Socio-demographic profile of children
Ranjay Vardhan

The State of Children in India: Promises to Keep
by A.B. Bose Manohar, New Delhi. Pages 341. Rs 700.

DEVELOPMENT of children has come to be recognised as integral to the national development process. Meeting the development needs of children is not only an investment in future but also a matter of their rights as individuals. The well being of today’s children determines the peace of tomorrow’s world.

With this object in mind, the author has successfully tried to utilise his 25 years’ scholastic interest and experience in bringing out this book on the state of the child in India. Based on secondary data, it tries to study the various aspects concerning children, including demographic trends, health, education, employment in different economic activities and legislation.

The book has been divided into five chapters that include 96 tables and 32 figures. The first chapter focuses on the socio-demographic data on India. In second deals with health-related parameters such as birth rate, death rate, infant mortality, vaccinations, etc. The third focused on education while the last is exclusively on child labour and related issues.

The author has highlighted the "state of other disadvantaged children" in need of care and protection and has discussed the plight of street children, children in conflict with law, sexually abused children, children of prostitutes, children suffering from AIDS, those affected by drugs, terrorism, riots or calamities and children in broken or problem families. However, the author has nowhere taken up the state of mentally retarded and physically handicapped children, who also require special attention.

The book makes a critical assessment of government policies, programme implementation and research in the field of child welfare. It highlights the desperate condition of under-privileged children as well as the complexity of planning social initiatives to meet the basic needs of these children. Against the background of structural imbalance in the provision of education, nutrition and healthcare between the different states in India and between rural and urban areas, the book presents a comprehensive approach to these needs of the children. While analysing data on health, education and nutrition, the author has also shown his concern for the declining sex ratio and disparities based on sex.

The book also analyses whether policy resolutions and the existence of a plethora of laws made for the protection of children have brought about change in the state of children. The book describes the working of children’s institutions to determine the extent to which the government has succeeded in meeting its statutory obligation to the needy and destitute children, as also the training and rehabilitation of delinquent children.

The rights of children cannot be realised if the health and well being of women are not addressed. Women who are sick, hungry, oppressed, or discriminated against cannot have the ability, willingness and motivation to bear and rear their children adequately. This issue is addressed in the chapter on health as well.

It can be said, as claimed by the author, the book has rightly focused on most of the issues relating to the child, but it has not suggested any models or policies for improving the state of children in India. Account could have taken of success stories of Sweden’s childcare system, Cuba’s national system of day-care centres and Educate Your Child Programme, or the Head Start programme in the US in giving suggestions for the uplift of children. We have here a novel attempt at highlighting child issues that can be useful for academicians, policy makers, and NGOs.

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