Bal Mitra Mahapanchayat 2006
	Bal Mitra Mahapanchayat 2002

19-20 March 2004, Bal Ashram ,Virat Nagar

As a great writer once wrote, “Child is the father of man” which rightly means that proper nurturing of childhood giving the ‘Child” enough scope for physical and mental development. However, in reality the scenario in many countries including India is in contrary to the dictum since children ranging from one to six crores are toiling their way out for their sustenance. In this context, one of the effective things, which can be planned and implemented, is the participation of children themselves to voice their rights and to make their livelihood child friendly.

A milestone in process of Bal Mitra Gram is the ‘Bal Mitra Mahapanchayat’ where the elected children from different villages from various states along with the village President assemble in one place and elect the National level Bal panchayat leaders. This is done to forge a sense of leadership, capacity building and discuss the various problems and impediments that affect the children’s education. The event will be taking place this year at Bhopal on the 19 and 20 of March where one can witness the whole process of child participation in its most efficient form.

Election process and Campaigning

Children from all the eight states were keen to contest for the various posts. The nomination for the various posts was done with the help of the activists who finalized the children for the contest. Encouragement was given to the girls to contest the election

All the contestants were given three minutes for placing their views and their agenda before the gathering. This was done to familiarize the contestants with the voters and know about their respective plans. Seventeen children were nominated for the post of Sarpanch Ajay, Indu Sharma, Jyoti, Ashraf, Shahana, Shweta, Veena, Shravan Kumar, Rajkumar, Vikram, Mansa, Santosh Kumar, Tribhu Mishra, Santosh Kumari, Snehalata, Teekam Chand, Om Prakash Guha, Sunita, Seema Kumari

The campaigning for the election started formally after the candidates had given their speech and presented their manifesto. The candidates then personally went and spoke to the children from various states and convinced their seriousness. The campaigning was not only restricted inside the Vidhan Sabha but also continued in full swing after dinner in the residential place. Children formed groups and went around to various rooms to campaign amidst sloganeering and cheer shouts. The activists were feeling happy that their children were contesting and they encouraged the campaigning along with the children. The campaign went until the midnight and strong opinions were formed in the minds of the children for whom they should vote and which post they should vote.

On the Election Day the mood was set in a pleasant way among the children and they were ready to cast their votes to their favorite choices. A special bonus for them awaited when noted film actress Nandita Das appeared and agreed to supervise the whole election process. The specialty of the election was the whole process was done in a most democratic way where there were no discrimination of any sort and opportunity was given to all, more the voting also reflected this where ballot boxes were used as same as in general election. Before the election started, Mr. Kailash Satyarthi summed up the importance of the election where this step later on would be a milestone in the whole child participation process of the country. One forty three children cast their votes in the election and eight persons did the counting in one hour under the supervision of Ms. Nandita Das.

Declaration

Ms. Nandita Das declared the result and the following has declared as elected:

The elected Sarpanch thanked all the voters and others present in the Vidhan Sabha and assured that he and his team would work for the eradication of child labour and requested all to give their cooperation in this regard.

Experience Sharing- Children’s parliament members

Members of Bal Panchayat coming from different parts of states highlighted the achievement while making their respective BMG.

Santosh (Jaipur)
“We managed to enroll a significant number of non-school going children in schools. Now we are trying to upgrade our school form 8 th to 10 th standard”.

Vikram ( Maharashtra)
“We exerted pressure on Aganwadi activist to come to our village on a daily basis and consequently she has started coming daily. We are pursuing our case to enhance our school from primary to secondary level with the educational department”.

Sunita ( M.P.)
“We liberated 20 children from labour and enrolled in schools”.

Om Prakash (Rajasthan)
“Our demand to provide toilets to the school was taken up seriously by the adult panchayat and at present we have new toilet constructed for our school”.