This is a guest post from Susan Varghese -DGM of Global Operations at Child Rights and You (CRY)
Children are always the most vulnerable victims of any crisis, be it economic, political, social or environmental, as they do not live in isolation – they belong to families, communities and society at large.
The reality of India today is that millions of children continue to have their very survival threatened on a daily basis- by malnutrition, illiteracy, child labour, preventable diseases, abuse and exploitation illustrated by statistics like:
- One in every six girl children does not survive to see her 12th birthday due to discrimination and neglect
- 50% of children, aged 6-14 years are not in school
- 2 million Indian babies die before they celebrate their first birthday
- Statistics reveal that India has 16.57 million child labourers.
And it is because of this reality that Child Rights and You (CRY) exists today – to be the voice of children, especially Indian.
CRY – Child Rights and You, India’s leading child rights advocate believes that children are citizens in their own right, the future of their countries and the world, entitled to the full spectrum of human rights. We hence work towards restoring rights to underprivileged children, especially in India.
At CRY, we do not believe in charity. We do not run schools, orphanages or dispensaries. Instead, we partner NGOs working with children, their parents, and communities to bring about long term and sustainable change to the lives of children, by addressing the root causes of illiteracy, poverty, discrimination and exploitation. We have realized that child rights cannot be ensured unless families have their livelihoods assured.
CRY is founded on the premise that anything you contribute – your time, money, skills or thoughts – will make a difference. Our donors, supporters and volunteers have proven the “power of one” – that each individual, working in the context of their life can, and does, make a difference. And that such individual effort added together makes for lasting change.
With support, we have been able to make it possible for close to 2 million children to grow and realize their full potential. But there are millions of children for whom this is still not a reality. We appeal for not only your active support but also your outrage. Because only then will we be able to create a ‘just’ world in which child rights for ALL children is not negotiable.
Susan Varghese
DGM, Global Operations, Child Rights and You
To get involved or for more information visit www.cry.org. You can also E-mail CRY, or write to: CRY – Child Rights and You, Global Operations, DDA Slum Wing, Barat Ghar, Bapu Park, Kotla Mubarakpur, New Delhi 110 003, India .
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#1 by Atul Vishwakarma on October 3, 2009 - 7:12 AM
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I wish to draw your urgent attention to the plight of babies on the reality show , nay cruelty-show ‘ Pati Patni aur Woh’ on NDTV Imagine.The show is testing child-rearing skills of celebrities using tender babies of consenting parents.
This I contend is criminal to the tender babies who are subjected to the shoddy care of these celebrities. Theses babies are guinea-pigs in this show. The celebrities may win or lose but what about ordeal the babies are going through at their hands in the name of entertainment. The celebrities as shown so far are not conversant with the skills to look after a baby. They do not know how to change a nappy or understand the need of baby to sleep, eat or drink etc. The babies have been thrown into the care of these pathetically naive celebrities. I am appalled to see the babies crying and the celebrity-couples unable to understand their needs. This is cruel, inhuman, and despicable. For God’s sake these are live human babies. This is akin to using animal babies for testing beauty products, which is strictly banned world over. None of these celebrities are fit to even baby-sit with these kids.
It is a cause of great concern that babies’ parents are willful accomplices in this crime. They are present on the sets doing it probably for the lust of lucre or a mere chance to be on TV. Do they really have a RIGHT to subject their innocent babies to such an ordeal? Is their a law to stop such a crime? These parents too should be taken to task for such an act.
The show is a shame for NDTV group. Where is this concept of a reality show going? There is utter disregard for the child-rights and absolutely no concern for the soft psyche of a baby. How has such a program been conceived and allowed to telecast too. We already have ongoing debate over young children being subjected to the cruel pressures of reality competitions and its detrimental effect on the kids and now we have this.
At the beginning of the show almost all the celebrities said that they are doing the show to test their skills at child rearing as they wish to settle as parents in the near future. If they are so intent on learning the skills they should, I suggest go to several institutes that provide training for would-be and new parents. They should have done this with their own children rather an experimenting with other innocent kids. Get really REAL.
This is a very cruel way of being entertained.
Kya entertainment ke liye kuch bhi karega? Kuch bhi?
Spare the kids, please.
I exhort the government ( I&B and Social Welfare Ministry ), Human Rights Commission, other statutory and regulatory bodies, NDTV authorities and individuals to come against this show. Please stop this cruelty to innocent babies.
Atul Vishwakarma
(A Father)