Editorial: Children Deserve Better

20 November was Universal Children’s Day. The day observed to mark the UN’s adoption of the Declaration of Children’ Rights in 1959. The Convention which followed is a legally binding treaty that obliges governments to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of children through legislations and policies. Child rights include the right to life, health, education, participation, and protection from all forms of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation. All of these rights are equally important and reinforce each other, and the denial of even one Right compromises the potential of all others. As for whom to count as ‘children’, we go here with the generally accepted age bracket of 0-14. This section makes up one-third of the population of the India, and a significant portion is on the threshold of becoming young adults preparing for bigger responsibilities. Now, let’s look at what India has achieved sixty-five years since it gained Independence and 53 years since the Declaration of Children’s Rights was passed. As per the report, report, ‘Children in India 2012 – A Statistical Appraisal’, prepared by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, 48% of children under five years of age are stunted (too short for their age) which indicates that, half of the country’s children are chronically malnourished! 19.8% of the children are in turn suffering from acute malnutrition, as evidenced by wasting, results in a child being too thin for his or her height, while 43% of the children are underweight for their age. Some states where the figures are extremely appalling are Madhya Pradesh (60%), Jharkhand (56.5%) and Bihar (55.9%). With a substantial chunk of the children already underprivileged and suffering denial since birth, it is hardly surprising that child labour continues to remain a challenge. The latest statistics on this count are unfortunately of 2001 vintage and reveal that the number of child labourers increased from 11.28 million in 1991 to 12.66 million in 2001. The major occupations engaging child labour are Pan, Bidi & Cigarettes (21%), Construction (17%), Domestic workers (15%) and Spinning & weaving (11%). And then there are crimes against children [while every denial is a criminal lapse, we speak here of cognisable offences as covered by the Indian Penal Code]. It is alarming that, in 2011, Crimes against Children reported a 24% increase at the national level from the previous year with a total of 33,098 cases of crimes against Children reported in the country during 2011 as compared to 26,694 cases during 2010. In 2011, among the IPC crimes, an increase of 43% was registered in Kidnapping and Abduction, while rape cases increased by 30%, Procuration of minor girls recorded an increase of 27% and Foeticide reported an increase of 19% over 2010. Meanwhile, the conviction rate at national level for the crimes committed against children stood at 34.6%.
Given this scenario, the observance of Children’s Day becomes important to draw attention afresh to the problems. In India, we observe Children’s Day on 14 November to mark Chacha Nehru’s birth anniversary. Unfortunately however, the observance of Children’s Day has been reduced to a celebration as Student’s Day. As the statistics quoted above bear out, the children who manage to remain in school [no matter how deplorable the condition of the schools], can actually be considered privileged in our country. It is the army on the streets which rummages through trash to pick a livelihood, the domestic servants engaged in household chores when they should be playing with friends, who need to be reassured that they are still important and that their problems are being addressed, one tiny step after the other. Or dump it. That would be plain hypocrisy. No one is really concerned. What should be done instead is to pick these children up, put them up on a dais, or better still, march them through the streets recounting the lives they live. The mirror will be turned on the people and maybe the reflection will rattle some people into action. Another option would be to add more to the observance of Children’s Day in schools. Instead of class picnics and partying, we should show them how the underprivileged in their age-group subsist. If they grow up with this knowledge, may be they will do something about Child Rights when they grow up and sit in positions of power. As for us, the present generation, we can continue paying lip-service to these issues till the next generation grows up and does our work for us.