Vedanta's Child Care Campaign "Khushi" Gaining Momentum

Be polite to the poor children - they are not deprived by choice but by chance..

Vedanta is spearheading a global campaign towards 'care for the underprivileged children in India'. The campaign launched with a thought that Government, companies or NGOs cannot do it alone and individuals need to come forward and participate towards this national problem. India is current passing through a phase where almost 50% population is below the adult-hood age. Most of these children belong to poor families or underprivileged families and thus these children suffer from malnutrition, lack of health facilities and lack of education. Tomorrow, when these children would grow into adults, with no skills to earn or be productive citizens of the country, they would only be adding to the underprivileged population of India. What is their future ???

The development agenda that the government drives through annual plans, five-years plans etc., would come for a major hit. It is in the interest of the nation and for our own well-being to ensure that these children become productive citizens of India.

With this thought, Vedanta started their first social media campaign "Khushi" through blog www.khushi-creatinghappiness.blogspot.in and through facebook www.facebook.com/groups/vedantakhushi. The campaign "Khushi" is a non-funding campaign that encourages people to come forward and understand the problem and take individual steps for the probable solutions. As the campaign began members from all walks of society joined instantly the "Khushi" group and spreading further message. In no time the group has grown to about 22,000 members - who are professors, teachers, doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs, college students, management graduates, journalists, social workers, NGOs, and other people.

Through active participation and intense discussions in 'Khushi Group', the first evident change that has been seen is, the change in “temperament of people”. Many people have informed that they no more shout at poor children and try to do something constructive for them. "Be polite with the poor children - they are not deprived by choice but by chance.."

Post launching of campaign, some of the tangible steps taken by people include sponsoring education of children of the people who work in their houses, Some members have employed parents of children who beg on the streets or traffic-lights. Some have gone for adoption. Some have come forward in educating the street children in their spare time. Some are engaged in regularly providing medical check-ups and nutrition to these children and some are contributing in any social activity that is related to the development of these children. There are many companies who have been taking care of underprivileged children in their own way. People are joining and the message is spreading. The campaign is gaining momentum.

There have been over 60 posts on the blog which highlight participation by individuals towards the cause. The blog is touching 45,000 page views in no time and is growing. The real-life stories on the blog are motivating others to give similar contribution.

With time there has been need to discuss critical issues and the "Khushi" platform brought in those issues for discussions and debates. Some of the issues like problems relating to education for street children, menace of child beggary, increasing drop-out in rural schools, infrastructure in rural schools, problem of children involved in making crackers, teachers problem in rural schools etc.. The discussions have brought out very positive solutions which individuals and companies for compliance.

The company Vedanta is contributing in its own way. The company is already looking after over 5,000 child care centres (Anganwadi Centres) in Rajasthan, Orissa, Chattisgarh and Karnataka by way of providing supplementary diet, regular health check-ups of the children. These children are being taught through play-way method to keep the interests alive. There has been a considerable change in their health, weight and knowledge. Recently, 9,000 such children have been sent to formal schools and 100 tribal children have also been graduated to formal schools, which was a dream for them.

Keeping the problem of children of migratory parents, Vedanta got associated with a local NGO in Tamil Nadu and able to provide help to 700 children of migratory parents who have come for work in Nilgiri area. "Khushi" also tied up for the free lip cleft and palate operations for 2500 children with Smile Train organization of US and American GBH Hospital in Udaipur. The average spent by a patient on such operation is about Rs. 12-15,000, which now would be done free of cost.

The company has constructed 8 hi-tech mid-day mean kitchens - 6 in Rajasthan, 1 in Chattisgarh and 1 in Orissa which are being run in association with State Governments and are providing hot mid-day meal to about 250,000 rural poor children every day covering about 2700 schools.

With largest children population in the world, larger than China, and almost 1/3rd of world's malnourished children in the world living in India alone, the country is indeed in an alarming situation today. 8 million children in India, in the age group of 5-14 years are engaged in work. If we go by UNICEF report, India also has about 11 million street children and metros are leading these figures, with Delhi housing over 100,000 such children alone. 20% of the child deaths in the world happen in India.

India also has 2nd largest educational system in the world. Though, with a total enrolment of 114.6 million at primary and 41.3 million at upper primary level schools, India has shown remarkable improvement in the education enrollment scorecard. But when it comes to sustaining it, the country's biggest challenge is increasing number of children who drop out from the school. This population was as huge as 8.1 million in 2008. Worse is out of 8.1 million children more than 2/3rd are girls.

We need to get to the bottom of the problem to resolve the issues. It is time to wake up and make a conscious effort to ensure a bright future for millions of these underprivileged children in India.

Individual efforts is what the country requires today. Spread awareness and motivate others.. is what "Khushi" says. Share and Care is what needs to bring "Khushi" on the faces of millions of these children.

Vedanta Khushi - Care for the Underprivileged Children

Fight for the Nourishment in Under-Privileged Children

Malnutrition in India Children – A Matter of Concern

UNICEF reports say, the story of India is one of growth, gains and gaps. With an economy that is going from strength to strength, benefiting from the demographic dividend of a young and growing workforce, this largest democracy of the world is also home to the largest number of children in the world. With this growth come real gains for India’s children and women. Increased government allocations to social sector programmes in line with its commitment to inclusive growth, a progressive policy environment and slew of social protection schemes, and the strength of decentralised planning and governance through the Panchayati Raj system - all contributing to improving the lives of India’s children and women.

But with nearly half a billion children in this country, a lot more remains to be done to ensure the survival, growth and development of India’s greatest asset: its children.

Globally, more than one third of under-five deaths are attributable to under- nutrition.  About 20 per cent of children under-age five in India are wasted, 43 per cent underweight and 48 per cent stunted. In terms of numbers about 54 million children under five years in India are underweight which constitutes about 37 percent of the total underweight children in the world.

In India, 25 million children under five years are wasted and 61 million are stunted, which constitutes 31 per cent and 28 per cent of wasted and stunted children respectively in the world.

It is also now being recognized that the greatest vulnerability to nutritional deficiencies is during the period of the mothers’ pregnancy and continues until age two.

The report further says, there is a growing emphasis on the problem of stunting (measured by height for age) and anemia in the first two years of life as they not only impact child survival and growth, but also result in diminished cognitive development, school performance and physical development. This also has an adverse inter-generational impact in terms of productivity, poverty, and for women, higher risk of pregnancy-related complications and low birth-weight babies which in turn, reinforces the vicious cycle of under-nutrition.

The problem is so alarming.

We need to find our own ways to fight this problem - as a corporate, as an individual or as government. The contributions are not always counted in financial terms, helping a child's nutrition, its education, it health by taking individual interest and by sensitizing people also equally counts.

It is time we look for the future India….. It is time we get down to bring change..

"Khushi" - Partner in Creating Happiness

28 Million Children in India, in the age-group 5-14, are engaged in work

As per the UNICEF Report on Situation of Children in India - Article 32 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes the right of children to be protected from economic exploitation, from performing any work that is hazardous, interferes with their education, or is harmful to their health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development. The Government of India continues to maintain its declaration made to Article 32 at the time of ratification to progressively implement the provisions of the article in accordance with its national legislation and international instruments to which it is a State Party. In India an estimated 28 million children in the age-group 5-14 are engaged in work.

This is based on the following definition used by :

-  Age 5–11 years: At least 1 hour of economic work or 28 hours of domestic work per week.

-  Age 12–14 years: At least 14 hours of economic work or 28 hours of domestic work per week.

According to the Census 2001, only five percent children were estimated to be working. However, the Census definition considered last one year as reference period, even if a child was engaged for one day of economic activity, which included work for family business and farm. This did not include any household chores. Among the major states, Gujarat has the highest proportion of children working (32 per cent) followed by Rajasthan (20 per cent). Kerala has only three per cent of children reported to be working. While there is no difference in work participation rates between boys and girls, the rate in rural areas (13 per cent) is significantly higher than that in urban areas (9 per cent).

The work participation rate increases with age and at all ages, girls are more likely to be involved in household chores or family work. Children from the poorer households are more likely to get engaged in work. A child belonging to a Scheduled Tribes household is more likely to work than a child from a household in Other category. The education level of parents is also an important determinant of child work. One of the recent studies based on data from 35 countries (including India) identified poverty as the most important determinant of low school attendance and high child labour rates. The education of the household head was also found to be an important factor in the decision between work and school for children, underscoring the inter-generational benefits of education.

There is an inherent contradiction between the National Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 as the former does not ban all forms of child labour, but only hazardous labour.

According to the notified occupations and processes for children below 14 years, the latter, on coming into force on 1 April 2010, has made free and compulsory education for all children without exception a justifiable right. Considering there is no general minimum age for employment, the act recognizes that children should be in school which is an implicit recognition that they should not be at work.

An issue of concern...............