With 16.3 crore children being affected due to drought in ten states, Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare drought a national emergency and make children a top priority in relief and rehabilitation work.
Bachpan Bachao Andolan, an NGO led by Satyarthi, has found that the practice of ‘devdasi’, dedication of young girls to gods and goddesses, is catching up fast in drought affected states like Telangana, Maharashtra, and Karnataka. Also, there are many cases of child marriage, child labour, and kidnapping of children.
“More than half of the total child marriage and child labour in India are from the 10 drought affected states and is speculated to aggravate further due to severe drought conditions,” he told reporters here.
“According to a report, child labour has gone up by 24 per cent in Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh due to drought. In Yadgir district in Maharashtra, 10 child marriages were stopped recently. Owing to this drought and ongoing water crisis, children are becoming increasingly vulnerable. There is no proper assessment or monitoring and no preventive measures are being taken," he said and put the figures of children affected by drought in last some years at 16.3 crore, 40 per cent of the total number of children.
Additionally, it has been estimated that this drought has seen an increase in children dropping out of school by approximately 22 per cent and child trafficking by approximately 24 per cent.
Satyarthi has written to Modi, urging him to declare drought a national emergency immediately. He also asked the prime minister to direct unspent amount in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds, especially in public sector undertakings, towards child-centric drought relief measures.
“Around Rs 10,000 crore in CSR funds remains unspent in corporate sector and Rs 3,600 crore in public sector undertakings,” he said.
The activist also requested the parliamentarians to hold a special session on drought.
“Till now no dedicated session on drought has taken place. The government should call the experts in the country in fields like water, geography to understand the situation and devise solutions. There should be child centric approach for protection of children in these circumstances,” he said.