The situation of children in India has been consistently
improving in terms of health, education and protection. The under-five
mortality of children has declined from 95 in 1998-99 to 59 in 2010. The
infant mortality rate has come down to 47 points in 2010 from 58 in
2005, a decline of 11 points over a period of five years (Sample
Registration System 1998, 2005 and 2010, Office of Registrar General of
India).
The number of children in the elementary education system has increased significantly to 194 million in 2010-11 (The 2nd Year -The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, Ministry of Human Resource Development, 2012). There has been significant decline in the number of out-of-school children from 32 million in 2001 to 8.1 million in 2008-09 (India: Third and Fourth Combined Periodic Report on CRC).
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights was established in 2007, under the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005, as a major step towards the protection of rights of children in the country. The Government is also implementing several programmes for children through different Ministries and State Governments to secure the rights of children to survival, health, development and protection.
This was stated by Smt. Krishna Tirath, Minister for Women and Child Development, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha today.
