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Book Review
Children’s rights
RAMYA KANNAN
RIGHTS OF CHILD: Subash Chandra Singh; Serials Publications, 4830/24, Ansari Road, Darya Ganj, New Delhi-110002. Rs. 695.
Frontline activism seldom takes a varying point of view in the case of child rights. In theory, the job is over if you agree with the basic premise that children are entitled to rights. In practice, however, the challenge of ensuring that these laws are passed and implemented is a gargantuan task requiring creativity, persistence and conviction.
Subash Chandra Singh’s book, technically, comes from the realm of theory he being an academic. His anthology comprises papers by academics from universities and educational institutions across the country including a couple of them from Nigeria and Bangladesh.
Some of them, however, are based on elaborate studies conducted by the authors at the field-level, like the chapter on the status of minority Tuikuk children in Mizoram, or the study on poverty and hunger in stone-crushers, and thorough in evidence to elucidate their arguments.
Child abuse
Looking at a broad gamut of issues relating to the denial of rights for children across the country, Singh has chanced on some nuggets that are seldom found in the common discourse on child labour.
His first chapter, for instance, deals with the issue of “disciplining children at home” – an interesting way to begin such an anthology. A study by K.Jaishankar and C. Kannan is based on investigations conducted among 40 respondents in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu. Though the sample size is small by some standards, it shows that at least 57 per cent of homes accord “corporal punishment” to the children. In 42 per cent of the homes, parents are actually abusive, the study showed, bringing evidence to prove what has always been suspected, but also accepted with social sanction.
Coming in the year of the introduction of the ban on child labour in homes and catering establishments, Neera Barihoke’s analysis is significantly placed. The author has called it an uphill task, elaborating how the government is ill-prepared for rescue and rehabilitation.
Yet another interesting highlight of the book is the chapter on the plight of children of women prisoners. While it is generally understood that a prison cannot be conducive for the development of children, Gurpreet K.Pannu states how the jail manual sets out provisions for the care of children of women prisoners, and how most of them remain on paper. Singh’s own article on trafficking and sexual exploitation of children takes on a general tone.
Considering a book of this nature perhaps the contributing authors should have been asked to provide the timeframe during which the surveys (wherever relevant) were conducted.
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