Thursday, May 7, 2009

VOTE FOR CHILDREN

Why should I Vote for leaders who care for Children?
At 400 million, children constitute 41% of India's population. And in most constituencies, children are in the majority than adults.
In spite of the plethora of issues that children face, their problems are either ignored or forgotten by political parties and policy makers, because they are not their vote bank.
Thus, since the children do not have the right to vote, these children trust us, the rest 60%, to use our 'Right to Vote' responsibly and choose a government that's receptive to the issues of India's children.
Why think about children?
Around 20% of Children between 6 & 14 years do not go to school.
2, 20,000 children are HIV infected. A very large percentage of them have no proper access to treatment and are uncared for.
12.6 million Children work in hazardous occupations.
40% of women sex workers enter into prostitution when they are still children (i.e., before they are 18 yrs old)
47% of children are malnourished
74% of children below 3 years are anemic.
But the budget allotted to address issues of 400 million children was just less than 5% of the total budget.
What do the children want?
Following is a 10 point “Children’s Manifesto” that children from across the country have put together as part of the ‘Bal Adhikar Sabha’ organized by World Vision India.
1. Every Child to be immunized, every pregnant mother receive nourishment and care, every village has a hospital with doctors.
2. Free, compulsory, quality and inclusive education for all children till they complete eighteen years.
3. Every village has a school, every panchayat a school upto std. 12.
4. Value-based education should be part of the regular curriculum to enable children to make right decisions in future.
5. No discrimination on the basis of caste, gender, religion, poverty, disability, colour, appearance or migrant status.
6. Children should be included in all the development programmes organized by society and by the Government. In every area a special cell should be formed to look after the children's problems.
7. Protection for children from all forms of abuses and severe punishment for perpetrators.
8. Bal Mitra Police and Bal Adalats for protection of children.
9. Extension of National Child Labour Project to every district.
10. 25% of allocation in Budget for children who form 40% of the population.

http://www.worldvision.in/?voteforchildren
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