Steps taken for upliftment of Children in India

Children form a very important section of our population. They are the future of a nation hence it is important that they receive proper care. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of children receive proper care in India. A large number of them suffer from starvation and diseases, live in unhygienic conditions and do not even go to school. They have to work for long hours and at low wages to supplement the family income.

There have been a number of strict steps taken by Indian Government for the upliftment of children and providing them the rights which they deserve to enjoy in their childhood days.

Indian constitution prohibits employment of children. Under the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 2006 employment of children in any occupation below 14 years is prohibited. Though the problem is yet not completely curbed, but many people have been caught and even punished for using children for doing labor work.

Government schools have been set up to provide free education. In these schools, mid days meals are also provided free of cost to the students. Some states also offer free textbooks and uniform to the students giving their parents an easy way to provide children to their education without any expenditure.

Health centers have been set up in rural areas to give free immunization to infants. It has helped a lot in saving poor children from various kinds of diseases. However, a lot of awareness is required to spread knowledge about free immunization so every child could be saved from some of the dangerous diseases like polio and hepatitis.

The rights of children have been recognized by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the child. The United Nations agencies like the UNICEF and the UNESCO work for the betterment of children all over the world. Our government has launched an Integrated Child Development scheme to improve the conditions of children in India.

S. Singh