Eleventh Five Year Plan

Towards Women’s Agency and Child Rights 217for children, appoint more child-friendly officers, andensure the proper implementation of the JJ Act.Special Provisions for Children in Distress/Difficult Circumstances6.148 Migration to cities by families forces childrento drop out of schools who then find themselves onthe streets. Most are unable to continue their educationand end up becoming child labourers or beggars.Away from the secure environment of the villages,many are exposed to substance, drug, and sexual abuse.6.149 Street children or children living and workingon the streets are a common phenomenon in urbanIndia. Yet despite their relatively high visibility, verylittle information is available on their exact numbers.Given the limited number of shelters in the cities, thesechildren are often exploited and harassed by thepolice. They are vulnerable to hunger, malnutrition,lack of health care and education, physical and sexualabuse, substance abuse, and STD/HIV/AIDS. There isneither ICDS nor school for them. Many are forcedinto begging. The Eleventh Plan proposes setting upof walk-in ICDS centres at railway stations and busstands (where most migrant children arrive and wheremany street children and beggars are found). Thesecentres will offer food to any child who walks in aftera proper health check-up and distribution of appropriatemedicines and identity cards.6.150 Another set of children who are often neglectedare the children of prisoners. The fact that a large numberof women prisoners are with children (or havechildren in prisons), means that this category of deprivedchildren suffer from social isolation and absenceof healthy interaction. Those separated from theirimprisoned mothers and fathers have different problems.Their problems are largely the hidden anduncalculated costs of imprisonment. The National Planof Action 2005 as well as the Juvenile Justice (Care andProtection) Act has now finally recognized their needfor care and protection.Providing for Special Needs of DifferentlyAbled Children6.151 Ministries of Social Justice and Empowermentand Health and Family Welfare deal with the subject ofdisability. Yet it is critical to see disability as a childprotection issue as well. Even today, data related to disabilityamong children varies with source. It is estimatedthat hardly 50% disabled children reach adulthood, andno more than 20% survive till the fourth decade of life. 24Although there is very little information regarding thenutritional status of children with disabilities, it is recognizedthat disabled children living in poverty areamong the most deprived in the world. Discriminationand often abandonment is a reality for them. Data ofdisabled children in school reveals that integration ofthe disabled into the education system is a distant reality.Ensuring access to education, health, and nutritionfor children with disabilities is a formidable challengefor the Eleventh Plan. The Plan will ensure among otherthings, provision of ramps in schools, development ofdisabled friendly curricula, and training and sensitizationof teachers.Rehabilitating Children Affected bySubstance Abuse6.152 A survey reveals that out of all the childrenwho came for treatment to various NGOs, 63.6%were introduced to drugs before the age of 15 years.According to recent data, among those involvedin drugs and substance abuse in India, 13.1% arebelow 20 years of age. 25 This problem is especiallywidespread in the NER and Punjab. In the EleventhPlan, children of this group will get special attention.Measures for rehabilitation backed by propercounselling and sensitive de-addiction camps will beundertaken.Ensuring Child Mental Health6.153 At any given time, 7–15% or 65 million Indianchildren suffer from significant mental disorder. 26 Thisis in addition to the stress-related suicides and deathsthat are a leading cause of mortality among youngadults. There is currently no budgetary allocation for24M.L. Kataria, ‘War against disability-fighting for the right of the child’, 29.5.2002, www.tribuneindia.com25UNDOC, Rapid Assessment Survey: The Extent, Pattern and Trend of Drug Abuse in India.26ICMR, 2001; Malhotra, 2005.