Children to have say in XII Plan draft

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu planning commission is lending an ear to children while drafting the XII Plan, according to Vice-Chairperson of State Planning Commission Santha Sheila Nair.Addressing a press conference to release Unicef’s ‘State of The World’s Children Report - 2012’, she said that the state was taking steps to address children’s rights, education, health and labour issues and was providing a space for children’s representation by taking in their inputs for plan formulation.She also highlighted that the biggest challenge faced by the state was stateless and paperless migrant children who faced the threat of trafficking.She also said that there was a need for civil society to work in urban slums to provide physical security to vulnerable children.Nair said, “The indicators relating to children living in cities and towns on wealth, health, nutrition, sanitation, safe water and education are generally better than those in villages. But the data unmasks the deprivation and exclusion faced by children of the urban poor and often their indicators are worse than those who live in villages.” The slum population in Chennai is rated to be fourth largest in the country. “About 87 lakh people live in slums across TN of which Chennai alone has 11 to 12 lakh,” said Dr Satish Kumar, chief of Unicef state office for Tamil Nadu and Kerala.