As elected representatives of your gram panchayat you are responsible for ensuring the development and protecting the rights of villagers. Your task is to contribute to socio-economic growth and more importantly, to protect the unprotected majority of the population within the village.
Children form a majority of the most unprotected and weakest sections of the village population. As elected representatives, it is your responsibility to ensure the protection of their rights. Although children are not voters today, they will grow up to be responsible citizens and as adults, we are accountable for their upbringing.
It can be seen that often children become targets for abuse, exploitation and violence. While on one hand, this can be largely attributed to the malpractices prevalent in our society; on the other hand, there is general ignorance about child rights in our society. In spite of several efforts by the government and non-governmental organisations to support child rights, we still see many children working as labourers, being deprived of education and facing violence and abuse in their families, schools and within society. Furthermore, they are also targets of religious and caste discrimination. Girls particularly, are more vulnerable to this kind of discrimination. Many communities kill the girl child after birth; being a girl child makes them more vulnerable to discrimination in society and families, leading to a life bereft of education and development.
Child marriage is another traditional practice that is responsible for stunting the development of children. They are deprived of educational opportunities and are instead burdened with household responsibilities early in life.
Keeping all these facts in mind and as elected representatives of the gram panchayat, it is important that you understand the current plight of children, their rights, and how by protecting these rights, you can ensure a safe environment for them.
Although the definition of a child varies according to different sources, according to international and Indian law, a child is a human being below the age of 18 years who is in need of care and protection and is entitled to receive it from the state. This means that every individual in the village who is less than 18 years should be considered a child and be provided necessary support and protection.
Why do children require protection and why do they need special attention? There are various reasons for this:
It is necessary to support and protect a child for the above reasons and panchayat members can play an important role in doing so.
The constitution of India guarantees all children certain rights which have been specially included for them. These include:
Besides these constitutional rights, there are several laws specially designed for the protection and rights of children. As responsible members of the panchayat, it is important that you are aware of them and their significance. In doing so, you will be able to contribute to protection of child rights in your village.
Source : NCPCR Handbook on Safe Childhood Programme for Panchayat members
Last Modified : 7/1/2024
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