Bengaluru: Chief minister Siddaramaiah was in a tough spot as he faced tough questions from children from various parts of the state, who were in Bengaluru to attend the Children’s Parliament held on Tuesday.
The children asked questions on caste bias, female foeticide, child trafficking and the Devadasi system and child marriages.
A student named Bharat, who asked about Siddaramaiah’s views on growing incidents of child trafficking and existence of the Devadasi practice in the state, candidly reminded Siddaramaiah that he had not replied to his question.
Siddaramaiah stated that the government was taking enough steps to check incidents of child marriage but Bharat intervened saying he had not asked about child marriages but about child trafficking. CM smilingly said that he was about to reply his question.
“The state government is keeping tabs on child trafficking cases but as far as the Devadasi practice is concerned, there is a high degree of superstition among people in our state. We need to get rid of such superstitions through awareness. The state government is planning various awareness campaigns against such practices,” he said.
When a student asked about child malnutrition, CM said, “Yes, we have failed to some extent in tackling malnutrition. We will definitely pull up our socks up to tackle this problem. I will right away give directions to officials to take this issue seriously.”
CM was also asked about the failure to tackle sale of drugs and liquor in the vicinity of schools to which he replied: “Such incidents are reported only in Bengaluru city and not in any rural area. I have certainly taken this very seriously. I am personally pained over such incidents,” he said.
When asked about creating divisions among students by identifying SC, ST or OBCs, he said, “There are several sections who have been deprived of facilities. The state government is not dividing society, it is a mere exercise to identify the real beneficiaries.”
Chief Minister Siddarmaiah handled all the questions from the children with ease though some questions did catch him on the wrong foot.
