October 2, 2017: Sexual Exploitation of Children is one of the leading concerns for authorities in India. Around 53 per cent children in India face sexual abuse. In India, at least 10 children are sexually abused daily. Thus there is an urgent need to address the problem. This is what the Safe Childhood Safe India campaign is all about.

A national level walkathon has been organized in Indore in order to bring to light the devastating situation in our country relating to sexual abuse of Children. This walk has been termed as the "Bharat Yatra" undertaken with the initiative 'Bachpan Surakshit, Bharat Surakshit' (Safe Childhood, Safe India) and is taking place on October 3, 2017. The rally organized by the crucial partner for the event, 'Young Indians (Yi)' will commence from Khandawa Road, DAVV Campus at 9:30 pm and will end at Holkar Science College. Kailash Satyarthi, the Nobel Prize Winner for Peace will address the crowd after the rally has concluded. It is his foundation which has launched the safety walk.

Young Indians (Yi) is a part of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) which is non-government, not for profit organization which has played an integral role in the development of India. It was developed in 2002 with a vision to help the young people of India to realize and develop their potential.

As told by Pooja Bhatt of Yi, "As a part of their 100 million campaign activities in India, the Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation (KSCF) has launched the "Bharat Yatra" in order to promote the concept of safe childhood for a safe nation. She furthered explained the objective of the campaign which was to break the silence that surrounded the sexual exploitation of the children and to urge the authorities to protect the children all over the country. This walk also provides support to the already exploited children and spreads awareness that they are not alone and encourages them to lead a normal life. This march was started off on September 11 and is to be continued until October 16. It is primarily being led by Kailash Satyarthi and is spread across 22 states and union territories of the country. The reach out level of this really is more than 10 million people and this includes the government officials and decision makers at it topmost level.

Some of Yi's other work in the field of prevention of sexual exploitation of children include the launching of project MASOOM. This project was launched by Kailash Satyarthi nationally on 12^th March 2017. This project involved spreading awareness about child sexual abuse among the teachers and parents by conducting various workshops and seminars. Yi also visited various schools to educate the children about safe and unsafe touch. They organized various public rallies and campaigns to make the general public aware as well.

Prepared by Saloni Hindocha of Newsgram