Kids' issues form minuscule of questions in legislature

The government and the parties focused entirely on stepping up health infrastructure in the state, besides feeding the poor, during the pandemic.

Due to this, political leaders hardly found time to debate and discuss other relevant issues such as malnutrition, as also the education, health and rights of children.

Even though the legislature met five times in 2020-21, discussions on education, rights and health of children took a backseat compared to the previous years, according to a finding by the Karnataka Child Rights Observatory (KCRO) — an umbrella organisation of child rights NGOs in Karnataka.

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In the backdrop of the winter session of the legislature in Belagavi from Monday, an analysis of the last five sessions shows that the discussions on these topics have come down considerably.

“The total number of questions pertaining to children in the Assembly was only 4.57%. Last year, the same stood at 5.4%. Out of the 7,491 questions that were asked during this period, only 342 pertained to children,” the report said.

Similarly, the Council witnessed a slump in the percentage of questions pertaining to children.

“Out of the 5,289 questions, only 266 were about children and their rights accounting for just 5% of the total questions that were asked,” the report said.

Council chairperson Basavaraj Horatti has assured the child rights bodies that the House would deliberate more on children-centric issues in the coming days.

However, a few legislators have made continuous efforts to draw the government’s attention to child rights.

Congress members Sowmya Reddy, N A Harris and JD(S) member H D Revanna have asked the maximum number of questions in the Assembly in this regard.

While Sowmya has asked 11 questions, Harris and Revanna have asked 10 questions each pertaining to child rights.

Mahantesh Kavatagimath, N Ravikumar of the BJP and U B Venkatesh (Congress) have asked the maximum questions in the Upper House on children’s issues.

Kavatagimath stood in the first place with 36 questions, Ravikumar asked 14 questions, followed by Venkatesh with 13 questions in the last five sessions, the KCRO analysis shows.

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