The condition that puts a lot of people at risk for many of the issues listed in this section is Poverty. Due to Poverty, Lack of access to basic requirements such as food, shelter and clothing are underlying cause of poor health and nutrition which leads children to child labour i.e. they start working between the age of 5-14 years and various other issues.
It has widened the economical, social, cultural and gender disparities which has been already present in the society. Poverty essentially threatens every child rights, survival, child development and child protection. Poverty follows a vicious cycle as poor children tend to remain poor as they grow up who then pass on debt to their children.
1 in 4 children of school-going age is out of school in our country – 99 million children in total have dropped out of school (Census 2011).
Out of every 100 children, only 32 children finish their school education age-appropriately (District Information System for Education (DISE) 2014-15).
Only 2% of the schools offer complete school education from Class 1 to Class 12 (District Information System for Education (DISE) 2014-15).
Child Labour and Exploitation
There are 10.13 million child labours between 5-14 years in India (Census 2011).
India has 33 million working children between the ages of 5-18 years. In parts of the country, more than half of the child population is engaged in work labour (Census 2011).
Every 8 minutes, a child goes missing in India – kidnapping and abduction is the largest crime against children in our country (District Crime Record Bureau (DCRB) 2014).
Over the decade, crimes against children has increased 5 times over (District Crime Record Bureau (DCRB) Data Series).
Fear of failure in examinations in the second highest cause of suicides in children (Accidents and Suicide Deaths in India (ASDI) 2014).
The health indicators of children in India are among the worst in the world – only around half (54%) of the infants in India are fully immunized. More than half the births in the country continue to remain home-births (National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 3)
4 out of 5 children under 3 years of age in the country are anemic (National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 3)
3 out of 5 children are malnourished (National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 3)
Around 8.5 lakh children are estimated to die before their first birthday each year (Census 2011 and Sample Registration System (SRS) 2013)
Latest NFHS data shows that less than one-third infants receive adequate diet in all states in the country* (National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 4)
42% of married women in India were married as children (District Information System for Education (DISE) 3)
1 in every 3 child brides in the world is a girl in India (UNICEF)
India has more than 4.5 lakh girls under 15 years of age who are married with children. Out of these, 70% of the girls have 2 children (Census 2011)
India has the highest no. of Female Foeticide and Female Infanticide in which the if the gender of the baby is revealed to be a girl then they are killed before or after their birth.
MEDLIFE FOUNDATION are making the efforts in Child Development and Wellness through encouraging the less fortunate people by helping them to get the compulsory primary education up to 14 years of the age and helping them to develop skills by giving them opportunities at various segments and improve their life with the help of Sustainable Healthcare.
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