Struggle for inclusion of children and their rights is a consistent thing at every level of planning. There are many closed doors but we cannot stop moving..

Organisations such as HAQ show us that we can devise something that will get us the maximum load for children in planning and implementation.

Children are referred to as demographic dividend. But I believe that more than a demographic dividend, they are part of the landscape of our minds- they are our children and they cannot and must not be ignored.HAQ works to fulfill the HAQ of all Children. HAQ has guided me since 2004, when I joined the Planning Commission.

They have really mentored and guided me in the area of child issues, and we are very grateful to Enakshi and Bharti and all your colleagues.

That was the time when the word "child" was seldom mentioned in the planning process.Since then we have made some progress. When we wrote the chapter "Towards Women's Agency and Child Rights",

we changed the vocabulary of the planning document and it is through consistent efforts of organisations like HAQ that the Integrated Child Protection Scheme got anywhere.