Childhood & Poverty

Childhood & Poverty

Main Examination: General Studies Question Paper-3

(Child poverty and exploitation)

September 23, 2023

Foreword:

  • Childhood is the happiest moment of a person's life, there is no worry about anything and no responsibility, but poverty and exploitation are depriving him of his rights. Due to this, the happy and cheerful childhood is getting lost.

Statistics related to child poverty and exploitation:

  • Recent research conducted by the World Bank and UNICEF has shown that more than half, or 52.5 percent, of the people suffering from extreme poverty in the world are children.
  • That means every second person living in extreme poverty is a child. In the year 2013, their population was 47.3 percent.
  • Globally, in 2022, 6.6 percent of the child population was a victim of extreme poverty.
  • 5.2 crore or 11.5 percent children in India were in extreme poverty.
  • Poverty rates among children under five were highest in 2022.
  • About 18.3 percent i.e. 9.9 crore children suffering from extreme poverty were aged five years or less.
  • According to UNICEF report, most of the children suffering from poverty are citizens of Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rate of children suffering from poverty in the world, 40 percent. Whereas in South Asia this rate is 9.7 percent. 90 percent of the world's extremely poor children live in both regions.
  • It is noteworthy that these children live in developing countries where health problems are rampant. On the other hand, atrocities, violence, injustice, cruelty and exploitation of children and adolescents are happening continuously in the world.
  • According to UNICEF report, more than half of the world's children are doomed to suffer serious violence.
  • 64 percent of these children live in South Asia. Every year thousands of children abducted or bought from India are sold to certain countries. These children are sexually exploited in those countries, but it never becomes a subject of sympathy or discussion. Very few FIRs are filed against this inhuman act against children, due to which the exact number is not known.

Law against exploitation of children:

  • The condition of children who work in India is pathetic. This problem is seen in countries all over the world. It is not that there is no law to provide justice to children.
  • Many countries in the world have laws against exploitation of children. But these laws have not been effective in protecting children from exploitation, oppression, violence and kidnapping. Especially in developing countries, where poverty is highest, children have to face many types of problems and violent behavior.
  • About four decades ago, a law was made in India to prevent child abuse, injustice and cruelty. The law outlawing child labor was enacted in 1986.
  • This helped in freeing the child laborers who were suffering from bonded labour. But the condition of children working in homes, kilns, agricultural farms, fields, gardens, factories etc. and begging at city intersections is extremely pathetic even at present. There are about one lakh beggars living in Delhi, of which almost half are children.
  • Thousands of child laborers have been freed by the Government of India, but their rehabilitation has not been completed till date.
  • At present, lakhs of child laborers are victims of exploitation and injustice. Lakhs of abducted or missing children do not return home; the government has only incomplete information about them. Unless there is complete information about such children at the government and administration level, the cycle of exploitation, injustice and torture of children will continue.

Impact:

  • Millions of young children can be seen living in violent situations in the world. Due to this, not only their childhood ends, but their health and sensitivity also gradually deteriorates.
  • According to psychologists, violence against children is not only ruining their innocent lives, but their future is also becoming uncertain.

Settlement:

  • Many experiences gained not only in India but globally show that violence can be reduced only by prevention of violent behavior towards children. For this, there is a need to work at the grassroots level with the help of law. This includes promoting personal safety among children, effectively implementing child protection policies in schools and creating awareness among parents to prevent sexual exploitation of children.
  • Very young children are not able to protect themselves. The number of such children is in crores in the world. Providing security to them is the biggest challenge. In this, the role of government, non-government organizations and institutions, civil societies and social workers committed to child protection is very important. There is also a need to strengthen and promote UNICEF child protection systems, finance, laws, standards, governance, monitoring and services.
  • Research shows that it is important to keep a close eye on the reasons due to which children suffer and their lives remain unsafe. Perhaps, if violence, exploitation and oppression are stopped in advance by understanding the real reasons, then the lives of crores of children can be saved. Second, investing in child protection systems is an important protective measure from a human rights, ethical and economic perspective to prevent and respond to all forms of violence and exploitation against children.
  • The role of police is very important in providing security to children. Therefore, the police should pay special attention to the safety of children and provide training in such a way that everyone has confidence in the safety of the police and children feel safe at every level. Secondly, the relationship between the police and the public should increase trust in each other. The public should consider the police as their friends and the police should consider the public as their friends. With this, every child of every family will be saved from kidnapping and trafficking.
  • But the most important thing is to promote public awareness and become cooperative with the government and administration by understanding the reasons due to which children become victims of violence, exploitation and kidnapping.

Conclusion:

  • It should be expected that UNICEF, civil society and voluntary organizations will play a more effective role in protecting children in the world. As the feeling of neglect towards children has increased in the world, problems related to children are continuously increasing. Therefore, there is a need to increase more sensitivity towards children, so that childhood safety can be complete and incidents of violence, exploitation and kidnapping can be eliminated.

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mains exam question

Child labor and exploitation are the consequences of social inequalities. Discuss.