A child's development rights include a right to education, play and leisure,
access to cultural activities, information, as well as freedom of thought,
conscience and religion. The health development of children is crucial to the
future well-being of any society. Because they are still developing, children
are especially vulnerable – more so than adults – to poor living conditions such
as poverty, inadequate health care, nutrition, safe water, housing and
environmental pollution. This paper address the children in the subject of their
rights and development in india.
Introduction
- A child is a person who is below 18 years of age, and according to Section 2(a) of the Indian Majority Act, 1875, nothing herein contained shall affect:
- The capacity of any persons to act in the following matters (namely),-- marriage, dower, divorce, and adoption.
- Generally, a child below 18 years does not have much understanding of right and wrong and is unable to take decisions in their favor. They need extra care and support from their guardian. The Constitution of India guarantees all children certain rights, which have been specially included for them. These include:
- Right to free and compulsory elementary education for all children in the 6-14 year age group (Article 21A).
- Four pillars of child rights:
- Right to survival
- Right to protection
- Right to development
- Right to participation
- Right to survival: States parties shall guarantee to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child.
- States Parties recognize the right of every child to a standard of living adequate for his or her physical, mental, spiritual, moral, and social development.
- Parents or other persons responsible for the child have the primary responsibility to provide, within their possibilities and financial means, the living conditions necessary for the child's development.
- Right to protection: India has a wide range of laws to protect children, and child protection is increasingly accepted as a core component of social development. The challenge lies in implementing the laws due to inadequate human resource capacity and quality prevention and rehabilitation services. As a result, millions of children are prone to violence, abuse, and exploitation.
- Violence takes place in all settings: at home, school, childcare institutions, work, and in the community. Often, violence is perpetrated by someone known to the child.
- India has a comprehensive policy and legal framework addressing rights and protection for children, providing opportunities to ensure that all children have equal access to quality protection services. The core child protection legislation for children is enshrined in four main laws:
- The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act (2000, amended in 2015)
- The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (2006)
- The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (2012)
- The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act (1986, amended in 2016)
- Right to development: This right is enshrined in the 1986 UN Declaration on the Right to Development, whereby every person and all peoples are entitled to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy the benefits of development. The entitlements in the Declaration are vitally necessary for children and youth to live full and dignified lives.
- Right to participation: They may be small in size, but they fully have the right to freely express their thoughts, views, and opinions, and participate in society, particularly in areas affecting them. Their voices must be seriously taken into account in line with their age and maturity.
Literature review
Chandan roy (2013) said India globally recognized the significance of child
rights. The Constitutions of India also guarantees certain child rights covering
basic issues, like 'health', 'education' and protection from 'hazardous
employment' and 'exploitation'. However, despite the existence of many legal
provisions, the vulnerability of Indian children in different dimensions cannot
be undermined.
This paper attempts to locate the status of child in development
ladder of Indian economy at regional level and shows how the disparity in
development indicators actually accelerates the nature of exclusive development.
Child Abuse is emphasized as a principal inhibitor in child development. Indian
Parliament at last approved "The Protection of Children from Sexual offences
Bill 2011
Yuni tri jayati (2020) on the subject states The problem of human resources
arranged in a systematic problem, explains that the problem of children is one
of the problems that greatly affects the quality of human resources. Children's
problems are inseparable from the lack of responsibility towards children. The
state has a great responsibility to protect children because one of the rights
that must be obtained by children is the state's recognition of children's right
to life and the obligation of the state to guarantee the development and
survival of children. One of the problems of children that continues to increase
every year is the problem of children who are dealing with the law.
"Amit prakash" on the poverty. Children who are born under the poverty line have
to suffer a lot from the beginning to the end of the day from sunrise to sunset.
They have to work in small places for food and for surviving their daily life.
Their family is also suffering from that they don't have proper jobs and no way
of earning and as the result all the members of the family especially the
children have to suffer a lot. They don't have proper food to eat not a proper
living place.
They just live in the hut or near the roadside. Their parents work
day and night to feed their children twice a day but in the worse cases, it was
very difficult to do that. In that circumstances, the children also need to work
for food or healthy living. The common reason of it their parents don't have a
job or work to do in most cases their parents work on daily wages, for example, labour work, cleaning, babysitting,
N fairhall (2021) The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (uncrc)
sets out rights of every child, consisting of 54 Articles which include civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights for all children (Save the
Children, n.d.-b; unicef, 2005; United Nations, 1989).
Further to the specic
Articles of the uncrc, there are four overarching core principles: of
non-discrimination, devotion to the best interests of the child, the rights to
life, survival and development, and respect for the views of the child (often
referenced as participation or "children's voice") (United Nations Committee on
the Rights of the Child, 2003; Woods and Bond, 2014). Notably, however, the
conceptualization and integration of these "general principles" at their
foundation within the uncrc has been shown to be weak (Hanson and Lundy, 2017).
Whilst this review does not take a specific focus on the participation
principle, often specifically related to Articles 12–17, it does relate to the
rationale of this review which has a focus upon children's views of their
rights.
Anuradha palanichamy (2016) on over- arching issue in many countries children's
lives are plagued by armed conflict, child labour, sexual exploitation and other
human rights violations. Children living in rural areas have fewer opportunities
to obtain good quality education. They have less access to services than
children living in cities. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
(Article 38)1 has explicitly prohibited persons under age of 18 being recruited
into the armed forces or directly participating in hostility.
In spite of this
special provision under CRC, many countries still involve children below 18
years in hostilities. Child labour keeps children out of school and is a major
barrier to development. To make the anti child labour law a reality, poverty and
unemployment need to be eliminated. Unless the standard of living improves at
the lower levels of the society, children will be forced to work. Many middle
and upper class families do not hesitate to engage young boys and girls to help
them with household chores as they believe that by employing a child below 14
years they are helping poor families to increase their earnings for daily
livelihood.
- How we can stop child labour in India?
- Spread awareness. If parents and communities are aware and alert, disruption in children's education can be prevented and many of them will not get pushed into child labour.
- More stringent laws and effective implementation.
- Sending more children to school.
- What can you do to prevent tracking of children?
- To prevent child tracking, you should encourage children to focus on education, spread awareness among parents and communities about the ill-effects of child tracking. We must come together to create an environment where every child can enjoy a safe childhood.
- How to stop child marriage?
- Three simple actions against child marriage
- Ending child marriage is no small task, but many small actions can create big change. We don't have to stand by and accept practices that hurt children and communities - instead, here are three actions we can all take:
- Report any child marriage happening around you to the proper authorities.
- Educate your friends, family, and community about why child marriage is harmful.
- Promise to never be a part of any event that promotes child marriage.
Steps for the better future of child
Parenting is considered one of the most difficult jobs in the world, but there's
no formal education available on how to parent successfully. The good news is
there are many ways parents can stimulate their babies' brains and use
day-to-day events as exceptional learning opportunities.
Conclusion
While studying i observed that the child seems to be suffering from major issues
which preventing them to raise properly and distracting their minds. Country
have many acts and rights for the better upbringing of the child but in
undeveloped areas children and parents are not even aware about such rights.
Only prescribing rights for the development of child is not enough. It is
necessary to keep them aware about such rights. However in the city area's
children's are quite safe as compared to undeveloped area's. Hoping that the
situation will be in hand on upcoming days and the children's of rural area will
be free from such issues.
Reference:
- Indian Majority Act (1875)
- Constitution of India (1950)
- https://www.unicef.org
- https://www.savethechildren.in
- https://www.researchgate.net
- www.jlrjs.com
- Brill.com
- https://www.nluo.ac.in
Written By: Farhan Lyaqat, Prestige institute of management and research Gwalior - Airport road, Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh)
Email:
[email protected]
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