The shocking details related to allotment of children’s homes in the state and plight of their inmates says a lot about the state’s attitude towards the nation’s youth. Going by the contents of the report filed by the State Commission For Protection of Child Rights, it’s evident that the homes were allotted in a haphazard manner and that the government officials and ministers concerned did not consider it necessary to check antecedents of the voluntary organisations seeking allotment, or scrutinise their applications.

The allotments were made in the years 2007 and 2008 and the file was approved by the office of the then CM. It is shocking that the proposals were not routed through the field offices. Also, the State conveniently forgot to check if such large numbers of homes were really needed in an area like Marathwada. The details show that some of the districts have more than 100 children’s homes, and the figure also raises a few questions about the large numbers of orphans or needy children in districts such as Latur, Nanded, Parbhani, Beed and Osmanabad.