Mock parliament discusses key issues

The Indian Express Saturday, November 6, 2004

“Government buildings remain disabled unfriendly and are designed that way despite an act to the effect in 1991. Can we know why?” The query was put up by a member of parliament.

As usual, the minister for social welfare replied that work for the same was in progress and is being taken care of. The government is seriously looking into the matter.

This question-answer session was not a real parliament session,but a scene from the youth parliament that took place at Sherwood Academy. The mock parliament included 77 parliamentarians, 34 girls. The youth convened the parliament to discuss, debate and give priority to those issues they feel are most affecting their lives.

Talking to Express Newsline, Monika Arora, from ‘Hriday’, an NGO working on the issue of health of youngsters says they have been organising the mock parliament in different states, but for the first time this year they had called for the participation of slum children.

“This is the first time that we have invited slum children along with the school children and the response has been great. Although they knew nothing about parliament proceedings in the beginning of the day,at the end of the day the question put forward by those children were far more intelligent that those put up by children from privileged schools,” states Monika.

The youth debated fiercely on issues of effective tobacco control.

They felt that there was a need to strictly implement existing laws and amend them to prevent loopholes and make effective deterrents. They even mentioned that public places and educational institutions should be clearly defined in the text of the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act 2003, so that the administration can enforce the same strictly. Issues like female foeticide were also discussed by them.

A volunteer from ‘ASHA’, an NGO, Bobby Ramakant expressed that the students were not aware about the surrogate advertisements of these tobacco products, which are banned officially. The issue too came up for discussion. “It is good to see that students have been made aware of these decisions and that the awareness is on the rise, “ he adds.