PDF, 1.1MB - Combat Law

BY ENAKSHI GANGULY THUKRALEvery time my 16-year olddaughter gets on to stageto dance, she dusts someextremely fine shinystuff on her face and itglitters and shines. By the time sheis off the stage, most of the shiny glitteris gone, except for some bits ofsparkle here and there…and by thenext morning, there is no trace of it.India’s shine is much like that—heretoday, gone tomorrow —effervescentand transient.Every day we see articles focusingon the shining and the non-shining`bits’ of India. But if anything or anyonetruly shines in India today-it isits children, comprising over onefourth of our population. Resilientand lively, they continue to smile andgive hope in the not so shining ‘bits’ ofIndia that most of them inhabit. Butthen, they are not voters. What theythink or feel does not count.As Indians we constitute 16 percent of the world’s population,occupying 2.42 percent of its landarea. It has more working childrenthan any other nation, as also amongthe lowest female-male ratios.Despite Constitutional guarantees ofcivil rights, children face discriminationon the basis of caste, religion,ethnicity and religion. Even thebasic need for birth registration thatwill assure them a nationality andidentity remains unaddressed,affecting children’s right to basicservices.India is also home to one of thelargest illiterate citizenries in theworld. In the not so shining India wesee, hear and read of, children aredying of starvation, while food in ourgranaries rots and feeds rats. Wewatch while female sex ratio dips.child rightsChildren’s Rights inShining IndiaLittle children, barelyable to stand, are marriedoff flouting alllaws. Little ones aresacrificed, traffickedand sold; as others arelocked, abused,sodomised – the list isendless. And there areall those realities thatnever make the news.We know this is onlythe tip of the iceberg,but we choose not toact. Our silence andtolerance not only condonessuch violation ofrights, it also makesus guilty of complicity.Therefore, anyunderstanding ofhuman rights of childrencannot be confinedto some children-‘poor children’, ‘workingchildren’ and ‘marginalisedchildren’.Such categories onlyhelp us to remove ourselvesfrom the problem.Let us not deludeourselves. Violationsof children’s rights arenot limited to the poorand downtrodden.They happen in middleclass and elitehomes too, albeit indifferent forms, andthe silence aroundthese is even deeper.Also, any analysis onthe situation of childrenmust be understoodwithin the contextof the economic and politicalchanges in the country. Of particularimportance are globalisation and lib-PHOTO COURTESY: GANPAT LAD4 combat law • April - May 2004Can we promise them an India that truly shines?eralisation, and the gender, casteand religious attitudes that prevailtoday. All these add to children’s vul-