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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Raj Thackeray tormented over ‘missing kids’ in state

Mumbai : Expressing grave concerns over the steep rise in cases of ‘missing children’ in the state, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) President Raj Thackeray has accused the state government of treating the matter casually and failing to respond to it urgently.   In an open missive on 'X' to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Raj Thackeray quoted data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) pointing at almost an alarming 30 pc increase in the number of children ‘missing’ in the state...

Raj Thackeray tormented over ‘missing kids’ in state

Mumbai : Expressing grave concerns over the steep rise in cases of ‘missing children’ in the state, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) President Raj Thackeray has accused the state government of treating the matter casually and failing to respond to it urgently.   In an open missive on 'X' to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Raj Thackeray quoted data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) pointing at almost an alarming 30 pc increase in the number of children ‘missing’ in the state between 2021-2024.   When asked for his reactions, Fadnavis told media-persons in Nagpur that he had not read the letter, but the issue raised is important and he would reply to it. Fadnavis stated that the NCRB has also provided the reasons why the kids go ‘missing’, how they return and the period, ranging from 3 days to 18 months.   Dwelling on the sufficiency of the NCRB figures, he contended that they reflect only complaints formally registered by the police and thousands of cases may never be reported.   On the ‘rescue, return and reunion’ of such missing children, he pointed to the sheer psychological trauma they may have suffered and sought to know how such child-lifter networks continued to thrive openly and blatantly.   The MNS chief targeted what he claimed was the “state’s lack of proactive measures to identify and dismantle child-begging rackets” as many juveniles can be seen begging at railway stations, bus stands, traffic signals, often accompanied by adults with doubtful authenticity.   “If some woman claims to be the child’s relative or guardian, should the government not order a thorough probe? Is it inappropriate to consider even a DNA test in suspicious cases,” Raj Thackeray demanded.   Slamming the government and the Opposition, he lamented how both sides failed to prioritise such urgent social issues in the legislature where discussions centre around partisan sparring.   The letter also mentions attempts by the Centre to coordinate with states on the ‘missing or trafficked children’, regretting how political upmanships and symbolic debates prevent meaningful action on the ground.   The NCRB said that Maharashtra has consistently ranked among states with the highest number of ‘missing children’, particularly in urban centres like Mumbai, Thane, and Pune.   Simultaneously, experts, child rights NGOs and activists have warned about trafficking networks that exploit poverty, migration and weak law enforcement and low convictions, despite official rescue missions or rehab efforts.   In his appeal, Raj Thackeray called upon Fadnavis to take concrete, visible measures rather than discussions and conventions. “Maharashtra expects decisive steps from you, not speeches. Jai Maharashtra,” he signed off.     In October 2023,Sharad Pawar red-flagged ‘missing girls-women’ This is the second major social cause by a political leader, two years after Nationalist Congress Party (SP) President Sharad Pawar had red-flagged nearly 20,000 ‘missing women and girls’ from the state between Jan-May 2023.   In the present instance, Raj Thackeray said that “behind the statistics lies a far more disturbing reality involving organised, inter-state gangs that kidnap children, physically abuse them and force them into begging rings”.   “Little kids are assaulted, made to beg and shifted across states. Groups of children disappear suddenly, and the government appears unable, or unwilling, to grasp the seriousness of what is happening,” said Thackeray in a strong tone.

How do I manage my household waste?

Updated: Oct 22, 2024

household waste

So friends, in my last week’s article, I wrote about the suffering of poor cows when they innocently and unknowingly consume plastic bags with left over food inside. These plastic bags are unwanted materials in their stomachs. Cows and all such animals have a stomach made up of four chambers. It is equipped to digest only the grasses and other vegetation or similar type of nutritious food meant for them.

Obviously, plastic is not their food. The poor cows then fall sick and are unable to carry on with there lives unless some good souls, notice the bulging bellies of these animals and take them to a veterinary surgeon to perform a surgery and take out all that plastic stuff out of their stomachs. There are such groups spread across who take care of such sick cows. There are records indicating that the vets have removed anywhere between 20 kilograms to 80 kilograms of plastic bags from cow’s stomachs. And we are responsible for this.

Another issue with plastic material lying in the garbage heap is that, this plastic does not remain contained within that heap. Being much lighter in weight, it gets carried away due to wind or rainwater. It will eventually settle in the nallahs and gutters and will flow into smaller and then larger waterbodies like rivers, creeks and estuaries, only to find its way into our oceans and seas. Lot more about plastic waste will eventually appear in this column. Furthermore, different types of flies, including the houseflies also get attracted to this garbage.

The flies that visit the garbage are also the same flies that roam around your lunch buffet and drop their offsprings on your plate. By doing so, they increase the risk of you contracting with salmonella, which causes typhoid fever, food poisoning, enteric fever, gastroenteritis, and other major illnesses. Besides flies, other animals that thrive from the garbage in and around the containers include rats and stray dogs. They have tremendous potential to spread the germs of many dreadful diseases in human population.

Apart from these animals, the rag pickers keep on visiting such garbage heaps frequently to retrieve the useful and saleable materials, article from it so that they can earn their daily bread and butter. These rag pickers are at very high risk of getting infected, and injured while handling sharp objects like broken glass bottle or sharp metallic objects. Such heaps of garbage are major sources of air pollution, which causes various respiratory diseases and other adverse health effects as contaminants are absorbed from lungs into other parts of the body.

The toxic substances in air contaminated by waste include carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane. In everyday life we identify the polluted air especially through bad odors, which are usually caused by decomposing and liquid waste items that are part of such garbage heaps.

All in all, such heaps of garbage strewn on the roadside in various parts of the city has become an eyesore for the passersby and people living in the area.

(The writer is an environment specialist. Views personal.)

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