Malnutrition ignored in party manifestos: CRY

 

But promises to tackle the issue have not been reflected or even gained a mention in the manifestos of most political parties in  this election season, says CRY – Child Rights and You, an NGO. It approached 10 major political parties for inclusion of the issue in their manifestos but “only five have mentioned it in their manifestos,” CRY’s recently released analysis says.

In the report,  Puja Marwaha, CEO, CRY, says,  “Children constitute one third of the country’s population, yet they remain one of the most neglected segments by our political parties, because they do not form a vote-bank. It is disappointing to see that grave issues like malnutrition do not even gain an adequate mention in their manifestos.”

As a part of its election advocacy campaign ‘Vote for Child Rights’ CRY had presented their charter of demands to over 170 representatives of top political parties and urged them to put emphasis on child right issues in their manifestos and also shared with them the status of the children in India report .  But it regrets that “Children’s issues seem to be on the back burner yet again. Child right issues constitute on an average only 11% of the content of the manifestos.”

Besides, the CRY’s analysis points out that a comprehensive perspective on children is lacking across parties, with some focusing on early childhood, others on protection issues, and  still others only on education and skill development.

(Reporting by Ranjita Biswas)