CHILDREN

The Karnataka High Court has upheld the new government's rule that bans the use of vehicles older than 15 years, for ferrying school children. Justice A N Venugopala Gowda passed this order rejecting a petition filed by T J Damodara, owner of a maxicab registered in 1992. According to the new rule, his 21-years-old vehicle cannot transport school children, which the petitioner said had affected his income. However the court said that the Rule 6(2) of the Karnataka Motor Vehicles (conditions for vehicles engaged in transport of schoolchildren) Act 2012, which bans the use of vehicles older than 15 years,…

"Life being very short, and the quiet hours of it few, we ought to waste none of them in reading valueless books", said John Ruskin in Sesame and Lillies in 1865. What Ruskin told us around 150 years back is still valid. Do you agree? How many of us feel happy when a specific book has made such an impression that it is etched into our souls. A school textbook, an article from a magazine, an Enid Blyton story, a Jane Austen novel or even a grandma's lullaby or anything that has helped us in comprehending the intricacies of life…

Years ago, my grandmother apparently cured her five children’s whooping cough by using natural Ayurvedic remedies. When we were kids and she was visiting us, Nani was the ‘go-to’ person for everything from upset tummies to cuts, bruises and falls. And as far as I remember, her remedies usually worked. According to my mother, “in those days, in her generation, people knew.” Now if you ask me, these days most of us don’t know. And even if we do, it feels safer applying a medicine instead of a turmeric powder and mustard oil mix on a burn. What if the…

Recognizing that accidents are one of the biggest killers of children in India is paramount to preventing thousands of hospital admissions, hundreds of deaths and disabilities every week, in children. Understanding that many of these are avoidable is important to provide a safe environment to nurture our children before they are scarred for ever. With the objective of ensuring a safe and healthy environment for our children and to enable them to lead more active lives, Dr Supraja Chandrasekar, an oncosurgeon in Bangalore and Ilaunched the Safe Children Mission. Our plan of action includes increasing awareness among caregivers, providing safety…

In 2011, the United Nations launched the Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-2020) and urged all countries to organise programmes in the name of "UN Road Safety Week" from 6th-12th May. The theme selected for this year’s campaign is "pedestrian safety" with the aim of creating awareness around the world for the safety of youth on the road. It is dedicated to the memory of Zenani Mandela, the great granddaughter of Winnie Madzikela and Nelson Mandela who was killed in a road accident on 11th June 2010. This campaign aims to spread awareness on pedestrian rights and safety which…

I stepped into a very caustic conversation some days ago. Four moms I know were having some kind of semi-heated discussion. One of them was a working women and the other three were stay-at-home mums. I believe the conversation started when one of the moms who went to work reprimanded her child for hitting another. One of the moms informed her that this was a regular occurrence. The child came down most days with the maid, who settled him down with his toys and parked herself in a corner with her phone, while the child hit other kids, bullied and…

A library is a place where a child learns on his/her own and grows. But most government run schools and other low income institutions in the country lack a library, thereby denying children an essential part of education. Pratham Books, a Bangalore based non-profit trust, that has been publishing low cost yet high quality story books for children in multiple Indian languages since 2004, hopes to make the magical world of a library a little more accessible to children. For this, it invites applications from NGOs interested in receiving a unique product called 'Library-in-a-classroom'. The 'Library-in-a-classroom' is a wall-mounted library…

“My son doesn’t drink milk,” “My child doesn’t eat vegetables,” “My daughter won’t eat anything other than biscuits..” - sounds familiar? A common complaint that most parents have is that their child doesn't eat (enough). There are even instances of parents requesting the pediatrician to prescribe some supplements or health tonics that will increase the child’s appetite. Most of the times these are not required as parents just wrongly assume that their child isn't eating enough - just because the portions children eat are too small. Keep in mind that they are kids and will not be able to eat…

A small but significant monetary gesture came from a concerned group of children from Indiranagar wanting to do something for their deprived counterparts of EWS. They approached ActionAid to doing something memorable for the deprived homeless children. Consequently, a children's summer camp 'Chinnara Loka' was planned for 28 May and 29 May, 2013.Around 35 children participated from the EWS homeless community. The two days were spent in singing, painting and games which were designed to bring out their talents. Ananth, cultural child rights activist facilitated this programme. ‹ › $(document).ready(function(){ $('.carousel .carousel-inner .item').first().attr('class', 'active item');});We, the organisers were not surprised…

When I quit full-time work to bring up the babies, I often wondered how difficult or impossible would it be to get back on the career track. Eight years and two brats have taught me how nonsensical that thought was. If you are a full-time mom (and all moms are full-time, whether working or staying at home), you have skills that are valuable in any and every work area. They just haven’t been discovered yet, or else every headhunter would be hunting for new recruits among moms. Here’s why essential, everyday mommy skills would be an asset in any job.…