The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : “Focus on girl child trafficking”

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Wednesday, Jan 23, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

“Focus on girl child trafficking”

Staff Reporter

40 per cent of children below 14 still illiterate: Nallakannu

Steady increase in cases of girl child trafficking
CPI to draw the attention of administration

KARUR: Administrators and elected representatives should give increased attention to prevention of trafficking of girl children.

Better sensitisation on the issue is the need of the hour, Communist Party of India Polit Bureau member R. Nallakkannu said here on Monday.

Participating in a meeting on girl child trafficking conducted by Psycho Trust, Mr. Nallakkannu complained that there has been a steady increase in cases of girl child trafficking in the recent years. The situation was regrettable, as administrators have failed to put in place necessary regulations to curb the activity.

While the statute requires all children below 14 to be imparted compulsory education, the ground reality was far from that.

An estimated 40 per cent of the children in the target group were still illiterate, Mr. Nallakkannu claimed.

The Communist Party of India would take the issue of girl child trafficking to the attention of the administrators and elected representatives, he assured.

He also regretted that while one government constitutes a commission of enquiry to look into a particular issue, the successor government ignores the very existence of the particular commission of enquiry and consequently the whole exercise was rendered futile.

Mr. Nallakkannu called for strict action against offenders of child rights, especially girl child rights.

While the late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru wanted his birthday celebrated as Children’s Day, a lot still needed to be done for the protection of children and in particular girl children, he regretted. He also released a compact disc on the issue.

The meeting also adopted various resolutions calling upon the governments to implement and tighten laws pertaining to girl child trafficking and offences against children.

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