A Bharat Yatra programme by the Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation to fight child sexual abuse and trafficking, will be flagged off from here on September 26. Nobel Peace laureate Kailash Satyarthi to launch the eastern stretch of Yatra from the city.
The march will reach Bhopal on October 5 via Bilaspur. The Yatra will be flagged off from Kanyakumari on September 11 and culminate in New Delhi on October 16.
This programme has received wholehearted support from the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Rosalin Patasani Mishra, founder, Parichay Foundation and Madhusudan Das, State convener, National Youth Project, spoke about the yatra here.
They talked about the rampant problems of child sexual abuse and trafficking in Odisha and expressed deep regret as many cases have recently come to light. According to the National Crimes Records Bureau and National Family Health Survey-3, child marriage is a cause of concern in Odisha with 1 ,21,669 girls and 1 ,37,464 boys being married off before the legal age. According to the State police data, a high of 206 children (below 18 years) were being trafficked in 2016.
The trafficked children numbers grew by an alarming 44 per cent in 2016 in the State.