CHENNAI: About 40 per cent of India’s population comprise children. So why not have a separate ministry for children, asks former Child Welfare Committee (CWC) chairperson P Manorama. “They are growing up. They have several needs like recreation, sport, an outlet for their ideas. Instead, they are treated like bonded labourers and become victims of violence and sexual abuse,” she says.
In fact, the growing number of crimes againt children — the most recent being the shocking abduction and rape of two minor girls of a private shelter run by a church in Pollachi — has exposed their vulnerability. National Crime Record Bureau data shows 1,036 incidence of crime — with 576 cases of kidnapping and abduction — against children in the State in 2012. This is 2.71 per cent of the national rate. Chennai recorded 108 cases, with 51 cases of kidnapping and abduction the same year.
No wonder that the State Government has issued fresh comprehensive guidelines for protection of minor girls housed in government and private shelters across Tamil Nadu. The State has a child population of around 190 lakh. Sadly, however, the CWC now remains headless, after the incumbent Agnes Shanthi resigned three months ago. Although well-intented, all the directives would be meaningless in the absence of a proper monitoring system and accountability, says Shanthi.
Echoing her, Manorama says that when it comes to protection of children in homes, which has a seen phenomenal growth in numbers, the problem arises on the question of responsibility. Add to that the lack of adequate sensitisation of wardens and staff at homes. “Most of them do not know what is happening. Only sensitive and experienced wardens can understand children’s problems,” she says. “Hence, at least the key positions in such homes should go to wardens with 20-25 years of experience,” she adds.
Poor infrastructure renders the young inmates vulnerable to undesirable external elements, the activists say. “The present condition of both the boys’ and girls’ government shelters is pathetic,” Shanthi rues. Adds Manorama, “I know a home located next to a Tasmac shop. The inebriated men throw empty liquor bottles into the premises.”
More alarming to the two former CWC chiefs is the rapidly increasing phenomenon of shelters for children in the State. Manorama, who runs a home for HIV-infected children in Tiruvallur district, says a study conducted by her showed that many children land up in orphanages only due to poverty. “The orphanages can inflict severe emotional damage on children. Hence, only genuine orphans must be sent there. Stress should be on giving them away for adoption,” she says.
For the children of poor parents, the government should construct educational hostels. Foster care programmes is another way. “Parents are the best guard for their children,” Shanthi says. Lack of effective monitoring, additional charges dumped on the district child protection officers, inadequate manpower, poor infrastructure have made the homes highly unsuitable for the young inmates, the activists say. “Above all, the child helpline number, 1098, is not at all responsive,” says Shanthi.