Dr.Banarsi Lal and Dr.Shahid Ahamad
We celebrate many important days like Children’s Day, Human Rights Day, Teachers Day, Literacy Day, World Environment Day and Mothers Day and so on. We observe the rituals but actually we ignore the basic purpose of these rituals. We see many important persons accompanied by their cronies spinning the wheel on Gandhiji’s birthday every year and after that we forget that great hero (Gandhiji) for the rest of year. Similarly we celebrate the Children Day on November 14(Jawahar Lal Nehru Birthday) when we see VIPs sitting along with orphans and participate in some special programmes. We observe many such anniversaries to attract the attention of others towards ourselves. Now the question arises- are we caring for children who become the responsible citizens of future? The answer is no. We do the crime against the children when we don’t allow them to be born because we think that child can be a girl child. This crime of selective abortion of female fetuses is even done by the educated class of our society. Declining sex ratio figures in our country clearly indicate it. Where are those missing girls’ children? This is known by their parents who get rid of them on the sly with the connivance of doctors. The girl child is nipped in the bud in our society or killed after they are born (female infanticide).The child sex ratio is declining in our country. The first victims are the children from the people of below poverty line. 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.
It has been observed that most of the 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. Presently India is having the largest child labour in the world i.e. around 17 millions. Our efforts to eradicate this evil have come to naught. These children are working under hazardous conditions. Their safety is the last concern. Once 30 children died in an explosion in the firework factory in Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu. Eight children died in November 2002 in an explosion in Villupuram, Tamil Nadu. These working children toil for 15 hours every day in dingy and cramped places, producing some products that fetch huge profits for their owners. The condition of many work places is really unhealthy. According to experts, access to primary education could alleviate the problem to a great extent. In our country, 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. Now 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 are unable to provide minimum safe infrastructure and teachers to our school children. Many schools in our country are still in dilapidated condition. Many schools don’t have proper drinking water facilities. In an incident in Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu more than 90 children charred to death when their thatched school building was gutted by fire. We are proud of our high-class buildings, five star hotels and other showpieces but when we ask to provide the facilities to our children then we simply say we don’t have funds.
Many children are sexually abused throughout their life. The offenders are known to them but even then there is no one with them for their safety. They are traumatised throughout their life. We often read such types of instances in different daily publications. The children from tourist places are also sexually abused. In many places we often read about the rackets trading in children. These types of rackets promote the child prostitution. We don’t have the estimates of children who are sexually abused because their fathers are languishing in prisons and their mothers are trapped in red light areas. What type of future can be expected of such children whose life suddenly halts before they begin it? Does the Government cares for them? Or they left alone to tend themselves? Some Non Government Organisations (NGOs) are taking care for them. Some of NGOs set homes for these disadvantaged children.
We come across child beggars and we can’t make out which one is genuine and which one is spurious. 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. There are plenty of laws for the beggars but they are rarely implemented. 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. They don’t have any place to sleep and no roof to protect them from sunshine and rains. They don’t have any blanket or quilt to protect them in chilly conditions of January. Some NGOs should be appreciated who work for them. Some states victimise the children with their strange customs. Child marriage is one of the examples which is still rampant in some parts of our country. Even our law has failed to curb this menace. 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 flourish in India despite law. Reforms must come from within and not from without.
It is not only the poor children are under stress but also the children belonging to middle and upper class also undergo formidable emotional strains in families. 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 should we blame for this state of affairs? Parents,our education system, the society or our value system? If we teach our children that if one door is closed, there are various others are open to them, then they would not take the extreme steps. Many children whether they are rich or poor have lost the power to smile or afraid to smile. Have we ever bothered to plumb the depths of these young minds?
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