Our Correspondent
Imphal, July 17 (EMN): Manipur Social Welfare Minister Nemcha Kipgen has urged the central authorities to extend necessary support for the children living with HIV/AIDS in the north eastern state considering the day to day grievances of the community.
Minister Nemcha said there are more than 2811 children living with HIV/AIDS and 1450 are on ART. But most of them are from incapacitated families and are very much eligible for the sponsorship programme.
Nemcha Kipgen was delivering her speech at the National Conference of Ministers in Charge of Women and Child Development at Le Meridian Hotel, New Delhi on Tuesday, official sources reaching here said.
Union Minister, Women and Child Development (WCD), Government of India, Maneka Gandhi Minister of State, Dr. Virendra Kumar, Ministry of WCD graced the conference as the chief guest and guest of honour respectively and Ministers in charge of WCD from all the states and UTs were also part of the conference.
Women Safety, Child Safety, Welfare and Adoption and POSHAN Abiyaan, PMMVY, ICDS were the topics discussed during the conference.
Making it a point to highlight all these topics in Manipur’s context, she stated that Manipur has effectively started implementing the Women Helpline, with nearly 266 cases have received in the past few months where 95% of the cases have been solved since its launch a year back.
To ensure women safety, a specific scheme for imparting self defense classes to all female students and young women from class VI onwards should be incorporated. Peer group can also be formed to share experiences emotionally and financially for the marginalised women in the localities.
Drawing the attention of the Union Minister Maneka Gandhi, Nemcha expressed that there is a rise in POCSO and Child trafficking cases.
Though the guidelines provide for village child protection committees, there is an urgent need to strengthen them, financially and empowering with authoritative powers.
It is also essential to have separate specialised institutions for temporary reception of these children and a long term economic and educational facilities for these categories of children with the technical and financial support of state and central governments.
