DR BANARSI LAL
Every year 14th November is celebrated as the children day (Bal Divas) in India to honour the birth anniversary of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India.The theme of this year Children Day is ‘For Every Child,Every Right’.The theme for 2025 will continue the focus on the child-centred policies and actions across the nation.On this day child rights,education and welfare are highlighted.This day reminds the society for its responsibility towards ensuring the rights,safety and education of every child.Pandit Nehru was very affectionate towards the children and became famous as Chacha Nehru among them.He believed that the future of a nation lies in the children education and their proper upbringing. He worked immensely for the well- being of the children and the youngsters after independence of India. The day is celebrated to create awareness among the people about the rights, care and education of children. Various types of competitions on essay writing, debates, quiz etc. are organized by various institutions. The day is celebrated by the various Government, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), students and teachers in the schools and colleges with great passion and enthusiasm. Print and electronic media also highlight this day through articles and programmes. School and college buildings are decorated with multicolour paints, colourful balloons and decorative materials.
Quality child care plays an important role in children’s development and provides a valuable support to working families.We celebrate the Children Day on November 14(Jawahar Lal Nehru Birthday) and we participate in some special programmes especially for children. Now the question arises- are we caring for children who become the responsible citizens of future? Still we observe the crime against the children. Still the people prefer the male child.The child sex ratio is at declining rate in India. It has been observed that the rate of infant mortality, child morbidity and child mortality are higher in rural areas as compared to the urban areas.Children are the key of success and development of any country. They are innocent, admirable, pure and loved by everyone. Children are the future of any nation and they need the special care, affection and protection from their parents, teachers and other. It has been observed that the many of poor families send their children for work. Child labour is the great evil which has been created by the parents of poor children due to poverty and lack of awareness of education. India is having the large child labour. Our efforts to eradicate this evil have come to naught.There is need to eradicate the child labour. According to experts, access to primary education could alleviate the problem to a great extent. In India, elementary education has been made as a fundamental right. There is a need to make a beginning in this direction. It depends on us as how we can make this Fundamental Right a reality. Tamil Nadu introduced the midday meal scheme as a technique to increase the enrolment of children in the schools.Presently the midday meal scheme has been implemented in all over the country but we are still far away from our desired targets in regard to enrolment. We need to provide minimum safe infrastructure and teachers to our school children. We are proud of our high-class buildings, five star hotels and other showpieces but we need to provide facilities for our children.
We come across child beggars and we can’t make out which one is genuine and which one is spurious.There are plenty of laws for the beggars but they are rarely implemented. There are inter-state rackets that maim or blind children, making them objects of pity in order to get their due from people who sympathise with such people. We observe the street children everywhere, in bazaars, railway stations and in cities. They struggle during day and night for their living. Some work as rag-pickers and some are shoeshine boys. Some NGOs should be appreciated who work for them. Many children are sexually abused. The offenders are known to them but even then there is no one with them for their safety. They are traumatised. We often read such types of instances in different daily publications. In many places we often read about the rackets trading of children. These types of rackets promote the child prostitution. What type of future can be expected of such children whose life suddenly halts before they begin it? Some of NGOs set homes for these disadvantaged children. In Kamatipura (Mumbai) night care centres are provided to the small children of commercial sex workers. There the children are taken care from 5.30 pm to 10 am. It has been observed that some children still hang out at red light area. It is not easy to change the attitude of a person even with a strict law. The evils like corruption, dowry, child marriage, rape, prostitution etc. Still exists in India despite law. Reforms must come from within and not from without. While child marriage is conducted in a clandestine manner in Karnataka in the guise of mass marriage, it is a hardy annual in states like Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. In May 2003, the Supreme Court of India issued notices to many states to prevent the child marriages. The petitioners pointed out that though poverty and illiteracy contributed to child marriages, the evil spawned far reaching consequences. A young girl is not properly physically and mentally developed due to child marriage and her joy of childhood and personality development is deprived. Many children are thrown away after birth when they are born out of wedlock.
Many children are left in the cradles of fondling homes or child care centres of the State Councils of Child Welfare functioning under the Indian Council of Child Welfare. Many children are given to adoptive parents. It is not that the poor children are under stress but also the children belonging to middle and upper class also undergo formidable emotional strains in families where parents are working. Many children from the middle and upper sections of the society when return to homes there is no one to receive them. They wait till late evening when weary parents return home. We often read in daily newspapers that many children suicide due to examination stress. Many young boys and girls think that failure in the examination is the end of world and a few, desperate enough to withstand the trauma of failure, take out their lives. To whom we should blame for this state of affairs? Parents, our education system, the society or our value system? Many children whether they are rich or poor have lost the power to smile or afraid to smile. If we teach our children that if one option is closed for them, there are various other options open for them, then they would not take the extreme steps.The Indian government has implemented several schemes to ensure the welfare and development of children.There is need to ensure children’s welfare.To address these challenges,a multi-dimensional approach is needed.
(The writer is Chief Scientist & Head of KVKReasi, SKUAST-J)
