Celebration of Children's Day

(The writer can be reached at drkdharmakanta@yahoo.com)

November 14, the birthday of India's first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, is being celebrated all over India as Children's Day. It is celebrated on his birthday because of his endless love and affection for children. It is one of the best days of the year for the children of India. It is celebrated with lots of events and activities performed by kids. We organise various programs and different activities to cheer up children and make the day special for them. Children are the future of our country so it is necessary to love and care for them until they stand on their own legs. Celebration of Children's Day is a call to every Indian to protect our little ones from any harm and save their futures for the bright future of our country.

There are about 444 million children under the age of 18 years in India. India has a full-fledged ministry and numerous agencies engaged in child welfare work. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has been set up as a statutory body under the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005 to protect, promote and defend child rights in India. There are various Acts like the Juvenile Justice Act, 1986, Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, Protection of Children against Sexual Offences Act, 2012, etc., to protect the child's rights in India. Though India has adopted several policies and Acts for the protection of child rights, in reality, it is fact that millions of children are being deprived of their fundamental rights; they are abused, neglected and exploited in India. Every child irrespective of economic status has rights in the area of survival, identity, development, protection and participation including in urban, rural and tribal settings.

High infant and neonatal mortality rates, serious threats by infectious diseases, gender inequality, pre-birth sex selections, prevention of girl childbirth, female feticide and infanticide are major concerns in child survival. Data from the National Family Health Survey- 5 (NFHS-5), 2019-20 shows that 35.5 per cent of children under 5 years are stunted (height-for-age), 19.3 per cent of children under 5 years are wasted (weight-for-height), 7.7 per cent of children under 5 years are severely wasted (weight-for-height), 32.1 per cent of children under 5 years are underweight (weight-for-age), 3.4 per cent of children under 5 years are overweight (weight-for-height) and 67.1 per cent of children under 5 years are anaemic in India. Girls are denied equal rights to life. Millions of children lack protection against hunger. The Government must invest in child survival. Children should have access to preventive, protective and curative services, ensuring good quality health needs, nutrition, education and universal immunization against preventable diseases. They have to provide better public health services like safe drinking water, sanitation, and environmental protection, and combat hunger and malnutrition by ensuring food security for families and nutritional security for children.

Birth registration and identity are a child's first civil rights. India acknowledged the international standards that recognize all people up to 18 years old as children in 1992. Every child should receive services that support early childhood care and development. They have the right to adequate housing and shelter.

Though free and compulsory education is a fundamental right for children in the 6 to 14 years age group according to the 86th Constitutional Amendment, it is not being protected as many of India's children of school-going age are not in school. Children with disabilities or special needs are seriously underserved and only 5 per cent of them receive services of any kind and 2 per cent of them can access schooling. Healthcare, nutrition, shelter and security should be provided for underserved children. In India, the problems of socially marginalized and economically backward groups are immense, particularly among children in urban slums, street and working children, children of construction workers, etc. These children cannot avail the benefits of development opportunities. They become addicted to psychoactive substances and get involved in anti-social activities. They should be provided with safe shelter services and opportunities for relevant education and vocational training. The budget allocation for children must be enhanced. Government agencies need to increase investment in primary education. Quality standards of education, teaching content and methods and curriculum reforms should be ensured.

Child abuse is a basic violation of child rights. The WHO defines child abuse as a form of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, commercial or other exploitation, resulting in actual or potential harm to the child's health, survival and development. Child abuse is more than bruises and broken bones.

While physical abuses are shocking due to the scars left behind, emotional and sexual abuses also leave deep and lasting scars. Ignoring children's needs, putting them in unsupervised dangerous situations, and making a child worthless or stupid is also child abuse. Regardless of the type of child abuse, it causes great harm to the child. All forms of child labour are the worst kind of child abuse and negation of basic child rights. At the age of playing and learning, they need to work as a labour of hunger. Some of them need to take care of their houses, treatment of sick parents and look after their brothers and sisters. They have to work in unhealthy and unhygienic conditions in other families, tea stalls, city buses, trackers, garages and industries at minimum wages. Some of them are being physically tortured and mentally abused. Although child labour cannot be abolished in presence of poverty, it is necessary to ensure that working children are not exploited. They must get time for education and must receive healthcare.

Children have the right to be protected against all forms of abuse, neglect, exploitation and corporal punishment. The state needs effective legislation to punish and deter all forms of abuse, exploitation and trafficking in children as well as prenatal sex determination, feticide and infanticide. Physicians in developed countries are required by law to report cases of child abuse and neglect. Similar legislation in India that makes child abuse reporting mandatory for the physician is welcome.

Not only atrocities against children are on the rise, but they are also targeted in communal violence and insurgency as never before. They also suffer discrimination and denial in post-riot situations. Children of indigenous and tribal communities suffer neglect, discrimination and alienation and are affected by armed conflict and other civil violence. They become orphans losing their parents or relatives in communal violence and insurgency. Lack of family or adult support results in their denial of basic services. Children have the right to special protection against trafficking, communal and political violence, arms conflict, terrorist activities and migrant situations.

Children should have access to contact services to help them in case of emergency or distress. The emergency toll-free phone service for children in distress (Child Line 1098) should be expanded and awareness generated about such helplines. Orphanages and shelter homes are required to assist children without families. Adoption should give first priority to the best interests of the child concerned.

Child protection services must reach rural areas, where a large proportion of the population resides. In villages, the panchayat officials should be given the responsibility to ensure that basic education, nutrition, health care and sanitation are available for the proper development of every child. The panchayat should be duty-bound to ensure that every child is in school and thus protected from agrarian and allied rural occupations as a part of a family or individual child labour.

The NGOs and administrators of government should reach out to the neglected, deprived and abused children for their comprehensive needs that include education, healthcare, protection and rehabilitation. Celebrating Children's Day only on November 14 cannot protect children's rights. There is an urgent need to create an enabling environment through legislation, schemes and enhanced budget to address the problem of child abuse and neglect and to protect the fundamental rights of children, and then only the relevance of celebrating children's day will be successful. Today on Children's Day, let us join hands together to aware people to protect the fundamental rights of children in India.