Category: National

Pune, Maharashtra [India]: The International Day for Street Children is observed every year on 12th April. The day provides a platform for the millions of children on the streets around the world – and their champions – to speak out so that their rights cannot be ignored. Save the Children is implementing a project on making #The InvisiblesVisible (Children in Street Situations). Through this initiative we aim to provide the legal identity document to CiSS that enables them to be visible on the government records and avail schemes they are eligible for, to ensure their overall well-being and self-dependent progressive future. The project is being implemented in Nashik, Mumbai, Pune, and Agra cities. This is a joint collaborative effort of Save the Children and Department of Women and Child Development; Government of Maharashtra, supported by Piaggio Vehicles Pvt. Ltd.

A webinar was organized by Save the Children and attended by representatives from UIDAI, Postal Department, Civil Society representatives from Salaam Baalak Trust, New Vision, and child champions. The call to action that children living in street situations have access to essential services, every child has the right to food, medical care, access to education, safety, and dignity.

Addressing the webinar; Manisha Birasis, Programme Manager, Women, and Child Development Department said “we have formed a Task Force involving Department of Education, Department of Home, Department of Medical and Health, Urban Development along with Women and Child Development Department to protect and provide proper identification to street children. This task force has developed an action plan and presented it to the Government for approval”. She emphasised that there is a need to make special provisions for children without parental care living on the streets, children on move children, and children of migrant labourers. To bring these children mainstream there is a need for strong inter-departmental coordination. Save the Children’s Deputy Director Sanjay Sharma said that “Street Children deserve equal rights like other children and have access to essential services that ensure their mental and physical well-being.  He focused that we should ensure proper implementation of SOP –standard operating procedure for children in street situations”. Chetan Sonje, Programme Manager, IT cell & UIDAI, said that following the Save the Children’s recommendations “the department has made special provisions to prepare Aadhaar cards for street children. To date, 162 camps have been organized and Aadhaar cards of 5000 children have been issued”.

Zarin Gupta, Founder of Salaam Baalak Trust said that “For the last 30 years we have been working with Street Children and facing various challenges. It is not easy to identify and track these children in street situations and it becomes more challenging to work for them as they don’t have a living address. Our team has been working hard to mainstream these street children and provide them education and skills.  During the lockdown, these children have no access to roads and streets and it becomes a more life-threatening situation to feed themselves.  Somehow they approached us for help and we supplied food, water and supported them in this difficult time. We are thankful to Save the Children and DWCD for supporting Salam Balak Trust in reaching these children“. Highlighting the role of corporate, Yogesh Kapse, Program Manager, PIAGGIO mentioned corporate funding should not be restricted to funding only but rather make better use of funds and leverage resources and support from NGO networks to ensure these street children will get skills, education, and access to basic services”. The public relations officer of the Postal department-Pune, Dattatreya Kodhalkar who has been supporting this initiative shared that we organised 52 camps and linked 4605 children for Aadhaar card registration. Jointly with Save the Children 1100 girls were supported under Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana.  Shobha Panwar from Child Welfare Committee, Nashik said that we endeavour to make society sensitive and ensure equality and equity of these children in street situations.

In the webinar, the child champions shared their stories. Jahnavi, a girl from Shivaji Nagar Basti, Nashik recalled her story that she did not have any identity proof and address. Save the Children supported thousands of children like me in getting their identity and address by getting us registered in an Aadhaar Card and opened a bank account on this Aadhaar card. Another youth champion Omkar said, my father had gone through an accident that made my life more challenging without having any financial support. Save the Children supported me and I underwent training. Today I am capable and working in an electrical firm and supporting my family. I wish every child living in street situations should be supported like I was and ensure their life will get easier and more independent. Naresh, a young rapper associated with the Salaam Baalak Trust, presented his Rap Song ‘’Street to Stadium’’, dedicating it to the street-connected kids who are playing street cricket and also are ambitious to play professional cricket in a stadium. He also has the ambition to be a famous rapper in the future.

Through this project; 122,000 children were provided with government identity cards & 50,000 children with various social security schemes, 107 youth have been provided skill development training and provided dignified employment. Even during the Covid pandemic, more than 5000 families in street situations supported food shelter, and hygiene materials. Support was also provided to children homes with hygiene and sanitisation materials, educational materials, etc.

The guideline on Individual Care Plan (ICP) for children in institutional care was released by the Department of Women and Child Development. It will assist in assessing the needs of children in institutional care and to identify areas of intervention for support and to ensure the effective development of the children systematically and ensure the protection of the rights of the children. This guideline also helps the caregivers to perform better on their duties in planning as well as proper execution of care plans for each child in institutional care.

On behalf of Save the Children; Ipsita Das, Sr. Manager, Projects Save the Children, Maharashtra thanked everyone and that we all have to work together for a shared value partnership to ensure their access to entitlements for children in street situations.

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh [India]: “Safe Society” is a non-profit voluntary development organisation. Established in 2005, Safe Society is operational in Uttar Pradesh and focuses primarily on improving the socio-economic standards and needs of the most underprivileged communities i.e., children living on the streets, and all the other vulnerable sections like women. Safe Society has special consultative status with the economic and social council of United Nations and its activities have been selected and recognised by the vice-president of the nation as best practices Under “Antyodaya”.

Working for this cause for more than 15 years now, the main objective of Safe Society is to create a pool of sustainable avenues in the society to which the poor and marginalised are given access to, irrespective of their background and social conditions, etc. They have recognised the main problem with the children living on streets- that somehow, they have been separated or drifted from their families, and thus Safe Society undertook the task of reuniting these children with their lost families, along with doing extensive and exhaustive research on different related factors. To date, Safe Society has reunited more than 524 children with their respective families. The Society is also involved in preventive, rescue, prosecution, and rehabilitation activities related to these children including providing psycho-social support. It utilises various forms of arts under an art-based process to remove trauma and orient these children to become creative citizens of society. This also includes moving these children towards a creativity-linked livelihood.

During the spread of the COVID-19, the most affected was the street community. All of a sudden, their only hopes of survival were dampened. Safe Society helped them in any and every way by providing ration, sanitary kits, etc. They also provided financial assistance to 57 families of slum-living children so that they could get a permanent source of livelihood, meet their daily needs, and lead a better life.

The organisation has also organised two health camps for street families and children during the COVID pandemic, in which health check-up has been done by professional doctors. To converge with various government schemes registration for labour card were also done in the camp.

Normally, children living on the streets see no sustainable future. Safe Society is taking a step to change that notion. The children living on the street are being trained to become junior radio jockeys, at the community radio station 90 FM, so that they can be prepared as ambassadors for their community to voice their problems and create creativity-linked livelihoods, to improve psychological and economic conditions. Safe Society is also helping the children and their families by linking them to government schemes. Right now the child labour education scheme and labour card are in the process of linking.

As of late, Safe Society is running a 1-week campaign in association with the Consortium for Street Children to commemorate “International Street Children’s Day”, which aims to garner support from the government on the agenda of Street Children. There are many posts in English, Hindi on social media, in which street children’s selections are highlighted. Issues such as access to clean water, access to health services, education, clothing, food, and other basic needs were taken up. Two workshops were conducted with the street children, in which they learned about the challenges they face in daily life and their potential solutions. In the first workshop held recently, children picturised challenges like health, education, Identity card, and suggested solutions to cope like money and admission by the government in schools, better livelihood for their parents and their check-up by the government doctors, ban on selling intoxicants and support from a local representative for identity cards.

In the second workshop, street children shared their everyday circumstances through letters to the Prime Minister of India, CM of Uttar Pardesh, and the local government bodies. In the letters, they described in detail their problems, intending to encourage the government to take more actions in their favour. All the children were divided into groups. Every group decided with each other’s consent to talk on particular issues such as identity cards, housing facilities, and health. The children were also made to learn story formation and present their message in a positive and precise way through an activity where children sat in a circle and every child was given an opportunity to say a sentence through a series to make a story.

After this, the participants were made to contemplate that the message which is conveyed in the form of stories has a high probability of being heard.

Vaibhav Sharma, Director of Safe Society said in a candid moment, “Rehabilitation of these children is necessary and before rehabilitating them we would have to understand these children and their liking. We should not impose ready-made rehabilitation on them.”

More about Safe Society and its ventures can be learned from www.safesociety.in

They have various programmes for women empowerment, health, and livelihood as well.

No matter if you are a businessman or social activists, you should never stop recognizing humanity – Aamir Pathan

New Delhi, [India]: The mystery of change, they say, is to focus all your energy not on battling the old but rather on building the new. Social change begins with an individual and can gradually transform the fabric of society. What’s more, even though we may criticize many ground realities in India, the fact remains that various people are being the change they wish to see in the world. What’s more, slowly, over time, they are effecting a change.

Born in 1981 in Mumbai, Aamir Pathan is a social activist as well as President Lohiya Vahini Mumbai (Samajwadi Party). Aamir Pathan is a globally eminent social activist and politician who have effectively worked for the enforcement of children’s rights and education. He devoted his life to social welfare. Before being a Social worker, Aamir has a business in Building and Constructions.

As per information from the International Labor Organization (ILO), more than 10 million children in India are indulging in different forms of child labor. Also, over 42 million children don’t go to school. Issues of child labor are often overlooked, and many children keep on being exploited and lose the opportunities to have better lives. Social activist Aamir Pathan has been determined to affect as many lives as he could. That is exactly what Aamir Pathan wants to change with his work.

Each human is entitled to basic human rights unfortunately, there are a few sections of the society – be it minorities, women and children, or the LGBTQ people community – who face battles every day to live a life of dignity. There is not a single day without reports of grave human rights abuses in countries everywhere in the world, including India. There are, however, a few individuals who are battling against all types of discrimination and defending vulnerable communities to help them in every way possible way.

In September 2019, he also led a rally with MILLI TAHREEK FOUNDATION– ABU ASIM AZMI FOUNDER MLAand people from Mumbai to protest against the Illegal sales and consumption of Drugs that have covered different area in Mumbai. Such initiatives are much needed at present when innovation has infiltrated our lives.

In the present time, we might be having lesser information on social issues, what’s going on around us and what new issues have been developed in society now. But the Activist has good information on all the issues, Who can raise different issues against the ruling government under constitutional means.

A Social Activist has to fights for some issues, for example, Child labor, the Right to education and Child abuse, and so on. A Social activist takes part in the promotion, facing unique social difficulties through established methods. In any case, for effective advocacy or social activism, a lot will rely upon the socio-political environment in which social activists should operate. Aamir was known for raising his voice against social and political issues and a well-known social activist who worked for various issues such as – Drug-Free Campaign, Human Rights.

Aamir is also a member of the Drug-Free Campaign to create awareness to the people who consume more tobacco and can be identified and taken to devoted medical care centers for treatment even as information on the sale and purchase of tobacco, drugs, and narcotics is observed by the members of the campaign. It is an important social cause. The district-level committee established for the drug-free India campaign will deal with important aspects and areas, for example, identifying depending population, focusing on guiding and treatment facilities in hospitals and rehabilitation centers. People will be aware of this campaign, while information about the harm from tobacco will be imparted during the campaign.

Activists live with the spirit, love, and having humane attributes for individuals without interfering in belief, religion, caste, creed that makes people globally worthwhile. People must be moderate and rational to explain genuine concerns for issues. Recognizing is the valuable character of the Activist. Social issues are inevitable in society and they will remain to occur.

He believes that one needs to be a part of the system to clean it up with this realization; he decided to step into social activities to work for the upliftment of society and joined some renowned NGO’s like Hindi Salakar Samithi, Nasha Mukt Sanstha, Human Rights Organization, and Citizen Vigilance Committee.

Aamir is highly active and much knowledgeable in addressing social issues as per the constitutional norms to higher levels who can make a perception on time for finding out the solutions. There are various issues in society that are developing at an alarming rate; like this, Aamir aims to highlight the issue before any social disaster.

He also worked during COVID -19 and was one of those who showed vigilance and was beyond their lines of duty to ensure that relief should be there for needy persons and there should be safety concerns of the general public.

Aamir imagines that society can progress in each perspective that would give birth to such active members who have cultural emotions, consideration, respectability, and hope for positive change. One cannot be a Social Activist until and except if He/She has a humanistic and developmental approach for the society.

Tags: aamirpathan, abuazmi, lohiyavahini

New Delhi, [India]: With the rising cases of cruelty against animals in India day by day Advocate Shubham Awasthi practicing at the Supreme Court of India has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting stronger penalties for people who commit acts of cruelty against animals and seeking his intervention in mitigating Human-Animal Conflicts. Shubham Awasthi has written this letter soon after the rising of heinous acts of cruelty with animals, wherein a disturbing incident, a wild elephant lost its life after two people in the Nilgiri district of Tamil Nadu threw a burning tyre on it. The news reports about a man raping a stray female dog in Thane and another incident in which Ahmed Shah who ekes out his living as a vegetable vendor of Andheri raped around 30 dogs and showed being impervious to the idea of it being a crime at all. Mr. Awasthi also mentioned that while he is writing the letter to Prime Minister, the news is brimming about Taufeeq Ahmed who sexually abused female dog Cheeno in the Santacruz area of Mumbai, and stories of other humans performing such cruelty; which shocks everyone to the core. He added if these stories had been exceptions, it would have been a different tale but our hearts sink when we look at the prevailing extent of animal abuse. Some of the other gruesome incidents include dog raped with a screwdriver in Goa, a langur hung and beaten to death in Telangana, a dog beaten, tied to a scooter, and then thrown off the second floor of a building in Ludhiana. The courage to violate such laws with impunity stems from the fact that the law has a mere penalty of Rs. 50 when it comes to fining the defaulters. This is a sorry departure from the times when we used to live in harmony with the animals. Can an animal’s life be reduced to a lesser thing than a human being merely because they cannot speak their plight?

It is worth mentioning herein that last year in May when the news came about the death of a pregnant elephant in Kerala due to being fed a fruit laced with firecrackers, Mr. Awasthi had also filed a Petition in the Supreme Court of India about the incident which had suggested a lot of steps which should be taken to stop cruelty against animals and mitigating human-animal conflict. In his petition, he seeks direction to declare the practice of using barbaric means /snares/shaved sticks/explosives to ward off wild animals as illegal, unconstitutional, and violative of Articles 14, and 21 of the Constitution;

Direct the Central/State Government for necessary amendments in the Prevention of Cruelty against Animals Act, 1960 to enhance Punishments for causing Cruelty against Animals making it more stringent as per modern times; Shubham Awasthi in his letter to Pm mentioned that the fines under the Prevention of Cruelty against Animals Act,1960 and other Statutes allow people to flout such rules with impunity as they have no deterrent effect owing to their low sums and low penalties. The penalties are so low which make no sense in the present ages. Even the Honourable Supreme Court in its infinite wisdom had called for the enhancement of penalties under these statutes in the case of Animal Welfare Board of India vs A Nagaraja. It is quite disheartening to see that the previous governments have not done anything in this regard by revising the statutes in the past six decades.” Furthermore, he added that the Indian Constitution imposes a fundamental duty on every Indian citizen to protect and improve wildlife in the country under Article 51-A(g). Following the subject, the letter captures the other aspect of Cruelty that is increasing namely Human-Animal Conflicts which has largely been left unattended by masses or respective governments. Advocate Awasthi writes, “The issues of hunting/killing/maiming animals. Animal-Human Conflicts also draw our attention towards the declining rate of Animals after the loss of habitat and failure of preservation/protection measures.

It is submitted that an Animal Census be conducted and the Animals facing threats like Elephants be tracked and monitored to avoid such scenarios. Furthermore, it is also mentioned that areas having high populations of Elephants can come up with Elephant Sanctuaries to ward off future incidents like this. The creation of Protection zones or Buffer zones with adequate Forest Forces manning would help in the mitigation of such incidents in the future. Furthermore, any mechanism is created for the effective tracking of wild animals using GPS, navigation systems or even fecal analysis as in the case of certain animals” He also stated that due to Human-animal conflict and cruelty on elephants the elephant’s population is declining from 1,00,000 to around 40,000 today.

The major suggestion being put forth in the letter includes the creation of specific habitats and sanctuaries; carrying out the animal census, coming out with simpler means of avoiding Human-Animal conflict by using organizations like ICAR to develop such scientific methods, fill the vacancies of forest guards across states, work for the creation of citizen wardens to minimize human-animal conflicts, strengthening the animal protection laws to reflect the changing times. In his letter, he stated that It is hoped that the letter would evoke a response in anticipation that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would look into the matter and make our country proud again as the Father of our Nation Mahatma Gandhi had said, “the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” We hope that one day, the rights of the animals will be protected.”

New Delhi, [India]: The name of the company SKarn RoboticS has been spreading to corners because of their product line, WECRIPT. Wecript is a safe search engine launched by sKarn RoboticS to provide a safe and secure searching experience to internet users. The man in the late twenties who worked hard for this advanced invention is THE KARN. Being the founder of sKarn RoboticS and Wecript, The Karn is a very proficient entrepreneurial mindset person and he is trying to make India as powerful as possible with the help of the latest technology.

Ever since independence, India has been a developing country. Yet after 76 years it is still a developing country. In the latest conversation with skarn RoboticS and Wecript, Founder The Karn didn’t want India to be a developing country anymore, rather he wanted it to be the most advanced and developed country in the developed country list. Intending to make India a developed and advanced country, The Karn has started his startup sKarn robotics and Wecript in 2019. The main vision of The Karn is to develop various tech products that would transform people’s way of using the internet while protecting their privacy through new and advanced technology products.

Safety is the priority for every civilian. But with the new policies and search engines, the data of internet users is being leaked, misused, sold, and shared. The safety and security of personal information are no longer guaranteed by most search engines. To provide a highly- secured search engine that follows all the privacy policies and protects data sharing and leakage, The Karn introduced Wecript. Wecript is such an advanced search engine that doesn’t share and sell your data with third parties.

To make India atma-nirbhar he started his journey quite a long ago, with the vision to make India atma-nirbhar in terms of technology. Later on officially introduced by PM Modi as an initiative called Make in India with the vision of making India a 5 trillion dollar economy by 2024-25. The Karn is immensely trying hard for better inventions and to make India a global leader.

The reason behind calling him “The Karn” is very astonishing. He didn’t want society to consider him as a part of a community. Rather he wanted equality irrespective of caste, color, and religion, and thus the name The Karn suited him. This signifies his nature, ethics, and beliefs.

As we know The KARN from Mahabharta is known for his selfless contribution to society, founder of SKarn Robotics and Wecript the Karn has the same beliefs and ethics and is trying his best for the betterment of the society through new-generation advanced technology.

The Karn is a very enthusiastic individual with mind-blowing entrepreneurial skills. His ideas, execution, and management skills of running the startup during covid situations prove that he has management, tech product development, and marketing expertise to build and manage a multi-billion dollar startup.

Unlike many large industries that cut their employee’s salaries and firing employees during covid situations,  The Karn has decided to support people in terms of salaries, employment offers, and other medical benefits as well. He was one of the few initial persons to start work from the culture in India during covid-19.

The Karn and his startup deserve to be the top startup company. Young and talented people like The Karn are the foundation for a strong and developed India. They need to be encouraged and supported at any cost. The government should also support such young and talented people who are working hard, to make India a superpower and govt’s vision of ‘Make in India’ program a success. It is time to support tech startups like The sKarn Robotics (https://skarnrobotics.com). Wecript is an excellent move towards a Make in India project.  Check out their latest products and new features by visiting their search engine (https://wecript.org).