BJP 'plotting to derail' scheme, NCPCR concerns 'politically motivated': Dy CM

New Delhi: Responding to the NCPCR's allegations that the Delhi government's "Desh Ke Mentor" programme had several loopholes exposing school children to crime and abuse, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday said that the BJP was "plotting to derail" the programme through the child rights body, calling its objections "politically motivated".

The National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights has asked the Delhi government to suspend the programme till all "loopholes" have been fixed, alleging that there is no concrete mechanism to ensure background checks of the mentors and there could be a chance of children being exposed to potential pedophiles.

Responding to this, Sisodia, who is also Delhi's Education Minister, said that the programme already has a provision to screen mentors through a psychometric evaluation even as the NCPCR chief Priyank Kanoongo asked whether this is enough.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took to Twitter saying, "if some good work is happening in the country than rather than trying to stop it, it should be implemented across the country. I appeal the BJP to not politicise the issue. This is the question of poor children's issue and through this programme education is becoming a mass movement." Significantly, since the programme was started over 44,000 mentors have come on board to counsel Delhi government school students on careers through telephonic conversations.

Of these mentors, 500 are IIT graduates, 500 are IIM graduates, and around 15,600 are in between graduation and PhD courses at top institutions across the country and over 7,000 are successful working professionals. In fact, the Delhi government has said that of those who had applied, 750 mentors had been rejected precisely because they failed the psychometric evaluation and were found unfit to be mentors.

Addressing a press conference, Sisodia, "We have taken extreme care on these subjects while deciding the structure of the programme. Under the programme, all female students are allotted female mentors while all male students are allotted male mentors. Parental consent has been made mandatory for students to seek allotment of a mentor under the programme."

Responding to Sisodia's comments, NCPCR chairperson Priyank Kanongoo alleged that the Delhi government is politicising the issue. The NCPCR chairperson went on to insist that the Delhi government must conduct police verification of all mentors signing up for the programme.

Calling the NCPCR's objections "ridiculous", Sisodia said,

"They want us to do police verification of students who are undergoing mentoring," referring to the NCPCR letter, which said that "mentees" are not being subjected to police verification.