Our children are our greatest treasure. They are our future. Those who abuse them tear at the fabric of our society and weaken our nation.

There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children.

One circumstance that helped our character development: we were needed. I often think today of what an impact could be made if children believed they were contributing to a family's essential survival and happiness.

Children are like buds in a garden and should be carefully and lovingly nurtured, as they are the future of the nation and the citizens of tomorrow.

Children have the right to grow up in a family with a father and mother capable of creating a suitable environment for the child's development and emotional maturity. Today marriage and the family are in crisis. We now live in a culture of the temporary, in which more and more people are simply giving up on marriage as a public commitment.

The children of today will make the India of tomorrow. The way we bring them up will determine the future of the country.