Advancing Nehru’s Vision Through Rights and Responsibility
By Dipak Kurmi
Children’s Day, celebrated every year on November 14, fills India with a festive spirit as the nation pays tribute to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, its first Prime Minister and a devoted champion of children’s welfare. Fondly remembered as Chacha Nehru for his affection toward young minds, he firmly believed that children were the true architects of India’s destiny. His timeless words — “The children of today will make the India of tomorrow. The way we bring them up will determine the future of the country” — continue to inspire generations. Yet, as India observes Children’s Day 2025 under the theme “For Every Child, Every Right,” a sobering truth lingers: the gulf between the day’s lofty ideals and the everyday realities of millions of Indian children remains deeply troubling.
Children’s Day, also known as Bal Diwas, transforms schools across India into vibrant centers of joy and creativity. Cultural programs featuring singing, dancing, and dramatic performances fill auditoriums with laughter and applause. Drawing competitions, poster-making contests, and essay-writing exercises encourage children to express their vision for the future and their understanding of rights. Teachers distribute sweets and gifts, creating memories that children cherish long after the day concludes. Public lectures and awareness programs highlight the significance of children’s education and welfare, keeping alive the spirit of compassion and responsibility that Nehru embodied throughout his life. Beyond his words, Nehru’s legacy includes the establishment of the Children’s Film Society of India, an institution designed to foster creative instincts and provide cultural enrichment for young audiences. His policies aimed at eliminating child labor and ensuring equal educational opportunities laid foundations that continue to inspire contemporary child welfare initiatives.
The theme for 2025, “For Every Child, Every Right,” carries profound significance in a nation where approximately 480 million children constitute a substantial portion of the population. This theme emphasizes the imperative of protecting children’s rights and ensuring their development within healthy, nurturing environments. It acknowledges that every child, regardless of socioeconomic background, possesses inherent rights related to survival, identity, development, protection, and participation. These rights must be upheld universally—in urban centers, rural villages, and tribal communities alike. However, despite India’s implementation of numerous policies and legislative measures designed to safeguard children, the execution of these protections remains tragically insufficient. The reality confronting millions of Indian children is marked by deprivation, abuse, neglect, and exploitation, revealing that symbolic celebrations alone cannot address systemic failures.
Child survival constitutes one of the most pressing challenges facing contemporary India. The statistics are stark and deeply troubling. According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) conducted during 2019–20, a staggering 38.4% of children under five years suffer from stunting, while 19.3% are wasted and 7.7% are severely wasted. Additionally, 32.1% of children are underweight, and an alarming 67.1% suffer from anemia. These figures expose the extent of malnutrition and poor health conditions affecting India’s youngest citizens. High infant and neonatal mortality rates persist, compounded by gender inequality and the horrific practice of female foeticide, which prevents girl children from even experiencing birth. Girls face systemic discrimination and are frequently denied their fundamental right to life and well-being. Addressing these critical issues demands significant governmental investment in comprehensive child survival strategies, including access to quality healthcare services, adequate nutrition, education, and universal immunization programs against preventable diseases. Strengthening public health infrastructure to provide safe drinking water, proper sanitation, and environmental protection remains essential. Combating hunger and malnutrition requires ensuring food and nutritional security not only for children but for their entire families.
The right to identity begins with birth registration, representing a child’s first civil right. Although India recognized international standards defining children as individuals up to the age of eighteen back in 1992, many children still lack access to services supporting early childhood care and development. Ensuring that every child has adequate housing and shelter is fundamental to their overall development and protection. Education represents another critical domain where India’s performance falls dramatically short of its constitutional promises. Despite the 86th Constitutional Amendment guaranteeing free and compulsory education for children aged six to fourteen, this right remains unprotected for significant numbers of children who continue to remain outside the formal education system. Children with disabilities or special needs face particularly severe challenges, with only five percent receiving any form of assistance and merely two percent accessing schooling opportunities. The state must prioritize providing quality education, healthcare, nutrition, and security for underserved children, particularly those from socially marginalized and economically backward communities.
Children living in urban slums, working children, and those from construction worker families encounter formidable barriers to development. Instead of attending school and enjoying their childhood, these children face exposure to hazardous working conditions and substance abuse. They work in tea stalls, garages, buses, and various industries, often earning minimal wages while enduring physical and emotional mistreatment. Child labor, fundamentally a form of abuse, deprives children of their childhood, education, and developmental opportunities. While poverty serves as a root cause of child labor, protective measures must be implemented to shield children from exploitation and ensure they receive education and healthcare. Legislative measures combating child abuse in all its forms—physical, emotional, sexual abuse, and neglect—must be strengthened significantly. The World Health Organization defines child abuse as any form of maltreatment that harms a child’s health, survival, or development. While physical abuse leaves visible scars, emotional and sexual abuse inflict deep, lasting psychological damage. Ignoring a child’s needs or exposing them to unsupervised danger constitutes serious neglect.
In developed nations, physicians are legally mandated to report cases of child abuse. Implementing similar legislation in India, requiring physicians and other professionals to report suspected abuse, would represent a crucial step forward in protecting vulnerable children. Budget allocations for child welfare must be substantially increased, with particular focus on primary education. Improvements in educational quality, curriculum reforms, and innovative teaching methods are vital for creating meaningful learning experiences. Children also face threats beyond domestic and economic exploitation. During communal violence and insurgency, children often become orphans, losing parents and family members. These children suffer from neglect, discrimination, and lack of basic services due to absent family support. Children from tribal and indigenous communities prove particularly vulnerable to alienation and are disproportionately affected by armed conflict and social violence. They require special protection against trafficking, communal and political violence, and displacement caused by migration.
Emergency support services remain crucial for children in distress. The toll-free emergency helpline, Child Line 1098, should be expanded and promoted to ensure that children needing help can access assistance promptly. Shelter homes and orphanages are essential for children without families, and adoption procedures must always prioritize the child’s best interests. In rural areas, where a significant portion of India’s population resides, child protection services must be robust and effective. Panchayat officials should bear responsibility for ensuring that children in their communities access basic education, healthcare, and nutrition while remaining protected from being drawn into agricultural or other forms of exploitative labor.
Both government agencies and non-governmental organizations play essential roles in reaching neglected and abused children, addressing their comprehensive needs for education, healthcare, and rehabilitation. Celebrating Children’s Day on November 14 carries symbolic importance, but it must serve as more than mere celebration—it should function as a powerful reminder and urgent call to action for all citizens to commit genuinely to protecting children’s rights. Only through substantial legislative support, enhanced budget allocations, and effective implementation of child protection schemes can India ensure that children’s rights are truly upheld and their futures secured. As the nation honors Nehru’s vision this Children’s Day, it must recognize that investing in children represents the most profound investment in the nation’s promise and prosperity. Let this day inspire collective action to create an environment where every child can thrive, free from abuse, neglect, and exploitation—making the promise of “For Every Child, Every Right” not merely a theme, but a lived reality.
(the writer can be reached at dipakkurmiglpltd@gmail.com)
