‘Need to make local government child-friendly’

PILOT FLAGGED OFF THE VEHICLES WHICH WILL TRAVEL TO JAISALMER, BARMER AND TONK TO PROMOTE THE CONCEPT OF CHILD FRIENDLY PANCHAYAT AND ON INCLUSION OF CHILDREN’S ISSUES IN GRAM PANCHAYAT GROWTH PLANS

JAIPUR: Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot on Wednesday emphasised the importance of child responsive local governance and stressed the need for community participation to bring the desired change in society.

Delivering t he key note address at a workshop on creating child friendly gram panchayats, Pilot said, “We have to focus on children and give them rights and opportunities to develop into responsible citizens of the country.”

He emphasized the need for action at individual level so as to bring about the changes that we wish to see in the society.

The workshop was organised on the occasion of World Children’s Day, 30 years since the Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. The workshop was organized by the Rural Development and Panchayat i Raj Department a nd UNICEF.

Rajeshwar Singh, additional chief secretary, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj department, spoke about the need to reduce malnutrition. He emphasized the need for creating and strengthening panchayat level Child Protection Committees and the role of gram panchayats in creating a child friendly environment and children’s participation in the governance processes through formation of ‘Baal Panchayats’ and organizing ‘Baal Sabhas’.

Dr. Arushi Malik, special secretary and director, Panchayati Raj, explained the concept of child friendly panchayat and said 12 indicators have been identified for assessing the progress of the gram panchayats on these indicators.

She said that the department is piloting the initiative of child friendly panchayat with UNICEF in three blocks in Tonk district covering 129-gram panchayats and the department has taken a decision has been taken to scale-up the initiative to cover all gram panchayats in the state

Isabelle Bardem, Chief, Rajasthan Field Office, said Rajasthan was the first state to implement Panchayati Raj System in the country and it is now important to strengthen and make Panchayati Raj responsive to the needs and rights of children.

She suggested that gram panchayats need to identify at-risk children, generate demand through awareness generation on government social protection and ot her developmental schemes, link children and their families with government schemes and include children’s issues in the Gram Panchayat Development Planning process.

Pilot also flagged off the vehicles which will travel to Jaisalmer, Barmer and Tonk and promote t he c oncept of Child Friendly Panchayat and on inclusion of children’s issues in Gram Panchayat development Plans.