Article Source : Asian Age, London

Author : Asian Age, London Correspondent

Date of Issue : Oct 21 2004

Title of Article : CRY to start its operations in UK by Jan.

Details : Child Relief and You, the India-based children's charity, marked its 25th anniversary with the announcement of plans to set up a base in the UK by January 2005. "We will have a formal CRY entity in Britain by January next year to initiate fund-raising and offer tax benefits," CRY chief executive Ingrid Srinath said at the House of Lords here on Wednesday evening. "In many ways, India represents the largest problem of lack of children's right to life and education because of the sheer scale of numbers. There are 55 million children still out of school in India and government figures claim 11 million of them are on the streets. There is an urgent need to curb the growing cases of child labour and increasing dropout rates," she added.

A trust founded in 1979 with seven individuals coming together to donate just Rs 50 each, CRY believes sustainable change is possible through building grassroots models and through concerted advocacy of the basic rights of children.

Over the last 25 years, the NGO, which works in collaboration with the government machinery, has raised 1,25,00,000 towards children's health and education.

"The rights of a child are laid out in Zthe UN charter but each of us needs to help enforce that. A child's youth once lost is gone forever and education is the only tool we can provide towards a better life," said NRI parliamentarian Lord Navneet Dholakia at the CRY presentation on this issue.

Criticising the government's Sarva Saksharta Abhiyan for ignoring children between zero to six years, Ms Srinath said the campaign institutionalises inequalities because it effectively means elder girls of such families will have to stay home to take care of their siblings aged below six years.