Children’s rights have deteriorated in Goa: Goa Pro Child Network

Prakash Kamat 

Panaji,March 25- The Goa Pro Child Network, a network of civil society organizations and child rights advocates, working for protection of children in the state has warned that a number of critical children’s rights issues must be urgently addressed by the government to prevent worsening impacts on the most vulnerable children. While recognising that the Government has faced a colossal challenge and has had to engage in a huge public health mobilisation, the Network has pointed out that the lack of prioritisation of children’s rights and their voices in vital policy and legislative decisions, particularly in response to the COVID 19 pandemic has left a lot to be desired.

The Network had recently had a series of meetings where various issues of children from vulnerable sections,including those with special needs who suffered immensely interms of education,mental health, basic necessities during the prolonged COVID-19 crisis were deliberated.

In the last year, issues such as rising exclusions from school, mental health problems and child poverty, the side-lining of children’s basic needs and development such as their right to feel safe and be protected from abuse, and have a roof over their head and play, are a fallout of this miss governance in Goa. The Network has pointed out that children are at risk of falling into the control of criminals seeking to exploit them and puts their future, welfare and safety in danger.

The Network has expressed concern about:

1.      Non-formulation and notification of ‘sponsorship scheme’ as required under the Juvenile Justice Act, the absence of a provision of supplementary support under the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) to families to meet medical, nutritional, educational and other needs of their children with a view to improving their quality of life.

2.      The non-disbursal of mid-day meals in Goa during the lockdown, despite the central government’s directive to states to provide Food Security Allowance (FSA) to the children comprising food grains, pulses, oil etc (equivalent to cooking cost) to all eligible children till such time their schools are closed due to the pandemic. The nil access of vulnerable children to food security scheme by Priority Household (PHH) is a matter of serious concern.

3.      Lack of proper planning despite provisions under ICPS, and timely sending of budget proposals for utilisation of ICPS funds resulting in rising numbers of children needing care or protection.

The Network while demanding due prioritisation of children’s rights, particularly those of vulnerable children, including special children, has affirmed that it will continue to support the collective effort to face this challenge and to ensure the social and economic effects of the coronavirus are not felt in the lives of children in the years ahead.(eom)

Goa IT Professionals seek changes in DoIT's Startup policy

 Prakash Kamat

Panaji,March 18-- GITP, body of IT professionals from Goa have written to Department of Information and Technology(DoIT) insisting on certain changes in the startup policy:

1. Policy implementation must be strictly against reasonable SLAs for its different aspects (viz. startup registration, scheme application processing, clarifications etc.) and a clear escalation mechanism to ensure time-bound delivery of support to the startups unlike that witnessed with the current policy and its schemes.

2. Policy related schemes must have detailed clarity on practical implementation aspects viz. definition of "Fresher" for graduate vs masters level education, qualifying employment tenures, salary for employees vs management etc.

3. SPC should proactively approach startups in other parts of India and the world to bring them to Goa.

4. All targets stated in the policy and the key performance indicators should be published on the website in real time. These should include:
Number of registered startups
Scheme reimbursements disbursal track record
Number of locals employed
Number of startups granted Seed Funding, current stage stats and funding disbursal track record
Number of startups outside Goa that have been contacted for setting up a unit
Number of national and international Patents filed by registered startups
etc.

Kindly note that DOIT will not be admired for the number of policies it announces but by the outcome of those policies quantified by the SLAs and Performance Indicators  

5. The policy should not lapse unless superseded by a new policy.

6. Implementation procedures for the policy's schemes must be designed for dummies so that precious public funds are not wasted on exorbitant consultants like seen so far but rather can be done by the large under-utilized staff available within DoIT.

7. Events organized by DoIT related to this policy must be focused on promoting: (a) Culture of innovation and entrepreneurship among locals in Goa, and (b) Goa as the new cool destination for startups from India and abroad. These events must NOT be wasteful like those of recent past (viz. champagne parties, glitzy celebrations, MOUs with no outcomes) but rather should be productive like hackathons, business plan competitions, technical conferences etc.

8. Expenditure incurred on events, consultants and other external entities within the scope of this policy must be made public via the SPC website.(eom)

In Bhivandi, Social Welfare dept, child protection officials celebrate Women’s Week with former sex workers

Prakash Kamat

Panaji,March 10- Observing International Women’s Week, Thane,Maharashtra-based NGO Shree Sai Seva Sanstha in Bhiwandi organised an event called “Ek Meri Bhi Kahani” where 35 former sex workers who were forced into sex trade but have now managed to break free and work towards a free life of their choice shared their stories.

Most of them are victims of sex trafficking deceived by external agents for work or sold by own parents. All these women have been supported and provided with an alternative livelihood by Shree Sai Seva Santha.

Shree Sai Seva Sanstha is an NGO based in Hanuman Tekdi, a red light area in Bhiwandi

which works towards providing a better life to the sex workers and their children.

The dignitaries at the event included Mr. Punyarthi from the Social Welfare department of

Bhiwandi Municipal corporation, Ms. Pallavi and Ms. Rohini from the child protection office

and a delegation from Matru Seva Foundation, an NGO focusing on holistic development of

society. 

After the pandemic wreaked havoc across sectors, sex workers were left without any source of income as they could not continue the work due to the risk of covid transmission. Shree

Sai Seva Sanstha saw this as an opportunity to help these women who wanted to leave sex

trade and choose an alternative livelihood.

During this time, the NGO also did a survey among 30% of the sex workers in Bhiwandi and

published a report which showed that over 87% of the sex workers wanted to opt-out. In this

event, 35 women discussed how they always had wanted an opportunity to leave sex trade

and Dr. Swati Singh (Khan), founder of Shree Sai Seva Sanstha gave them this opportunity.

“No one should suffer in pain and that is my objective- to bring out my fellow sisters trapped

in the cruel world of sex trade. We have organised this event to bring together a group of the former sex workers who had the courage to take steps to change their lives and will now be

changemakers among other active sex workers. I am just an enabler to help my sisters

reach their dreams. I am creating this platform so that more and more women trapped in sex

trade find the courage to opt-out. This is a great start for us, and we will continue to this

journey together till we reach every women trapped in sex trade. We also plan to engage

with community members and the government to bring a holistic plan for providing

alternative livelihood. We are hopeful that all stakeholders support us in this endeavour,”

said Dr. Singh.

(In continuation of creating this platform, Shree Sai Seva Sanstha and the group of former sex workers have stated that they will continue to work towards ensuring all the sex workers

in Hanuman Tekdi receive an opportunity to leave sex trade and opt for an alternative livelihood. They also plan to engage with administration and elected representatives to

provide alternative livelihood to sex workers).

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GOA FOUNDATION PROTESTS ONE MONTH LIMIT FOR OBJECTIONS TO DRAFT CZMPs

Prakash Kamat

Panaji,March 4-The Goa Foundation,Goa green, wrote to the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority(GCZMA) on Wednesday protesting the limit of 30 days laid down in the public notice for the consultation on the draft Coastal Zone Management Plans(CZMPs).

The Foundation has stated that the 30 day limit was not legal, as it was contrary to the 60 day limit provided by the Environment Protection Rules, 1986, which is the basis for the public hearing procedures.

The Foundation will send its objections to the draft CZMPs to the GCZMA within the 60 day period and requested all others to do so, since the GCZMA has no authority or power to reduce the limit to 30 days.

This 60 day period is unconnected with the public hearing process. People are welcome to make their point of view felt during the public hearing, but also have the right to file detailed written objections before 30 March 2021,said Dr.Claude Alvares,Director,Goa Foundation.

The Foundation alleged that several gross errors have been allowed into the draft CZMPs. Re-zoning of beach areas like Querim (Tiracol), Palolem, Cola have been carried out without any legal basis. Each village community is finding hundreds of errors in the village plans.

The Foundation blamed the GCZMA for putting up the maps for the public hearing without examining them first. As a result, all the errors pointed out by village communities during the 2019 public consultation have remained in the new draft plans. This only means all village level inputs into the plan process have been ignored. This is wholly unacceptable,stated Goa Foundation.

Changes made to show several illegal constructions in the draft CZMPs (when several legitimate constructions have been left out) indicate indirect influence on the preparation of the draft CZMPs. This may require a criminal investigation,warned Dr. Alvares.(eom)