Say NO to child sexual abuse

Nishtha Desai defends victims of travelling paedophiles through Children's Rights in Goa. Here's her story…

Taking up the cause
Being a lecturer and also interested in research, I was led to explore the issue of travelling sex offenders. The more I researched the subject, the more I felt the need to get actively involved in a programme to prevent the institutionalisation of tourism related child sexual abuse.

Fighting for their rights
Children's Rights in Goa (CRG) is involved in child protection and the advocacy of children's rights. Its activities are exclusive to the coastal belt of North Goa. Children's Rights in Goa has three core programmes:

1) Child Empowerment Programme through which it works directly with children in the north coastal belt;
2) A Campaign Unit to spread awareness on the need to protect children from abuse or exploitation at the local level;
3) A Child Protection Cell to manage cases of abused children referred to CRG, and to assist child victims seeking justice through the legal system.

In addition, there is a documentation unit and is involved in capacity building of different stakeholders such as police, teachers, hotel staff etc.

Children are the future
It would help if CRG could forge links with the corporate sector and organise for the vocational training of older children, resulting in better employment opportunities. Giving children the opportunity to look outside the confines of hawking and working in shacks is very important so that they understand that there are other vocations they can get into.

CRG observes India's ratification of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child by organising a Bal Mela every year on 11 December. The objective of the Mela is to provide a platform for the participation of children from different socio-economic backgrounds from the Child Activity Centres and the formal schools.

Changing laws
The Goa Children's Act provides for the adoption of a child friendly tourism code by the Tourism Department and the tourism industry. CRG participated in the drafting of the Goa Children's Act making significant contributions to the section on Child Abuse and Trafficking.

Today Goa is the only state in India to have the Act. It is a comprehensive law that attempts to make the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child legally enforceable; guaranteeing children's rights to survival, development, participation and protection.

On 4 June 2006, members of the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) took a pledge to adopt the Child Friendly Tourist Code developed by TTAG office bearers. We felt that this was a very significant step.

Vigilant adults, safer children
Numerous complaints have been made to the police since the launch of the campaign. Interestingly, CRG has received a number of complaints from tourists, who are extremely disturbed when they witness fellow tourists engaging in inappropriate behaviour with children.

CRG also believes that the Goa Children's Act has to be implemented in letter and in spirit for it to transform children's lives. All members of civil society, especially children, need to be aware of the provisions of the Act so that they can ensure that children's rights are not violated with impunity, as is the case today.

India's billionaire list doubles

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani is once again the wealthiest person in India. The net worth of the promoter of the largest listed Indian company is put at $32 billion, an increase of 54 per cent from nearly $21 billion last year, according to a Forbes report.

"Trailing behind him are Lakshmi Mittal (Arcelor Mittal) with a net worth of $30 billion, up 46 per cent from $20.5 billion, and Mukesh's estranged brother, Anil Ambani, whose net worth of $17.5 billion, 40 per cent, higher than before, put him in third place," it said. A rebounding stock market that gained two-thirds in the past year and an economy growing at 6 per cent have boosted the net worth of India's richest people. The combined net worth of India's 100 richest people is $276 billion, almost a quarter of the country's GDP.

"Last year, there were only 27 billionaires on the India Rich List. This year, the number has almost doubled to 52, just two short of what India had at the peak of the stock market boom in 2007," according to the Forbes report.

Though the top 10 positions remain largely unchanged, there are some shifts in fortunes across the list. Sunil Mittal, chairman of Bharti Airtel, has moved down from Number 4 to Number 8 and Wipro chairman Azim Premji has moved up to Number 4 position.

"The Ruia brothers (Essar group) with a net worth of $13.6 billion have made it to number 5 this year. Adi Godrej has moved out of the top 10 to the number 12 position. Savitri Jindal, nonexecutive chairwoman of O P Jindal Group, at a net worth of $12 billion this year has made it to number 7 on the list she is one of only six women on the list," the Forbes report said.

The richest newcomers are two brothers from Torrent Power - Sudhir and Samir Mehta, ranked 23 at $2.02 billion. Another notable mention is Nandan Nilekani who has stepped down from Infosys board and is now a part of government. He ranks 43 with a net worth of $1.25 billion. Southern India's TV king Kalanithi Maran, ranked 20, almost doubled his net worth to $2.3 billion from $1.2 billion.