Child Rights In India
Definition of "A Child" ?
Any human being or a young person below the legal age of majority i.e. 18 years, is defined as “A Child”.
What are the Child Right's?
According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) defines “Child Rights as the minimum entitlements and freedoms that should be afforded to every citizen below the age of 18 regardless of race, national origin, color, gender, language, religion, opinions, origin, wealth, birth status, disability, or other characteristics.”
Facts & Statistics of underprivileged children in India
India is a home to 472 million children under the age of 18 years, which is 39% of the total population.
Education
- 29% of girls and boys drop out from school before completing their elementary education.
- Around 50 per cent of adolescents do not complete secondary education, while approximately 20 million children not attending pre-school.
- Half of primary school-going children – which constitutes nearly 50 million children – not achieving grade appropriate learning levels.
Health
- Every minute 67,385 babies are born in India, and in 2020, there were 29.84 deaths per 1000 lives.
- 8.3% of girls die before 5 years old as compared to boys.
- 54% girls and 29% boys are anemic.
- 3 out of 5 children are malnourished.
- India is on top in UNICEF report with 8,82,000 child deaths in 2018.
Girl child
- 1.5 million girls under 18 get married in India and nearly 16 per cent adolescent girls aged 15-19 are currently married.
- 1 in every 8 child between age 8-14 years work in their own house hold or someone else as a domestic help.
- 94.6% of offenders in rape cases were known to the victim.
Abuse & Exploitation
- India alone has 33 million child laborer’s and over 10 million child laborer’s are under 14 years of age. Uttar Pradesh has the largest number of child laborer’s in India.
- Two out of every three children were physically abused, 54.68% were boys.
- 53.22% children reported having faced one or more forms of sexual abuse.
- 21.90% child respondents reported facing severe forms of sexual abuse and 50.76% other forms of sexual abuse.
- Every 8 minutes, a child goes missing in India – kidnapping and abduction is the largest crime against children in our country.
Source – “Facts & Statistics of underprivileged children data” is obtained from “UNICEF-India and Ministry of Women and Child development”
Why are child right's important?
Child rights are very crucial to protect the children from –
1. Any form of abuse (physical, sexual & mental)
2. Exploitation
3. Early child marriages
4. Physical violence
5. Discrimination on the basis of the caste, color, gender, religion, physical appearance and their family background.
It is due to the fact, that children’s are vulnerable, they cannot take stand and speak for themselves, they are not aware of their basic rights, they are not physically strong and not able to take the right decisions on their own, their concern or voices are not heard because adults treat them as immature, as well as dependents or the property of the parents/guardians.
We need to understand that every child is an individual human being and they must share the equal rights as any other adult individual. All children deserve to experience life in all its fullness. We as a society needs to work together to ensure that the most vulnerable children enjoy a proper childhood. Children must feel safe in their homes and communities on then they will be able to flourish and realize their potential.
Child right's in India
UNCRC outlines the fundamental human rights in four categories which covers all civil, social, political, economic and cultural right of every child.
1. Right to Survival
2. Right to Development
3. Right to Protection
4. Right to Participation
1. Right to Survival – It talks about the most basic neccesities required by any child for the existence such as nutritious meal, shelter, clothing, access to clean drinking water and medical services, safe & healthy environment to live in.
2. Right to Development – it includes the right to education, play & leisure, cultural activities, and freedom of thought and religion.
3. Right to Protection – is to ensure that children are safe against all forms of abuse, exploitation, neglect, physical voilence and feel safe in the enviornment they live in.
4. Right to Participation – that children are free to express their views or opinion, should be able to stand for themselves, freedom of association and participation, right to information.
Provision of children right's in the "Constitution of India"
The future of any nation depends on how they treat their children. A nation can only be prosperous and develop, if its children are safe, healthy and protected. The Constitution of India has provisions in place to safe-guard the children rights. It also states that children also have right as equal as any adult citizen of India.
. Article 14 (Right to equality)- That the State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.
. Article 15 (Right against discrimination) – It secures the citizens from every sort of discrimination by the State, on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth or any of them
· Article 15(3) (Special provision for women & children) – Article 15(3) does not prevent the State from making any special provisions for women or children
· Article 21 (Right to personal liberty and due process of law) – It provides that no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.
· Article 21A provides that the State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such manner as the State may, by law, determine.
· Article 23(1) provides that traffic in human beings and beggar and other similar forms of forced labour are prohibited and any contravention of this provision shall be an offence punishable in accordance with law.
· Article 24 provides that no child below the age of fourteen years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment.
· Article 29(2) provides that no citizen shall be denied admission into any educational institution maintained by the State or receiving aid out of State funds on grounds only of religion, race, caste, language or any of them.
· Article 39(e) provides that the shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing that the health and strength of workers, men and women, and the tender age of children are not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength.
· Article 39(f) provides that the shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing that children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth are protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment.
· Article 45 provides that the State shall endeavour to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of six years.
· Article 47 provides that the State shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties.
· Article 51A(k) provides that it shall be the duty of every citizen of India who is a parent or guardian to provide opportunities for education to his child or, as the case may be, ward between the age of six and fourteen years.
Our role and contribution
TARANARAIN FOUNDATION is an initiative & 100% charitable organization to support & work for the “Welfare, Development and Protection of children” in India. We also raise our voice against any form of Child abuse, Early child marriages, Equal opportunity for both girls & boys, Physical violence & exploitation of vulnerable children in our society . We have various current initiatives in place which focuses on child education, development and hygiene.
We are tirelessly working today to prepare for tomorrow. We have numerous valuable initiatives currently under process and we are planning to launch them in the near future with an objective to reach each and every child in our community.
To learn more about our work, please click to read our CURRENT INITIATIVES, FUTURE INITIATIVE pages. We have a BLOG page on the website for you to catch up on the wonderful work we are doing.
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About us
TARANARAIN FOUNDATION is an initiative & 100% charitable organization to support & work for the “Welfare, Development & Protection” of vulnerable & underprivileged children in India to ensure every child is educated, healthy & feel safe.
Our Vision & Mission is to reach every child in the country, no matter who they are, where they come from, what’s their religion, their caste or their gender is. We are determined to provide each child with at least one opportunity to thrive that every child deserves, so no child is deprived of basic human right’s.