Minister asks to Book parents of underage drivers

I think it is really a welcome step. I am strongly in favour of this and i really support Mrs. Renuka Choudhary (Union Minister, India). I think this really is the first step to solve the major accidents happening and i believe that this is going to change the whole panicy situation in India.

Here is the full news covering for Tribune India Newspaper, reported by Aditi Tandon

Book parents of underage drivers, says Renuka

Union women and child development minister Renuka Choudhury today hit out at parents for allowing underage children to drive, and said laws should be adequately amended to bring such parents to book. She was referring to the tragic death of two minors in a road accident in Gurgaon two days ago.
“Children are not to blame for reckless driving. It is the parents’ job to teach the children how to go by the rulebook. Parents are to blame. In fact, licences of fathers who allow minors to drive should be taken away if at all underage driving is to be controlled,” she said, adding that she would write to the road transport ministry to take steps against parents who let minors drive. For this, she said, laws must be amended to cover reckless parents as well. She was speaking after the inauguration of a facilitation centre where information pertaining to ministry’s schemes and programmes would be readily available.
Renuka was equally vociferous in demanding a blanket ban on the use of mobile phones in schools, again putting the onus on parents. She said the human resource development ministry should initiate the move by telling schools not to allow students to use mobile phones. Besides, parents should impose regulation and see that children do what was best in children’s interest, said the minister.
“It is well-documented now that mobile phones harm the physical and intellectual abilities of children. Moreover, children have no business using cell phones. I can say that even at the cost of sounding conservative. Schools should coordinate and honour the step taken by the telecommunications ministry which had listed the ill-effects of mobile phone use,” said Renuka, also referring to the harm mobile phones do to pregnant women.
Renuka had earlier lashed out at producers of reality TV shows, who, she said, were exploiting children by completely disregarding their special needs. On the instructions of the ministry, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights will now study the extent of the problem and frame guidelines for TV producers who bring children on shows.