Restore lost childhood
India can never really don the mantle of greatness until its huge population of minors and children -- an estimated 400 million, below the age of 18, according to the NGO, CRY -- are well fed, healthy and literate. For, the nation's future rests on their young shoulders. This huge number comprises 40 per cent of our population, and is the largest child segment in the world.
However, a 'Save the Children' study paints a bleak picture of the condition of our progeny, below the vulnerable age of five. Apparently, an estimated 67 million of these toddlers (53 per cent) do not receive basic healthcare. Titled 'State of the World's Mothers', the global NGO report alleges that one-third of such deprived tots in the world are found here.
The findings also highlight the neglect suffered by the girl child. Between the ages of one to five, the ratio is 5:8, for male and female children deaths. The poor are especially deprived, with 66 per cent said to receive minimal healthcare, if at all.
A further claim is that every year, over a million babies die within a month of their birth. These shocking disclosures serve to underline India's Third World status since it is ranked 27th, along with Ghana and Eritrea, on account of its deficient healthcare for children. The parameters used consist of prenatal care, skilled child birth, immunisation and treatment for pneumonia and diarrhoea. The study focuses on 55 countries.
Other studies claim that a large number of children are not only unhealthy or moribund but illiterate. Some, who swell Government statistics on rising literacy rate, are virtually unlettered. Given here is relevant data from the Seventh All-India Education Survey, 2002: Under half of those between six and 14 years attend school; 35 million in this age group, perhaps more, do not go to school; half in the six to 18 group do not go to school; over half of the girls never enroll in school, while the ones who do, usually drop out by the time they are 12; a primary school exists in a mere 53 per cent of habitations, and secondary school in 20 percent of habitations; and, a single teacher mans 60 per cent of the schools (classes I to V).
Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan, a flagship programme for the six to 14 age group, is meant to provide elementary education throughout the country by 2010. It entails Central-State participation. Though a laudable effort, it is reported to be riddled with corruption and malpractices, with funds being diverted for personal use by functionaries. A Human Resource Development Ministry panel, set up to review the initiative, has highlighted these lapses, with Bihar and Uttar Pradesh being rated the worst. The expert committee is also said to have found discrepancies in Government enrolment and dropout data. The mid-day meal scheme for students is reported to be in limbo for many months in places such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and when implemented, done poorly.
The high dropout rate at the primary level (NGOs estimate 50 per cent for boys and 58 per cent for girls) is ascribed to poverty, family pressures and early marriage. Children join the work force in order to augment family income, working cheaply as domestic help and agricultural labourers, and, in cities, in hotels and brothels.
Sex trafficking is internationally acknowledged as a primary cause of blighted childhood. Here, unconfirmed estimates place child sex workers in the five to 15 years group at two million, and the 15 to 18 years group at 3.3 million. About 500,000 children are reported to be inducted into the sex trade annually, with many being sent abroad. The socially sanctioned practice of child marriage in backward areas leads to mass nuptials on auspicious days. Such enforced, unlawful initiation into adulthood is an annual ritual in Rajasthan, occurring right under the nose of successive State Governments.
These harsh realities mock official proclamations of safeguarding child rights, enshrined in Article 39 of the Constitution (in Directive Principles of State Policy) and universalising elementary education, as per the 86th Constitutional Amendment Act. India is also a signatory to the UN Declaration on the Rights of the Child, 1959, and adopted the National Policy on Children in 1974, which contains a state assurance that "within a reasonable time, all children in the country (will) enjoy optimum conditions for their balanced growth".
The Government is also party to other international child rights agreements. The Human Resource Development Ministry has even devised a National Plan of Action for Children and after the Nithari serial killings, set up the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights last February.
But the question that begs an answer is whether these initiatives have any substance.
DailyPioneer.com, 15 May 2008 |
