From Our Spl Correspondent
NEW DELHI: Nau Kadam or Nine Steps Express comprising nine children with disabilities some of them from Northeast, on Tuesday called on Union Minister of State for Rural Development, Agatha Sangma with a unique demand- allocate at least 9 percent of the GDP for Education and Health.
The bubbling children also met some other young MPs like Sandeep Dikshit (Congress), Naveen Jindal (both Congress) and Varun Gandhi (BJP)in the Parliament House. The latest initiative in a campaign spearheaded by a Christian brother to ensure quality education and basic health care for children which was kicked off in the Meghalaya last month.
Along the way they will engage with politicians and influential figures to put pressure on the government to deliver on a promise to devote nine percent of the country’s GDP to education and health.
Brother Steve Rocha, who started the campaign, said it is vital the government meets its promise to end poverty, social exclusion and discrimination. “Every 15 seconds an Indian child dies from a neonatal disease and one out of three malnourished children in the world is Indian,” he said, citing several reports.
Launched with more than 4,500 children in Delhi in 2006, the “NINEISMINE” campaign is a participatory children’s advocacy initiative to call for 9% of the Gross domestic product (GDP) to be committed to health and education. This initiative of children, schools communities and organizations is being led by Wada Na Todo Abhiyan (WNTA), a national campaign to hold the government accountable to its promise to end poverty, social exclusion and discrimination – toward meeting the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).The purpose of NINEISMINE is to put children from across the country at the center of advocacy effort – speaking in one voice to enable every child to enjoy basic health and quality education as a right. Children from vulnerable situations are provided with platforms both to keep their governments accountable to their promises and occasions that help them influence national and local policy.