By Wani Naseer
Youth is considered as the great asset of any country & in case of India has more than 50% of its population below the age of 25 and more than 65% below the age of 35. Taking care of this great proportion of population should be the priority of the nation as there is a great danger of this asset turning into a liability if underestimated or under-planned. Large scores are holed up into the juvenile delinquency acts like Morbid drinking, rapes, murders, burglary, Social Banditry or become the easy victims of Child labour or domestic violence.Kashmir also has a very tangible population of Youth & in the recent past they are largely getting engaged into the various unsocial & pathological activities due to lots of Social, political & other factors. But I would like to target the most common factor i.e poverty. The juveniles belonging to poor families have proven to be the easy target of these unsocial & criminal activities. And this thing has caught a wild fire in the recent past & the govt is failing to tackle this situation. There are very limited welfare schemes to benefit such fertile, juvenile but poor strata which can help these poor cocoons to overcome this holocaust at the very start of their life. One of the great initiatives of the government to overcome this menace is ICPS & few more affiliations mentioned towards the end.
“ICPS” a great Initiative
Before we discuss about the ICPS let’s first know what does “ICPS” stand for? ICPS is integrated child protection scheme.
This scheme is governmental sponsored scheme implemented by the Government of India in order to help and to make sure the security of the children.
This scheme was formed in the year 2006 and was implemented in 2009,across the all states of the country except Jammu and Kashmir all know about the state j&k,our state is conflict zone and this conflict had a devastating impact on the children’s live,but the Government of Jammu and Kashmir didn’t show any intent to implement this programme in the state, untill the year 2017.
In the year 2008 valley witnessed a mass uprising, street protests and stone pelting on the security forces was a regular process, these protests were mostly joined be the minors,
And in the absence of ICPS these children/minors who were now accused because of participation in those protests were tired in the courts, and were often lodged in jails and were being kept in jails with criminals, though they were ought to be sent to the juvenile homes.
It was only possible if ICPS would have been there.
There is a famous Persian phrase “Dair Aayad Drust Aayad”
Finally this the department of ICPS got life in the year 2017.
Icps is based on the three pillars and these are District Child Protection Unit DCPU, Child Welfare Committe CWC and Juvenile Justice Board JJB.
Introduction of DCPU: every District should have a separate DCPU,
This DCPU coordinates and implements all child rights and protection activities at District level,there are total 11 employees headed By District child protection officer.
Introduction of CWC: every district should have CWC ,this committe is competent authority to deal with the children who are in need of care and protection, and children who are in conflict with law.
CWC consists of 5 members headed by chairperson.
Introduction of JJB: it is also called a “state actors” Juveniles accused of a crime are brought before the JJB.
These all three units are supposed to work in coordination to ensure the proper security of children who are in need of care and protection “CNCP”. and who are in conflict with law “CCL”
Who are CNCP And CCL.
Children are born intelligent however due to multiple factors many children adopt behaviors which are defined as delinquent and sometimes being in conflict with law,These behaviours range from emotional outburst,pretty thefts,substance abuse violent or Aggressive behavior to more serious types of crimes,
These behaviors are often learned early in life,however parents, family members and others who care for children can help them to learn to deal with emotions without using violence.But their are thousands of children who are not getting a good care and protection from their families,and relatives due one or other reasons, Hence they become CCL or CNCP.
Children who are orphan,
Destitute, Neglected,
Street children,
Working children,
Abused children
Children engaging in substance abuse,
Children who are victims of commercial sexual exploitation and Trafficking,
Differently abled children.
The department has started a sponsorship program for the children who are orphans or living in a destitute conditions,under this programme a child is getting Rs 2000 monthly for his/her education,but only few numbers are being getting benefited by this sponsorship program,Government should increase the funds so that most children can get benefit by this program.
The department had taken an arduous task of stopping the menace of children labour from last one year,it is a much needed step towards a better society and safeguarding of future of children caught in this dirty web of money, parental greed and poverty,so far many children have been apprehended who were doing menial jobs like hawkers,bus conductors and waiters in various tea stalls and dhabas,we talked and tried to counsel these children and their parents and assured them Government sponsored fund that will be provided to such cases but no such children has received any monetary assistance and their parents are compelled to send them again to do their jobs.
Youth is the building material of a nation & government should leave no stone unturned to shape it into a great architecture.
Wani Naseer is working in the department of ICPS J&K , can be reached at waninaseer59@gmail.com
