Thiruvananthapuram, 08th April, 2015
A Three day 'Open Hearing' and 'Camp Sitting' of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on matters of human rights violations related to the people of Kerala began at Thiruvananthapuram today. Mr. Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Chairperson, NHRC inaugurated it at the Government Guest House, Thycaud. He said that the NHRC received less number of complaints from Kerala as it had better human rights indices compared to many other states because of high literacy rates, health care and other facilities, but there were still some problems like issue of Endosulphan spraying and its impact on health, which needed to be looked into.
He said that the Commission had been trying to reach out to people in various parts of the country through its 'Open Hearings' of the complaints on the atrocities against the Scheduled Castes. Such hearings along with the disposal of some cases at the 'Camp Sittings' have helped in sensitizing the government machinery and civil society towards human rights issues. But with the work related to the disposal of so many complaints received each year, it is not possible for the Commission to go outstation and organize such programmes very frequently.
Earlier, Ms. Nalini Netto, Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Kerala expressed the hope that the NHRC's 'Open Hearing and 'Camp Sitting' will prove to be a major step towards proactive good governance. The people of the Scheduled Caste communities will have a positive feeling that they had a platform where they could raise their problems directly.
Mr. A. K. Garg, Registrar(Law), NHRC gave an overview of the issues including, among others, child labour, education, health problems, which will be taken up during the 'Camp Sitting' apart from the complaints related to the Scheduled Castes in the 'Open Hearing'. He said that if the government complies with the recommendations of the Commission, the people will get benefited. In this context, he referred to some actions taken by the State government on the recommendations of the Commission about problems relating to Endosulphan spraying. He said that without the cooperation of the State governments, the endeavors of the NHRC towards helping them in good governance cannot be successful.
On the occasion, NHRC Members Mr Justice Cyriac Joseph, Mr Justice D Murugeshan and Mr S C Sinha, Secretary General, Mr. Rajesh Kishore, Kerala SHRC Chairperson Mr. Justice J B Koshy, Senior officers of the NHRC and State government and complainants were present.
*****