Distressed kids: HRD’s answer is a Children’s Commission

Commission after commission has marked the new HRD Ministry’s agenda and now there’s a new one, the National Commission for Childr...

Commission after commission has marked the new HRD Ministry’s agenda and now there’s a new one, the National Commission for Children (NCC).

Ostensibly to enforce children’s rights and safeguard the interests of 400 million children below 18, the HRD Ministry is fine-tuning a Bill which will pave the way for setting up the NCC in New Delhi. And, not just that, a State Commission for Children in each state.

The Bill is scheduled to be tabled in the winter session of Parliament. Officials say that the groundwork was done by the NDA government but the new Bill provides for more teeth, a wider reach and members with more clout.

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The draft proposes that a former or retired judge of the Supreme Court (or a person of equal eminence) head the national commission—with six child-rights experts as members—and a serving or retired High Court judge head the state commissions.

According to the draft Bill, the Commission will:

• Recommend remedial measures after examining all factors that ‘‘inhibit the enjoyment of rights’’ of the most vulnerable children affected by terrorism, communal violence, domestic violence, IV/AIDS.

• Suggest ways to improve the condition of children in need of special care and protection, including children in distress.

• Conduct investigations and call for witnesses suo motu.

The Ministry, evidently, is planning the commission on the lines of the NHRC and not so much on the lines of the National Commission for Women, which was created in 1996 in the Centre and was also to be replicated in all state capitals. Till date, only 20 State Govermments have set up their Women’s Commissions.

Ritu Sarin

Ritu Sarin is Executive Editor (News and Investigations) at The Indian Express group. Her areas of specialisation include internal security, money laundering and corruption. Sarin is one of India’s most renowned reporters and has a career in journalism of over four decades. She is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) since 1999 and since early 2023, a member of its Board of Directors. She has also been a founder member of the ICIJ Network Committee (INC). She has, to begin with, alone, and later led teams which have worked on ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks, Swiss Leaks, the Pulitzer Prize winning Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, Implant Files, Fincen Files, Pandora Papers, the Uber Files and Deforestation Inc. She has conducted investigative journalism workshops and addressed investigative journalism conferences with a specialisation on collaborative journalism in several countries. ... Read More