  The star-forming activity in the HII region RCW 42 is investigated using
multiple wavebands, from near-infrared to radio wavelengths. Located at a
distance of 5.8 kpc, this southern region has a bolometric luminosity of 1.8
$\times$ 10$^6$ L$_{\odot}$. The ionized gas emission has been imaged at low
radio frequencies of 610 and 1280 MHz using the Giant Metrewave Radio
Telescope, India and shows a large expanse of the HII region, spanning
$20\times 15$ pc$^2$. The average electron number density in the region is
estimated to be $\sim70$ cm$^{-3}$, which suggests an average ionization
fraction of the cloud to be $11\%$. An extended green object EGO
G274.0649-01.1460 and several young stellar objects have been identified in the
region using data from the 2MASS and Spitzer surveys. The dust emission from
the associated molecular cloud is probed using Herschel Space Telescope, which
reveals the presence of 5 clumps, C1-C5, in this region. Two millimetre
emission cores of masses 380 and 390 M$_{\odot}$ towards the radio emission
peak have been identified towards C1 from the ALMA map at 1.4 mm. The clumps
are investigated for their evolutionary stages based on association with
various star-formation tracers, and we find that all the clumps are in
active/evolved stage.
