Wednesday, 24 November 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
Usha Negi questions fewer admissions under RTE & alleges no action on religion conversion of poor children and illegal Madrasas
The BJP leader and former chairperson of the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) Usha Negi has slammed the state government for the negligence of the schemes associated with children welfare in Uttarakhand. In a letter written to the chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, Negi said that the commission was working on several projects related to children welfare during her tenure till May but now there is no substantial progress in any of these projects due to lack of proper monitoring by the government. She said, “Over 50 per cent of seats under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act are presently unoccupied in private schools in the state due to lack of awareness among people. The commission had also taken action against several missionary schools for religious conversion of poor children during her tenure but nothing is being done on this matter at present despite several of such schools being active across the state. Also, nothing is being done to verify illegal Madrasas in the state.“
She claimed that over 2,000 cases of sexual exploitation against children were registered during her tenure in the commission and she took stringent actions on such matters but reportedly, no concrete action is being taken against such cases at present. The Women Empowerment and Child Development (WECD) department is yet to take a decision on making a child data bank along with providing unique ID numbers to children up to 12 years to protect them from crimes, stated Negi. She said that the commission also issued orders to tackle education and health issues of disabled children and took action to provide them with the benefits of various welfare schemes but they are no longer receiving such benefits. The ex SCPCR Chairperson said that several of such projects were in progress during her time in the commission but now there is no substantial development in the projects. She has appealed to the CM to issue necessary orders regarding the matter to provide maximum benefits to children.
