At a time when the State Governments across the country remain at receiving end from social workers and think tanks at every other occasion and for every other reason, the dignitaries and experts gathered on Thursday at XISS to discuss issues related to children found unanimously making society more responsible than the Government.
Speaking on Prioritising Children in the Development Agenda, Governing Council Member of Indian law Institute Nina Nayak said that it was beyond the reach of Government to fix everything, until and unless the issues like child protection and malnutrition were raised at social and family levels. She said that the surroundings of the child — its family and society — did have remedies to its problems and if those where addressed then and there itself, the Government could find it much easier to handle larger issues at policy level.
In a programme named Jharkhand Development Dialogue lecture Series, organised by UNICEF in participation with XISS on the occasion of UNICEF’s 70th year celebration and XISS’s Diamond Jubilee Celebration, Nayak also encouraged XISS students to contribute towards child’s development. She appealed to prioiritse children and to give very child a fair chance for good health and development.
Rajya Sabha member and veteran journalist Harivansh, UNICEF Director (Jharkhand) Dr Madhulika Jonathan, XISS Director Fr Alexius SJ, XISS Faculty of Rural Management Prof KK Bhagat and UNICEF Communication Officer (Jharkhand) Moira Dawa were also present on the occasion.
The dialogue series was organised with the sole purpose of creating awareness regarding early child development and inhibiting cognitive skills among children within the first 1,000 days of the child’s life. Child development needs inclusion of security for the child, respect from the environment and delegating responsibility. Professor Bhagat highlighted that early childhood development remained less than 2 per cent and Jharkhand had been facing many cases of child trafficking and child abuse. Hence, he emphasized on creating more and more ‘KailashSatyarthi’ from society.
Jonathan highlighted that child poverty and stunting were the indicators of chronic malnourishment. She elaborated how the first 1,000 days of child’s life were of utmost importance for early child development and how it could impact the economy of the nation.
Harivansh presented many facts regarding stunted growth, underweight and weakness among children in his speech. He also came down heavily on Jharkhand Governments for the last 16 years for failing miserably on the issues related to child development and quality of nutrition and education been provided so far. The event concluded with an interactive session of the students with the dignitaries.