Child Rights and You
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Khalid Khan B.Tech (4/4)
We often ended up finding topics and headlines such as child labour, food insecurity to children,
malnutrition in children, etc., in some insignificant corner of an unimportant page of the newspaper. But
things have changed now. We are startled and stunned to find these headlines on the very first page in
today’s life. We as a student are taught about these issues from the very early classes, we no one cares. We
assume it to be just a topic that has to be learnt and belched in the examination. But this belching is more
harmful than the belching of exhausts from the chimney of a factory, which causes major problems to the
child rights.
In contemporary India, comprehensive health programmes, supplementary nutrition for mothers and
children, nutrition education for mothers, free and compulsory education for all children up to the age of
14, non-formal preschool education, promotion of physical education and recreational activities, special
consideration for the children of weaker sections of the population like the scheduled castes and the
schedule tribes, prevention of exploitation of children and special facilities for children with handicaps, etc.,
are some of the major issues that have to be checked. Presence of these problems doesn’t mean that we as
a constitutional country don’t have law enforcement regarding these problems. But the main problem is the
ineffective implementation of the laws.
The major child rights problems arise due to brokers and middlemen. These children are in the shackles of
poverty, responsibility and many other day to day problems. Furthermore, these children are exempted
from the basic right to education. Consequently, they are unaware of the government schemes and policies.
To add great woes to their misery, they are made to work for long hours for the benefits of the brokers. It is
earnest duty of the civilized people of the society to look into the matter and take primary steps towards
the welfare of t H