Parentless

With over 11,000,000 abandoned children in India there is a desperate need for the other countries to help. However in the past it would take over a year to wade through the paperwork, corruption and politics to get it accomplished. 90% of those abandoned are girls left behind by their parents because either they can not afford to raise them or have no desire to try. Girls are often seen as a burden on a family which has resulted not only in higher abandonment then boys but higher abortion rates as well as higher infant murder rates as well.

A recent study released by the Women's and child development minister Renuka Chowdhury indicates that there is a high level of abuse India Households.

On mach 22 in New Delhi The South Asian March against Child Trafficking came to an end after marching nearly 4,000 km from Kolkata in West Bengal to Delhi. This is the largest peoples action ever taken that targets the trafficking of humans.

© UNICEF/India/2006

Getting ready to go to office

by Vikas Verma

Traveling from the streets lined with gleaming hi-tech IT offices in Bangalore – the proverbial Silicon Valley of India - to the unhygienic slum in Sirsi adjoining the K. R. Market in the heart of the city, one’s first thoughts are  – How is it possible to survive in this environment? But Ayyamma, 18, has not only survived here since her birth; she is the shining example of winning in the face of extreme adversity and poverty and is a source of inspiration for others in her locality.

© UNICEF/India/2006

A new life awaits Asmita

By Anil Gulati

Just a few months’ back Divya, Madhu and Asmita were strolling in the lanes of Bhopal searching for polybags from the city dustbins. It is like character of story on the lives of girls who live in the slums near Bhopal station. But fortunately today, all three are in school.
Divya, one of them is ten years old. She is studying in the first class of the primary school at Bajaria, a place near Bhopal railway station. Though, she and many like her call it as ‘Chotta habibya school’, in their own words. It is her first year at school; she never had been to school earlier. Thanks to the efforts of Renu, a social worker with a non governmental organisation, which runs the child welfare center for working (street) children who had motivated girls like Divya and her parents to send her to school.

© UNICEF/India/Aditi Tandon/2006

Miracle child: Recovered from a sand mound in a battered state, the day-old child undergoes treatment at Government Rajindra Hospital in Patiala city of Punjab.

By Aditi Tandon

INDIA, Patiala, 28 September 2006 – Pediatric ward of Government Rajindra Hospital is hosting a special child these days. She has no name, but if she were to have one, “Adbhut” (marvelous) would be perfect. She has just survived a fatal assault that no other child, who’s been in the world just a day, could have. Her doctors are surprised, so is the man who rescued her.

© UNICEF/India/2006

Smiles after sorrows: Bharti enjoys her day at school

By Aditi Tandon

INDIA, Chandigarh, 27 September 2006 – The day at school is long over. But Bharti, 12, is in no hurry to leave. She has some reading to do. The last test she took was fine, but not good enough. This time she must work harder to outdo her peers, who tease her for being the eldest in class and for not having a proper home.

© UNICEF/India/2006

The true heroines of AP and KN- (from left to right) - Ms. Suvarna Shasidharia - Raichur, Ms. Saraswathi – Anantpur, Ms. Shanthi- Kadappa, Ms. Nagmani- Prakasham, Ms. Priyanka- Medak, Ms. Maraiam–Hyderabad, Ms. P. Bade Bi- Kurnool and Ms. Mamatha-Kurnool.

“The True Heroines” as described by social activist and film actress Amala Annikeni were all smiling on September 23rd, 2006. At a special ceremony they were felicitated for their positive spirit and determination in life. They received a certificate; a special UNICEF bag and cash award (courtesy Mr. L. N. Reddy of Mahbubnagar district, AP)

© UNICEF/India/2006

Performance by talented children

-By Sumithra Thangavelu
Chennai – Friday, 21st July 2006 When Rajamma saw Kalvettu, a short film about a boy who suffers ill-treatment from an alcoholic father and is forced to give up school, she thought hard. Her 13-year-old daughter Saraswathi was out of school and working as a domestic help when she should have been in school.