Emerging Challenges and ensuring Child Rights

Emerging Challenges and ensuring Child Rights
By-Sanjeev Rai


Children in the country are facing threats for their survival and well-being and some of the recent incidents have sent alarming signals on the safety of the children. At NOIDA a mother killed her infant baby girl after 24 hours of delivery. In jaunpur of U.P. a little girl was throne out in to the river by his father who could not bear the cost of his treatment and a HIV positive infant girl found abandoned in the outer Delhi. Several new challenges have been emerging before children especially girls’.
These are the some recent cases showing inhuman mindsets and act of the people. There are countless hurdles for girls starting from the womb to tomb. The deteriorating sex ratio in several states has been resulting in to polygamy and human trafficking.
Child Rights has not become a reality for majority of the children and still a sizeable number of children reside at railway platforms in pathetic circumstances.
Violence, poverty, death of parents etc. are the some reasons leading youngsters to leave their home and take shelter at platforms to earn their bread and butter. After few days spending at platform children get in to the circle of drug addicts and thieves and often department get booked by the local police in false cases.
Along with the traditional challenges some new emerging factors are making life difficult. Children of the parents affected with HIV/AIDS are facing discriminations in the society and in the school. On one hand economic necessity puts pressure on the children to stop attending school to earn for the family and simultaneously they have been classified as a member of AIDS affected family.

The violence against children is also on the rise and The survey conducted by department of WCD reveals that 53% children of the country have been victims of sexual abuse and most of the incidents took place during the family functions or in the house itself. In the age group of 13 to 16 years 77.5% children of Assam, 69% of Delhi and 23% of Goa have reported incidents of sexual abuse.
Children working in hazardous industries have not been stopped completely and new unorganized sectors have come up in the cities to engage children in this new ‘profession’. The film Red Signal successfully highlights the beggars /sellers caucus and pathetic condition of the slum children in Mumbai. Several thousand children of school going age from Bihar and UP work in embroidery, rag picking, leather sector in the suburb like Dharavi and Malad of Mumbai.With all the efforts made by Sarva Siksha Abhiyan Almost 15% school going age children are still out of school in the country and it is expected that by the end of this century India would be having 1/4th of population illiterate.
The special focus on children’s issues is a requisite act now because children can’t raise their voice strongly against exploitation/discrimination of any nature by themselves in a society like us.So parents also need to be sensitive on these issues.
Laws have been made to stop engaging child labourers but execution of laws and their relationship with available options of education and livelihood needs to be reviewed critically corrections are required in the existing programs of the concerned departments. In East Delhi, any one could notice children assembled around wine shops offering ‘water’ and ‘Glass’ to the liquor consumers. They get one rupee and the blank bottle as reward from their customers.
Delhi’s Subash Nagar, Shadahara, Nagloi, Paharganj, Chandni Chowk, Cannaught Place are the some areas where children have been engaged in economic activities and living in a meagre state. Small contractors of backward regions are doing the supply of child labourers to the cities. Whenever the small contractors visit their town/village they allure young boys and girls to the glitter of big cities and after reaching in their dream cities they shop and borrow money from contractor. Young boys/girls get obliged with the ‘hospitality’ offered by the contractor and even on his ‘request’ factory/shop owner agrees to absorb them as labourer. Contractor gets his commission from factory owner and house rent from the guests. Sexual exploitation starts little later.
Agara, Aligarh, Indore, Shivkasi are not only name of the cities but also potential places of making children deprived with their rights and well being and putting them on risk. Here is a case of a child labour to understand the modus operandi of supply and pushing them in to the hazardous work. Raju, a thirteen year old child labour from Darbhanga, Bihar lost his right palm while working in a factory at Delhi’s Subash Nagar. The owner called the contractor and gave him some rupees to send Raju back to Bihar. Raju met with a student of his own town and shared the story. When the student tried to convince the factory owner, he was beaten up by local dadas. With the help of some lawyer friends and continued negotiations for fifteen day’s, factory owner paid Rs. 25,000 to Raju.

In 2001, after earthquake in Gujarat Ismaile and Rafeeq were two boys among the several other orphans of Kutch. Ismaile, who lost his parents during the earthquake, was asked by his uncle to look after the goats and Rafeeq was forced to work at a tea stall. Volunteers of Gantar, an NGO did the job of rescuing these children and putting them in a motivational camp followed by enrolment in a residential school but there are several children across the country who also need systematic and natural assistance to prevent ‘disaster’ not only after the disasters. A recent study by NIUPA reveals that 23000 schools of the country still run without a single teacher and state like MP has 38.74% schools without building. What is the way out for the children of these areas?
In a country like India we do have taxes on cycles and toys but subsidy on cooking gas is a political compulsion here. After 60 years of independence children are asking their stake in public life. Execution of their rights to survive, grow and get education with better health is still look like a dream rather than becoming a reality.
Society and Schools have to play a critical role in making a safe environment and ensuring child rights by involving them in the policy formation and in implement processes. Education would have to play a major role to counter violence and forced identity by making people aware on sensitive issues and ensuring quality learning in the schools.
The expected boom in the economy could not be achieved and sustained without investing for children. After ensuring elementary education for excluded groups vocational training programs should be made available not only to train workforce but it would be a motivating factor for learner’s parents also who came forward to ‘invest’ eight years in education. Every out of school child stands on the edges of being a child labour so pull them up before they fell down and can enjoy their rights as agreed on Child Rights Convention and Millennium Development Goals.