Securing Childhood: Challenges, Opportunities and Strategies

About the book

Childhood is a period of growth, development, and transition which requires security, protection, care and support of the family, society and the state. In the last few decades, despite legislation, policy, and programmes, limited progress has taken place in security, protection, care and support to poor, marginalized, destitute and street children. As a consequence, many children are devoid of their basic right to food, education, health, nutrition, and shelter. Many children are working as child labourers in violent, exploitative and abusive environment which deprives the children of their childhood. According to the NSSO (2009-2010), in India, nearly fifty lakhs children are engaged in economic activities, despite the fact that Child labour (Prohibition and Regulation) prohibits employment of children in hazardous industries, hotels, tea shops and as domestic workers. Child marriage is other social concern and a violation of children’s rights which severely impacts physical, social, economic, and emotional development of a girl child and results in premature pregnancy, abuse, exploitation and social exclusion. According to estimation, forty percent of world’s child marriages take place in India. Missing children is another important concern. Although India is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child which recognizes birth registration as one of the first right of a child, we have the highest number of unregistered children in the world. India being a country with a highest number of child population needs a special attention, intervention and strategies to address these issues. It is through investigation of these issues that the book attempts to contribute towards a greater understanding of the discourse on securing childhood –challenges, opportunities and strategies. The papers offer effective strategies and recommendations, which will be of great interest to scholars, activists, development professionals, as well as policy planners and to all those concerned with securing childhood for inclusive development in today’s and tomorrow’s world.