“Child Sexual Abuse is the most heinous crime. It kills the child before it blooms. Fight back and kill the beast by breaking your silence. Lets stay united in keeping our children safe from any abuse”
JENIKA FOUNDATION
In India, a child is sexually abused every 15 minutes, according to the latest government figures. The National Crime Records Bureau Report, shows a steady rise in incidents of offences against children. Child sexual abuse has been in focus in recent months after the case of many children becoming pregnant and forced to give birth hit the headlines. India is home to the largest number of sexually abused children in the world, but there is general reluctance to talk about the topic so the real number of cases could be much higher.
According to WHO, one in every four girls and one in every seven boys in the world are sexually abused. These figures clearly show as to how serious we are with relation to the protection of the young children. To get this problem uprooted from the society every citizen must join hands together and everyone needs to realize the seriousness of this highly sensitive issue and give a push to the present legislation to work in an efficient manner.
Most children are too ashamed or afraid to report the incident of sexual abuse and don’t disclose abuse to any parent, or to any other trusted person. Children who have not been educated or sensitized about the risk or about the actions that needs to be take to protect themselves cannot be expected to have the requisite skills set to recognize the offence or possess the vocabulary needed to communicate or talk about the incident of abuse. Many families wanted to avoid the stigma of sexual abuse forcing the girls to remain silent about their experience. Even if legal actions were taken against the perpetrators by law enforcement, families still expected their daughter to forgive the offenders and forget the abuse. But many victims express the views that it is impossible for them to forgive and forget.
Child sexual abuse is the involvement of a child in sexual activity that he/she does not fully comprehend. It is a unique phenomenon the dynamics of which are very different to that of adult sexual abuse. Therefore, sexual abuse of children cannot be handled in the same way. The POCSO act takes within its fold any form of sexual abuse of children including, the inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity, the exploitative use of a child in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices.
The protection of children from sexual offences(Pocso ) Act 2012 is applicable to the whole of India. The POCSO Act 2012 defines a child as any person below the age of 18 years and provides protection to all children under the age of 18 years from sexual abuse. It also intends to protect the child through all stages of judicial process and gives paramount importance to principle of “ best interest of the Child.” The objectives of enacting the POCSO act, 2012 are to protect the children from various types of sexual offences and to establish Special Court for providing speedy disposal of cases. Before this Act, most of the sexual offences are covered under IPC, 1860. But IPC does not provide for all types of sexual offences against children and it is general legislation, it does not distinguish between adult and child victims. Sexual offence against a boy also covered under POCSO Act. The Act does not distinguish between boy and girl.
Penetrative and aggravated penetrative sexual assault, sexual and aggravated sexual assault, sexual harassment, and using a child for pornographic purposes are the five offences against children that are covered by this act. This act envisages punishing even abetment or an attempt to commit the offence against children that are covered by this act. It recognizes that the intent to commit an offence, even when unsuccessful needs to be penalized. The punishment for the attempt to commit is up to half the punishment prescribed for the commission of the offence. The act states that a sexual assault is to be considered “aggravated” under certain specific circumstances, such as when the abused child is mentally ill or when the abuse is committed by a member of the armed forces or security forces or a public servant or a person in a position of trust or authority of the child, like a family member, police officer, teacher, or doctor or a person management or staff of a hospital whether Government or private.
It makes it the legal duty of person who has knowledge that a child has been sexually abused to report the offence ; if he/she fails to do so, he /she may be punished with six months imprisonment and /or a fine.
A duty is casts on the national commission for the protection of child rights. The central government and the state government to spread awareness through media including Television, radio and the print media at regular intervals to make the general public, children as well as their parents aware of the provisions of this act. Child abuse in India is considered to be a social taboo. Most families choose to cover up such incidents. The supreme court has also raises its concern in Shankar Kisanraokhade V state of Maharashtra (2013)5 SCC546 , ‘that some adult members of the families including the parents choose not to report such crimes to the police on the plea that it was for the sake of protecting the child from social stigma and it would also do more harm to the victim.” Such narrow thinking needs to be eradicated from the roots if the future of the children is to be secured in this country. With the passing of this act, now we have a separate legislation dealing exclusively with the offence of child abuse. The present act not only categorically defines the sexual offences in detail which were not clear earlier but also makes provisions for certain stringent punishments for the accused guilty of committing any offence under this act. The act makes provisions for a child friendly procedure to be followed in child sexual abuse cases at the same time for the better implementation of the act.
In the year 2019 POCSO Act was amended and death penalty was included for sexual assault on minors. It also provides for fines and imprisonment to crab child pornography. The changes are expected to discourage the trend of child sexual abuse by acting as or deterrent due to strong penel provision incorporated in the act.
ndia, as a society, has made .tremendous studies in various , social economic and political front since independence. The economic growth of a nation during the past 2 decades has been phenomenal . In spite of all these achievements the nation is for behind in a few core area of human dignity and social justice. Among them gender injustice and violence against children are the most serious.
Enlightened public policy and intervention of social activities is highly needed to combat child sexual abuse. It remains important to remind the public that child sexual abuse and neglect are serious threats to child healthy development and that overact violence towards children, and lack of attention to their care and supervision are unacceptable. When the problem is taken up by the whole society, prevention will progress and fewer children remain at risk.
90% of child sexual abuse is preventable. It is important to talk about it. Lets raise awareness and let’s prevent child abuse by not letting it be a secret.
TEENA CHERIAN . LLM Advocate
Today’s world is a global village. In the past, the communicating and free sharing of thoughts among people were restricted by long distance, nationality and/or religion. But now, even these barriers cannot stop the flow of information and knowledge. The new world of social networking allows free sharing of thoughts.
Humans are social animals. We always like to remain in some group or another, and we prefer to follow what this group does.Well-known American psychologist, Abraham Maslow, stated in his “Theory of Motivation” that the social need of human beings is the third most important requirement after our physical and safety needs — the third tier in his hierarchy of needs. Even our self-esteem comes after this social dependence. This is the main reason billions of people use social networking to stay connected, make friends and satisfy their social needs.
It Facilitate Online Learning
The use of social media has helped the students to learn through various online learning platforms available to them. The use of YouTube to watch educational videos has helped the students to gain wider knowledge.
Access to Information
There are many groups that students can join through online platforms, that are related to their course of study, demographic, school, environment and much more. Joining this group on Whatsapp, Twitter, Facebook and others will help the students to have access to quality information as at when needed.
It helps to Gain Wider Knowledge
Social media helps to enhance student academic performance and increase their knowledge through data and information gathering. When students are been given an assignment in school, they go through various online platforms to gather information so as to find solutions to their assignment.
It helps to build Relationship
Students can get to know each other better through social media networks. It helps to bring together two or more people, where they can share their problem, and can get solved. If a student’s finds out that he or she is having a problem in a particular course, he or she can open up through chat and finds a genius who can provide a solution to the problem. Negative Effects of Social Media
It Wastes Time
Many students find it difficult to go about their normal life without making use of social media. It has been observed that student does not listen in class, they are busy chatting and reading stories online. They waste their time chatting with friends and families, instead of reading and practicing what they have learned in school.
It Causes Distraction
Many students stick to their gadget without concentrating on their study. It is a bad idea to waste away judicious time on social media platforms without gaining anything from it. Students should not be carried away by social media platforms because it will affect their academic performance.
Uncomfortable feeling / disrespect towards self
Beauty concepts are redefined by the social media. It leads to disrespect towards the beauty of each persons. Fat persons feel they are not fit and good enough . Students are easily moved by this misconcept
It causes social problems and lead to many abuses
Social media has created many social problems in the society. In these modern days, many students tend to choose online communication rather than having real time conversation, and this leads to students becoming an introvert. It will lead to unhealthy relationship and abuses in various forms like black mailing, cheating , sexual abuses etc.
It Causes Health Problems
The use of computers, mobile phones, and various gadgets to access online platforms by students may harm the user if they use it for long hours frequently. Students may be exposed to bad posture, eye strain, physical and mental stress. Too much use of education technology tools for accessing social media by students is harmful and there must be a limit.
Leads to addiction
Getting too involved in social media can lead to an addiction that inculcates bad habits. Students prefer to chat with friends for hours, and this leads to a waste of time that could have been used for studying, playing or learning new skills. It is often said that a long-term friendship or relationship is developed when people meet each other, spend time and share their experiences. But this virtual way of communicating with each other does not lead to a natural, friendly experience and hence cannot produce a healthy relationship with those friends. Also, these relationships tend to terminate easily due to a lack of personal contact.
Creates A virtual world of fantacies
The system generates a competition to make as many new friends as possible and the so-called “social quotient” of a person is decided by how many friends they have and not on how good-natured and congenial the person really is.The likes and shares for each post may count as achievement.
Social media is a playground for the new generation. They are playing teenage games but they don’t care about the rules of the game.
Due to fast modern life, there is little time for family time. Students feel bored during study times, and then they turn to social media appreciations and discussion about themselves. For that they invented selfies, and they post it 2-3 times in a day. Social media is a new playground for students. Students living with their parents in cities are unable to find a playground to connect with friends. And they saw Facebook and other social media websites for fun and joy. They are not playing cricket on Facebook but they have invented new kind of games such as watching profiles, sending friends request to unknown people, chatting with opposite sex for pleasure and fun or for time pass etc.
Advantages always outweigh disadvantages.
It depends on the judicious usage of the social media Students should get the choice to spend time socializing in an effective way. It should not hamper their school or college performance, and it should be kept in mind that social networking sites create virtual worlds that drastically differ from reality. Students should develop the cognitive and intuitive ability to analyze how much time they want to spend on social media. It is left up to the students to decide what really matters in their life and how much of this virtual life translates to real life.
Students should adopt the best practices of social media in the schools so that they can get the benefits of communication applications and technologies for their career and personal development. Their priorities should be to study and to be good citizens of future .
Tania Cherian | MA Public administration, MSW
Parenting styles are the different types of ways parents raise their children; most parenting styles are a made up of a mix of the parent’s expectations, performance demands, attentiveness to rules, and level of warmth (Psychology Glossary, 2014).
While parenting styles do influence adolescent development, adolescents themselves can influence the type of parenting style their parents use. For instance, an adolescent who always follows the rules may influence their parents to be more lenient whereas an adolescent that breaks the rules may influence their parents to be stricter with rules and discipline. There are six main types of parenting styles: attachment parenting, helicopter parenting, permissive parenting, authoritarian parenting, authoritative parenting, and uninvolved parenting. Each of these different parenting styles can influence adolescent development.
Attachment parenting is a style of caring with the intent of the parent and child forming a strong emotional bond. Parents who choose this style of parenting often believe in natural childbirth, a family bed, avoidance of corporal punishment, homeschooling and may be part of the anti-vaccination movement (McGolerick, 2011). These types of parents respond promptly to their child's needs, are sensitive and emotionally available for child at all times (McGolerick, 2011). Parents that choose this parenting style believe that a strong attachment to the parent helps the child become a more secure, empathic, peaceful human being (McGolerick, 2011). Attachment parenting instills the ability to self-soothe and manage anxiety in adolescents (Markham, 2014). Adolescents that grew up with parents who utilized attachment parenting tend to be cooperative with their parents, interact better with peers, learn more rapidly in school, have higher self-esteem, and are more flexible and resilient under stress (Markham, 2014).
Helicopter parenting is a style of parenting where the parents tend to be involved in every aspect of their child’s life to the extent of over involvement. These parents constantly interact with and often interfere with their children's lives to ensure the safety and security of their child, but this often leads to smothering (McGolerick, 2011). Helicopter parenting can cause adolescents to become dependent on their parent’s money, time, and advice (McGolerick, 2011). This style of parenting can also compromise teenagers’ autonomy, mastery, and personal growth (Marano, 2014). In some cases helicopter parenting has led to the development of narcissism, poor coping skills, and an amplification of anxiety and stress (Marano, 2014). Parents that continue to use helicopter parenting once their child has developed into an adolescent can cause their child to resent them due to feelings of humiliation. Helicopter Parents Often Interfere too Much
Permissive Parenting is a style of nontraditional parenting where the parents tend to avoid setting rules for their children. These types of parents are warm and understanding towards their children; they tend to be lenient to the extreme and avoid using discipline. Permissive parenting can lead to adolescents learning that rules are not important and that consequences are very light for misbehaviors (Kopko, 2007). Adolescents that grow up with permissive parents often have trouble with self-control, demonstrate egocentric tendencies, and experience difficulty developing good peer relationships. An Example of Permissive Parenting
Authoritarian parenting is a punitive style of parenting that is restrictive on children. Authoritarian parents are strict disciplinarians who display little warmth towards their children while exerting a high level of control of their child’s life. Authoritarian parents insist that their adolescent follow directions without argument or discussion (Kopko, 2007). Authoritarian parenting can lead to two main outcomes: adolescents may become rebellious and display aggressive behaviors toward parents and peers (Kopko, 2007) and adolescents may also become dependent on parents for directions and rules throughout their lives (Kopko, 2007). Authoritarian parents tend to raise girls who are less independent, boys who are more aggressive, and children who appear discontent and extrinsically motivated (Ginsburg & Bronstein 1993).
While there is no one parenting style that is guaranteed to ensure an adolescent develops in a healthy way there are parenting styles that are healthier than others. The authoritative parenting style is the style that is the most closely associated with healthy adolescent development (Steinberg, 2001). The authoritative parenting style offers a balance between affection, support, and an appropriate degree of parental control in managing adolescent behavior; this provides adolescents with the opportunity to develop into a self-reliant individual with a healthy sense of autonomy within parental limits (Kopko, 2007).
Adolescents in a two parent household can experience a different parenting style from each parent. While each parent using a different parenting style can be beneficial to adolescent development, it can also be disadvantageous. In households where two different parenting styles are used it is important that the parents discuss and create a set of rules and a discipline plan that they both agree with and will both enforce regardless of their chosen parenting style (Kopko, 2007). For instance both parents could decide in advance that if their adolescent breaks curfew then the adolescent’s curfew will be made earlier and the adolescent will be grounded for three days; then if the situation occurs both parents already know that they agree on the consequence and can enforce it together without arguing. It is important in the case of differing parenting styles that both parents aim for consistency in setting and enforcing rules on adolescent behaviors (Kopko, 2007).. Attachment parenting, helicopter parenting, permissive parenting, authoritarian parenting, authoritative parenting, and uninvolved parenting can each influence adolescent development in positive or negative ways. Some parenting styles like helicopter parenting can be effective during infancy through early childhood, but then prove detrimental to adolescent development if continued into adolescences. Other parenting styles like the authoritative parenting can prove to be beneficial to development from early childhood through early adulthood. Knowing which parenting style will be the most beneficial to development depends on the personality of each individual adolescent.
My Interest in Parenting Styles
I first developed an interest in the difference in parenting styles and their effect of both children and parents during my time at Southern New Hampshire University studying applied psychology. My interest was furthered when I began working as a school counselor for children both with and without special needs from kindergarten through fifth grade. It was at my employment as a school counselor that I first got to see up close the effect that children have on their parents' parenting styles and the effect that a parent's parenting style has on the child/children. I chose to write this article to share the insights I gained from my experiences as a student and a counselor on parenting styles.
Praseetha V | Clinical Physiology
Adolescence refers to the period of human growth that occurs between childhood and adulthood. Adolescence begins at the age of 10 and ends at the age of 20. Children in this stage , after the onset of puberty , become aware of their rapid bodily changes and start worrying about their physical appearance. They might experience shyness , blushing band greater interest in privacy. Later they might engaging risky behaviours such as drug and alcohol abuse , antisocial behaviours etc. This period is also characterized by increased curiosity in sex . They often confused about their role and torn between their responsibilities as growing adults and their desires as children. It is the period at which major physiological and psychological development taking place. To understand better the peculiarities of this period we must expand each letters of the word " adolescence " .
A- Ambivalent - unpredictable behaviour
D - Distancing from parents
O- Opposing tendency
L- Loneliness
E - Ego identity formation
S - Sexual feelings
C - Comparison
E -Emotional explosion
N - Narcisam - self love
C - Communication problems
E - Experimentation stage
Many of the child sexual abuses are taking place during this period . Many if them are not aware of the consequences of such violence’s against children, they need to get aware of this period well and should learn the life skills they have to be achieved during this age.
- Self awareness and empathy
- Decision making and problem solving
- Critical thinking and creative thinking
- Being Assertive
- Communication and interpersonal skills
- Coping with stress and emotions
Ms.Sandhya .VK | Counseling Psychogist
1. There is a positive and negative impact of social media on society. Social media has revolutionized the way people communicate and socialize on the web. There is positive effect on business, politics, socialization as well as some negative effects such as cyber bullying, privacy and fake news.
2. Social networking sites such as facebook, my space, twitter, gaming sites and virtual worlds such as club penguin, second life video sites such as youtube and blogs. Such sites offer today youth a portal for entertainment and communication and have grow exponentially in recent years. For this it is important that parents become aware of nature of social media.
3. The social media usage of school and college students has the potential to affect their grades, social - skills and time - management skills.
4. People spent a lot of time on socal media. A number of studies have found associations between increased social media use and depression, anxiety, sleep problems, eating concerns and suicide risk.
5. S. 67 A and S. 67 B of Information Technologies Act provides for prosecution of pronography and child pronography. In case of the later POCSO Act. 2012 may also be invoked. Inter actions of people with unknown identifies easily indulge in the late speech or disrespectful manner. While during face to face interaction and individual may think twice before passing any such moments.
6. As mentioned that unknown online users may indulge in aggressive or offensive behaviour, kids may think if such aggression or offensive is committed in real situation. This may result in social distrust towards the unknown others.
7. Cyber bullying is one of the often cited dangers of social media. It occurs when a person uses sites like facebook and other.
Bindu. M. A | Advocate
“You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of its women”
Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru
Women Empowerment itself elaborates that Social Rights , Political Rights , Economic stability , judicial strength and all other rights should be also equal to women. There should be no discrimination between men and woman
According to the United Nations women’s empowerment mainly has five components:-
• According to the United Nations, women’s empowerment mainly has five components;
• Generating women’s sense of self-worth;
• Women’s right to have and to determine their choices;
• Women’s right to have access to equal opportunities and all kinds of resources;
• Women’s right to have the power to regulate and control their own lives, within and outside the home; and
• Women ability to contribute in creating a more just social and economic order. Thus, women empowerment is nothing but recognition of women’s basic human rights and creating environment where they are treated as equals to men.
Swami Vivekananda, one of the greatest sons of India, quoted that, “There is no chance for the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved, It is not possible for a bird to fly on only one wing. ” Therefore, the inclusion of “Women Empowerment’ as one of the prime goals in the eight Millennium Development process. Empowering women to participate fully in economic life across all sectors is essential to building stronger economies, achieve internationally agreed goals for development and sustainability, and improve the quality of life for women, men, families, and communities
Social Women Empowerment A critical aspect of social empowerment of promotion of gender equality. Gender equality implies a society in which women and men enjoy the same opportunities, outcomes, rights and obligations in all spheres of life.
Educational Women Empowerment It means empowering women with the knowledge, skills, and self-confidence necessary to participate fully in the development process. It means making women aware of their rights and developing a confidence to claim them.
Economic and occupational empowerment It implies a better quality of material life through sustainable livelihoods owned and managed by women. It means reducing their financial dependence on their male counterparts by making them a significant part of the human resource.
Legal Women Empowerment It suggests the provision of an effective legal structure which is supportive of women empowerment. It means addressing the gaps between what the law prescribes and what actually occurs.
Political Women Empowerment It means the existence of a political system favoring the participation in and control by the women of the political decision-making process and in governance. Laws and women empowerment- Provisions made under the Constitution of India such as: Right to equality under Article 14 of the Indian Constitution guarantees to all Indian women equality before law; Equal pay for equal work under Article 39(d), guards the economic rights of women by guaranteeing equal pay for equal work; and Maternity Relief under Article 42, allows provisions to be made by the state for securing just and humane condition of work and maternity relief for women.
Acts like the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, prohibits the request, payment or acceptance of a dowry. Asking or giving dowry can be punished by imprisonment as well as fine; Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, provides for a more effective protection of the rights of women who are victims of domestic violence. A breach of this Act is punishable with both fine and imprisonment; Sexual Harassment of Women at Work Place (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2013, helps to create a conducive environment at the workplace for women where they are not subjected to any sort of sexual harassment.
Panchayati Raj Institutions As per the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, all the local elected bodies reserve one-third of their seats for women. Such a provision was made to increase the effective participation of women in politics.
Women’s Reservation Bill: It is a pending Bill in India which proposes to reserve 33% of all seats in the Lok Sabha and in all State Legislative Assemblies for women. If passed, this Bill will give a significant boost to the position of women in politics.
Conclusion: Empowering women socially, economically, educationally politically and legally is going to be a Herculean task. The idea of women empowerment might sound hard by the yard, but by the inch, it is just a cinch. All we need is a concentrated effort focused in the right direction that would rest only with the liberation of women from all forms of evil. Helps the women empowerment and make the world a better place to move forward on the path of inclusive partnership and the world. This means to increase happiness for families and organizations where women make a difference
‘There is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women.”
- Kofi Annan
Submitted by | Adv Jaimole PA