminar. "In India women and child development programmes have not been implemented effectively in comparison to other countries. Though the state government has implemented the state women policy, adoption of an effective child policy is still pending in the State. Rajasthan government with the help of NGOs and government departments is in the final stage of preparing a child policy and it will be implemented soon" she said in her brief speech.

A socio-cultural group called Goonj, consisting of 7 members, performed a role-play in Hindi named “Is Childhood really Free?” highlighting the plight of the children in the State. With the summing and vote of thanks by Mr. George Cheriyan, the seminar came to an end by 2.00 p.m. with lunch.

A total of 56 selected representatives from 38 different stakeholder groups such as Govt. Depts., inter-governmental organisations (UNICEF), donor agencies (CARE-India, CRS, ActionAid & World Vision) and implementing NGOs participated in the seminar, including a group of 10 NGO leaders from USA, sponsored by CWLA along with the representative of Deepalaya, New Delhi. Four representatives from media (both print and electronic) also attended the seminar. The media had given wide coverage for the seminar.  

Outcome:

Through the seminar, the activities of the Hamara Manch was formally launched and the organisers’ succeeded in establishing a linkage with other stakeholders. Also it created a forum for collectively raising the voice for children, advocating for the child policy and contributed towards the networking of organisations working on child issues in Rajasthan.    

For further information, please contact:

George Cheriyan
CUTS Centre for Consumer Action, Research and Training (CART)
D-222, Bhaskar Marg
Bani Park, Jaipur 302 016, India
Ph: +91.141.5133259
Fax: 91.141.2282485
E-mail: cart@cuts.org

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Road Safety Programme
Jaipur, India, January 5, 2005

A Road Safety awareness camp was organised outside the railway station, Jaipur, India. In this, cycle rickshaw pullers were distributed information material related to road safety and traffic rules.

In the camp, the artists of ‘Gunj’ institution staged a street play in which violations of traffic rules by rickshaw pullers were shown. Thus, they were advised to follow traffic rules resulting in road safety. Traffic signals were also explained by means of posters. One such camp was also organised on January 4 outside the Sindhi Camp Bus Stand. Stickers on Road Safety were also stuck on the rickshaws. Traffic police supported the event.

Under this programme, one another awareness camp will be organised for private jeep drivers on January 8 at Ghatgate Bus Stand, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.

Awareness Camp for Jeep Drivers

Under the Road Safety Programme series, another awareness camp was organised at Sikar Road Jeep Stand on Chomu Bridge, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.

The camp was organised for jeep drivers. Under this, study material on Road Safety and traffic rules was distributed to the jeep drivers. Stickers carrying road safety messages were also stuck on jeeps. Traffic police supported the event. ‘Gunj’ artists enacted a street play, which depicted how accidents occur on violating the traffic rules.

Traffic rules were described with the help of posters.

School Children Imparted Road Safety Messages through Posters/Drawing

A programme on drawing and poster competition was organised by CUTS with the support of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India, in the series of other awareness programmes on road safety, including ‘Road Junction’ programme, Road Safety Camp and Awareness Rally.

Around 150 students of different age groups participated in the competition. Satyapriya Singh, SP, Traffic, Jaipur; Jeet Chandok, Chief Traffic Warden alongwith Fateh Singh, Assistant Traffic Warden, were present to motivate the children.

Experts: Vinay Sharma, Exhibition Officer, Lalit kala Academy; and Sayyed Mehar Ali Abbassi, Assistant Professor, Art and Culture, Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. 

School Children Spread Message of ‘Road Safety’ through Rally

A rally on Road Safety was organised on January 15, 2005 in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India by CUTS with the support of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India.

Ram Karan, Traffic Inspector, flagged off the rally, which started from Yaadgar, Ajmeri Gate and culminated at Shahid Smarak, Government Hostel. The rally comprised around 150 students of different age groups of Bright Buds School, Jhotwara. They were very enthusiastic and energetic, wearing white caps and shouting slogans on road safety issues.