Page 4 - Children

Children from void, voidable marriages can claim parents' properties: SC

The Supreme Court on Friday held that children born out of "void or voidable" marriages are legitimate and can claim rights in parents' properties under the Hindu Succession law. According to the Hindu law, the man and woman in a void marriage do not have the status of husband and wife. However, they have the status of husband and wife in the voidable marriage. In a void marriage, no decree of nullity is required to annul the marriage. While, in a voidable marriage decree of nullity is required. The top court's verdict came on a 2011 plea pertaining to the vexatious legal issue of whether non-marital children were entitled to a share in the ancestral property of their parents under Hindu laws. "We have now formulated conclusion, 1. A child of a marriage which is null and void is statutorily conferred with the legitimacy, 2. In terms of 16(2) (of the Hindu Marriage Act) where a voidable marriage is annulled, a child begotten before degree is deemed to be legitimate," a bench headed

Crimes against children: SC says justice is giving care, support to victims

True justice in cases of crimes against children is achieved not merely by nabbing the culprit or the severity of punishment meted out but by the support and security provided to the victim, the Supreme Court has said. A bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Aravind Kumar made the observation while issuing a slew of directions relating to the appointment of support persons under the POCSO Act. A "support person" means a person assigned by the Child Welfare Committee to render assistance to the child through the process of investigation and trial. "In crimes against children, it is not only the initiating horror or trauma that is deeply scarring; that is aggravated by the lack of support and handholding in the days that follow. "In such crimes, true justice is achieved not merely by nabbing the culprit and bringing him to justice, or the severity of punishment meted out, but the support, care, and security to the victim (or vulnerable witness), as provided by the state and all its .

Aurobindo Pharma to launch HIV drug for children in 123 countries

The pharmaceutical company will launch its HIV triple combination product for children living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries under voluntary licence from ViiV Healthcare

Mother's apprehensions can't be obstacle in child's education: Delhi HC

A mother's anxiety for her children's well being can't overemphasised but her apprehension of "psychological trauma" to them need not be made an obstacle in their education, the Delhi High Court has said. The court's observation came while dealing with an appeal by a woman against a trial court order refusing to interfere with a "joint decision" taken by her and her estranged husband to send their children to schools in the United Kingdom (UK). The mother argued the two children may suffer psychological trauma because of separation and should therefore be admitted in British School here or be sent to the same school in the UK. A bench headed by Justice Suresh Kumar Kait observed it is in the interest and welfare of a child that he is removed from "unhealthy environment of a broken home" to a place for a good opportunity of proper education and healthy growth. Based on its interaction with the children, the court observed they were keen to study abroad and were able to secure admiss

China proposes to limit children's smartphone time to max of 2 hrs per day

China's internet watchdog has laid out regulations to curb the amount of time children spend on their smartphones, in the latest blow to firms such as Tencent and ByteDance, which run social media platforms and online games. The Cyberspace Administration of China on Wednesday published the draft guidelines on its site, stating that minors would not be allowed to use most internet services on mobile devices from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., and that children between the ages of 16 and 18 would only be able to use the internet for two hours a day. Children between the ages of 8 and 15 would be allowed only an hour a day, while those under 8 would only be allowed 40 minutes. Only certain services, such as apps or platforms that are deemed suitable to the physical and mental development of minors, will be exempted. The CAC did not specify which internet services would be allowed exemptions. The restrictions are Beijing's latest efforts to attempt to limit internet addiction, a problem it views a

Coal India inks MoU with Fortis Healthcare to treat thalassemic children

Fortis Healthcare has joined hands with Coal India to treat underprivileged children suffering from thalassemia under the 'Thalassemia Bal Sewa Yojana' CSR initiative of the central public sector enterprise. An MoU in this connection was signed on July 28 at the Fortis Memorial Research Institute in Gurugram, a hospital statement said. Coal India launched the 'Thalassemia Bal Sewa Yojana' in 2017 to support the treatment of underprivileged children affected by thalassemia. In 2020, aplastic anaemia was added to the programme. According to the MoU, Coal India will provide financial assistance of up to Rs 10 lakh to eligible patients for bone marrow transplants and the treatment can be done at Fortis Memorial Research Institute. The health centre has one of the largest and most comprehensive bone marrow transplant centres in India that boasts a team of nearly 20 doctors with expertise in the treatment of all kinds of blood disorders. The Bone Marrow Transplant Centre at the hospital

Majority of 14-17 age group not aware of vaping, e-cigarettes ban: Survey

According to a survey conducted by the Think Change Forum (TCF), 96% of the children surveyed were not aware that vaping and similar electronic devices are banned in India

WHO urges members to intensify efforts towards childhood immunisation

The World Health Organization on Tuesday called for intensified efforts towards childhood immunization with a focus on reaching the 2.3 million unvaccinated and 650,000 partially vaccinated children. The WHO's South-East Asia Region complimented member countries for scaling up childhood immunization coverage to pre-pandemic level. Every child deserves to be protected against life-threatening diseases with routine immunization, said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, the regional director of WHO's South-East Asia region. "The momentum built with impressive efforts and immunization service recoveries must continue to benefit every child for a healthy and productive life," she said. The WHO and UNICEF estimates for national immunization coverage for 2022, released on Tuesday, show that in WHO's south-east Asia region the coverage rate for DPT3, third dose of diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus vaccines reached 91 per cent of the pre-pandemic level, a sharp increase from 82 per cent recorded in

Thirty children shifted to safety as fire breaks out at Rajasthan hospital

About 30 children were shifted to safety after a fire broke out at JK Lon Hospital here, officials said on Tuesday. The hospital staff noticed smoke emanating from the AC duct line of two wards where the children were admitted Monday night, they said. "Resident doctors and nursing staff immediately sounded alert and 30 children admitted to two wards were shifted to other wards of the hospital," hospital Superintendent Dr Kailash Meena said. No casualty or injury was reported in the incident, he added. Meena said the hospital staff managed to douse the fire themselves with the help of the firefighting equipment. He said a committee will be formed to investigate the matter as the children's ward was recently constructed. Necessary action will be taken if lapses are found, he added.

Children risk lives to reach school on overcrowded boats in Maharashtra

Additionally, during the monsoon season, the students often miss school as the river gets flooded, making it difficult for them to cross it

Ransomware criminals dump kids' private files online after school hacks

The confidential documents stolen from schools and dumped online by ransomware gangs are raw, intimate and graphic. They describe student sexual assaults, psychiatric hospitalisations, abusive parents, truancy even suicide attempts. Please do something, begged a student in one leaked file, recalling the trauma of continually bumping into an ex-abuser at a school in Minneapolis. Other victims talked about wetting the bed or crying themselves to sleep. Complete sexual assault case folios containing these details were among more than 300,000 files dumped online in March after the 36,000-student Minneapolis Public Schools refused to pay a USD 1 million ransom. Other exposed data included medical records and discrimination complaints. Rich in digitised data, the nation's schools are prime targets for far-flung criminal hackers, who are assiduously locating and scooping up sensitive files. Often strapped for cash, districts are grossly ill-equipped not just to defend themselves but to

23,000 street children across India being rehabilitated: Official

As many as 23,000 street children identified across the country with the help of a web portal are currently being rehabilitated, officials said on Friday. The identification process was carried out on 'Bal Swaraj' a website where information about such children is uploaded and tracked in order to rehabilitate them, a senior official said. According to officials, these children are categorised into three groups. The first category consists of children who have either run away from their homes or been abandoned by their families and are living on the streets alone. The second category comprises children living on the streets with their families. The third category includes children who live in slums and are out on the streets during the day but return to their homes at night, they said. Out of the 23,000 street children, 53 per cent stay on the streets with their families, 43 per cent stay on the street during the day and then return to their homes at night and 4 per cent live alone

Made effort to remove India from UN report on children in armed clash: Govt

The government was consistently making efforts to exclude India from the UN's annual report on the impact of armed conflict on children, the Women and Child Development Ministry has said after the country did not feature in the report for the first time since 2010. The United Nations has removed India from its annual report on the impact of armed conflict on children, citing "measures taken by the government to better protect" them. In a statement, the Women and Child Development Ministry said, "The ongoing engagement of the Government of India with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General sped up after an inter-ministerial meeting in November 2021." The meeting was attended by Secretary of the Ministry of Women and Child Development Indevar Pandey, Ministry of External Affairs, Permanent Mission of India at New York, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and Virginia Gamba, the special representative of the Secretary-General for Children and the UN officials in New Delhi. The m

Plant-based meal packages associated with lower BMI in children: Study

Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Children's Hospital explored if providing weekly plant-based snacks to families seeking food assistance

UN puts Russian forces on blacklist for killing children, attacking schools

The United Nations put Russian forces on its annual blacklist of countries that violate children's rights in conflict for killing boys and girls and attacking schools and hospitals in Ukraine, according to a new report seen Thursday by The Associated Press. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in the report to the Security Council that he is appalled by the high number of grave violations against children in Ukraine in 2022, shocked at the number of attacks on schools and hospitals, concerned by the detention of children, and troubled that some Ukrainian children have been transferred to Russia. The U.N. chief did not put Israel on the blacklist for grave violations against 1,139 Palestinian children, including 54 killings last year as supporters had hoped. Instead, he welcomed Israel's engagement with the U.N. special envoy for children in armed conflict, Virginia Gamba and its identification of practical measures including those proposed by the U.N." to protect children. Riya

'Warrior Moms' fight for their children's right to breathe clean air

An ideation and action-oriented group that goes beyond language barriers, demographic differences and geographical boundaries, Warrior Moms is a 'Mothers For Clean Air' initiative

'Many newborns dying due to loss of efficacy of antibiotics against sepsis'

Many newborns are dying because the antibiotics used to treat sepsis are losing their effectiveness, according to a global observational study which involved over 3,200 newborn babies suffering from the infection in 11 countries, including India. The study, conducted from 2018 to 2020 and co-authored by a team of over 80 researchers, found there was high mortality among infants with culture-positive sepsis (almost 1 in 5 across the hospital sites), and a significant burden of antibiotic resistance. The research, published on Friday in the journal PLOS Medicine, provides a wealth of high-quality data aimed at improving the treatment of newborn babies with sepsis. "It was very important to undertake this study to get a better understanding of the kind of infections we are seeing in newborns in hospitals, the bugs causing them, the treatments that are being used and why we are seeing more deaths," said Manica Balasegaram, Executive Director of Global Antibiotic Research and Development

Child victims of stabbing attack in France in critical but stable condition

France's president travelled on Friday to the side of families traumatised by the savage stabbings of four very young children, all said to be in stable condition after emergency surgery, while investigators worked to unravel the motives of a Syrian man taken into custody. President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte traveled together to a hospital treating three of the four children who suffered life-threatening knife wounds in Thursday's still unexplained attack in and around a play park in the Alpine city of Annecy. Macron's prime minister, Elisabeth Borne, said all four children aged between 22 months and 3 years underwent surgery and are under constant medical surveillance. Their situation is stable, she said. Government spokesman Olivier Veran, a medical doctor by training, said two of the children remain in critical condition. Most of the children were rushed after the attack to a hospital in the French Alpine city of Grenoble the first stop for Macron and his wife on

300 children rescued from Sudanese orphanage after 71 others died: UNICEF

About 300 infants, toddlers and older children have been rescued from an orphanage in Sudan's capital after being trapped there while fighting raged outside, aid officials said on Thursday. The evacuation came after 71 children died from hunger and illness in the facility since mid-April. The tragedy at the Al-Mayqoma orphanage made headlines late last month as fighting raged outside between Sudan's military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The deaths have highlighted the heavy toll inflicted on civilians since mid-April when the clashes erupted between forces loyal to Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan and RSF forces led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. About 300 children at the Al-Mayqoma orphanage in Khartoum were transferred to a safer location elsewhere in the northeastern African nation, said Ricardo Pires, a spokesman for the UN children's agency, UNICEF. Sudan's ministries of social development and health have taken charge of the children, while UNICEF has provided humanita

PM Modi's school restored to serve as centre of inspiration for children

A heritage school in Gujarat's Vadnagar where Prime Minister Narendra Modi had his initial education has been restored and is being redeveloped under project 'Prerna' to serve as a centre of inspiration for children through immersive experience, top government sources said on Tuesday. Built in the late 19th century, the school has been restored in an old architectural style by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Based on the vision of the prime minister, this "first-of-its-kind" school redevelopment project 'Prerna: The Vernacular School' is being undertaken to inspire the youth of the county to become catalysts of change, the sources said. The architectural revival and redevelopment of the old school are part of a holistic and mega redevelopment plan for the historic city of Vadnagar that traces an uninterrupted continuum of human habitation for more than 2500 years, they said. "The programme is expected to be rolled out later this year. Two students from each district of th