News Watch - 77% caste groups in MP still marry off children

77% caste groups in MP still marry off children
According to a recent study by the Delhi-based Centre for Social Research (CSR), the proportion of people whose caste/community still practises child marriage is 41% in Rajasthan and only 10% in Uttar Pradesh. "Enforcement of the Child Marriage Prohibition Act continues to be a major problem," says the study conducted in two districts in each of the three states.

Children of a lesser god
Child trafficking is rife in India but the law on trafficking is still ambiguous. A new law that’s in the works may, however, change this, reports Amrita Johri.

Know disaster, no disaster
Over 400 children from 36 schools in Pune participated in the two-day event on 'Children - Disasters and Sustainable Futures' on 4-5 January this year. They gathered knowledge about disasters and how to best manage in such situations, ensuring minimum loss of life and property.

Mr Finance Minister, Lend Your Ear To The Children, Please!
ICDS was started more than 32 years back in 1975, in pursuance to the adoption of the National Policy for Children in 1974. This Policy recognised children as the ‘nation’s supremely important asset’ and called upon the state ‘to provide adequate services to children, both before and after birth and through the period of growth, to ensure their full physical, mental and social development’ and to cover ‘all children in the country’ ‘within a reasonable time’.

News Watch: Case of the missing daughter

Case of the missing daughter
Unwanted — that’s the plight of the girl child in many parts of India. It doesn’t quite matter where she lives — in a shanty or mansion, a village or city, India or Canada — she’s often a minority, perched precariously between life and death.

Child Deaths Down, But Still Too Many: UNICEF
The report, entitled, "State of the World's Children 2008," points out that each day at least 26,000 children under the age of five die from preventable diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhea, and malaria.

Data and statistics on education in India

Mother and Child
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Editorial/Mother_and_Child/articleshow/2725901.cms
Of the 9.7 million child deaths worldwide annually, one-third occur in India. Unesco's 2008 report on the state of the world's children presents an acutely embarrassing picture of infant and child mortality in the country.

The starvelings
Hunger has an even bigger impact on children's health than was thought. Hunger causes disease as well as death. According to the Lancet, malnutrition in the first two years is irreversible. Malnourished children grow up with worse health and lower educational achievements. Their own children also tend to be smaller.

When hunger kills
Of the ones that are lucky enough to survive, 8.3 million are babies born underweight. The situation worsens as these babies grow older. Every third child who is underweight, and under five, in the world is an Indian.

Community to be involved in bringing children to school
The larger community needs to be convinced that it is a “vibrant player” in ensuring educational access to all, she added. Though the number of out-of-school children had gone down from 10 lakh in 2000 to about one lakh in 2007, those who had remained out of the ambit of SSA programmes were “a matter of serious concern”, said Ms. Sharma.

Where is the space for children?
Article 31 of UN convention on child rights state, “Every child has a right to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.” However, fulfillment of this right is a dubious dream.