Chennai: Lending an ear to the problems of children in the state, Tamil Nadu State Planning Commission will include consultations of children in its forthcoming 12th five year plan, a senior official said.
“We have only received consultations from elders till now. But, this time, we will take consultations from children too. Through UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund), we will get to know what kind of programmes will benefit children better, since they have direct inputs from children,” Santha Sheela Nair, Vice Chairperson, Tamil Nadu State Planning Commission told reporters here.
As for the preparation of the draft of the next plan, she said, “We are preparing the plan. Once they are circulated among all departments and come back with inputs, we will finalise the draft under the Chief Minister.”
The plan will have a separate 'Working Group on Children's Rights,' will focus on drinking water, sanitation, security, trafficking, health, rights, education and about sexual abuse, she said.
Asked about the broader priorities of the plan, Nair said agriculture, health and industrial growth were major ones.
Earlier, she released the UNICEF's 'The State of the World's Children 2012: Children in an Urban World.'
Going by the report, Tamil Nadu has over 69 lakh children under six years of age and 48 per cent of them are living in urban areas. The slum population in Chennai is fourth in the country, while Tamil Nadu (excluding Chennai) has 11 to 12 lakh poeple in slum areas.
India has over 50,000 slums and 70 per cent of them are concentrated in Maharashtra (35 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (11 per cent), West Bengal (10 per cent), Tamil Nadu and Gujarat (seven per cent each).
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