KOHIMA, JULY 22: In an effort to address the issues confronting children in the State and further to accomplish more in protecting children and their rights, a handbook titled ‘Budget for Children (BfC)’ in the context of Nagaland was released today at Chief Secretary’s conference hall, Secretariat, Kohima.
The handbook was formally released by minister of Social Welfare and Parliamentary Affairs, Kiyanilie Peseyie, during the interface meeting of the Social Welfare Department, Centre for Child Rights, New Delhi, North Eastern Social Research Centre, Guwahati, and State Resource Centre for Women, Nagaland.
In his address, the minister expressed hope that the handbook would help create an awareness of what Nagaland can do for its children who are the future of tomorrow.
“Budgeting is very important for achieving our action plans, but without an analysis of the budget, we will not be able to know the real picture of how much has been spent and how our children have benefited from the budget set by the government,” Peseyie said maintaining that “Our action plans should give priority to health, nutrition and education of children in order to create an environment where children can grow up safe, healthy and secure.”“The government is trying to uplift the status of children in the State. A lot of issues are being covered by the Social Welfare department and its aligned branches such as the Integrated Child Protection Society (ICPS) and the State Resource Centre for Women (SRCW) and others,” he stated.
The guest of honour and chairperson of Nagaland State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Meilemla Pongener, lamented that many changes in the society are having a disproportionate and negative impact on children.
“The healthy development of children is crucial to the future well being of any society. The rights of children should be realized so as to develop their full potential which is free from hunger, want, neglect and abuse,” she said and asserted the need to set a trend of a healthy environment for children where every child gets equal access to education, health and nutrition.
“It is the right of every child to grow up at par with other children and access services that have been farmed for them,” she said and urged all concerned stakeholders to take the children’s budget seriously in order to achieve the targeted goals.
The introductory remarks was delivered by Enakshi Ganguly Thukral, coordinator, HAQ, Centre for Child Rights, New Delhi, while Dr. Melvil Pereira presented the preliminary observations. A presentation of study findings was also delivered by Farhana Vasmin, Programme Officer, HAQ, Centre for Child Rights, New Delhi.
Earlier, the welcome address was delivered by Bano Vinito, chairperson of Nagaland State Social Welfare Board. The programme was chaired by Daisy Mezhür, Director of State Resource Centre for Women Nagaland, while the concluding remarks was presented by R Juliana Medom, Assistant Coordinator of SRCW, Nagaland.
