VEDANTA KHUSHI - 264 ANGANWADI CENTRES JOIN “KHUSHI” IN KOTRA

Hindustan Zinc reaching out to 3055 Anganwadis of the ICDS Department in 5 districts of Rajasthan i.e. Udaipur, Rajsamand, Chittorgarh, Bhilwara and Ajmer…

“Care for the underprivileged children is very close to my heart” says Anil Agarwal, Chairman of Vedanta Group. “No child in India should remain malnourished and be deprived of nutrition, health and primary education” is what his vision is. In this process Vedanta initiated adoption of government run Anganwadis in the year 2008. The intervention was for a limited period, benefiting children in age-group of 0-6 years.

In year 2015, Hindustan Zinc signed the MoU with Government of Rajasthan to strengthen 3055 Anganwadis of the ICDS Department in 5 districts i.e. Udaipur, Rajsamand, Chittorgarh, Bhilwara and Ajmer of Rajasthan under its flagship project “Khushi” in 2 phases.

Last year under “Khushi” project, Hindustan Zinc reached out to 2295 Anganwadi centres in 5 districts of Rajasthan in phase 1.

As part of Phase 2, on 29^th June, 2017, Hindustan Zinc with partner NGO – Seva Mandir has now included 264 Anganwadi centres in Kotra Tehsil of Udaipur district and this year, the company will be covering more than 760 Anganwadi centres in Udaipur district of Rajasthan. The Chief Guest of the event was Ms. Taru Surana – Dy. Director, ICDS, Udaipur District who unveiled “Khushi” Board to initiate the program. During the program, Ms. Taru said “Anganwadi program will be strengthened with the intervention of Hindustan Zinc to improve attendance, health and the well-being of Anganwadi children.”

VEDANTA KHUSHI - INDIAN EXPRESS - ANGANWADIS: A REPORT CARD

By Shradha Chettri | New Delhi | Updated: June 19, 2017 

The Indian Express visited 14 Anganwadis, and found similar problems almost everywhere...

A healthy meal and a stepping stone for school — anganwadis in the city have two key responsibilities. The Indian Express explores the problems at each front.

Five-year-old Naseem does not go to school, but that doesn’t mean he can stay at home after breakfast. As soon as the clock strikes 9 am, Naseem leaves home, unenthusiastically dragging his feet across a small drain filled with plastic. He eventually reaches a small room on the ground floor of A block, New Seemapuri, in northeast Delhi.

Six others, some younger than Naseem, are already there, with an old fan and a rug to keep them comfortable. A few tattered charts with alphabets and numbers hang on the wall.

Naseem is greeted by his teacher (officially a ‘worker’), a woman in her 30s. She marks him ‘present’, and he sits down to play with the plastic toys scattered on the floor.

He spends the next four-and-a-half hours at the anganwadi centre (AWC), which is supposed to provide him supplementary nutrition and prepare him for Class I. But his mother, Shabana, has a grouse: “He has been going to the anganwadi for over two years. Forget learning the alphabets, he still doesn’t know how to hold a pencil, or colour.”

The Indian Express visited 14 anganwadis, and found similar problems almost everywhere.

Shabana still sends her son to the AWC because that is the only time she gets to do tailoring work. Her husband is a daily wager. The couple have three other children — two study in a nearby municipal school and one in a Delhi government school.

As Naseem plays, another woman walks in holding two children, aged three and four, by their hands. She makes them sit alongside Naseem. She is a ‘helper’ at the AWC, responsible for bringing children aged six and below from the neighbourhood to the centre — under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme.

Hard to swallow

The ICDS — under the Ministry of Women and Child Development, and looked after by the WCD department in each state — has been in place since 1975. It was restructured under the 12th Five-Year Plan to ensure holistic development of children aged six and below.

The aim was to reduce anaemia and child mortality rate by giving supplementary nutrition — especially to malnourished children — and to improve early learning outcomes.

Naseem’s teacher is meant to keep children engrossed till 12.30 pm, when food arrives. She makes them narrate a poem, but eventually they get fidgety and say they want to go home. The two women assure them they will get food soon. Eventually, men carrying two steel containers walk in around 11 am.

The food is to be distributed to children up to six years and pregnant and nursing mothers in the neighbourhood.

Today, the meal comprises pulao and salted chana (black gram). While there’s a different meal every day (see box), the snack alternates between black chana and white matar. The children — there are 6,97,158 in anganwadis across the city — know each day’s menu by heart. Even before the helper lifts the lid, Naseem says,“Aaj toh pulao milega. Mujhe toh sirf meetha dalia acha lagta hai, jo kal milega.”

The children line up with bowls. Some sit and eat, while Naseem runs home with the food. He keeps it in the kitchen and asks his mother for lunch. “Many children don’t like the food at the anganwadi. Naseem usually comes home and eats lunch,” says Shabana.

Sarita Dhariwal, a worker at an AWC a few blocks from Naseem’s home, explains why: “It is impossible to eat this rice. The chana has no salt. But children still eat the food because there is no one to cook for them.” Dhariwal, who has been at the centre since 2012, says the quality of food has deteriorated with each passing year. “It is only when there is news of an inspection that the quality improves,” she says.

Insufficient staffers

The food at the AWCs is supplied by non-profit organisations (NPOs) empanelled by the WCD department. There are 22 in the city and work is allotted through a tendering process. Each kitchen prepares food for 30-40 anganwadis.

The meal is supposed to provide 500 calories and 12-15 grams protein to children aged between 6-72 months, and 600 calories and 18-20 grams protein to pregnant and nursing mothers.

Dhariwal says she has raised the matter with her supervisor and the Child Development and Project Officer (CDPO). Since there are only 37 CDPOs for 95 projects, an officer cannot visit each centre under her daily, which means quality tends to slip. “Apart from visiting the centre, we also have a lot of administrative work. It is not possible to keep a record of every centre,” says a supervisor in south Delhi, who did not wish to be named.

There should be one CDPO for each project, but most positions haven’t been filled for years.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who recently took additional charge of the WCD department, acknowledges the problem. “As services are no longer under the jurisdiction of the Delhi government, it has become difficult to appoint officers,” he says. For now, the minister has asked DANICS and ad hoc IAS officers to visit two anganwadi centres on Saturdays.

With few takers, most of the food at anganwadis in Sangam Vihar — one of Asia’s largest unauthorised colonies — is often thrown away. There are frequent complaints that the anganwadis have been serving the same snack every day. “Children get tired of eating the same thing. Since we have to keep them here till 12.30 pm, I buy biscuits for them,” says Suman Lata, a worker at AWC No. 100 in Hamdard Nagar.

Just like at her anganwadi, most other centres only have 10-15 children registered. Lata acknowledges that the number of children in the neighbourhood is far higher.

Former chairperson of the child welfare committee, Raj Mangal Prasad, says, “The government had decided that commercial ventures will not supply (food) and that work will be given to NPOs. But, ultimately, these commercial ventures started NPOs. The profit in food distribution is huge. Then there are supervisors who work with these NPOs, so monitoring quality has been a huge challenge.”

Each AWC gets food based on the number of children and women registered. NPOs are paid Rs 6 per day to supply meals for children below six years, Rs 9 per day for malnourished children, and Rs 7 per day for pregnant and nursing mothers.

A learning issue

Like Shabana, many other parents The Indian Express spoke to shared concerns about their children not learning enough.

Anganwadis are ideally supposed to serve as Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) centres, with Sisodia bringing in a fixed curriculum to be taught to children. By the time children leave the anganwadi, they should know the names of colours, seasons and learn how to write letters and numbers.

Four-year-old Rehan at anganwadi No. 104 in New Seemapuri plays with an alphabet cube, but doesn’t know what it is. “Mujhe nahi pata ye sab kya hai,” he says. The helper brushes it off, saying Rehan is not regular.

But Rajiv Kumar of local NGO Pardarshita says the problem with most anganwadis is a dearth of workers responsible for teaching.

“Helpers are supposed to collect children and serve food, while workers do the teaching. But many positions are lying vacant,” he says.

At Rehan’s AWC, too, the worker has been on leave for a while now. That many anganwadi employees haven’t been paid for as long as four months doesn’t help. A worker gets Rs 5,000 a month, while a helper makes Rs 2,500.

“When we ask supervisors, they say we will be paid soon. If they expect us to work properly, they should also pay us,” says a worker at a centre in Lal Kuan.

Those who are regular complain that they haven’t been trained enough. “The government sends new guidelines and course sheets, but we don’t get training. We have to know how to teach children. Some workers have not been trained in the last 10 years,” says Kavita Chauhan, an anganwadi worker at Lal Kuan.

Chauhan, who studied till Class X, was hired as a worker in 2012. She was trained for a week when she joined — and that was about it. During training, they were taught how to fill registers, weigh children and maintain a record of malnourished kids.

How well that data is maintained is another story. Sunita, a resident of E-block in Sunder Nagri, says that when her daughter was three years old, she weighed just 3.7 kg — much below the WHO standard of 10.7 kg.

Sunita, whose daughter is now six, says she used to visit the AWC near her home to weigh her child and get vaccinations. But no one told her the child was malnourished. When NGO Pardarshita conducted a survey between 2013 and 2014, they found the child needed immediate medical attention and took her to the hospital. Till date, she has not fully recovered.

Of the 580 children weighed in just one block in Sunder Nagri, 65 were severely malnourished and 131 were malnourished. This is in stark contrast to a monthly report of the WCD department across the city during the same
period, which showed only 201 children aged six or below were malnourished. “Anganwadis don’t have proper weighing machines… Many provide inaccurate measurements,” says Kumar.

Dhariwal says there is just one weighing machine for around 10 AWCs in the area. “We get to keep the machine for three days every month to weigh children at the centre and in the neighbourhood,” she says.

As per the National Family Health Survey (2015-2016), 27% of children in the city aged five or below were underweight, up from 26.1% in 2005-06. Similarly, 62.6% were anaemic, up from 57% in 2005-06. Field workers say the only way forward is to set up a state food commission, as mandated by the Food Security Act 2013.

“Section 6 of the Act is about malnutrition. The ICDS not recording this properly is a violation of the Act. The only solution is to establish a state food commission as a monitoring committee for such schemes,” says Arvind Singh of NGO Matri Sudha, which works in the field of nutrition and education.

http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/anganwadis-in-new-delhi-a-report-card-early-childhood-education-meal-awc-wcd-4710839/ 

VEDANTA KHUSHI – VIJAY AND HIS “KHUSHI” SAYS IT ALL…

One more step towards fight against Child Malnutrition

3 months back when Lakshmi, a 15 months old daughter of Radheshyam Gameti from Negadia Bheel Basti at Rajsamand was admitted to the hospital to fight against malnutrition, few more such cases got highlighted at that time in Rajsamand.

 

On such case was that of a 18 months old ‘Vijay’ living in Bijnaul village of Rajsamand. Vijay was suffering from severe malnourishment and had haemoglobin as low as 3.5 g/dl whereas child of his age has normally haemoglobin of 10.3 – 12 g/dl.

When "Khushi" team came to know about it, they tried convincing his mother Ratni Bheel to admit Vijay to hospital for the treatment but being religiously superstitious she simply refused and continued believing that prayers will heal his son. This did not stop "Khushi" team in making efforts and finally with the help of local administration they admitted Vijay to the hospital where his treatment started.

Problem did not end here, it was not just the lack of education and awareness that had been responsible for Vijay’s deteriorated health but also poverty and inadequate food to eat at his home. Seeing the grave situation,"Khushi" team took the help of social media and local authorities to arrange proper food including Dal and Rice for the family especially for Vijay to improve his health.

Today, Vijay has recovered from Malnutrition and has haemoglobin of 10.2 g/dl. With this, Ratni Bheel has also understood that not just prayers at temple will cure the ailment but visit to hospital is also important for treatment.

According to the status report on Anganwadi (day care centre) programme, officially known as ICDS, about 2.3 cr children in India, up to 6 years of age are suffering from undernourishment and are under-weight.

Hindustan Zinc’s Child Care Campaign – "Khushi" has always believed in creating awareness about health, education and nutrition in children. By saving life of Vijay and Lakshmi, it has only strengthen their mission to make India a child malnourished free nation.

SELLING OF NATIONAL FLAG ON THE STREETS, HOW FAR CORRECT ? – “KHUSHI”

Sentiments of millions of Indians are attached with the national flag of India. Should the national flag be sold on the streets, either by street children or by general shopkeepers? Should the national flag be sold only through Khadi Gram Udyog Kendra, which would also generate ample employment opportunities in rural India?

The Supreme Court in 1996 passed a landmark judgement allowing every citizen to fly the national flag with respect, dignity and honour, thus making it a fundamental right. The Union Government approved the recommendations of the inter-ministerial committee headed by P. D. Shenoy and removed the restrictions on the use of the National Flag by all Indian citizens from January 26, 2002.

National Flag has always been a symbol of pride, patriotism and belongingness. Whether it has been pre-independence era or post-independence, a well-laid down decorum has been followed by all Indians across the world. In this the sentiments of solders of India carry a special feeling and the chorus of ‘Jai Hind’ sends a vibration in the entire country making every Indian proud.

Up comes our Independence Day, 15^th August, and people start looking for the national flag for hoisting at their houses, offices and even their cars.

“But are people buying these flags out of patriotism or out of mercy on these children? How far this is acceptable?” a question raised by child welfare campaign “Khushi” Child Care Project.  

When the traffic light turns red and all vehicles come to a halt, these children rush to the cars and autos while peddling small flags in their hands. These children don’t even know what they are selling. For them, it’s a mere piece of paper with saffron, green and white stripes that would bring them the money at the end of the day.

“Government is doing so much for the deprived children through Anganwadis but the children still remain on the streets begging. Selling the national flag is equivalent to quick money for them. Their parents are seated in shelter and they send their children for only emotional quotient. It has become another method of extracting money from people who get sentimental by seeing the national flag or deprived children.” Says Pavan Kaushik, Founder of Project “Khushi”. People generally respond by saying that this is a source of income for the kids and we should let them continue selling the national flag. So are we now establishing the fact that child begging is a valid & permissible source of income and we should continue to encourage the increasing number of beggars in the country?” questions Pavan Kaushik. “If we want these children to become assets to the nation, the emotional feeling needs to be curbed for the betterment of these children.”

So where will the common people buy the national flag from? “The best way to get flag without any confusion about colours, sizes, dimensions etc. would be from the government store and nothing better than Khadi Gram Udyog Kendras, says Project Khushi. Even the school teachers can engage the children for making national flag for free distribution in the vicinity. Why do you need to buy them only from the street children?”

The Supreme Court in 1996 passed a landmark judgement allowing every citizen to fly the national flag with respect, dignity and honour, thus making it a fundamental right. The Union Government approved the recommendations of the inter-ministerial committee headed by P. D. Shenoy and removed the restrictions on the use of the National Flag by all Indian citizens from January 26, 2002.

The Flag Code, established in 1950, has been amended after the historic and landmark decision of the Union Cabinet.

The ten rupees from your pocket won’t make much difference to you, but it would make the kid a beggar for life. Do not encourage begging.

SAKHI FASHION SHOW - 28TH OCTOBER 2015 AT JAIPUR - A GLIMPSE

VEDANTA KHUSHI - VEDANTA READIES RS 400-CR FUNDING FACELIFT FOR ANGANWADIS

The Vedanta Foundation, the philanthropic arm of metal and mining major Vedanta, will revamp 4,000 anganwadi centres across India by equipping them with TVs, solar panels and toilets.

The foundation will fund the modernisation drive with over Rs 400 crore, for which it has partnered with the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD), it said in a statement.

The first model Anganwadi, Nand Ghar, was inaugurated by Union Minister for WCD Maneka Gandhi today, along with Vedanta Group Chairman Anil Agarwal, at Hasanpur village in Sonipat district of Haryana.

Inaugurating the centre, Gandhi said: "This Nand Ghar model will provide targeted delivery of supplementary nutrition services, along with related healthcare services for both mother and child, including skill training for women."

The Minister hailed Vedanta's efforts in this regard.

"The Ministry of WCD and the Vedanta Group have come together to construct 4,000 Anganwadi buildings in different parts of the country. Nand Ghar is an extension to the existing anganwadi initiative and will be Vedanta Group's endeavour to provide better environment to children of India," said Agarwal.

Vedanta's Nand Ghar project aligns with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision and commitment to providing quality education for children and skill development for women in the entire country, he added.

The Vedanta Foundation has already collaborated with over 3,000 anganwadi centres in Rajasthan and Odisha by supplementing the services of the government and addressing the nutrition as well as the educational needs of over 1 lakh children. 

VEDANTA KHUSHI - VEDANTA ADOPTS 3056 ANGANWADI CENTRES IN RAJASTHAN

1000 Anganwadis in Rajasthan to be converted into Model Anganwadi Centres

Government of Rajasthan, Hindustan Zinc (a Vedanta Group company) and Vedanta Foundation today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) to adopt 3056 Anganwadi centres in five districts of Rajasthan - Udaipur, Chittorgarh, Bhilwara, Rajsamand and Ajmer for 5 years. This adoption will benefit more than 90,000 underprivileged children in the age group of 3-6 years and will contribute significantly towards their overall development that would include nutrition, education and primary health.

As part of further strengthening of these Anganwadi Centres, Hindustan Zinc and Vedanta Foundation would also convert 1000 Anganwadi Centres into model Anganwadis. This project would also be spread across a period of 5 years, and in each year 200 Anganwadis would be converted into model Anganwadis.  In these selected Model Anganwadi Centres, Hindustan Zinc and  Vedanta Foundation will carry out repair & renovation of the building, construction of child friendly toilets, story painting on inside wall, provide water filters, daris and swings. Uniform will also be provided to all the enrolled children.

All the Anganwadi Centres will get clean drinking water, new utensils and smokeless chulha for the kitchen. Supplementing morning breakfast, poha and groundnut will be provided.

Pavan Kaushik, Head of Corporate Communication, Hindustan Zinc, informed that “our focus is on overall growth and development of these rural children. Colorful books & charts, toys and other pre-school educational material will be provided by the company to encourage interactive play-way method. Hindustan Zinc will also provide special training on pre-school education to the Anganwadi workers of the all these Centers and to our own field coordinators for better coordination, understanding and learning.”

As per the new WHO guideline, adopted at all selected Anganwadi centers, digital weighing scale and hygiene up-keep items like hair oil, talcum powder, hand wash shop, phenyl and detergent will be provided. Special emphasis will be given to health & hygiene and weight measurement of these children.

Vedanta Group has a strong focus towards care for the underprivileged children. Mr. Anil Agarwal, Chairman – Vedanta Group has set his vision to make India a child malnourished free nation.

Since 2008 the Group has been associated and supported about 14,000 child care centers in Rajasthan, Karnataka, Chattisgarh, and Odisha reaching about 500,000 rural children – for their nutrition, health and education. Incidentally the first MoU on adoption of Anganwadi Centres by Vedanta Group company Hindustan Zinc was also signed about 7 years back in the presence of Rajasthan Chief Minister Smt. Vasundhara Raje and Chairman of Vedanta Group, Anil Agarwal.

Vedanta had launched campaign “Khushi” that sensitizes common people towards care for the underprivileged children and take-up individual steps for such cause. The campaign is first of its kind ‘Non-Funding’ campaign which has more than 45,000 members across the globe on facebook. “Khushi” itself has 75 child-care Centres across India benefiting directly to about 2500 underprivileged children. Hindustan Zinc and Vedanta Foundation will be executing this project under “Khushi” campaign.

The MoU was signed today by Tribhuvan Pati, Additional Director (ICDS) from Government of Rajasthan and by CSR Mehta, Head-Corporate Relations, Hindustan Zinc. Also present on the occasion were Smt. Anita Bhadel (Independent Charge), Women and Child Development and Dr. Gurjot Kour, Additional Chief Secretary(WCD), GoR, Jaipur.

VEDANTA KHUSHI: TIMES OF INDIA ARTICLE: HUNGRY FOR VOTES, BUT NO NETA TO FIX MALNUTRITION PROBLEM

Rema Nagarajan
15th April, 2014

Politicians Call It A ‘Shame’, But Do Little To Cure Ills That Plague System

In January 2012, PM Manmohan Singh declared half of India’s children were malnourished and that was a national shame. Yet since then, not a single comprehensive national survey was conducted to determine the acuteness of the problem or measure progress, if any, of steps initiated to address malnutrition. Worse, the issue figures in a token manner in the election discourse of political parties and candidates.
The 2005-06 National Family Health Survey was the last one conducted and it found 48% of children suffered chronic malnourishment — of them, 20% acute malnourishment. The survey concluded that over half the women were anaemic and 36% underweight. The Global Hunger Index, released in October 2013, placed India among a group of countries with ‘alarming’ levels of hunger, figuring at the bottom of the heap, below China, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and several in sub-Saharan Africa.
Key interventions to boost nutrition levels include the targeted public distribution system (TPDS), Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and the school midday meal scheme (MDMS).
Despite increased food production and procurement for TDPS, food insecurity persists and is a chronic problem linked to poor delivery. The large number of ineligible or fake ration cards issued — a serious problem in some states, usually those that need TPDS the most — has caused huge leakages. The TPDS has glaring exclusion errors. About 20% of the estimated 90 crore eligible beneficiaries are denied subsidized grain as they have no ration card, while 20% of the not-poor do. TPDS remains restricted to wheat and rice that would alleviate hunger, but not address malnutrition. No recommendation to include pulses, oil and nutritious millets has been implemented. Even the food security Act — that UPA counts among its mega achievements — focuses on rice and wheat. Had the Act included higher procurement of millets, pulses, fruits and vegetables, it would have incentivised production of these, instead of just rice and wheat that are water-intensive crops.
ICDS was meant to counter malnutrition in children between 0 and 6 years and pregnant women. Government allocation, including states’ share, increased from over Rs 5,200 crore in 2007-08 to Rs 13,700 crore in 2013-14 and the number of anganwadi centres (AWCs) has increased from 10.1 lakh to 13.1 lakh in 2012-13.
Though almost 90% anganwadis are operational, the ICDS scheme reaches about 47% of eligible children, reported a CAG audit. Coverage in states varies from about 75% in Odisha to 18% in Bihar. Most AWCs lack infrastructure. In 2011-12, only 57% had drinking water on the premises, 47% had toilets and only 25% had a kitchen.
ICDS is meant to provide supplementary nutrition 300 days a year, or 25 days a month. But the number of days the programme worked ranged from 180-250, a CAG audit found. The audit revealed irregularities such as insufficient monitoring, suspected misappropriation of supplies, badly-trained anganwadi workers and shortfall in expenditure on supplementary nutrition, which meant lower per beneficiary expenditure. For a flagship programme that addresses a “national shame” the ICDS programme leaves much to be desired.
Allocation for the midday meal scheme is up from Rs 6,700 cr to over Rs 10,300 cr between 2007-08 and 2011-12. But many states aren’t meeting yearly targets of number of meals served. The scheme’s plagued by reports of children falling ill from eating poor quality or spoiled food. Many states are yet to achieve standards set to run it: constructing a kitchen shed, timely lifting of grains, proper food storage. Women employed as midday meal cooks remain underpaid.
While proportion of malnourished children has fallen since 2005-06, not only has the decline been slow, from 46% malnourished to about 33% by 2013, it’s been uneven with a few states and districts getting worse. But with poor tracking of the schemes’ implementation, or of the population’s nutritional status, no one seems sure if the situation has become any better or worse. And that’s the national shame.
HUNGER POLITICS | Aug 2012 | Modi quoted in interview blaming malnutrition in Gujarat on its “by and large vegetarian diet”. Because it’s a middle-class state, Gujarat is “more beauty conscious than health conscious”Media reports laid bare the bluff: His contentions didn’t square with data whichever way it was spliced. Haryana, even more vegetarian than Gujarat, has better nutritional figuresNSSO data (2009-2010) showed poverty behind state’s poor nutritional indices.
SERVED DEATH | Scams plague the mid-day meal scheme. Last July 27 village children died in Bihar’s Chapra after having the meal. Nitish Kumar cried conspiracy – that they were poisoned. Fact was, there was no monitoring, and the principal ran a racket, serving kids substandard fare.

VEDANTA KHUSHI - TRANSFORMING LIVES

In Vedanta Anganwadi Centers, the Group supplements morning breakfast, with poha and groundnut, providing clean drinking water, new utensils, colorful books, toys and other necessary items, much to the needs of these children.
Improvement in attendance & retention of children and a significant progress in their health & hygiene is apparent in health check-ups & weight measurement of these children which is carried out periodically. The teaching through play-way method has been another significant factor responsible for increase in attendance.

Children are groomed for about 3 years in Vedanta Anganwadi Centres and they learn good habits, etiquette, discipline, importance of health & hygiene and basic education. 

VEDANTA KHUSHI: PICTURE SPEAKS THOUSAND WORDS

VEDANTA KHUSHI initiatives on Child Care, particularly towards the Care for the Underprivileged Children has brought significant change in the lives of these Children.

 

Many school children have visited these Child Care Centres - Anganwadi Centres, and interacted with these Children, which is giving exposure and bringing confidence in these children. Vedanta KHUSHI - Picture Speaks Thousand Words... 

"KHUSHI" - Facebook Debates on "Child Beggary" in India

"KHUSHI" initiated a debate on " Increasing Menace of Child Beggary in India - What Solutions do we have?”, on 4^th May 2012. About 125 people joined the discussion, and the discussion still continues....

All the participants came up with intriguing suggestions and comments on the topic.. Some of the discussions on the facebook are reproduced below:

1.  Dhrushal Bhandari – http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000042662699

What could be the reasons of child beggary?  They could b poverty, insufficient family income,

forced by blacklisted person , forced by parents themselves, etc . Children beg at traffic signals, at temples, mosque , church etc we should not give them money but we should make them eat something so that atleast we are aware that the money we are using for them is used at good place otherwise we don't knw that where these children use the money if we give them money. The children can get addicted to bad habits like smoking, drinking, taking drugs etc which is very very dangerous and harmful for these children So its better we make them eat something or instead of money we can give them some things like clothes etc.

Some parents force their children to beg so that they bring money for their family bt. At the age of playing, studying , etc these children are begging. Such parents should be punished and made understand that educating these children is more important than begging if the child is educated he himself alone is much capable of taking the responsibility of his/her family and if not educated and begging at roads then begging just only add something to their family income at the risk of children's life. So at last i want to conclude by looking this i can say India is industrialising but not developing.

2. Gaurav Modi - http://www.facebook.com/gaurav.modi.564

I feel we need to look at larger picture. No parent want his/her child to beg....I mean they are not doing it coz they like to beg...I think its lack of options for them for their livelihood which force them to make their kid beg or work

3.  Gunjan Agnihotri - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=544830232

Initiatives like making a city beggar free are indeed commendable if the rehabilitation of these children is taken care of with the involvement of NGOs and social welfare organizations with support from the government and state authorities..

But we also need to be careful that these kind of initiatives don't make these children end up in far-worse living conditions … these people could get involved in unlawful acts like stealing and can create a huge law and order situation…

4.  Sreejith S'kumar Pai - http://www.facebook.com/sreejith.pai

Most of us do have sympathy towards children and trying to help kids by giving one rupee. Average Rs 200 per day every child is earning, So it became a profitable business and more children are brought into begging (without sending to school/free hostels). There has been number of reports revealed that missing children from our home or neighborhood end up in begging or other dark business. Do you know the average age of these kids? It is 5 yrs, the reason is kids were not given proper food and were given harmful drugs (Small kids are given sleeping tablets so that they will sleep without crying). Unknowingly we are being part of this issue, by giving money to the kid thinking that we help kids but that money goes to their organizer (Why child should struggle for elders? Let elders work/beg). In a survey many people said they are not aware of free hostels available for them. So here is the solution for orphans to join hostels very easily just calling to Govt child helpline 1098 or 040-23233550

5. Sandeep Sharma - http://www.facebook.com/sandeep.sharma.752487

We have to start from something....which should be some strong law for them.....individual contribution are expected from every good citizen ...but u can not force somebody...so LAW is going to save life of poor child....while it can be a small part......

There should be strict law for beggar for thier basic constitutional fundamental rights. Food....Education...which govt. must provide......the contribution from ourselves should be that we should contribute some part of our earning to educate them......so they can also make their dream...which should not be in thier hand like BOWL................

6.      Manjiri Gohad - http://www.facebook.com/manjiri.gohad

A minimum number of days assured work and 2 square meals for each person in the country is a solution which only the government can aid in implementing.. Once this is efficiently implemented can we talk about what individual citizens need to do!

7.   Virat Bahri  - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000217347185

The biggest problem in my view is that people who are beggars should ideally not give birth to more of their kind. At least that's the view from our perspective. However, for them, children are the best route to gain sympathy at signals, etc. These parents should be discouraged from begging and brought into productive employment first. And using children for the purpose of begging should be dealt with severely

8.  Avni Gandhi - http://www.facebook.com/avni.gandhi

We know that children are forced to beg but we dont know who gets benefited by what they get. So its usually the public who gives money and encourages begging. What if they are not given money or rather given something else... may be food or clothes. This way it would be reasonably assured that only the child is being benefited & not someone else which might lead to removal of child beggery. Therefore its the public who could discourage child beggary.

9.  Thiruppathi Raja - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000786799109

Such a cruel this...country of spritual & devine culture our ethics& vedha"s told to us many moral things to lead our life with humanity&honesty............in jail goverment amends lots action plan to recover their bad qualities such as education,rehablitation activites,job oppourtunities likesto be plan for child beggary rahablitation centres to make a turn on their life by basic education,job,moral support by passing law in constitutional ....to organize the NGO,s & social service centres to eradicate child beggaary...... childs are god..for developing nation

10.  Era Jain - http://www.facebook.com/era.jain.96

We can have programs 'Like Earn while you Learn' where such kids are paid to study and learn the different vocational skills. Any monetary incentive is a good way to lure kids. Yes people like us have to contribute in such a system however its worth it. The more the financiers the lesser would be the burden on each one and more would be the beneficiaries.

11.  Hemant Singh Chauhan - http://www.facebook.com/hemant.s.chauhan.7

Child begging..........the biggest fault of our system.
Even though begging is a crime, the police response is inconsistent. One young child was begging while police looked on and did nothing about it.But now there is something good going in Delhi.....where some NGO's are working very hard to stop this.They are being urged to report child beggars with a quick phone call to 1-0-9-8..............A 24x7 open helpline. Childline Coordinator Varun Pathak and Kanika Tripathy handle the calls at one of five Childline centers in Delhi........They will help these children regarding food , shelter nd study.
I think this is the best we can do......in other states also ..........

12.  Manish Singh - http://www.facebook.com/manishdhd

Pranav its real good initiative...but the fact is that its kept on papers mostly due to syste failure in our govt body ....the distribtion channel should be improved and there are hell lot of thing that has more to be implemented than planning alone...India is a country where plans are made but execution partis still very low....
it cant be done so easily...strong nexus is there which has prevailed in the roots of every system which has to be eradicated....real long process...leaving few who cares..!!!
well d best alwaz ..!!

13.  Kirti Vardhan Bissa - http://www.facebook.com/Kirtibissa

Child labour is the employment of children under an age determined by law or custom.This practice is considered exploitative by many countries and international organizations.Child labor was not seen as a problem throughout most of history,only becoming a disputed issue with the beginning of universal schooling and the concepts of laborers and children's rights.
Child labor can include factory work,mining or quarrying,agriculture,helping in the parent's business,having one's own small business,or doing odd jobs.However, rather than in factories and sweatshops, most child labor occurs in the informal sector, "selling on the street, at work in agriculture or hidden away in houses—far from the reach of official labor inspectors and from media scrut.

SEXUAL ABUSE!! THE SECOND FORM OF EXPLOITATION More than 53% children report facing one or more forms of sexual abuse. People come together and unite ourselves to eradicate this problem of humiliation of children and youth in india by stoping childs exploitation.

14.  Prashant Kumar - http://www.facebook.com/prashk20

A powerful and swift solution is convincing our legislators to ban this and make provisions for rehabilitation of the kids. Noting that in a democracy voters have the power, bringing the above changes will be tough if not difficult as kids neither can vote nor have parents to vote for their future. Public money will not be easily allocated or spent for people who cannot vote. There are such govt rehabilitation homes present but I only have heard bad reviews about them. A good option can be to fund private autonomous run institutions working in this area like the SOS Children's Villages of India. They have a very good facility here at Bhopal. Lastly, I think depending on the executive to implement ban on this will not be a successful idea as sooner or later our police and other services become lazy. Hence, forming a public opinion about this is crucial in banning of child begging. People currently do know that Child Begging is wrong and illegal but what they do not know is what should they do with these children. Investing in publicity of such options will increase public awareness and responsible citizen then will themselves see to it that child beggers are sent to rehabilitation.

15.  Shrabana Banerjee - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000373483312

One of the main reasons why so many children are forced into begging is that they generate most sympathy and hence earn more... there have been many excellent suggestions in this debate as to the long term solution of it.. but every individual may start making an immediate contribution.. idf u see a child beggar buy him/her food.. dont give money.. maybe that will discourage their parents from ruining their futures while they will receive nutrition.

16.  Pooja Thawrani - http://www.facebook.com/thawrani.pooja

Many a times its their parents who sell them for money... what if instead of "that gang" buying them we offer any daily house hold job to the parents and in return send their children to schools.... mom and I have already done this... :)
this was just one such idea... if we really want to heal our pains by helping them.. lets not only give them money and think the job is done (when we know its even worse when we give money)... lets give them also a chance to see a better part of life...

17.  Gaurav Choudhary - http://www.facebook.com/gauravchoudhary28

Great to see so many people being sympathetic .. i do not intend to be a critic here, but a lot of d real work needs to be done at ground level..can reach out to schools and involve them in organizing camps...plus not sure why people mix rural India with child begging....??
i also read some views about stronger laws, we do have already and that wont solve the purpose at the root..compassion helps and not enforcement...Mother Teresa have demonstrated that...

18.  Pradhuman Gill - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1341682333

I know it sounds cruel but then you need to be so to solve such problem because untill we all stop giving money to these beggers they will not stop asking for it......so no matter how emotional you get seing their condition do not have pity on them........though there are some who are really in need but there are so many others who are taking undue advantage of such few examples.......and just think once would you ever like to work very hard if the life you are living can be continued with minimum efforts.....just be true to yourself and i know very few would deny the fact.......so its as simple as that why would they stop asking if its so easy for them and they are so very used to it.......

19.  Rahul Singh - http://www.facebook.com/rahul.singh.5667901

The problem of begging is gigantic, yet it can easily be solved, if there is will and determination to do so. By creating healthy public opinion against it and by passing laws which make this profession a punishable offence, the problem can be solved within no time.

20.  Namrata Jain  - http://www.facebook.com/namrataj1

When we literate people doesn't know laws properly then how can we expect that these people r going to understand it..... n most imp. it take years to form one law there r many bills pending since years which should be law then how can u expect that this law will be made early..... we need some steps which can help them from now not after years we need to make them learn not to beg but to earn their livelihood.

21.  Heart Ruler Harshit  - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001075238383

People are mercy on children and giving money as it is just 1 Rs coin. But it is spoiling many other children life from normal children. The people behind the chilren are doing business with kids and forcing them for begging again and again. They are stoping kids from going to Govt school as they get more money for alcohol drinking & smoking.(Some of the children are taken for rent or some times they are kidnapping kids from other cities). 

We can avoid child begging if everyone stops giving money to kids(If you want give to old people). We stopped giving money to child !!!!!!!

22.  Mohd Ibraheem Mundashi  - http://www.facebook.com/ibraheem05

I agree with you ... bt just stop giving money is not the solution.. our government didnt have any policy for orphan children or children of poor single mother, also if they have it is not reached to the deserving children... i would suggest dnt give money directly to the children try to give thing of need..like cloths books, food, etc

23.  Rajat Jain - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000590234188

Money is not the only thing you can give to them. There are so many other things to give which will give more happiness to them and more satisfaction to you. As it says "Money never gives you true happiness". You can give them food, clothes or toys if you have. I have myself given food like chips, ice cream and sometimes whatever was there in my hand. In fact you can go with them and buy things they want. In this way you will be spending atleast some time with them. You can know little more about them and guide them in the right direction. By doing so, I am sure they will have a big smile on their face. I urge that if you really feel pity on those children then give them anything other than money. I agree that it is not the solution to the problem but definitely it is a step forward. It will not only help the children but also help in controlling the crime which is happening underground.

24.  Mohnish Bose - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=596151996

Yes we do have the solutions. They just take a lot of time to show up, which is the main problem. The other problem is the question of roti, kapda aur makaan, which in itself is the core of the struggle. We just need more self aware people in this world, who can take care of these children and show them the pointlessness of begging. Each one, teach at least one!

25.  Pavan Kaushik - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003741427933

Government is doing its bit. Corporates are doing their own bit. I can talk about Vedanta who

have adopted more than 5500 Anganwadi centres in Rajasthan, Orissa, Chattisgarh and Karnataka. Each Anganwadi has about 30 small children in the age group of less than 6 years. Which mean education, health and nutrition of about 165,000 under-privileged children are under care in association with the state governments?

Now if few of us can take care of some of the other under-privileged children, including child beggars, we would be contributing directly to the nation.

 

 

"KHUSHI" - Partners in Creating Happiness 

A Vedanta Group Initiatives