India has the highest number of children in the world. More than one third of the country’s population is below 18 years. Approximately 40% of the total population (around 440 million) are children. The Constitution of India envisages for Indian children a happy and healthy childhood, free of abuse and exploitation. However the reality of daily life for vast numbers of children is completely disconnected from this vision. In the case of juveniles facing the law enforcement machinery, the situation is even more poignant. Moreover the grim situation of children on the whole, projects a few Child Protection Issues for the nation at large.
In the light of this felt need emerged the idea of well-intentioned people to start a network of like-minded organizations and individuals to make a substantial and collaborative impact rather than sporadic and isolated interventions. Thus the national network intends to bring about sharing of experiences, have critical analysis of the present child related laws, influence child welfare policies and help and supervise the application of Juvenile Justice System for India. Government departments involved in Juvenile Justice Administration, NGOs involved in Child welfare, civil Society groups and Social Research Institutes together form this network.
The network has already initiated several ventures across the nation as part of realising the Millennium Development Goals (to be achieved by 2015). Significant effort has been put in by the following persons in the realization of this initiative: Fr George Kollashany sdb and Fr Koshy Thomas sdb along with the National YaR forum, Mr Sony George (UNICEF) and Ms Arlene Manoharan (research scholar at the Centre for Child and Law) along with a host of like-minded individuals.
Published 24/07/2008
