Activists demand child protection corpus in budget

NEWDELHI: A corpus for child protection, on the lines of the Nirbhaya Fund, and the implementation of the recommendation of the Kothari Commission that 6% of the GDP be set aside for child education, are some of the suggestions that child rights activists had given to the Centre for the upcoming Budget.

The finance ministry had asked child rights activists for their views on child budgeting last month.

A national child protection fund, which should be open for public proposals, is one of the key suggestions, according to activists who were part of the discussion.

Under the Nirbhaya Fund, however, only states and central ministries can send in proposals.

The Kothari Commission in 1964 had recommended that 6% of the GDP be allocated for the education sector. Activists told the Centre that it should finally be implemented with a special push for girl children, especially those from lower income families. In the Budget 2019-20, Rs 93,847.64 crore was set aside for education, a 10% increase from the previous Budget. This makes for 3.2% of the GDP.

Activists have also recommended that the spend on children -- which stands at 3.25% of the GDP according to Budget 2019-20 -- should be increased to 9%. Some activists have recommended that apart from the 6% for education, 3% be set aside for health. While some others have recommended that the allocation for child protection, currently now 0.7% of the GDP, should be increased to 2%.

“We have also asked for greater transparency in the allocation for child protection as the details of what is spent under the Integrated Child Protection Scheme is yet to be made public,” said one of the activists, who was part of the discussions. Another activist said the benefits under the ICPS scheme, which accords a monthly sum of Rs 2000 for a child in institutional care, should be increased.

Bharati Ali of HAQ Centre for Child Rights said apart from transparency, the funds that were stipulated under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, should be implemented properly. “The JJ Fund, if implemented properly, will make sure a robust protection mechanism on the ground as all states and districts are supposed to have a fund where the public can also donate,” said Ali.