RIGHTS OF A CHILD
- Among these Rights of Child, some major rights can be to ensure:
(A) The child’s inherent Rights of life, without discrimination of race, colour, sex, language, religion, nationality, etc.;
(B) the child’s right to be cared by his/her parents. Child should not be separated from his/her parents.
In the event of the child’s adoption, the best interest of child shall be of the paramount consideration;
(C) the right of a child to education directed towards the development of child’s personality;
(D) the child’s right to conscience, religion and to be with his/her community and culture;
(E) the child’s right of free expression and freedom of association and peaceful assembly;
(F) protection of children from all forms of physical or mental violence, exploitation and abuse, narcotics use, torture or inhuman punishment;
(G) the right of a child to social security and standard of living adequate for the child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development.
CHILD LABOUR
- Labourers below the age of 14 years of age are called child labourers.
(a) Causes of Child Labour
- Children are cheap source of labour. Their inability to protest against their employers makes them preferable labourers.
- The main reason behind child labour is poverty. Children are forced to work early in their life. They work not only for their own survival,
- but also for their family. In such poor conditions, children are seen as extra hands of earnings to improve their household income.
- Indebtedness also compels poor parents to get their children employed as domestic servants, agricultural workers and daily wage earners.
- Street children, who are either orphans or have run away from their homes due to domestic violence or poverty, have no option but to work in order to feed and clothe themselves.
(b) Constitutional Provisions to prevent Child Labour
- For the protection and development of children, the Constitution of India has made the following provisions:
- No child below the age of 14 years shall be employed to work in any factory or in any hazardous employment.
- Childhood and youth are to be protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment.
- The state shall endeavour to provide free elementary education to all children till
- they complete the age of 14 years (Article 45 of the Indian Constitution).
- Article 51A of the Indian Constitution calls upon parents to provide opportunities for
- education to their children between the ages of six and fourteen years.
OLD AGE PROBLEM:
- Better health services, rise in the standard of living,
- and increase in life expectancy, have enhanced the number of aged people worldwide.
- As a result, old age problems have become social problems.
- To emphasis this issue, the United Nations declared 1999 as the ‘Year of Older Persons”,
- which was also observed in India. It extended this declaration to the year 2000 also.
- The emerging nuclear family is another factor which has added to their agony of neglect the elder,
- older or aged find themselves out of place and neglected, especially when they are in need of more care and attention.
- To address the concerns of aged, Government of India announced the National Policy for Older Persons (NPOP) in 1999.
DISABLED :
- One who suffers physical deformities or mental incapabilities
- whether by birth or accident, is called a disabled person.
- Thus, disabilities are of two types: physical and mental.
- The physically disabled are deaf, dumb, blind and orthopedically handicapped,
- whereas mentally disabled are those who suffer through mental retardation or illness,
- autism and cerebral palsy.
- The United Nation declared the year 1981 as the
- “International Year of Disabled Persons”,
- and the decade, 1983-1992, as the “Decade of Disabled Persons”.
- The Constitution of India directs the states to make effective
- provision for disabled and aged people in securing the right to work,
- education and public assistance.
(a) Legislations in India dealing with the interests of the disabled :
(i) The Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992
- The Rehabilitation Council of India Act (RCI), 1992, gave statutory status to the Rehabilitation Council.
- It regulates the programmes and institutions for various categories of professionals in the area of disability.
(ii) The Persons with disability (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995
Among aforesaid Acts, the Persons with Disability (PWD) Act, 1995, is the most comprehensive one,
which takes holistic view of the disable and provides that
- There shall be 3 percent reservation in government jobs providing incentives for publi
- c and private sector organisations that employ disabled, at least to the extent of five persons of the total workforce;
- States shall progressively ensure that every disabled child has access to free education -till the age of 18 years;
- There shall be preferential allotment of land at concessional rates to the disabled persons for the construction of house,
- setting up business or factories and for the establishment of special recreation centres, schools research institutions;
- There shall be establishment of special employment exchanges, special insurance policy and unemployment allowances;
- There shall be chief commissioner for persons with disability, to coordinate the works of state commissioners for persons
- with disabilities; to monitor utilisation of funds disbursed by Central
- Government, to take steps to safeguard rights and facilities made available to
- persons with disabilities and also to look into complaints with respect to denial of rights of persons with disabilities.
(iii) The National Trust for the Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy,
Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act, 1999
- The National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy,
- Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act, 1999
- , sets up a trust, which is to strengthen family guardianship of those suffering from autism,
- cerebral palsy, mental retardation and multiple disabilities.
- It also looks after the disabled with no family support.
CORRUPTION :
- Corruption is a global phenomenon. Corruption as a disease, is both endemic and epidemic.
- It makes mockery of administration, development and democracy.
- Corruption in public life has- reached and alarming stage and has emerged globally a sensitive issue.
(a) Measures to check corruption
- The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, was intended to contain corruption in public life of India.
- The Act declares the acts of bribery, misappropriation, obtaining pecuniary advantages, abusing official position,
- possessing assets disappropriate to income, etc., as offence and punishable under law. The Act is applicable to all public servants.
- The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) was set up in 1964 to look into the complaints of corruption against the public servants.
- The CVC released a “Citizens Guide” for the first time prescribing some do’s and dont’s for the citizens.
GENDER EQUITY :
- All through the ages, women on the basis of gender have
- always been discriminated in almost all the societies of the world.
- Sexual difference is biological, bat gender difference is sociological.
- In India, there are various factors which perpetuate gender inequality and keep
- the status of women low-Right from their childhood,
- they are deprived of an equal access to health care,
- education and economic rights, as the males of their society get.
- Sex ratio has always been a matter of serious concern for India,
- as it has been much lower than 950 females per thousands males for a long time.
- Among various factors, the prominent ones are high maternal mortality rate, female foeticide,
- low status of women’ patriarchal society, neglect of girl child, etc.
- Among all the main causative factors which lead to high death rates among women,
- are the ‘preference for son’ and social stigmas.
GENDER EMPOWERMENT
- Women are the focus of all development.
- For any sustainable change towards progress needs involvement of women.
- There is a great variation across the world in empowering women,
- even in developed industrial countries women does not enjoy equality.
- High income is not a prerequisite to creating opportunities for women.
- Gender empowerment focuses on gender inequality in
- economic and political opportunities and participation in decision-making process, and values.
(a) Steps taken for Gender Empowerment
- In India, women have been recognised as a separate target group since 1980s in our
- developmental planning, for raising their status at par with that of men.
- The National Commission for Women was set up in January, 1992.
- Besides, Constitutional safeguards, initiatives in the areas of capacity building,
- employment and income generation, welfare and support services, and gender sensitisation have been undertaken by
- the Department of Women and Child Development under the national policy for empowerment of women, 2001.
MINORITIES
- The term minority, may it be on language or culture basis, has not been defined by the constitution of India.
- It refers to such communities who are less then half of the total population of the country.
- Minorities whether religious or lingual, are those who are not in majority in a particular region/regions
- They enjoy all the rights as enjoyed by the majority community in India.
(a) Constitutional Provisions for upliftment of Minorities
- The constitution makers have taken all precaution to preserve, protect and promote the religion, culture
- , script and language of the minority communities. Unless the minorities feel secure about themselves,
- their religion and their culture, our democratic secular credentials cannot be appreciated (Article 29 of the Indian Constitution).
- The National Minority Commission has been set up by the constitution to promote the rights,
- interests and welfare of the minorities in India.
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes:
- The Constitution of India does not define the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST).
- They have been specified by the Presidential Orders issued in consultation with the Governors of the respective states.
- A person belonging to the Scheduled Castes must be either a Hindu or a Sikh only and not of the other communities.
- In case a person belonging to Scheduled Caste converts his or her religion, other than to Hindu or Sikh,
- he or she loses all the benefits of being a member of the Scheduled Caste.
- However, a Scheduled Tribe person, even after converting to any of the religion,
- does not lose the status and benefits of a Scheduled Tribe.
- Citizens belonging to weaker sections, particularly of
- those tribes and castes who were for centuries under privileged have been provided by
- the Indian Constitution some safeguards to protect
- them and their interests and to uplift them by removing their social inequalities. They are summed up as the following :
(i) Abolition of untouchability and forbidding its practise in any form (Article 17 of the Indian Constitution).
(ii) Prohibition of forced labour.
(iii) Protection against social injustice and various forms of exploitation.
(iv) Opening of all Hindu religious institutions of public character to all sections of Hindus.
(v) Removal of all sorts of restrictions on access to schools, shops, hotels,
places of entertainment and other public places, use of tanks, wells, roads, bathing ghats, etc.
(vi) Prohibition of denial of admission to the state-owned or aided educational institutions.
(vii) Curtailment of general rights of all citizens to move freely, settle and acquire property in scheduled and tribal areas.
(viii) Special provision for the administration and control of scheduled and tribal areas.
(ix) Setting of a Tribal Advisory Councils, separate departments in the states and
appointment of a special officer at the centre to promote their welfare and safeguard their interests.
(x) Appointment of a Commissioner to investigate the developmental conditions of the Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes(Article 338 of the Indian Constitution).
(xi) Constitution of the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.
(xii)Special representation in Parliament and State Legislatures.
Under this, the number of reserved seats in Lok Sabha for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes are 78 and 30, respectively. There is no reservation of seats in Rajya Sabha and State Legislative Councils.
(xiii) Adequate representation of the SCs and STs by reserving seats for them in the local bodies like Panchayats.
(xiv) Reservation in the appointment and promotion in the public services.
Under this provision, there is 15 per cent of reservations for Scheduled
Castes and 7.5 per cent reservations for Scheduled Tribes in government services.
- To ensure the adequate representation of weaker sections in government services,
- several concessions like relaxation in age, fee and qualification and
- free pre-examination coaching by the government-run centres have also been provided.
OTHER BACKWARD CLASSES/CASTES (OBC):
- The term Backward Classes, has not been defined in the Constitution of India.
- The Mandal Commission (1978) has listed 3743 backward classes/ castes constituting 52 percent of the total population of India.
- Identification of such classes/castes is subject to the Judicial inquiry made by the State.
- Other Backward Classes have also been identified on caste basis keeping in view of their social, economic and educational profiles.
- Article 239 of the Constitution empowers the President to investigate the conditions of Backward classes.
- In order to achieve the full implementation of 27 percent reservation to Other Backward Classes the Government has provided them relaxation in
(A) qualifying marks in written examinations and interviews;
(B) upper age limit by three years in direct recruitment: and .
(C) increasing the number of attempts to seven in respect of civil services examinations.
