Author: Child in Need Institute India

On 15^th January, 2015,  Kolkata police in collaboration with Child and Women Development Ministry, CHILDLINE Kolkata , CINI and Child Welfare Committee launched a month-long programme known as Operation Smile to track and rescue children who have gone missing in the district over the last few years, so that they can be rehabilitated or reunited with their families. The cops undertook search and rescue operations across the metro under this programme in 16 drives at railway stations, bus stands, hotels, dhabas, traffic intersections and micro-industries to locate the kids. Operation Smile, throws light to the important aspect of the horrible story of more than 1 lakh missing children per year in India.

The charter on children’s Right to Play has been developed by concerned members of the civil society to promote children’s “Rights to Play”. It sets out a vision for sports and play, aims to be a catalyst for individuals and organisations to examine, review and improve their provision for children and young people’s play and informal recreation.

With the aim to emphasize and highlight Children’s “Right to Play” CINI for the last 5 years has initiated an event of joyful and unrestricted play for half a day on a winter weekend. The event gives the children an opportunity of free mixing cutting across the barrier of class, caste, and religion. This year the Right to Play event was celebrated on 10^th January, 2015, at Rani Rasmoni Road at Dharmatala. Close to 1000 children from slums, streets, red light areas and mainstream schools took part in this event in this year. The day was celebrated with games and fun-filled activities. The children played our forgotten street games like guli danda, bicycle wheels as also participated in Bratachari and music and dance. Elite school children from Loreto, Our Lady of Providence, St. James, Mahadevi Birla Girls school, Assembly of God Church and few other schools also took part in this event. Many eminent guests were present there to grace the event and enjoyed playing with the children.

This year CINI got an rare opportunity from NCPCR to presents CINI`s 25 years experience about intervention of Sealdah Railway Station since 1989 and experience of Siliguri and Azimgunj. Babu Dey-a platform connected child turned a duty bearer made a presentation of CINI’s work on platform connected children for 25 years at Sealdah Railway children. He shared his early life of platform and his present life conditions that has been facilitated by CINI being a dweller and now as a duty bearer.

A consultative meeting with government departments and NGOs were convened by the ‘National Commission for Protection of Child Rights’ on 8^th March, 2015 at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi   on the occasion of it’s foundation day. The program titled and themed on  ‘Securing Children in Contact with Railways’ in the presence of  Honorable Union Minister of  Women & Child Development , Govt. of India  Smt. Maneka Gandhi. She launched a Standard Operating Procedure(SOP) for Children in Contact with Railways. In that event there were eminent personalities who are working in the Field of protecting children rights on the railways and the Chair Persons of SCPCR of different states, also many leading organizations who are working with these children for last decade in major Railway Station of across the India. 20 major railway stations have been identified where the SOP will be implemented, where Sealdah and Siliguri Railway Station is mentioned in the SOP where CINI is Intervening. As CINI is already working on the draft SOP and all the mentioned activities of SOP are successfully running & well monitored as per the SOP at Sealdah Railway Station, CINI got a special mention from the Minister of WCD.

A State Level Consultation with Child Protection Service Providers was conceptualised by CINI as part of the Missing Child Alert Project which is operational in 10 cross-border districts in West Bengal. It is used as a platform for facilitating learning and sharing among three key actors – West Bengal State Legal Services Authority (WBSLSA) and its district bodies (District Legal Services  Authority), District Child Protection Officers (DCPOs) and Child Welfare Committees (CWCs). The consultation witnessed significant participation with representatives from WBSLSA and DLSAs, DCPOs and CWC members from the ten districts covered under the MCA project and Kolkata. The presence of the Chairperson of the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights,Mr Ashokendu Sengupta, Honourable Justice from the Kolkata High Court, Mr Joymlaya Bagchi, senior functionaries from the Department of Women and Child Development Government of West Bengal (GoWB), such as Assistant Director, Mr Indushekhar Chatterjee and  Deputy  Secretary, Department of Women and Child Development, Mr.Bedanga Biswas enriched the proceedings. Other distinguished speakers such as Additional Director General of Police, GoWB, Mr Adhir Sharma, IPS and the Officer in Charge, Anti Human Trafficking Unit, CID ,Ms Sarbari Bhattacharya also provided unique insights. Partner organisations in the MCA project also participated. This consultation paved the way to build on available knowledge and practice through reflections on capacities and systems within the state and help evolve a collective roadmap. The consultation also paved the way for convergent action among DCPO, SLSA and CWC s so that the missing and trafficked children are able to get access to justice and free legal aid.

CINI starts to provide academic coaching support to economically deprived adolescent girls studying in government schools in South 24 Parganas, West Bengal. At the moment, one of the major focus of the Government of India is on girls’ education so as to strengthen the position of woman in society and to combat illiteracy, violation of women’s rights, early marriage, trafficking, abuse and exploitation. Keeping this in view, CINI aims to reach adolescent girls from economically backward families, who are studying in class VIII to X in government schools. The principal aim of the project is to provide academic guidance to eligible adolescent girls of class VIII to X for achieving good result in the board examination (Madhyamik) and motivate them and their parents for continuing study and opting for higher studies so as to select the right profession for them and step towards a better, independent and self sufficient life.

Every year the International Women’s Day is celebrated at CINI on March 8, 2015. The theme of the year 2015 was ‘Make it happen’. Besides celebrating the day with cultural events like dance programmes, songs, speeches, plays, we also arranged a Workshop for WLHA & CLHA (Women and Children Living with HIV and AIDS) at CINI where they learnt about their rights and various means of protecting themselves.

CINI India celebrated 41 years of dedicated service to children & women on February 1, 2015. Established in 1974, CINI has grown into a vibrant institution with various thematic divisions and units. It is guided by its mission of Sustainable development in health, nutrition, education and protection of child, adolescent and woman in need. Under the governance of esteemed pediatrician and Founder Director Dr. Samir Chaudhuri, we have been operating for the last four decades in the some of the poorest communities in the states of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. Our core activities are in the areas of Health, Nutrition, Education, Protection and Environment. We reach out to over five million populations both directly and indirectly. CINI has won the National award for Child Welfare from Government of India twice, once in 1985 and then in 2004. Considering the need of the hour and addressing the entitlement issue of the poorest of the poor people across the country, this year CINI celebrated the 41st Foundation Day in the course of a thematic panel discussion on “Children First” chaired by Sister S. M Cyril, Eminent Educationist.

The thematic discussion on Children First was centred on the challenges, opportunities and exploring ideas for accelerated actions in education, child protection and health of the girl child, thus creating child- friendly communities. The eminent speakers in the panel shared their views and thoughts on the theme and suggested actionable areas for cooperation. The key-note speakers were Dr. Rinchen Chophel, Director General, SAIEVAC – SAARC Apex Body for Children, Prof. Ashokendu Sengupta, WB State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Mr. M. Asadur Rahman, Chief, Field Office, UNICEF West Bengal, Dr. Samir Chaudhuri, and Mr. Rajib K Haldar, Additional Director, CINI.

National girl child day is celebrated every year on 24th of January. This celebration is to offer support and new opportunities to the girls in the country. It is celebrated to increase the awareness among people about all the inequalities faced by the girl child in the society. Inequality about girl child is a vast problem which includes areas like inequality in education, nutrition, legal rights, medical care, protection, honour, child marriage and so many more. National girl child day has been started as a national girls development mission by the Government of India. It enhances the meaningful contribution of the girls in decision making processes through the active support of the parents and other community members. This day was observed across many CINI centers