Children – The unattended future of India

Picture By Naresh Narula

According to a study, 6,000 children in India under the age of 6 die every day because of malnutrition and hunger even though India is said to be the world’s largest country which takes initiative for children under 6 years of age but still it ranks around 94 out of 118 countries on the global hunger index.

The question is, why children in India suffer from hunger even when the country’s gross production is high all the time? Mothers are burying their loved ones as their children die because they are not being looked after properly.

Recently a four year old girl, Mahi, fell into a 70-foot-deep open borewell in Manesar while playing with her friends it took the authorities 80 hours to enter the borewell only to find The poor construction of the borewell is to be blamed. The case has been taken to Haryana high court. The authorities have adopted various measures to prevent such accidents from happening again.

Surely this will prevent such cases but why was this not thought of before? Why is the government slow off the mark? Horrific tales of how children are being physically abused in NGOs which are supposedly set up “to take care of people who can’t afford it”. Similar cases have been reported in “Apna Ghar” a children’s residence. A case under Sections 354 (molestation), 376 (rape), 342 (wrongful confinement), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and other provisions of the Immoral Trafficking Act and Child Protection Act has been registered against the NGO officials responsible.

After conducting surveys, it has been found that the negligence of children in India is only increasing. The survey showed that around 61 % of the children are neglected in some way or the other. Even government institutions and NGOs neglect these children and do not work for their well being. Many children are either being harassed by the institution’s officials or by their neighbours while Children are seen living under unhygienic conditions of footpaths.

Children are seen begging for money to buy food for themselves, there is no light at the end of the tunnel for them. Government has made laws for children’s betterment including education providing them with a good future. But what use are these laws of when there are not implemented? it seems as if the government has passed and forgotten these laws. Children require love and care, they are the future of our country.

So, instead of just leaving them lying homeless on the streets, its time government and NGOs take some initiative to help these children lead a better life and have a brighter future, for it is in their future where in lies our country’s future.