Girl children are a most vulnerable section of our society. They are prone to all kinds of abuse in prevailing socio-economic structure. Odisha with higher rural concentration is home to 65 lakh children between the age group of 6 and 14 years as per 2011 census, out of which more than 29 lakh are girl children. There are about 60 lakh children in rural areas and five lakh in urban areas of the State.
The girl child in rural areas and slums are bearing the brunt of unequal access to available opportunities provided by the Government and are deprived of basic child rights in many ways. In spite of efforts by many actors including State, international agencies, private and corporate bodies, there have been continuous media reports of child sexual abuse, forced prostitution, trafficking, child labour, domestic child labour, begging, single mother, dropout and many forms of anti-human and distress situation faced by the girl children in the State. It is being reported that most of the victims are poor, resourceless, poverty stricken, illiterate and mostly from rural areas.
The protecting laws and institutional arrangements to counter the vulnerable situation have not effectively reached to the poorer sections of society in rural areas. Odisha has a draft policy for girl child and women in 2013. The policy speaks about convention of the rights of children and convention on elimination of all forms of discrimination against women. But our State policy, laws and institutions have not achieved that much of effectiveness in fulfilling the objectives of the conventions.
The youth policy of the Government of Odisha 2014 affirms that girls and young women should enjoy equal right to opportunities and status with equal access to resources as men. It also says that work places should be made safe and secure for girls and young women. The girls of SCs, STs and minority communities who suffer from multiple disabilities will get more attention in form of preferential treatment as they constitute a vast majority of neglected population among girls.
Many of our well meaning policies have not been transformed into action through institutional mechanism. There are a few national and State level institutions to intervene in child rights such as NCPCR and OSCPCR which are playing a very insignificant role in addressing the huge number of cases. It is fact that very few cases were registered and drew media attention where as more cases of child rights violation are not getting reported either in media or registered in police stations due to lack of awareness in public and in absence of popular complaint mechanism at grassroots level.
The National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) data says the number of reported crime against children has increased by 50 per cent from 2012 to 2013 and in the year 2014, nearly 90,000 crimes against children were registered in the country. The nature of crime against children includes kidnap, abduction and rape. There were 225 incidents of assault against women, girl children, with intent to outrage their modesty in 2013 in Odisha.
Odisha has a major role in bringing larger impact over basic socio-economic condition of the marginalized. Along with socio-economic development programmes, the enforcement of law is equally important in prohibiting the vested interest groups and criminals who are taking the advantage of the weakness of the system. Due to social subjugation, illiteracy and lack of education among the marginalized groups, the legal awareness on girl child rights and their protection and development has not been realized by a majority of the people of the State. The people in rural areas still carry the feudal value system and religious traditions and customs in dealing with issues of girl child.
The patriarchal mindset and value system deprives girls of their child rights. The women, girls, young women in rural areas have no basic amenities and privacy for a dignified life. It is evident that mostly the girl children in poor families take care of their siblings and helps the mother in managing all domestic works. In urban areas a large number of girl children of poor families brought from rural areas are serving as domestic helps and getting deprived of education and family care in their tender age. The condition of the girls in family of migrant workers from Odisha is heartrending.
The Women and Child Development Minister of Odisha in 2014 informed that 42 per cent of women face physical violence in the State. There are 2,011 rape cases registered in 2014 in the State and the number is on the rise as reported in a white paper by State Home Department. Police reported continuous increase in crime against women in the State and in that context the situation of girl child has been a matter of concern. The State Government has set up 537 women and child desks in police stations to register the cases. The Government has lunched some popular programmes such as pink auto service and Mo Sathi safety help line for women in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar to enhance their security. There are integrated anti-human trafficking units in 21 places of the State to control trafficking and ensure protection and rehabilitation of rescued women but there has been lack of holistic initiative for the protection of women from every day violence and insecurity in rural areas. It is the children of marginalized section who need protection and care because of their vulnerability. The constitutional mandate and human rights, child rights, women rights laws must be popularized among people to build an egalitarian society that values girl child’s dignity.
A social consciousness about the dignity of women and value of girl child will build a protective environment. The State has to not only make laws but also see to its fullest enforcement.
The Government of India has lunch ‘Beti Bachao and Beti Padhao’ programme with the objective of preventing gender biased sex selective elimination and ensure survival and protection of girl children. The Kasturaba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya scheme also has been implemented since 2004 in educationally backward blocks where the rural female literacy is below national average targeting girls of rural area. Recently the public sector company Nalco has come up with programme like Nalco Ki ladli which aims to ensure education of the girls in BPl families in the company’s periphery areas of Angul and Koraput. like Nalco, other public sector companies such as MCl, NTPC and SAIl etc should take a proactive role in the protection and development of girl children in Odisha.
(The writer is a researcher and rights activist, who can be mailed at manasbbsr15@gmail.com Mob -9437060797)