Gravittus Foundation and UNICEF organised a roundtable conference on child health and development in Pune

Pune: The Gravittus Foundation (an initiative by Usha Kakade) and UNICEF hosted a roundtable session with the goals of raising awareness about child health & development and debating next steps in the field.

Child well-being, youth involvement in water management, and youth literacy were important themes of this year’s conference. The ‘Good Touch Bad Touch’ campaign, created by Usha Kakade, founder and president of the Gravittus Foundation, was well received by all the dignitaries in attendance. This programme is helpful in reducing instances of abuse and violence throughout the population.

UNICEF Maharashtra’s Chief of Field Office, Rajeshwari Chandrasekar, and Dr. Neelam Gorhe, Deputy Chairperson of the Maharashtra Legislative Council, opened the conference. Attendees included prominent representatives of the arts community, social justice advocates, and concerned citizens from all walks of life. Included among them were Dr. Vidya Yerwadekar, Pro Chancellor of Symbiosis International University and Principal Director of Symbiosis Society; Dr. Medha Kulkarni, National Vice President of the BJP Mahila Morcha; Dr. Avinash Bhondwe, Former State President of the Indian Medical Association; Dr. Sanjay Haldikar, Writer & Director of the Child Theatre; Dr. Amita Phadnis, Child Specialist  Officials from throughout the world gathered to discuss the topic’s significance and examine its worldwide influence. As a follow-up to the free-flowing discussion, a strategy for raising public awareness of the issues was developed.

Using resources from UNICEF and the Gravittus Foundation for Child Rights and Development, Dr. Neelam Gorhe suggested statewide implementation of the “good touch, bad touch” campaign by the state’s department of child welfare and education. Gorhe said that the Juvenile Justice Act and other child protection initiatives have to be translated into Marathi.

Children’s rights, according to Rajeshwari Chandrasekhar, include the following four categories: the right to life, the right to safety, the right to take part, and the right to grow. She argued that every kid has a fundamental right to the conditions necessary for his or her birth, nourishment, health, and cleanliness. According to our data, just around half of the females who start Grade I really finish it. For this reason, she said, Unicef is launching a reading campaign.

Usha Kakade, founder-president of Gravittus Foundation said, health and development, children’s literacy and youth participation in water management were the primary discussion points in the conference. Four lakh children have been reached so far under ‘Good Touch, Bad Touch’ initiative by our foundation. Though the stories of abuse were traumatic, we were able to help them. We will now take this message ahead by holding conferences in Solapur, Kolhapur and Nagpur in three months with the help of Unicef, Kakade said.

Amitabh Gupta mentioned the importance of child friendly police stations. He said, our laws and syestems are sufficiant but we have problem with lack of information network. Farah Khan said, Films are more influencial medium to aware the people. We can take advantage of this medium for awaring the child rights and theri problems too. Padmini Kolhapure focused on parenting. Laxminarayan Tripathi urged that UNICEF must have to consider the promblems of transgenders.

Dr. Amita Phadnis emphasis on good parenting, mental welness and nutritions. Dr. Vidya Yerwadekar said that every child has to teach to respect the girls. Parents should communicate with schildersn openly and give good time to them. Sanjay Haldikar shared his experiences and mentioned the importance of street play for creating awareness. Advocate Divya Chavan appealed for child friendly courts in India.

Jugnu Gupta, Arun Khore also put their views on the subject. A film screening was also conducted, elaborating on the rights of children to survival, development, protection, and participation. Swati Mohapatra, communication specialist, UNICEF, Mumbai, facilitated the conference. Leena Saldanha compared the conference. Sanghmitra Khore gave a vote of thanks.