CB Bureau The Child Rights Index (CRI) published by NGO HAQ:
Centre for Child Rights has placed Kerala and Karnataka at the top and
Arunachal Pradesh at the bottom in protecting rights of children. The country’s
first national child rights index is based on government data, both central and
state.
In the overall CRI, Kerala is on top followed by
Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, and Rajasthan.
Delhi ranks 12 in the country when it comes to ensuring well-being of children ”
assessed using the 10 indicators of sex ratio, early childhood care, education,
health, birth registration, child marriage, child labour, incidence of crime
against children, victims of crime against children, and crimes by children.
The ranking of states has not been done on the basis
of absolute numbers, but in proportion to the number of children in the states.
So, while a state may perform well in absolute numbers, it may figure low on
the index.
The NGO’s report finds that Karnataka has the least
number of cases of crime against children, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat,
Maharashtra, and Rajasthan. Crimes against children include infanticide,
murder, rape, kidnapping and abduction, foeticide, abetment of suicide,
exposure and abandonment, and buying and selling of minor girls for
prostitution and child marriage.
The Child Rights Index states that although in
absolute numbers, most of the child victims of select crimes are in Delhi, Uttar
Pradesh, and Maharashtra, the ratio of child victims to overall child
population is higher in the northeastern states of Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura,
Arunachal Pradesh, and Sikkim. The worst performers – Nagaland, Sikkim,
Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, and Manipur – also have the lowest gross domestic
product (GDP) in the country. Maharashtra leads in terms of GDP. Delhi figures
at number 10.
Delhi ranks second in the index on child labour. The
index reveals that the states that have higher incidences of crimes being
committed by children are also among the worst performers when it comes to
child labour. Mizoram, Sikkim, Meghalaya, and Nagaland have very high
percentages of children working as labourers. Mizoram is at the bottom of the
list at 29. Belying its reputation of being backward on social sector
parameters, Bihar records the least number of crimes committed by children.
Maharashtra has the least number of infanticides,
Jammu & Kashmir the least number of child murders, and Jharkhand the least
number of child rape cases. Nagaland has the highest incidence of crime against
children and is ranked 29.
Despite its high literacy rate, Kerala is ranked last
in gender equality in prevention of child marriages, and has a high percentage
of girls (under 18) getting married. West Bengal, which is the worst performing
state in education, is also the worst performer in gender equality, and has fared
poorly in prevention of girl child marriages as well. Andhra Pradesh and Tamil
Nadu, too, come out poorly in child marriage.
Though poverty was one of the reasons for the
continued prevalence of child marriages, it was not the case always, the report
asserts. For instance, Maharashtra, one of the highest performers in economic
growth, is poorly ranked in child marriage. In fact, some of the poor states
rank high on the prevention of child marriage index. The best performers are
Punjab, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, and Manipur.
HAQ hopes that the Child Rights Index will help
ascertain areas of intervention, issues, as well as geographical regions that
need attention in the coming five-year plan. It is an attempt to assess how
different states and union territories fare in implementing child-friendly
policies and where they stand in terms of securing the rights of children.
The Indian Express