Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)
Udupi, Feb 10: In order to facilitate a single committee to handle all cases relating to protecting women and children, all the 388 gram panchayats in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts now have surveillance committees. These committees will handle all the issues relating to protecting women and children.
In the past village level committees had been formed to stop trafficking of women and children, prohibition of child marriage, and integrated protection to children. These committees have now been dissolved and the gram panchayats had been instructed to create a single Women and Child Protection Surveillance Committee to handle all related issues.
These committees have 13 posts. Gram panchayat president (woman) will become president of the committee. Vice president will be female vice president or member of the gram panchayat. A gram panchayat woman member gram panchayat government school headmistress (if head is male, a lady teacher has to be chosen), village accountant Asha activist, beat police officer, village level heads of ICDS, woman member voluntary service committee, a male and female student from high school, representative of Stree Shakti self help centre, and panchayat development officer will be the members of the committees.
These committees have to meet once every three months. These committees have to collect details of girls below 18 years of age and male children aged less than 21 including education, residence etc. The committee members should keep interacting with police, Anganwadi, women’s self help grous, school etc. Police school, Anganwadi, women’s self help groups and other organizations should keep exchanging information and ideas about the children.
Sheshappa Usman, deputy director for women and child department, said that such committees have been formed in all the villages and the committees have to meet once e very two months, things should be exchanged with others. The committees also have to spread knowledge about illegal trafficking of women.