A newborn dumped in a garbage bin, a child abandoned in a field, a three-day-old baby found by cops in a drain… We often read and hear about these awful news reports. Media continues to report on children being dumped, abandoned, or even killed because of the inability or unwillingness of their parents or relatives to take care of them. These reports are meant to raise awareness, but they only end up exposing the reader to sensationalized content without any information on nearest Specialised Adoption Agencies, where a child can be safely and anonymously surrendered instead of being abandoned or dumped.  When a parent or guardian is unable or unwilling to raise their child, The Juvenile Justice Act of India allows parents and guardians to legally surrender their child over to competent authorities or specialised adoption agencies, without any adverse consequences. These children have a functional path for entering India’s legal adoption process and being adopted into a loving family. When reporting on child abandonment stories, media needs to create awareness by reminding people that safe, anonymous, and legal surrender of a child is possible through Specialised Adoption Agencies. The family can also call Childline at 1098, a 24/7 helpline for children, to get more information about surrendering a child. Please include this crucial information in every news report about child abandonment:  “Unsafe child abandonment is illegal and puts children’s lives and future at risk. A child can be legally and anonymously relinquished at a specialised adoption agency. To find the nearest specialised adoption agency, call ChildLine at 1098 or go to http://cara.nic.in/Stakeholders/India_map.html and select any state.” With my team at Where Are India’s Children, I have started this petition asking all media houses in India to follow safe reporting practices when reporting on child abandonment. Sign this petition. You could be saving a little one’s life. #SafeSurrender

It infuriates me every election season that 50% of the country’s population are not prioritised by political parties. No politician seems to feel, “Oh, we shouldn’t do this or women will get upset and not vote for us.” If they did, they wouldn’t be making statements or calling for policies that are so obviously detrimental to women’s interests. For example, in the past decade, crimes against women in India have gone up by 83%. But how often do we see this being discussed as one of the main topics to address in pre-election news debates? But numbers show that they have every reason to worry about the vote of women. In the last general elections alone, nearly 70% of women came out to vote. As an Indian woman, I do not feel that any party duly represents me or is adequately concerned by the issues I have to face in the country. This has to change and our politicians need to sit up and listen. The Quint is one media group that has already been proactive in covering gender sensitive subjects, from its regular coverage of the Me Too movement to its documentary on rape culture. Sign my petition asking The Quint to publish a series of videos about the concerns of women voters in the run-up to the 2019 General Elections. In many debates aired on the media, manels (all male panels) continue to thrive and discuss the same subjects repetitively, rather than allowing for a diversity of matters and voices that represent different sections of the population. Why not change this and present a platform where women voters can relate to issues they face and articulate their demands and expectations from the 2019 elections? And who better to start this than The Quint? Please sign my petition asking The Quint to publish a series of videos presenting the issues that women want political parties to address before the 2019 general elections. Together, we can make our voices heard to The Quint and hopefully then the contesting parties will listen more closely to what women have to say. #WhatWomenWant2019#WomensManifesto2019#SheVotes2019