STATUS OF CHILDREN IN INDIA

- A brief overview

Jayasudha Roselet V

India is home to almost 19 % of the world's children. Around 440 million, more than one third of the country’s population is below 18 years and a recent estimates reveal that about 40% of these children are in need of care and protection.

INCIDENCE OF CRIMES COMMITTED AGAINST CHILDREN*

Sl. No. Crime Head Years % Variation in 2005 over 2004

2002 2003 2004 2005

1 Rape 2532 2949 3542 4026 13.7

2 Kidnapping & Abduction 2322 2571 3196 3518 10.1

3 Procurement of Minor Girls 124 171 205 145 29.3

4 Selling of Girls for Prostitution 5 36 19 50 163.2

5 Buying of Girls for Prostitution 9 24 21 28 33.3

6 Abetment of Suicide 24 25 33 43 30.3

7 Exposure and Abandonment 644 722 715 933 30.5

8 Infanticide 115 103 102 108 5.9

9 Foeticide 84 57 86 86 0

10 Child Marriage Restraint Act 113 63 93 122 31.2

TOTAL 5972 11633 14423 14975 3.8

* National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India (2005): Crime in India

Next to women, children are the most vulnerable members of the Indian society and suffer neglect from proper care and humiliation (both physical and mental). Survival of children below the age of 5 is still a struggle, especially of girls. Some of them are killed in the womb, at the time of birth or die later due to lack of proper health care and nutrition. Poverty and gender disparities are the root cause problems of these atrocities towards the girl child.

In India, about 62 percent of the children in the age group of 5-14 are currently enrolled in schools, and 4 percent of children are reported to be working. The remaining 34 percent of children in this age group are neither enrolled in school nor reported as participating in work. Another important dimension to this problem is the gender disparity in school enrollment. Available data indicate that the enrollment rate of girls is 12 percent below that of boys.

SOURCES

Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India http://wcd.nic.in/

Duraisamy, Malathy. (2000). Child Schooling and Child Work in India, New Delhi.