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RF_NGO_9_SUDHA
■ ORCES Recommendations Towards Women's Health Policies
,, H
.
Paper prepared for thP
-a ona Consultation Towards Comprehensive women's health policy and programmes.
Oigamzed by VHAI WAH ! and sponsored by DSE.
VHAI, New Delhi - 18-19, Februaiy 1999 ~
C
Crech® and Childcare Services is a child rights advocacy network that espouses
I
c or. "t5' wants,a"d "9,lts of the very young child. A loose and informal network of 49
hiMr/n5 '1IZ l0nS1 Lnd 5 re9ionai networks' its main focus is on tha rights o? vZen and
children
idren vis
.is a vis child care especially in the unorganized sector.
I
Although we believe that all children’s issues are of great concern to women and therefore
nnpac. - len well-being, the following policy and advocacy issues Identified by us in recent
years ha.-e a direct bearing on the physical health of women.
DANGERS OF THE TWO CHILD NORM
1niiXnpiiCHMn\athWAOmen Jnd Chi,dren lnherent in t,lis PrcP°sed National Population
In the test few years the Health Ministry has been keenly propagating the Two-Child Norm
J iiough the media, along with directives for all government employees to adhere to such a
norm Simultaneously, there have also been moves to restrict Maternity Benefits to the first
two children only.
Clearly changes are being proposed in lav; and policy through the back door In a way that is in
dear contradiction to policies ratified in various international and national fora advocatina a
target free' approach to Family Welfare.
•
[A few news items are worthy of note here:]
1. In November 1997. a High
I"
Court ruling upheld the provisions of the Haryana Panchayati
Raj Act "which bars any person from holding the office of a Panch
"—j or Satpanch if he/she
!ias n:ore than two children. ”
The court ruled "Right to election and Personal Law ana is not a fundamental right",
arid it car. be restricted for economic and social justice.
.
i
!
2.
"
F-* ' ** w
’
w ■ ■•J V/1
1.1 1
I
On 22 April 1998, the Delhi Small Family Act which bars people with more than two
children from contesting MCD elections in the entire National Capital Region, was notified.
3. From Andhra Pradesh, another news item has come to our attention, according to which
the Tribal mandal parishad chief was disqualified for breach of two-child norm.
Chennaraopet Mandal Praja Parishad President Dharawat Amnti, who is a tribal,
was disqualified by the Chief Executive Officer of the Warangal Zilla Parishad for
giving delivering to a third child in October'97. Aggrieved by the CEO's order, she
approached the state High Court with the plea that being a tribal, she was unaware
of the two-child norm set for the office holders of PRJs. The Court directed the
authorities to allow her to continue in the post, pending disposal of her petition
17
4. Rajasthan also has a similar notification.
The FORCES network feels that a coercive enforcement of the two-child norm through policy
and law:
•
Victimizes those who are already victims
of widespread gender bias, namely the majority of
pintnon
V « C' i 11.
it victimizes the third child directly by refusing access to maternity benefit schemes and
.
indirectly by preventing the larger family from progressing .
p---------------- -
It promotes female foeticide, infanticide and adverse
female sex ratios.
•
Sex Ratios
Haryana
Rajasthan
Andhra Pradesh
Delhi
874
913
973
830
,
It encourages illegal abortions and delayed abortions
affecting women's mortality and morbidity.
.
It goes against all concepts of human rights, Including
women's reproductive rights.
| Source: Statistics on Children in
I India Pocket Book 1997, N1PCCD
.
It IS contrary to the policy ot reservation (or die empowerment of weaker sections.
.
it is anti people (especially the poor) and anti democracy.
awareness, information and choice.
We Recommend:
1
That a National Population Policy be formulated only after wopen _..J
and widespread debate
municated by various concerned
with attention to the comments and critic.sms already com^. .
groups and agencies.
on education, heaith care, food and employmentJ
2. That theand
highest
priority be
au programs
andplaced
poHcles ot the state respect tbeir soaat, reprpductree add
women t
economic rights.
,
to the commitments made at Alma Ata, CEDAW
3. That the new population policyRights
adheres
of the Child, firmly steering clear of all coerci
and the Convention on the P
measures and disincentives.
of life-saving drugs.
.
increasing maternal deaths in abortion related cases.
.
mcreasing issues of food security, malnutrition, feminization of poverty.
is
•
Growing Illegal use of women for contraceptive research.
•
Increasing emphasis on Reproductive Health without integrated strategies to tackle
social issues of male legal responsibility, sexual violence, issues of values in adolescent
reproductive health education, and commodification of women.
•
Increasing prostitution of children especially the girl child.
5. That this clear-cut policy, once accepted, should form the broad guideline for all related
new laws and policies to avoid contradictions.
6. That existing laws and policies be re-evaluated in the context of this new policy to avoid
contradictions.
All national policies that affect women and children especiallv those on food, health, education
need to be integrated. There is also urgent need for reliable data on women's health and
causes for death.
MATERNITY BENEFITS FOR ALL WOMEN
I he multiple roles of women as workers, inside and outside of the home and as child bearers
and caregivers have always been inadequately supported.
Moreover, these last decades of economic restructuring have immensely added to these
pressures. Women have been pushed from the organized to the unorganized sector where it is
impossible to access even the few maternity benefits that exist. Whole families are forced to
migrate to cities, which results in the loss of traditional support systems. Existing maternity
benefits, are woefully inadequate, and are seen more as handouts rather than rights.
I
I
It is our recommendation that maternity benefits should be made available to all
women regardless of employment status.
i
Benefits and supports must include the following:
I
•
I
t
•
•
Wage protection for visible and invisible women workers, including adopting mothers, for
at least six months
Paternity leave for men.
Acceptance of the need for flexible working hours to accommodate parental roles. This also
includes the provision for creches at work places irrespective of gender and numbers of
employees.
CHILD CARE NEEDS OF WORKING WOMEN
The needs and rights of women and children converge at the time of maternity and remain
intertwined for the entire period of child rearing, with special intensity during the early
childhood years. These are also the years of greatest vulnerability and development for the
child and future adult.
Child care as an issue has thus been seen to be critical to both women and children, especially
in terms of need of support to working women in tire prevalent patriarchal demarcation of
19
roles. Much of this responsibility is shared by older, usually girl, children to the detriment of
their own development.
We Recommend:
1. Childcare support must be included in the Minimum Needs Program as it is a basic need of
families living on or below the poverty line. Childcare support has implications for:
• Improved maternal and child health
• Reduction In infant mortality
• Improved adult, in particular women's productivity
• Greater participation of women in politics
• Greater educational opportunities for the girl child, and
• Greater school readiness among younger children.
Allocations for such support must not be reallocated or diverted.
2. Programs developed to address the needs of children under 6 years of age must focus on:
•
•
Maternity provisions
Requirements of the under twos
The needs of children 2-6 years of age
I
3. Decentralization of the management of childcare services to ensure more community
involvement, flexibility and better use of resources.
4. Removal of restrictions from schemes to bring in flexibility so that programs respond to
local needs.
5. Recognizing the childcare worker as a peison performing an important human resource
function, to be paid adequately and provided adequate skills and training.
6. Allow multiple sources of funding for childcare programs and community contributions.
7. Childcare support to become part of anti-poverty programs and women workers to be paid
for providing childcare support as part of employment guarantee.
8. Comprehensive legislation basedJ on National Child Care and Maternity Code and a National
Child-Care Fund: W^tn^ions from the State, Employers and Community, from which
support for mothers and children can be drawn.
9. Allocation of 1% of GDP to day care services
We hope that any policy formulations relating to women's health would take these
recommendations into account.
FORCES Secretariat
C/o Mobile Creches
DIZ Area, Sector IV, Raja Bazaar (Near Gole Market)
New Delhi - 110 001, Ph: 334 7635, 336 3271
Fax: 334 7281, E-mail:
forces@ndf.vsnl.net.ln
8’" Februaiy, 1999
20
)
FORCES
ANNEXURE V
STATEMENT OF RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE NATIONAL POPULATION
POLICY, DERIVED FROM FORCE WORKSHOP UPON THE SAME ON
24TH NOVEMBER 1997 IN NEW DELHI
THE SIGNATORIES RECOMMEND
1. THAT THE NATIONAL POPULATION POLICY BE FORMULATED ONLY AFTER OPEN
AND WIDESPREAD DEBATE WITH ATTENTION TO THE COMMENTS AND
CRITICISMS ALREADY COMMUNICATED BY VARIOUS CONCERNED GROUPS AND
AGENCIES.
2 THAT THE HIGHEST PRIORITY BE PLACED ON EDUCATION, HEALTH CARE, FOOD
AND EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN AND ALL PROGRAMMES AND POLICIES OF THE
STATE RESPECT THEIR SOCIAL, REPRODUCTIVE AND ECONOMIC RIGHTS.
3 THAT THE NEW POPULATION POLICY ADHERE TO THE COMMITMENT MADE AT
ALMA ATA, CEDAW AND CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD, FIRMLY
STEERING CLEAR OF ALL COERCIVE MEASURES AND DISINCENTIVES.
4. COERCIVE ENFORCEMENT OF THE TWO-CHILD NORM THROUGH POLICY AND
LAW:
•
Victimises those who are already victims of widespread gender bias, namely the
majority of women.
•
Victimises the third child directly by refusing access to maternity benefit
schemes and indirectly by preventing the larger family from ‘progressing’.
• •
Promotes female foeticide, infanticide and adverse female sex ratios.
•
Promotes illegal abortions and delayed abortions affecting women’s mortality
and morbidity.
•
Goes against all concepts of human rights. (Including women’s reproductive
rights)
•
Is contrary to the policy of reservation for the empowerment of weaker sections.
•
Is anti people (especially the poor) and anti democracy.
•
Is simply unnecessary as a measure of population stabilisation, and only serves
to detract from the more serious business of providing adequate services in an
a atmosphere of greater awareness, information and choice.
5. THAT THE FOLLOWING CONCERNS BE ADDRESSED:
•
Increasing privatisation of health care and the rise in prices of life-saving drugs.
Increasing maternal deaths in abortion related cases.
23
POPULATION STABILISATION : ISSUE OR NON-ISSUE ?
Increasing issues of food security, malnutrition, feminisation of poverty.
Increasing and illegal use of women for contraceptive research.
Increasing emphasis on Reproductive Health without intergrated strategies to
tackle social issues of male legal responsibility, sexual violence, issues of values
in adolescent reproductive health education, and commodification of women.
Increasing prostitution of children especially the girl child
6 THAT THIS CLEAR CUT POLICY, ONCE ACCEPTED, SHOULD FORM THE BROAD
GUIDELINE FOR ALL RELATED NEW LAWS AND POLICIES TO AVOID
CONTRADICTIONS.
7. THAT EXISTING LAWS AND POLICIES BE REVALUATED IN THE CONTEXT OF THIS
NEW POLICY TO AVOID CONTRADICTIONS.
All national policies that affect women and children especially those on food, heaith,
education need to be integrated. There is also urgent need for reliable data on women’s
health and causes for death.
24
FORCES
LIST OF PEOPLE WHO SIGNED THE RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE
NATIONAL POPULATION POLICY DERIVED FROM THE FORCES
WORKSHOP UPON THE SAME ON 24.11.97
1.
2.
MS AMARJEET KAUR, AITUC
MS ASHA SINGH, DEPTT OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT, LADY IRWIN COLLEGE
3.
4.
5.
6.
MS BRINDA SINGH, FORCES
MS DEVIKA SINGH, FORCES
DR MOHAN^RAO, CENTRE FOR SOCIAL MEDICINE AND COMMUNITY HEALTH,
7.
8
9.
10
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
JNU
DR PADMA SETH,, NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR WOMEN
DR PUNEET BEDI, GYNAECOLOGIST
MS HEMLATA, SAKSHI
1MI-rv
DR IMRANA QADEER, CENTRE FOR SOCIAL MEDICINE AND COMMUNITY
HEALTH, JNU
MS JAYA SRIVASTAVA, ANKUR
DR KIRAN ARORA, JWP
MS MANJU JUGRAN, SEWA BHARAT
MS MOHINI PRAKASH, MOBILE CRECHES, DELHI
MS MRINAUNI KOCHCHAR, MOBILE CRECHES, MUMBAI
MS RAMI CHHABRA, POPULATION FOUNDATION
MS SUNISHA AHUJA, MOBILE CRECHES,DELHI
DR VEENA MAJUMDAR, CWDS
MSVIDYABEN SHAH, CSWB
25
FORCES
BROAD RECOMMENDATIONS TOWARDS 10™ PLAN
Planning Commission Steering Group Meeting 1 "f1 April 2001
Recommendations for a policy framework and legal and administrative
measures required in the 10th plan (Maternity and Early Childhood).
Ninth Plan recommendations regarding importance of Creches and
Daycare to be implemented.
Childcare to be included in the list of Seven Basic Services to be
provided for human and social development.
Specific mention needs to be made regarding Creches and Daycare as
an essential strategy for women’s empowerment, child survival and
development.
Enactment of legislation to ensure Creches and Daycare
a)
services for women in the unorganized sector (Through setting
up of labour welfare boards etc.).
Implementation of Welfare Provisions of existing legislation.
b)
Amendment of existing legislation regarding provisions of
C)
creches to ensure the limitation of gender and number (as a
criteria for provision) is removed.
Child and women to be included in the list of socially disadvantaged
groups.
Statutory scheme for Maternity Entitlements irrespective of birth
order to be enacted to ensure wage support for matemity/delivery
expenses and six months of breast-feeding care of infant. A sum of
15,ooo crore should be allocated for this purpose.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
ICDS to be Revised /Revitalized:
7.
•
•
•
•
•
Outreach to under-two s;
Inclusion of creches;
Issue of quality/ implementation/utilization of funds;
Remuneration and status of childcare worker;
Budget.
8.
Creche Scheme:
• Revision;
• Allocations.
Children’s Code Bill should be opened to wide:
9.
• Issues of scope, powers, composition of board to be looked at;
• Section op young child re-examined;
• Type and source of funding proposed for children’s code bill to be
reconsidered;
• Exclusion of under sixes from Right to Education in 83 (Constitution)
Amendment Bill to be re-examined in the light of child rights, child
survival and development implications.
*
1
10. Revamp and Revitalize PHC’s:
• Staffing
• Essential drugs etc.
11.
Issues of decentralization in planning, implementation and monitoring
of children’s programmes.
• Issue of flexibility.
12.
Issue of Adequate Funding.
FORCES RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE H NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR
LABOUR
1. CENTRAL LEGISLATION FOR THE UNORGANISED SECTOR
The network recognise the importance of legislation despite the problems with
implementation and makes the following recommendations:
a) New Legislation
Either
A Central Act for Manual Workers having various sectors of labour in its schedule should be
enacted.
Or
Separate Central Laws for Agricultural Workers, Home Based Workers, Handloom Workers,
Vendors and Hawkers, Loading and Unloading Workers, Salt Pan Workers, Domestic
Workers and Construction Workers (existing)
AU laws must include the provision for maternity benefits breast feeding breaks and
childcare services as part of the entitlements of working women
b) Amendments
The Construction Workers Act must include workers in quarries, brick kilns, lime kilns
etc.
• Provision for Creches must be included in the Rules. The provision for creches must be
made irrespective of numbers and gender of workers employed. Implementation of these
services to be carried out by CLWB (Construction Labourers Welfare Board)
•
•
Amendments to Shops and Establishments Act and Contract Labour Act to include
entitlements to Child Care Services;
•
Amendment to Bidi Workers Welfare Fund Act to include creches. The quantum of
Maternity Benefits to be increased manifold from the pittance of Rs. 250/- and similarly
the quantum of pension given to workers affected by various occupational diseases like
tuberculosis etc. should also be increased.
2. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TRIPARTITE BOARDS
(a) AH constituted ‘Welfare’ and other Tripartite Boards must have proportional
representation of women.
(b) Tripartite Boards must be set up by State Governments sectorally through notification
(c) Representatives of Workers should be elected rather than nominated
(d) Boards to be set up at District, Taluka and Municipality and Zonal levels
Existing:
Labour Welfare Boards for Unorganized Sector — Kerala and Tamilnadu:
In Kerala in all the existing Labour Welfare Schemes for the Unorganized Sector there is no
provision for creche. The provision of Maternity Benefit in various Schemes has Two- Child
Norm. Creches must be included in the Schemes and the Two-Child Norm removed.
In Tamilnadu the Construction Workers Welfare Scheme has creche provision but
unimplemented till date. Maternity Benefits is fixed as Rs. 2000/- in Welfare Schemes for
Construction, Agriculture, Tailor etc. but has Two-Child Norm.
Creche Provision must be included in all Welfare Schemes and implemented. Two-Child
must be removed from the maternity Benefits and the quantum must be corresponding to
minimum wages and price- index.
3. EXISTING SITUATION AND MONITORING OF CHILD CARE SERVICES:
The large number of 1CDS Centers cater to the Child Care needs of the crores of unorganized
women labour in our country but they need to be converted to full fledged Child Care
Services.
The existing Child Care Services and Maternity Schemes are implemented by the State
Governments and supported by Centre. The Quantum of Maternity is normally fixed and at
no level (around Rs. 500) and with a Two-Child Norm. The ICDS Scheme does not cater to
children below three years and the money allotted is very low. The AWCs have bad
infrastructures and the Child Care Workers function with low wages. Hence a thorough
revision of the Schemes need to be carried out and monitoring should be done at various
levels in participatory manner.
Committee to be set up at State, District and Block level immediately to evolve policies
and monitor the policies on maternity and child care services. The Committee should
have majority representation from NGOs involved in Childcare, Women’s Organization
and Trade Unions.
4. GOVERNMENT AS ‘IDEAL’ EMPLOYER
The Commission must ensure that government agencies (specially construction agencies)
follow the rules for minimum wages and creches on work sites and strictly implement other
existing laws, policies and schemes for labour ‘welfare’.
5. EMPLOYEES STATE INSURANCE CORPORATION SCHEME TO INCLUDE
UNORGANISED SECTOR.
6. CHILD CARE WORKERS:
(Employed but not recognized as workers)
A) ICDS WORKERS: More than 10 lakh women workers
B) GOVERNMENT AIDED CRECHE AND OTHER SCHEME WORKERS;
Their uage category should be declared in the schedule for minimum wages
Recommended wage is at par with Primary School Teacher as promised in the 1986National Policy on Education. All Social Security measures such as Maternity
Benefits, Provident Fund etc. should also be made available to them.
7. CHILD LABOUR AND EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION
(ECCE):
A) SIBLING CARE AS A CATEGORY OF CHILD LABOUR:
With the work participation rate of women increasing under SAP (see Annexurc 1), the
increasing casualization of labour, the migration to urban areas and breakdown of family
systems, there is increasing use of siblings for care of younger children (sec Annexurc 2).
This situation has implications for both the infant and the older child, especially girls: - In the
absence of the mother or other adult caregiver, the infant receives less than adequate care at a
stage of growth and development which the most vulnerable period of human life. . The
consequences of this inadequate situation of childcare results in a high incidence of
malnutrition (53% of children under 5s are malnourished, 52% are stunted) and the related
syndrome of morbidity, susceptibility to infections, onset of disability etc.
Since the 0-6 year period has scientifically been established as being crucial for the
development of the human brain and for laying the foundations of personality and
confidence, poor physical and cognitive development caused by inadequate care to feeding
and adult nurturing, results in lifelong impairment for the child. Interventions of State feeding
programmes as in midday meal programmes and through ICDS etc. cannot reverse the
damage in development that has already taken place in the first few years of life - particularly
during 0-3 years.
As far as the older child, particularly girls, are concerned, not only does their own physical
and cognitive development get impeded in a similar way but they cannot enrol in school
because they are required for care of younger children and household responsibilities. Poor
health, poor skills, illiteracy inevitably opens the door to child labour, child prostitution etc.
Provision of Creches for women working in the unorganised sector is therefore an
absolutely essential intervention for both the young child’s survival and
development and preparation for formal schooling, school entry and retention and to
release the older sibling for school entry too. It also has wide implications for improving
the health and economic productivity of women.
B) INCLUSION OF THE UNDER SIXES IN THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION CONSTITUTION 83rd AMENDMENT BILL.
This Bill is scheduled for discussion in Parliament in the coming Budget session. As it stands,
it excludes children under six from the right to education, which was promised them through
Art. 45 of the Constitution and made into a fundamental right by the Unnikrishnan Judgment
in 1993 .This is a very serious retrograde step and will affect poverty groups directly. Families
in these groups are in no position to provide the Early Childhood Care so vital for the
development of the young child and, restricting State responsibility towards this age group
will directly affect the preparation for school, which is based on healthy growth of the child,
emotional security and preschool stimulation. Only those classes of people who can afford to
nurture their young children and provide them preschool opportunities will be able to take
advantage to the right to education from 6-14 years as proposed in the Bill.
Every attempt, therefore, needs to be made to ensure the inclusion of 0-6 age group
under the new proposed legislation so that children of poverty groups have equality
of opportunity in the school system. If the problem of child labour is to be tackled at
the root, state responsibility for ECCE must be ensured.
8. FINALLY, THE COMMISSION MUST ADD ITS WEIGHT AND VOICE TO THE
STRUGGLE
AGAINST
PRIVATISATION,
CLOSURES,
IMPORT
LIBERALISATION, ENTRY OF MNCs, EVICTIONS OF SLUM DWELLERS
AND HAWKERS AND DISPLACEMENTS THAT ARE GOING AGAINST THE
LABOUR CLASS OF THIS COUNTRY.
1
CHILDREN vs THE STATE;
The Politics of Child care
Historically, child care, in all its dimensions, has always been considered the domain of the
mother, or, at best, the family. However, in the last few decades, and increasingly, the
issue is making itself felt as one that is fundamentally related to and has wide implications
for society as a whole. Simultaneously, there is also growing impatience with the fact that
the state has largely failed in its responsibility towards the child.
Nobody in their right mind would deny that children are valuable and need looking after.
Why is it, then, that the issue of child care, urgent and critical to those of us working with
children, continues to be victim to ignorance, laxity and neglect?
The reasons are manifold and complex. Children in any culture or class are the most
invisible section of society. Considered voiceless, they depend entirely upon adults to
present, or allow them to present their case. Their non participation in the ‘vote bank’
denies them weightage on the political agenda, and even the well intentioned, including
their parents, do not fully understand or acknowledge their needs or rights, or even the
fact that they have rights at all.
What is more, it is not adequately acknowledged that for chi’dren to avail of their right to
childhood, it takes informed and caring adults, and of course, resources.
The lack of a well informed, fully sensitized and effective lobby is further compounded by
the fact that the problems of children are inextricably linked with the entire gamut of the
social and political ailments of the country of which they are the ‘ultimate victims’. It
would not be an exaggeration to say that even within this stratification, the girl child forms
the lowest rung.
There is little doubt that the gaps between rich and poor have only increased in the last
many years. The ‘poor’ have also increased in numbers. Where 33% families existed below
the poverty line in 1987-88, that number has increased to almost 50% in 1996'. Increasing
unemployment within the organized sector has led to a simultaneous increase in women (
and children ) joining the workforce as casual labour working in fields, factories , on
construction sites, as domestic workers or working on contract at home, attractive since
they are paid less and are easier to exploit in every possible way. Many more families are
now solely dependent for their very existence upon such women, who often travel vast
distances every day just to make a non too certain daily wage, coming back to cook , clean
and prepare for another day. Whole families migrate in search of work and wages, losing
out on traditional support systems, particularly those relating to child care. It is not
difficult to imagine where a young child fits into this scenario. Crying atop a heap of
rubble, or left home in the care of a slightly older child, the situation is hardly one that
nurtures survival, growth or development.
2
In this situation of temporary, casual and un guaranteed work, the relationship between
employer and employee is so tenuous as to hardly exist. Many levels of contractors and
sub contractors exist between the ‘unorganized’ labourer and a principal employer, trade
unions do not exist, and laws and policies relating to labour are almost impossible to
access. Even a minimum wage is hardly ever received.
Notwithstanding, the facts of a woman’s life are such that she manages, at great but
unacknowledged cost, to combine all this with child bearing and rearing for the largest
part of her life. Wherever there is paucity, the last to make demands, and therefore
receive, are women, children, and the girl child, in that order. This hits them where it
affects not just quality of life, but sheer survival as it translates to being the last in line for
food, health care and education. The cyclic effect of this deprivation, both real and relative
is devastating. Undernourished, sick girls become mothers and produce low birth weight
sickly babies handicapped from birth. The fact that one third of the babies born in India are
underweight hence becomes a comment on the status of the entire female race of the
country.
Therefore, to look at women or children in isolation, is to look at only half the picture, and
to plan for one without the other, as has been done for too long, is to leave plans quite
incomplete.
As illustration, no income generation scheme or scheme for adult literacy can be
considered well formulated without provisions for child care to allow women to
participate, and no scheme that intends to improve the lot of the child can afford to
exclude its family, community and environment. In particular, it must target the girl child,
the pregnant woman and the young child to break the vicious cycle of poverty breeding
poverty.
'
Today, there is also a growing awareness of the value of Early Childhood Care and
Development ( ECCD ) as a worthwhile investment, even in terms of resource
management alone. What could be more logical than trying to prevent, or ‘manage’ the
problems children; “future adults”; are likely to face from the start of life itself, rather than
intervening at a later stage.
That there is a need for State intervention in the ‘eradication’ or even alleviation of
poverty would not need discussion if political manifestos were anything to go by; all party
programmes abound in schemes for the ‘poor’. Significantly, most, of these, like the
Minimum Needs Programme leave out child care facilities as a basic requirement
without which many of the other ‘needs’ are impossible to meet, specially those
of elementary education and adult education. Again, this highlights the complete lack
regarding the rights of the child and their importance for
of political awareness, orwill,
1
society as a whole.
J
3
CHILD RIGHTS, CHILD CARE AND DAY CARE
It becomes clear that when families in the presented scenario are unable to provide
adequate child care,' and children are not in a position to partake of these programmes
directly as individuals, that some vehicle has to be created to reach them. This intersection
between the rights of a child and child care programmes are the arrangements for child
care, the spectrum of which ranges from providing creches at work sites where a working
woman can breast feed, providing pre school facilities for the child 3-6 years, to
empowering the woman at home to look after a baby better through supporting her to be
able to stay at home, promoting informal neighbourhood child care arrangements, and
again, better arrangements for her older children. The pre school and day care centre
therefore, if used well, can promote good health, nutrition, growth and development for
the child, prepare for school, and prevent the child from being in situations of abuse or
put to labour. The advantages to the woman are obvious.
SOCIO ECONOMIC SITUATION CREATING URGENCY
Sadly, none of these arguments have resulted in effective measures to tackle what is no
less than a crisis requiring immediate and committed action, as urged by any and every
report on the issue.
To quote only a few alarming facts and figures garnered from some of the same;
15 crore women living below the poverty line constitute the female workforce of India.
More than 90% of these women are in the unorganized sector."
16% of the rural population have access to less than Rs 3 per day, and another 18%, less
than Rs 5.’"
6 crore children under 6 years belong to this group where their mothers have to work for
their survival of which only 18.5 million are covered under Government schemes. Of
these, a paltry 360,000 benefit from government and statutory creche services,1' a total of
14, 313 creches being run by the government ' Even these tend to convert to balwadis as
they cannot cope with babies under 2 yrs for lack of required manpower and facilities.
The rest are largely taken care of by older siblings (5-14 yrs), often girls, who are then
not available to schools.
Female literacy is at a poor 38% as compared to male literacy at 66%.'1
India has the largest percentage of malnourished children in the world at 53% of total
under fives, exceeding even Sub Saharan countries, at 31%.'11
4
India has the largest number of child labour in the world, with 45 million children
employed in the workforce.”"
50% of children in the age group 5 - 15 yrs do not go to school ."
To use Childhood Mortality Rates as indicators of Child care,*
Country
Sri Lanka__________
Nepal_____________
India ____________
Bangladesh________
Pakistan___________
Bhutan____________
Afghanistan________
South Asia Region
Industrialized nations
Table 1- Childhood Mortality Rates in the South Asian Region
U5MR
1MR
______ Average annual reduction (%)
1995
1995-2000*
1980-95
1995
15
4.3_______
6.7____
19
81
9.8 _______
3.0
114
76
99_______
2.9
115
85
9.9 _______
4.0
115
95
13.4
0.6
137
122
199
1.8
189
165
26.0
0,6
257
82
11.1
2.6
121
7
5.7
3.6
8
Countries arranged in order of increasing U5MR
* Required reduction rate to achieve the stated targets of IMR under 60, U5MR under 70.
U5MR - Under-5 Mortality Rates
IMR - Infant Mortality Rates
The Maternal Mortality Rate indicates that 570 women die out of every 100,000 due to
complications from pregnancy or childbirth as compared to 140 in Sri Lanka and 13 in
industrialized nations.
The prevalence of anemia amongst pregnant women is 88%M
THE CHILD AND STATE POLICY
It is with this background of arguments and facts, that we might analyze State policies and
programmes for their intention and adequacy.
There is no denying that the State has promised to address the problems of child care all
through its history and that there are no simple solutions However, even today, there is a
tendency to hold back from specific and solid measures that translate concern into action.
Policies all through have been characterized by their ‘vagueness’ and lack,of detail, leaving
large convenient loopholes, by treating various manifestations of inadequate child care in
patchy ways rather than attacking root causes in a comprehensive manner, and by failing
5
to make necessary links between v'omen and children and the larger issues that affect
them. When translated into programmes, they are similarly vague, short sighted, patchy,
and resource allocation is invariably insufficient to cover even the provisions made,
whereas the need is for a nation wide comprehensive and integrated campaign that
focuses on prevention; uses a multi pronged approach, and carries enough resources to
atleast allow a chance for success.
To summarize some of these ‘promises’, The Directive Principles of State Policy
guarantee the right to education and the protection of the child. Significantly, Article 24
promises prohibition of employment of children in factories. Article 42, maternity ‘relief,
and Article 45 free and compulsory education for children below the age of 14 yrs. Of
course, the child is privy to all the fundamental rights accorded to any citizen by the
Constitution.
A major step in terms of policy was the National Policy For Children ( 1974 ) as an
attempt to follow up on the Directive Principles and the UN Declaration of the Rights of
the Child, 1959.
This reaffirmed the importance of children as a ‘supremely important asset’ and aimed for
‘equal opportunities for development to all children’. It also stated that to achieve the
above aim, ‘the State will provide necessary legislative and administrative support’, within
‘ a reasonable time’; a statement now 23 years old.
More recently, the Convention of the Rights of the Child, adopted by the UN General
Assembly in 1989 and to which India acceded in 1992, expands the concept of child care
to cover the rights of the child to survival, development, protection and participation, and
enjoins its signatories to bring its legislation in line with the provisions of the Convention
laid out comprehensively in its 54 Articles.
India was also a signatory to the World Declaration ( Sept 1990 ) in the Survival,
Protection and Development of Children and the Plan of Action for implementing it.
It was to this end that a ‘National Plan of Action’ was formulated as a commitment to the
child by the Department of Women and Child Development, Ministry of HRD, in
conjunction with NGOs and social activists in 1992. This set targets and objectives and
laid out activities for achieving these in the sectors of Health, Nutrition, Water and
Sanitation, Education, Children in Especially Diflicult Circumstances, Girl Child,
Adolescent Girls, Children and the Environment, Women and Advocacy and People’s
Participation.
1994 saw yet another National Consultation organized jointly by Indian Council of Child
Welfare, United Nations Children’s Fund and the Department of Women and Child
Development to determine the extent to which the rights of the child had become a reality
following India’s ratification of the CRC. However, the final report of this consultation is
not yet available.
6
Day care services, focal to the implementation of the CRC for the young child and
derived legally from Article 45 of the constitution, do not receive a formal reference in
policy till the New Education Policy in 1986. Subsequently, the ‘Shram Shakti Report,
1988, and the ‘Ramamurthy Commission Report, 1990 identified day care services as very
important for the empowerment of women, children and specifically the girl child, and
spelled out strategies in this regard, finally taken into consideration in the Plan of Action
oftheNEPin 1992.
Apart from problems of inadequate definition, some policies have, by their rhetoric,
created a conceptual environment of helplessness and acceptance, albeit apologetic, that
has been much more inimical to real change and set the stage for the inadequacy of the
policies that flowed from it. The above mentioned NEP is a perfect example.
i
Its basic assumption, highly debatable in the light of widespread NGO experience since,
was that the income from child labour is what keeps the home fires burning. This lead to
the reinforcement of Non Formal Education as a major thrust area for the population that
‘cannot’ be enrolled into local schools, and accepted child labour as a harsh reality ,
without confronting the issue, its root causes (of poverty, adult unemployment,
unavailability of relevant primary education etc), and strategies for definitive prevention at
all. Ten years later, the struggle against child labour continues and free and compulsory
primary education for all children is still a dream.
EXISTING PROVISIONS AND PROGRAMMES
Apart from the provisions of the Directive Principles mentioned above, and the
fundamental rights as laid down in the constitution. Some industrial acts ( the Factories
Act, the Plantations Act, the Mines Act, and the Interstate Migrant Workers’ Act)
provide for day care services at the workplace. However, these, obviously, provide only
for a few areas of organized labour, and have often backlashed by causing discrimination
against the employment of women.
The 1CDS continues to be the main vehicle for State run programmes for child care.
Integrated Child Development Services Scheme (1CDS )
Started in 1975, this scheme was envisioned to be and has remained the prime vehicle for
reproductive and child development services for women in the reproductive age group and
children under 6 yrs.
It aimed to improve nutritional and health status, thereby reducing malnutrition, morbidity
and mortality , lay the foundations of healthy all round development of the children, and
provide health and child care education to their mothers. However, there are many
implementational difficulties that are intrinsic to the structure of the scheme itself. Day
care has not even been mentioned as one of the functions of the scheme, though a
small number of ‘anganwadis’ in a few states have been extended to provide day care
7
funded by the National Creche Fund. Moreover, the entire 3 hour programme, including
extension work in the community hinges upon a single anganwadi worker who is paid an
‘honorarium’ of only 400 Rs (recently increased to about 500 Rs after country wide
agitations for a raise). Though the scheme is meant to impact children from birth to 2+ ( a
period considered crucial to growth and development) through providing immunisation
and nutritional support, coverage has been limited because full day care services are not
provided and the working mother is never available during the working hours of the
centre. The scheme is therefore accessed by older children who can make there own way
to the centre and back, younger children remaining largely untouched.
In its favour, it has provided a conceptual framework for integrated mother and child care
services, and fulfilled its mandate to both to some degree for the population reached, with
maximal impact on immunisation.
The ICDS is reaching out to 3.7 million expectant and nursing mothers and 18.6 million
children under 6 yrs. Of these, 10.8 million ( 3-6 yrs) participate in centre based pre school
activities.”1
The ICDS came in for expansion during the Eighth Five Year Plan, and now stands
sanctioned in all 5320 development blocks of the country, besides 310 urban slums.
However, considering that this is practically the only scheme existing for mother and child
services, and soaks up the lions share of the budget for the same ( 682 crores out of the
total 847 crores allocated to Dept, of Women and Child Development, 1996-97), no
attempt has been made to simultaneously resolve the problems listed above which are both
conceptual and structural.
Following the innovations tried in some blocks gives an indication of the trends of the
scheme.
Creches/Day Care Centres for Children for Working /Ailing Mothers
This scheme is being implemented through the Central Social Welfare Board, Bhartiya
Adim Jati Sewak Sangh and Indian Council for Child Welfare cumulatively running 12470
creches. The number of creches has remained has remained the same since 1990 under this
scheme, catering to only about 3 million children, though the requirement is about 20
times greater. Again, these ‘creches’ cater largely to the child 3-6 years old, due to
inadequate staff, money, time and facilities.
National Crfeche Fund
Set up during 1993 - 94 largely as a response to concerted pressure by the growing ‘child
care lobby, including the 47 member organisations network ‘Forum for Creches and Child
care Services ( FORCES ), this gives assistance to voluntary organisations to set up
creches. It is funded by the interest accrued from a corpus fund of 19.9 crores (though a
100 crore budget is estimated to meet creche requirements for underprivileged children!)
and is currently funding 1843 creches in all.
8
30000 -i
25000 20000 ONCF
15000 -
■occ
10000 5000 -
o —
1990-91
1991-92
1992-93
1993-94
1994-95
1995-96
1 996-97
Estimated requirement of creches: approx. 250,000
Early Childhood Education Scheme
Started in 1982, this scheme was designed to prepare children of the age group 3 - 6 yrs
for school entry. Currently 4365 ECE centres are being run by voluntary organisations in
nine educationally backward states. Financial assistance to each centre amounts to Rs
7980 per annum, which includes the honorarium of one teacher. This scheme is to be
phased out with the universalisation of the ICDS.
Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas ( DWCRA )
This scheme was introduced in 1982 to add focus to the already existing Integrated Rural
Development Programme and aimed to enhance women’s earnings by encouraging self
employment.
It now extends to all districts from the initial 50. Community Based Convergent Services
( CBCS ) was added as a component in 1991, attempting to provide an umbrella for all the
various schemes and programmes that benefit rural women and children. Child care
activities were specifically incorporated in the scheme during 1995 - 96 to
provide day care, literacy for women, fill in critical gaps in immunisation,
nutrition etc., to provide assistance and facilities to the physically handicapped,
and immediate relief and legal assistance in cases of physical abuse of the girl
child. The recent initiatives in this scheme are given an additional 1.5 lakhs per district. In
a sense, of all the current schemes operating for women and children, this ‘new’ DWCRA
seems the most progressive in terms of the slated mandate of the scheme.
9
Urban Basic Services Programme
The urban poor account for 8 crores of India’s population’1" of which 65% are women and
children. This group is further characterized by widespread migration to and from rural
areas, and subject to the most abject living conditions to be seen in the country. The
UBSP was started during the Seventh Five Year Plan to alleviate urban poverty by a
process of community participation and convergence of schemes and programmes, and
identified women and children as a key target group. However, specific activities have not
been identified as possibilities. Though Balwadis have been organized by community
participation, creches are conspicuous by their absence.
Nutrition and Health Programmes
Of the number of national programmes relating to children, the major ones are the Child
Survival and Safe Motherhood Programme consisting of the Universal Immunisation
Programme, Vitamin A prophyllaxis Programme, Diarrhoeal Diseases Control
Programme, Programme for control of Acute Respiratory Infection , and ‘Safe
motherhood initiatives for the 6 high MMR states, nutrition related programmes include
Special Nutrition Programme, Balwadi Nutrition Programme, Midday Meal Programme,
ICDS Programme, Iodine Deficiency Disorders Control Programme, Prophyllaxis against
Nutritional Anaemia.
The National Maternity Benefit Scheme (NMBS) gives a lump sum of 300 Rs each for the
first two live births of a women over 19 yrs who is below the poverty line. Obviously, this
scheme is highly short sighted and inadequate.
Along the decades, successive Five Year Plans have also reaffirmed the increasing
commitment to the Indian child. To look at the Ninth five Year Plan in this regard;
The Child and The Ninth Five Year Plan
The Ninth Five Year Plan acknowledges that growth during the last five years has not
benefited the ‘poor and the underprivileged’. It also prioritises schemes that benefit
women and children. A greater integration of DWCRA with IRDP and TRYSEM (
Training of Rural Youth for Self Employment ) will be attempted to provide women’s’
groups with greater access to financial resources and training, with replication of
successful DWCRA models.. Apart from meeting targets for indicators of Mother and
Child health, the Plan promises to provide ‘need based, client centered, demand driven
high quality, integrated Reproductive and Child Health care ’ The 1CDS is to be
universalised, with priority to focus attention on the child below two years. ‘ Mini
Anganwadis’ have been envisaged to cover remote pockets inhabited by Scheduled Tribes
.
10
and Primitive Tribal Groups. Supplementary feeding programmes are also to be
universalised with a special package for the girl child and children between 6 and
23 months.
The existing National Policy for Children is to be suitable reviewed in the context of the
CRC.
.
Again, child care through day-care does not find specific place in the Ninth Plan either as a
strategy for the empowerment of women, or as a means of implementing the ‘focus’ on
the child below two years if required, nor does the Plan suggest universalising, or even
extending the limited creche component of the ICDS. In other words, though
providing hope in terms of a favourable direction, it stops short of making a
firm commitment, just as has been the precedent with other policy statements.
RESOURCES FOR CHILDCARE
No policy is implementable without adequate resources and resources are not likely to be
allocated for activities not specifically mentioned within a programme. These dual
problems have already been seen in the preceding sections of this article to beset the issue
of child care, and specially, day-care, as a vehicle for child care to children who cannot be
looked after by the family due to reasons discussed above.
Even amongst programmes specifically relating to child care, the relative lack of resources
for the ICDS, the National Creche Fund, the ECE Programme, only serve to prove the
relatively low priority set for child care, even though it should not be difficult to see that
investing in child care offers great benefits in other areas in terms of other programme
efficacy and efficiency, apart from the actual economic benefits of empowering women to
work and producing a breed of economically productive citizens, reducing the burden on
‘alleviation’ programmes by investing in prevention, and so on. Unfortunately, this kind of
far sightedness is rarely reflected in the country’s budgets, and the current budget is no
exception.
The following allocations are seen in this year’s budget;
Total expenditure is estimated at 232,176 crore of which 2.5% ( 6025 crore ) has been
allocated to schemes for the poor i.e., an allocation of 2.5% for 40% of the population.
330 crore has been set aside for slum development (Not even sufficient for the
development of slums in one major city!”')
In comparison, the defense budget is 35,620 crore, 15%
Also, almost half the ‘savings’ under Central Plan spending in the previous year have been
as a result of cut backs in crucial areas of welfare, such as the 40% (600 crore) cut back in
the budgeted expenditure on the mid day meal scheme and the 460 crore cutback in rural
employment and other development schemes.’"'
In the period 1996-97, the total expenditure of the Central Government was 87086.2
crore, of which the distributions were as follows; education 3.9%, health 0.9%, family
welfare 1.8% as compared to 11.7% for defense/'1
11
Development Expenditure, in terms of percentage of GDP has declined from 12-5% in
1985 - 86 to 7-7% in 1996 - 97, indicating the withdrawal of the state from the sector, and
at complete variance with the objectives outlined in most policy statements.™’
It has been seen that the resources for closing the poverty gap and eliminating extreme
poverty amount to about 4% of the national income. Therefore, it is largely a myth that
government cannot afford to guarantee basic positive rights, specially adequate nutrition,
primary health care and basic education to all of their children ™"
It has also been computed that as little as 5 Rs per child per day can ensure full and good
quality day care; amounting to barely 1% of the GNP to cover 60 million children.
Only recently, the United Front government promised 6% of the GNP for ‘education’ by
2000 AD as per the minimum needs programme. Though this is by no means sufficient for
what it intends to achieve since it includes the costs of the mid day meal programme, it
would be better invested had some thought ( and resource allocation !) been made
simultaneously to day care, thus intervening in child labour, the availability of the older
sibling for school, and preparation for school entry in one shot.
THE CHILD AND THE LAW
It is clear that though some advance has been made in terms of policy, whatever be the
" lacunae in implementation, the ‘Rights’ approach demands that the State also be legally
accountable to its children. The reason why this process has been far from satisfactory
despite so much public and vocal commitment stems from two main objections, first, the
role of the State in determining the manner in which children to be cared for and concerns
about the harassment of parents, the second - fears regarding the inability of the State to
implement such laws, relegating them to paper only.
As far as the first argument goes, it is hardly valid considering the fact that legislations
exist on all sorts of‘private’ activities ranging from marriage to the protection of a large
number of civil rights.
The second argument views the issue from the administrative side alone, not recognising
the importance of legislation as a tool for social activists to take action against the
State ( or perhaps recognising this only too well!). That is, appropriate legislation is ‘an
enabling provision whereby the State can be compelled to take action.’"'
Therefore, it is worthwhile to examine existing laws and their deficiencies in this context.
The child, of course, enjoys all the fundamental rights available to any citizen of the
country. However, the difficulties in their implementation, the need to translate the
Directive Principles into legislative policies, the special vulnerability of the child, and their
distinct developmental needs have given rise to specific central and state legislation's at
various stages of which there are many. Most of these focus on protection and are
negative in character.
Though an analysis of all the existing laws is not within the scope of this article, priority
areas can be demarcated. These include the reviewing and revising of laws to enable and
r
12
facilitate affirmative action by the State and address existing lacunae, strengthening
enforcement machinery, ensuring a uniform definition of the child as persons below the
age of 18 yrs and a comprehensive review of the Juvenile Justice Act to make it more
effective and child friendly.** Comprehensive legislation under a National Child care and
Maternity umbrella is essential to set the commitment to the CRC into motion effectively.
Some legal provisions must be brought into implementation immediately, such as the long
overdue promise of free and compulsory education..
The specific needs of the girl child need to be addressed urgently, with more stringent laws
banning sex selective foeticide (Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques Act was brought into
force in 1996), enforcing minimum age of marriage and anti dowry legislation. Better
laws are required for sale of children, child prostitution, child pornography, child sexual
abuse and children in difficult circumstances.
Women must be legally empowered to breast feed exclusively for six months and to
continue breast feeding into the second year. Paternity benefits should be made available
for men to participate in child rearing. ( The only law that deals directly with this issue is
the Maternity Benefits Act, 1961, that is a negatively worded law prohibiting dismissal or
discharge during pregnancy and arduous work for 10 weeks preceding pregnancy if
objected to. It also allows for up to 3 months of maternity leave, with an additional 1
month of leave with pay in case of pregnancy related complications. Apart from the
obvious inadequacy, this excludes from its ambit all the working women in the
unorganized sector, amounting to 93% .)
These steps must be accompanied by the sensitisation of judicial institutions, law enforcing
agencies and the development administration to become more child friendly,
demystification of the concept of the rights of the child, and advocacy at every level.
CONCLUSION
Child care is an activity that needs to be recognised to be skilled, since it deals with
growing, developing and specially vulnerable group, the well being of which is
fundamental to the well being of all society. Therefore, though expensive, it should be
considered a worthwhile investment in the long term, specially since it facilitates returns
from most other investments in the developmental sector and ultimately cuts down the
need for such investments by its positive cyclic effect
Since this argument has already been accepted not once but many times in national and
international fora, it must be supported by meaningful policies, translated into effective
programmes and supported by positive and enabling laws
In all three arenas, the urgent need is to accommodate women in the unorganized
sector as the majority, the ones invariably side lined though most needy, and the most
difficult to reach.
13
Laws and policies for women and children should be converged for effective
coordination, proper estimation of resource requirements and identification of gaps and
overlaps. All existing laws and policies for women and older children must be modified to
ensure that specific thought is given to provisions for children and child care if found to be
necessary.
However, as far as ‘programmes’ are concerned, needs assessment, programme design
and planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation must be decentralised as far as
possible, for instance, to Panchayats, in recognition of the fact that child care needs are
intimately related to the particular situation of the child and the community she belongs to,
requiring flexibility to meet those needs best.
The resources for these programmes must continue to be the responsibility of the
state in consonance with other poverty alleviation programmes, minimum needs
programmes etc. since the socio economic situation is not one to allow withdrawal/A
fixed minimum proportion of the national income should be made available for this
purpose. This in no way rules out community resource mobilisation and management
wherever possible.
Finally, none of this can happen without political commitment and will, which if not
spontaneously forthcoming, will have to be created by advocacy at all levels and a
nationwide determined campaign by all of us who claim to be concerned for the child and
the future of our society.
Dr Vandana Prasad
Forum for Creches and Child Care Services ( FORCES )
1 The Times of India, 4 Feb 1996
“Forum For Creche and Childcare Services ( FORCES )
WNCAER. Study of 33,000 rural households, 1994
"FORCES
’Annual report Part IV, 1996 - 97, Department of Women and Child Development
” The State of the World’s Children, 1997, UNICEF
’“Human Development Report, UNDP, 1997
vl“State Of The World’s Children, 1997, UNICEF
“State Of The World’s Children, 1997, UNICEF
xState of the World’s Children, 1997, UNICEF, Compiled by S. Ramji, Indian Pediatrics, Vol 34, May 97
” National Draft Population Policy
xnAnnual Report 1996 - 97, Dept, of Women and Child Development
^1991 Census
Jayshree Vyas, Anusuya, April 1997
xvSukumar Muralidharan, ‘Substance and Artifice’, Frontline, March 21, 1997
XV1 Economic Survey, 1996-97
xvuReserve Bank of India, Report on Currency and Finance, 1995-96
’"“'National Performance Gaps, Partita Dasgupta. The Progress of Nations, 1996. UNICEF
Ch'/lbCW
MEMORANDUM OF OPPOSITION
Dear Madam / Sir
As you are av/are, the proposed 83rd Constitutional Amendment Bill seeks to
provide free and compulsory education to children from 6 to 14 years even
though Article 45 from'which it has been derived promises free and compulsory
education to all children upto the age of 14 years.
Amongst the various reasons discussed for this cutback, in the Parliamentary
Standing Committee Meetings and other fora, are the presumptions that EARLY
CHILDCARE AND EDUCATION are the domain of the family, or that it has
already been taken care of by the Department of ’ Women and Child
Development, or that it is too complex a task to be .undertaken under the
proposed Act.
As a forum the primary concern and area of expertise of which is children under
the age of six we (the signatories) would like to respond to some of.these invalid
arguments and voice our strong opposition to the proposed 83rd Constitutional
Amendment Bill in its present form.
Consider the following facts:
1. EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION IS A FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT
AS RULED BY THE SUPREME COURT IN 1993 DERIVED FROM ARTICLES
21 AND 45 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA.
THIS BILL DIRECTLY CONTRAVENES A DIRECTIVE PRINCIPLE THE
CONVENTION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD, AND A PREVIOUS
SUPREME COURT JUDGEMENT.
c
ARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION IS A WELL ESTABLISHED
COMPONENT OF EDUCATION which influences the most vital period of
deve'.coment of human beings, namely the first few years of life. It has immense
repurcussions on future life in terms of intelligence and personality. These
effects have been quantified and seen to be related statistically to drop out
rates, school retention and school performance.
3 IN THE GIVEN SOCIO ECONOMIC CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE MAJORITY
OF THE FAMILIES OF OUR COUNTRY, ECCE CANNOT BE SEEN TO BE A
FUNCTION THAT FAMILIES CAN PERFORM UNSUPPORTED BY THE
STATE, as reinforced time and time again by various reports like the Shram
Shakti Repri and the Ramamurthy Commission Report. 90 million women work in
the unorganised sector. 93% of all working women belong to the unorganised
sector 60 million children under six are under the poverty line. About BO million
4
children are out of school and all of them work, either for wages or as helpers for
domestic work and sibling care since both parents work. 70% of children
involved in child care activities are girls and account for the vast majority of girls
never enrolled in or dropped out of schools.
4. There are about WO million children of age 0 - 6 yrs of which GO million are
below the poverty line. Only 18.6 million are within the outreach of the Intearated
Child Development Scheme, virtually the only scheme designed to reach this
age group. The budget-allocated for this scheme which has been scheduled for
universalisation since the 8th plan is about 700 crores, amounting to 70 rupees
per child per year, or 19 paise per child per day!
THEREFORE TO SUGGEST THAT EARLY CHILDCARE AND EDUCATION
ACTIVITIES ARE ALREADY TAKEN CARE OF BY THE MINISTRY OF HRD IS
INCORRECT
5 If this Bill be passed, it would ensure that ONLY THOSE SECTIONS OF
SOCIETY WHO CAN AFFORD PRIVATE PRE SCHOOL WILL BE ABLE TO
AVAIL OF ITS BENEFITS, WHICH AUTOMATICALLY RULES OUT ALL THE
CHILDREN WHO NEED FREE EDUCATION.
6 It is further short sighted to provide free schooling upto 14 yrs or class 8 when
the first board certification is at 16 or class ten. It is of note that most vocational
training programmes and entry into a ’reserved’ category require a minimum of
scnooling through the 10th class.
7 We have serious reservations on the finacial clause which is grossly
irpaaequate even for schooling for the 6 to 14 age group requiring a threefold
increase The projected cost of EARLY CHILDCARE AND EDUCATION through
comprehensive and integrated daycare lies at a minimum of 18.250 crores
■
'■.■'.'e insist that
■
i EDUCATION IS NOT MERE SCHOOLING FROM 6 - 14 YRS BUT A
DEVELOPMENTAL ACTIVITY
- appropriate in content and process to the age, development stage and cultur al
context of the child.
- in diverse settings, not necessarily institutional in nature, in case of children
oelow 6 years
- orovided by appropriately qualified persons recognised for ECD as equivalent
to elementary school teacher
t----- in------
nr------
------------- 11 hum
1__ M—imnnnniii
- of a quality adequate to achieve the learning competencies essential for each
stage of development
- able to harness and mobiliise, through requisite regulation / legislation and
incentives, the full range of governmental and non governmental initiatives
available
(the above definition modified from NCERT Consultation on ECE and Bill on
Fundamental Right to Education, March 25th, 1998 )
ll. THAT THE WORD ’COMPULSORY’ HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE
MISINTERPRETED AGAINST PARENTS, AS HAS HAPPENED IN SOME
STATE POLICY SUCH AS IN TAMIL NADU, AND THAT IT IS MADE
REDUNDANT BY THE PRESENCE OF THE WORD ‘SHALL’ THEREFORE
THE RECOMMENDATION IS THAT 'THE STATE SHALL PROVIDE FREE AND
UNIVERSAL EDUCATION TO ALL CHILDREN UPTO 14 YEARS” AS
INTENDED BY THE FOUNDERS OF THE CONSTITUTION.
III. THAT PEOPLE’S PARTICIPATION BE BUILT INTO ANY LEGISLATION
PERTAINING TO THE SAME AT EVERY LEVEL OF MONITORING OF THE
PROCESS OF IMPLEMENTATION TO PREVENT THIS FROM BECOMING
YET ANOTHER LAW THAT FAILS TO TRANSLATE INTO»ACTION
*
FCKCES
FORUM FOR CRECHE & CHILD CARE SERVICES
Ref. \
Date :
His Excellency,
Shri K.R. Narayanan,
Hon'ble President of India,
Rashtrapati Bhavan,
New Delhi-110 001
Subject: 83rd Constitution A mendment Bill Attrition and Dilution ofArt 45
Hon’ble President,
This is to draw your attention to the fact that the Constitution of India is to be amended
by the Constitution 83rd Amendment Bill, 1997 making Education a Fundamental Right.
This amendment will affect 375 million children of our country and dilute the goal of
Universalisation of Elementary Education that the Constitution promised to our children
over a half century ago. It also attacks the roots of equal opportunity for all as enshrined
in Article 14 of the Constitution.
As you would be aware, the very formulation of Article 45 in the Directive Principles of
State Policy was to ensure free, compulsory and equitable education to all children up to
the age of 14 years. In 1997, the Government of India tabled the 83rd Amendment Bill
(Bill No.XXXIX of 1997) in the Rajya Sabha. Many groups and individuals across the
country expressed their concerns regarding the Bill to the government and sent a flood of
memoranduma time and time again. However, in spite of all such efforts, we have not
able to get a response from the government on our concerns.
We believe that this Bill is to be come up once again for discussion shortly.
From the Draft Bill, 1997, as tabled in the Rajya Sabha in that year and the statements
made by the Minister concerned over the last two years, our concerns persist that the Bill
in its present available form is unconstitutional because it:
• deletes Article 45 and limits the right to education to children between 6-14 year
age group by insertion of Article 21 A( 1)
• violates the right to equal opportunity under Article 14
• dilutes the vision of a common school system through the proposed Article
21A(3)
• places the onus of providing the opportunity for education on the parents as their
‘fundamental duty’, which is evidently unfair and unjust in the prevailing socio
economic scenario
CARE : MOBILE CRECHES d.i.z AREA, RAJA BAZAR, SECTOR IV,
NEAR GOLE MARKET, NEW DELHI-110 001
PHONE : 3363271, 3347635
FAX : 91-1 1-3347281
Email : forces@vsnl.com
—
I 'rliTnirr’l'-Fil7’
f
Having received no response from the government to all our communications and pleas
we are left with no option but to seek your intervention in this regard. We urge you to
take all possible steps to prevail upon the government to bring the proposed constitutional
amendment in conformity with the letter and spirit of the Constitution of India, in
consonance with the aspirations of the people of the country and for the well being of the
children of our country. If necessary, we urge you to exercise the power vested in you by
Article 143(1) of the Constitution in seeking the opinion of the Hon’ble Supreme Court
on the Constitutional validity of the proposed Bill its present form.
For your reference, our concerns and reasons for them are appended in detail.
We know that you fully understand the need and the value of Education for All and the
ramifications of declaring elementary education a fundamental right. We are vesting our
confidence in you to ensure that the letter and spirit of Article 45 are not tampered with
and the Constitutional commitment to our children is not diluted by this Amendment.
Sincerely,
Devika Singh
FORCES Secretariat
On behalf of All India Networks and Coalitions - NAFRE, CACL,
CIEE, FORCES, BJVJ, IAPE, and concerned individuals, organizations
and educationists.
List of Annexures
List of Groups, All India Networks and Coalitions supporting the Petition
Legal and Constitutional Issues
III. Background Note on Art 45
IV. 83rd Constitution Amendment Bill
V(a) Social and Educational Implications
V(b) Coverage of 0-6 age group by State Programmes, Allocations and Gaps, 2000-
I.
n.
2001
Questions and Comments Pertaining to Specific Clauses of the Constitution
(Eighty-Third) Amendment Bill, 1997
VII. An Alternative Bill on 83rd Amendment to the Constitution
VI.
i
Annexure -1
List of Groups, Networks and Coalitions
supporting the Petition
Shri Sanjiv Kaura
Coordinator (National )
National Alliance for Fundamental
Right to Education (2400 grassroot organizations)
DDA Slum Wing, Barat Ghar,
Bapu Park, Kotla Mubarakpur,
New 1 )e llii - 110003
Sd.
Ms. Mina Swaminathan
Forum for Creche and Childcare Services
(National and Regional Networks)
C/c Mobile Creches
D.I.Z. Area, Sector - IV,
Raja Bazar, Near Gole Market,
New Delhi - 110001
Sd.
Mr. J. John,
Centre for Education and Communication
173 - A, Khirki Extension, Malviya Nagar,
New Delhi - 110017
Sd.
Smt. Freny Tarapore
President
Indian Association for Pre-School Education
473/15 A Salisbury Park
Pune-411037
Sd.
Smt. Jaya Srivastava
Campaign Against Child Labour
ANKUR
7/10, Sarvpriya Vihar,
New Delhi — 110001
S±
Prof Anil Sadgopal
Head and Dean, Department of Education
University of Delhi
And
National Convenor
Bharatiya Jan Cyan Vigyan Jatha
86 A, Block - 22,
DDA Flats, Sarai Kale Khan 11
New Delhi - 110013
Sd.
ssac?--- ...... —-w—-
Smi. Enakshi Ganguli
HAQ - Centre for Child Rights
208, Shah Pur .Tat,
Near Khel Gaon,
New Delhi
Sd.
Dr. Lotika Sarkar
Centre for Women’s Development Studies (CWDS)
25, Bhai Veer Singh Marg,
New Delhi - 110001
Sd.
Dr. Janaki Rajan
SCERT
Varun Marg,
Defence Colony
New Delhi
Sd.
Shri Ashok Aggarwal
Advocate
Social Jurist,
478-479, Lawyers’ Chambers
Western Wing, Tis Hazari Courts,
New Delhi - 110054
Sd.
Shri Om Srivastava
Sd.
Programme Coordinator
Astha Sansthan
39, Kharol Colony
Udaipur
Rajasthan - 313004
Smt. Jasodhara Bagchi
Advisor, School of Women’s Studies,
Jodhpur University
428, Jadhpur Park,
Calcutta - 700068
Sd.
Dr. Amita Dhanda
NALSAR
University of Law, Hyderabad
3-4-761, Barkatpura,
Hyderabad - 500027
Sd.
Ms. Menaka Roy
Asian South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education (ASPB AE)
E-44, Oxford Apartments,
11, Patparganj,
I.P. Extension,
Delhi- 110092
Sd.
Mr. Anil Chaudhary
PEACE
93, Katwaria Sarai
New Delhi - 110 016
Sd.
Ms. Jaya Shanna
NI RANTAR
B-64. Sarvodaya Enclave
New Delhi-110017
Sd.
Mr. Arun Kapur
Vasant Valley School,
Vasant Kunj
New Delhi
Sd.
Ms. Chhaya
Community Watch Group
for Dakhila Abhiyan
C-300, New Seemapuri
Delhi-110095
Sd.
Annexure ■ II
LEGAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES
Deletion Amendment of Article 45
\
Concerns
In the Constitution (83rd Amendment) Bill, 1997, Article 45 has been deleted and the
right to education been confined to the 6-14 years of age group.
Our queries are.
1.
Does this not violate the constitutional promise made to all children from 0-14
years and to which they have become entitled by the Supreme Court’s judgment
in Unnikrishnan’s case, 1993?
2.
Does this amount to changing the basic structure of the Constitution?
3. Why has the amendment been proposed at all? The Unniknshnan s judgment
states that Part HI and IV of the Constitution are to be read together. Further, it
reiterates that the Directive Principles of State Policies are exactly that: if after 44
years of such a Directive, the said Directive has not bee fulfilled, then the
obligation has been converted into a Fundamental Right. Therefore, would not an
Act rather an Amendment to the Constitution be more appropriate.
4. Is not a violation of CRC, which defines children unto 18 years of age and to
which India is a signatory? In keeping with the contemporary reading of law the
Supreme Court has held that International Conventions are to be integrated into
existing provisions and not limited as in the Constitution 83rd Amendment Bill?
5. On what basis has Government decided on 6-14 years of age and not on 2-14 or 514 years of age etc. since educational theory has firmly recognized the vital
importance of Early Childhood as the period where maximum brain growth takes
place and the foundations of the capacity to learn are laid.
6. Why has there been such a narrow interpretation of Education in the Bill
confining it to merely formal education rather than a development process that
begins at birth? This interpretation undercuts the advances in science of child
development, which recognizes ECCE firmly as part of education.
Anncxure - 111
Background note on Art 45
The State’s record in fulfillment /attrition of its obligation
under Art. 45 and the proposed deletion of Art. 45 in the 83r
Constitution Amendment Bill
1. Origin of Article 45, (Part 4), Constitution of India
The Constitutional provision for free and compulsory education for all children up to 14
years originates in the Constituent Assembly debates. The Sub-committee on
Fundamental Rights (under Advisory Committee for the Draft Constitution) proposed.
"Every citizen is entitled to have free primary education and it shall be legally incumbent
on every unit of the union to introduce free and compulsory education up to the age of 14
years, and in case of adults, up to the standards of literacy. The duration, limits and
methods ofprimary education shall be fixed by law."
In response to a member’s observation that the Draft Constitution need not detail the
number of years and duration of education, K.M. Munshi pointed out that what may be
obvious to members of progressive, socialist views may not seem obvious to persons
belonging to more traditional and fendal backgrounds. He said,
"General precepts which might be considered less than necessary by an advanced thinker
on socialist lines would not be looked at, much less understood or applied in some parts
of the country where feudal notions were deeply ingrained
It was clear from K.M. Munshi is comments that the Constitution framers defined
primary education as up to 14 years and its duration to be detemuned by law. which
should be appropriate for the realization of Right to Education.
On March, 27, 1947, the Sub-committee discussed various proposals: Some members felt
that the Right to Education could not be a justiciable fundamental right. The majority
opinion was that it should be included among justiciable rights with the understanding
that the state shall provide free education to all children within a period of ten years.
Accordingly, Articles (1) and (2) of Article Vm were finalized as follows:
"Every citizen is entitled to free primary education and it shall be incumbent on every
unit of the Union to provide, within a period of ten years from the commencement of this
Constitution, for free and compulsory primary education for all children until they
complete 14yeais”.
On April 16, 1947, The Sub-committee on Fundamental Rights submitted its final
report wherein clause 23 stated:
"Every citizen is entitled as of right to free primary education and it shall be the duty of
the State to provide within a period of ten years from the commencement of this
Constitution for free and compulsory education for all children up to 14 years."
The clause appears as Article 36 of the Draft Constitution:
nEvery citizen is entitled to free and compulsory' education and the State shall endeavour
to provide, within a period of ten years from the commencement of this Constitution for
free and compulsory education until they complete the age of 14 years”
During the debate, Mr Nizammuddin Ahmed contended that due to the resource crunch,
the reference to the age of 14 years be reduced to ten years and commitment of the state
be limited to primary education.
Dr Ambedkar refused to accept this amendment saying:
am not prepared to accept the amendment of my friend Mr Nizammuddin Ahmed. He
seems to think that the objective of the rest of the clause in article 36 is restricted to free
primary education. But that is not so. The clause, as it stands after amendment, is that
every child shall be kept in an educational institution under training until the child is 14
years
in Art. 14, which forms part of the fundamental rights, a provision is made to
forbid any child being employed below the age of 14, obviously, if the child is not to be
employed below the age of 14, the child must be kept in some educational institution."
The intention of Art 45 to ensure formal school education, particularly as a deterrent to
child labour is quite clear. It is also pertinent to point out that the ten year commitment
extends to only two areas — right to education and reservation policy. It was faith in
education as a tool for social transformation that informed the 10-year limit to the
reservation policy.
The specific mention of the steps required for concretization of this vision is missing possibly because the framers of the Constitution were men from economically stronger
groups, they could not see the hurdles in the path of poor children, particularly girls, in
entering the educational stream and the crucial issue of Early Childhood Care and
Education for such groups. However, the phrasing - all children up to 14 years provides
an insight into their larger understanding of the educational issue and their social vision.
The final form of the Constitutional provision on free and compulsory education finally
appears as Art. 45 of the Directive Principles of State Policy - not justiciable but neverthe-less firmly indicating the clear direction the State is expected to take and within ten
years:
Article 45
The state shall endeavour to provide within ten years of the commencement of
the Constitution, for free and compulsory' education for all children up to the
age of 14 years.
2 Educational Policies from 1947-1965 - State response/ lack of
response to Constitutional obligation under Art 45.
Little or no attempt was made by the State during
to seriously address the
Directive of the Constitution under Art. 45. The first Education Commission set up under
Radhakrishnan, 1948-49, addressed the issue of standards of teaching and examinations
iii colleges and universities. The Mudiaiiar Commission, 1952, focused on secondary
education. It was not till 1964-66, that the Kothari Commision put its mind to the
problem of achieving the goal of universal elementary education. In the meantime,
valuable years had been lost and the problems of providing education to all children up to
14 years had multiplied.
State of education -1947-65
New independent India had before it both the well-entrenched British system of
education it inherited as well as the vision of the Nai Taleem - a unique product of the
freedom struggle. State policy choose to divide the country by setting up two Boards of
Education - one for Basic Education and one for the British system which had provided
the pathway to professions and status. The poor recognized that the divide existed and the
Basic Education Board was powerless. The middle classes were, during this period, using
the massive government school system and the elite used the few and more expensive
missionary schools. The poor, realizing the power of education, began to enter the
government school system. However, by the 60s, an enabling State policy had
encouraged private schools (ironically called public schools) to flourish by granting
Registered Societies land at subsidized costs, access to government text books,
government trained teachers and government examination systems. They were also
permitted to charge fees. These schools began at pre-primary level (Montessori inspired)
and were able to provide a head-start for their pupils. There was a mass exodus to
private schools by those who could afford it, leaving the government school system
for the poor. State policy also created a caste system within the government school
system - Kendria Vidyalayas, Sainik Schools and Sarvodaya Vidyalayas (a system set up
for government servants who were influential but in non civil servant cadres).
It is pertinent to state that no school can come into being without concomittant policy that
provides permission, land, subsidy, teachers, curriculum, certification. The proliferation
and the power and prestige of such schools cannot but be a direct result of enabling
public policy stated or unstated. It is also pertinent to point out that all upper caste
government schools like private (public) schools start at pre-primary stage recognizing
the importance of pre-primary education. It is only the regular government school
system to which the poor have access that starts at class one. When poor parents saw that
"While the achievements are impressive in themselves, the general formulations
incorporated in the 1968 policy, did not, however, get translated into a detailed strategy'
of implementation, accompanied by the assignment of specific responsibilities and
financial and organizational support. /I s a result, problems of access, equality, quantity,
utility and financial outlay accumulated over the years have now assumed such massive
proportions that they must be tackled with utmost urgency."
” The nation as a whole will assume responsibility of providing resource support for
implementing programmes of educational transformation, reducing disparities,
H
universalization of elementary education, adult literacy...... ”
The 1986 policy was categorical on the educational requirements of early childhood
care and education. There was a full section titled Early Childhood Care and Education
which states.
"The National Policy on Education specially emphasizes investment in the development
of the young child, particularly, children from sections of the population in which first
generation learners predominate.
Recognizing the holistic nature of child development viz. nutrition, health, and social,
emotional, mental, physical, moral and emotional development. Early Childhood Care
and Development will receive high priority. Daycare services will be provided as a
support service for universalization of primary education, to enable girls engaged in
taking care of siblings to attend school and as a support service for working women
belonging to poorer sections.... A full integration of childcare and pre-pnmary education
will be brought about both as a feeder and strengtheningfactorfor primary education. ”
Some retrograde directions of the 1986 Policy vis a vis Art 45
The 1986 Policy, however, took some backward steps: it diluted the Constitutional
promise of Art. 45 by introducing a non-formal system of education as well. The
assumption was that government can’t reach all children and prevent child labour and
therefore, elementary education was bifurcated into primary and upper primary and a
non-formal system of education. In the developments that followed, the Constitutional
promise of eight years of schooling was whittled down to 3 years in a non-formal system
for the poor which they could attend after working as labourers during the day. Mere
literacy was to be passed off as education.
This Policy actually abetted child labour by offering classes before/after child labourers
finish work. Dr Ambedkar’s clear understanding of the importance of having the child in
an educational institution in order to prevent his/her exploitation as labour was turned on
its head Dr Kothari’s recommendation of Common School as a means to achieving
equity was also laid aside by the state
Ramamurti Commission,
Constitutional goals.
TTTF'—
1990
Review
Committee’s
reaffirmation
of
even after 3-4 years in school, their children could hardly read or write, they withdrew
them in disgust. Non-enrolment of girls continued because of their sibling care
responsibilities. Very little attempt as made by the state to address this problem. The
weakness of State policy in following the Directive Principle under Art. 45 is quite clear
from the above
Kothari Commission 1964-66 - first policy document to address the goal of
Universal Elementary Education
The Kothari Commission in its report - Education for National Development - viewed
Education as a National priority. It identified ECCE as an integral part of Elementary
Education and recommended allocation of 6% of the GNP for education. The Kothari
Commission also recommended a common school system, stating:
"In a situation of the type we have in India, it is the responsibility of the educational
system to bring the different social classes and groups together and thus promote an
egalitarian and integrated society. But at present, instead of doing so, education itself is
tending to increase social segregation and perpetuate and widen class distinctions.
At the primary stage, the free schools to which the masses send their children, are
maintained by the government and local authorities and are generally of poor quality.
Some of the private schools are definitely better but since many of them charge high fees,
they are availed of only by the middle and higher classes
If these evils are to be eliminated and the educational system is to become a powerful
instrument of national development in general, social and national integration in
particular, we must move towards the goal of the Common School System of public
education:
which will be open to all children irrespective of caste, creed, community,
religion, economic conditions or social status.
• where access to good education will depend not on wealth or class but on talent
• which will maintain adequate standards in all schools
• in which no tuition fees will be charged
• which would meet the needs of the average parent so that he would not ordinarily
feel the need to send his children to expensive schools outside the system
•
The recommendations were passed by Parliament and incorporated into the next FiveYear Plan.
National Policy on Education, 1986 - Recognition of impact of State policies 19501986 and the resultant accumulated problems
The National Policy on Education, 1986, for the first time admitted the impact of earlier
policies, stating:
• ”■
—•wt*»^vr««inrT-w*'-
The Ramamurti Commission took steps towards the goal of a humane and egalitarian
society by providing a detailed framework and policy along with programmatic indicators
and financial viability to realise Universalization of Elementary Education. It’s
recommendations centred around:
A Common School System
Elementary Education to be an integral whole including Early Childhood Care
and Education
Increased and adequate allocations within the national economy for education
State rejection of these recommendations
The Central Advisory Board of Education, while acknowledging the value of the
Ramamurti Commission’s recommendations, vetoed them by stating that they were not
feasible, ” that conditions were not right" for implementation of the recommendations.
The CABE turned its back on the Constitutional obligation imposed by Art. 45. In its
place, the National Literacy Misssion was launched - not a National Educational
Mission - and children were also allowed to sit in these classes.
Subsequent attrition in the State’s commitment to Art.45 - 1990
In 1990, the then National Government signed the Jomtien Declaration committing to the
time-bound goal of reaching primary education and Early Childhood Care and Education
but ignoring the need to stick to the Constitutional obligation of Elementary Education, it
sought a World Bank loan of 2000 crores to fund District Primary (not Elementary)
Education. The eight years of Elementary Education obligation under Art 45 was
collapsed into five years of Primary education. Privatization of Education was given a
green light.
In 1993, the Supreme Court ruled that Education is a Fundamental Right for all children
up to age of 14 years. In 1994, India ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child
which includes commitment to education up to the age of 18 years (including Early
Childhood Care and Education). Both the CRC and the Supreme Court judgment
reinforced the obligation under Art. 45. A brief review of the content of the Supreme
Court judgment follows.
3. Unnikrishnan Judgment, 1993 - Unequivocal Decision on Education
as a Fundamental Right.
In a landmark judgment, Unnikrishnan J.P. and Others vs State of Andhra Pradesh and
Others, the Supreme Court left the nation in no doubt about it’s Constitutional obligations
towards children.
" It is significant that among the several articles in Part-I\\ only Art. 45 speaks of a time
limit: no other Article does, it is not a mere pions wish and the State cannot flout the said
direction even after 44 years on the ground that the said article merely calls upon it to
“endeavour to provide” the same and the further ground that the said article is not
enforceable by virtue of the declaration in Article 37. The passage of 44 years, more than
four times the period stipulated in Article 45 - has converted the obligation created by the
Article into an enforceable right. At least now the state should honour the command of
Article 45. It must be made a reality."
The decision is clear - the State must make universal elementary education of equitable
quality available for all children up to 14 years.
The court has also given a broader meaning to the term Education:
Excerpts
"The fundamental purpose of education is the same at all times and at all places. It is to
transfigure the human personality into a pattern of perfection through a synthetic
process of development of the body, the enrichment of the mind, the sublimation emotions
and the illumination of the spirit Education is a preparation for living andfor life, here
and hereafter....
“The Directive Principles form the fundamental feature and the social conscience of the
Constitution, and the Constitution enjoins upon the State to implement these directives
principles, the directives thus provide the policy, the guidelines and end of socio
economic freedom...there is no apparent inconsistency between directive principles
contained in Part TV and the fundamental rights contained in Part III which in fact
supplement each other. “ (SSCp. 379, para 164).
Those rights (Fundamental Rights) are not ends in themselves but are the means to an
end The end is specified in Part IV.
"Article 21 has been interpreted by this Court to include the right to live with human
dignity and all that goes along with it The right to Education flows directly from the
Right to Life... "The State is under Constitutional mandate to provide educational
institutions at all levels for the benefit of all categories. The benefit of education cannot
be confined to the richer classes. ”
M A true democracy is one where education is universal, where people understand what is
good for them and the nation and hon to govern themselves. The three Articles 45,46,
and 41 are designed to achieve the said goal amongst others. It is in the light of these
articles that the content and parameters of the right to education have been determined
" The Constitution contemplated a crash programme being undertaken by the state to
achieve the goal set out in Article 45. It is relevant to note that Art. 45 does not speak of
the limits of it economic capacity and development....
‘ Right to Education, understood in the context of Article 45 and 41 means that a) every
child /citizen of this country has a right to free education until he completes the age of 14
years and b) after a child/citizen completes 14 years his right to education is
circumscribed by the limits of the economic capacity of the State and its development."
State response to the Supreme Court Judgment
The Government of India set up the Tapas Mazumdar Committee to work out the
financial implications of the Unnikrishnan judgment and calculate the costs of educating
all children The Committee estimated that the State would need an additional expenditure
of Rs 1,37,000/- crores over 10 years (i.e. 68,500/- expenditure in five years). The
committee’s Report had some basic flaws.They estimated the number of children as 6
crore whereas the NSS data estimates the out-of- school children as 12 crores. It also did
not calculate the costs of ECCE which was clearly a part of the mandate under Art. 45
and the Supreme Court Judgment on it.
The Committee of Education Ministers popularly known as the Saikia Committee (1997)
whittled even this amount down to 40,000 crores for five years. It is relevant to point out
that the amount recommended by the Tapas Mazumdar Committee amounts to less than
half per cent of GNP as against the 6 per cent of GNP recommended by the Kothari
Commission in 1965 which would now be much higher due to the accumulated costs of
50 years of neglect. The Saikia Committee estimate thus grossly underestimated the task
at hand of bringing the 12 crore children who are out of school into the school system as
required by the Right to Education. It did not, of course, even take the costs of ECCE into
its calculations.
The Saikia Committee also proposed to amend the Constitution.
4.
The Constitution 83rd Amendment Bill and Proposed Deletion of
Art 45
The Right to Education Bill framed by the State and presented in Rajya Sabha in 1997,
dangerously whittled down the Right to Education and severely limited State
responsibility towards fulfilling the Constitutional mandate.
The main provisions of the Bill are asfollows:
1. Deletion of Article 45
2. Making Education a Fundamental Right for all citizens 6-14 years of age
3. Making the provision of Educational opportunities a Fundamental Duty of
parents
4. A financial clause is included providing for allocation of an additional
40,000 crores over 5 years for the purpose.
(See Annexure III : Copy of the Bill)
Public Response to the 83rd Amendment
The Bill was introduced in Parliament in 1998. It was opened up to limited circulation
and debate. A large number of memoranda of opposition and concern were sent to the
Ministry of HRD on the Bill being made public in October 1997. Representations were
made to the Parliamentary Standing Committee communicating grave concern regarding
the Bill. Such concerns have continued to be voiced from all over the country but the
Ministry has not though fit to communicate its views and responses. A total lack of
transparency shrouds the government’s stand on the Bill.
5.
Some Major Areas of Concern re the 83rd Amendment Bill
Exclusion of Under-sixes from the Right to Education in the 83rd Constitutional
Amendment Bill - Educational and social implications..
As indicated in the brief review above, State Policies in Education had led to gross
inequality of access and opportunity for millions of children since Independence. These
policies were now carried to their logical conclusion in the 83rd Amendment Bill by the
proposed deletion of Art. 45, the restricting of the right to education to the 6-14 age
group, and the compulsion on parents. The import of the deletion of Article 45 and the
exclusion of the under sixes from the Right to Education needs to be understood fully
both for its attrition and dilution of the Constitutional mandate and for the effect on the
future of millions of children from poverty groups.
(See Annexure IV(a): Social and Educational Implications of Exclusion of Under-sixes
from the Right to Education. IV(b) Coverage of 0-6 years under state programmes.)
Questions and Comments pertaining to the Specific Clauses of the Constitution 83rd
Amendment Bill.
Major concerns center round the following:
1. Why has the commitment to free and compulsory education “up to 14” years been
changed to 6-14 years?
What is meant by “free”?
Why has the term children been substituted by citizens?
What is meant by “ compulsory? Compulsion on whom?
Why should private institutions be left out of the scope of any law enacted for
enforcement of free and compulsory education9 Will this not amount to
discrimination9
6 Why shouldn’t better and stronger guidelines be delineated for states to make
laws in consonance with the Fundamental Right to Education9
7 Why is Art. 45 being deleted9
8. Why should it be the fundamental duty of parents to provide opportunities for
education when there aren’t well functioning schools around them9
2.
3.
4.
5.
'Ti'iTFi-r '“YTT ~ -
Public Response to the 83rd Amendment
The Bill was introduced in Parliament in 1998. It was opened up to limited circulation
and debate. A large number of memoranda of opposition and concern were sent to the
Ministry of HRD on the Bill being made public in October 1997 Representations were
made to the Parliamentary Standing Committee communicating grave concern regarding
the Bill. Such concerns have continued to be voiced from all over the country but the
Ministry has not though fit to communicate its views and responses A total lack of
transparency shrouds the government’s stand on the Bill
Some Major Areas of Concern re the 83rd Amendment Bill
5.
Exclusion of Under-sixes from the Right to Education in the 83rd Constitutional
Amendment Bill - Educational and social implications..
As indicated in the brief review above. State Policies in Education had led to gross
inequality of access and opportunity for millions of children since Independence. These
policies were now carried to their logical conclusion in the 83 Amendment Bill by the
proposed deletion of Art. 45, the restricting of the right to education to the 6-14 age
group, and the compulsion on parents. The import of the deletion of Article 45 and the
exclusion of the under sixes from the Right to Education needs to be understood fully
both for its attrition and dilution of the Constitutional mandate and for the effect on the
future of millions of children from poverty groups.
(See Annexure IV(a): Social and Educational Implications of Exclusion of Under-sixes
from the Right to Education. IV(b) Coverage of 0-6 years under state programmes.)
Questions and Comments pertaining to the Specific Clauses of the Constitution 83rd
Amendment Bill.
Major concerns center round the following:
1. Why has the commitment to free and compulsory education “up to 14” years been
changed to 6-14 years?
2. What is meant by “free”?
3. Why has the term children been substituted by citizens9
4. What is meant by “ compulsory? Compulsion on whom9
5. Why should private institutions be left out of the scope of any law enacted for
enforcement of free and compulsory education9 Will this not amount to
discrimination9
6. Why shouldn’t better and stronger guidelines be delineated for states to. make
laws in consonance with the Fundamental Right to Educa’.ion9
7. Why is Art. 45 being deleted9
8.
Why should it be the fundamental duty of parents to provide opportunities for
education when there aren't well functioning schools arc-nd them9
9. Is the amount of 40,000 cr. for a period of 5 years sufficient to provide quality
education to a hundred million out of school children, which includes drop-outs,
never enrolled and working children?
See Annexure V for comments on the above concerns.
6.
An Alternative to the 83rd Amendment Bill
An Alternative to the 83’d Amendment Bill is enclosed. The Alternative Bill is based on
the document prepared by Prarambhik Shiksha Viapikaran Sanjha Manch Rajasthan,
1997 and has been modified thereafter in the light of the development of the issue of
ECCE and its link with the goal of Universalization of Elementary Education during
1997-2001.
(See Annexure VI)
Annexure - V(a)
SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS:
Exclusion of 0-6 years from Fundamental Right to Education
As you are aware, the proposed 83rd Constitutional Amendment Bill seeks to provide free
and compulsory education to children from 6 to 14 years even though Article 45 from
which it has been derived, promises free and compulsory education to all children upto
the age of 14 years.
Amongst the various reasons discussed for this cutback in the Parliamentary Standing
Committee Meetings and other forums, are the presumptions that EARLY CHILDCARE
AND EDUCATION are the domain of the family, or that it has already been taken care
of by the Department of Women and Child Development, or that it is too complex a task
to be undertaken under the proposed act.
Consider the following facts:
1. EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION IS A FUNDAMENTAL
RIGHT AS RULED BY THE SUPREME COURT IN 1993 DERIVED FROM
ARTICLES 21 AND 45 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA.
THIS BELL DIRECTLY CONTRAVENES A DIRECTIVE PRINCPLES. THE
CONVENTION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILDHOOD, AND A PREVIOUS
SUPREME COURT JUDGMENT.
2. EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION IS A WELL
ESTABLISHED COMPONENT OF EDUCATION which influences the most
vital period of development of human beings, namely the first few years of life. It
has immense repercussions on future life in terms of intelligence and personality.
These effects have been quantified and seen to be related statistically to drop out
rates, school retention and performance.
3. IN THE GIVEN SOCIO-ECONOMIC CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE
MAJORITY OF THE FAMILIES OF OUR COUNTRY, ECCE CANNOT BE
SEEN TO BE A FUNCTION THAT FAMILIES CAN PERFORM
UNSUPPORTED BY THE STATE, as reinforced time and time again by various
reports like the Shram Shakti Report and the Ramamurthy Commission Report.
90 million women work in unorganized sector. 93% of all working women belong
to the unorganized sector. 60% million children under six are under the poverty
line. About 80 million children are out of school and all of them either work for
wages or as helpers for domestic work and sibling care since both parents work.
70% of children involved in childcare activities are girls and account for the vast
majority of girls never enrolled in or dropped out of schools.
4. There are about 100 million children of age 0-6 years of which 60 million are
below the poverty line. Only 18.6 million are within the outreach of the integrated
Child Development Scheme. Virtually the only scheme designed to reach this age
group.
THEREFORE TO SUGGEST THAT EARLY CHILDCARE AND EDUCETION
ACTIVITIES ARE ALREADY TAKEN CARE OF BY THE MINISTRY OF HRD
IS INCORRECT.
5. If this Bill be passed, it would ensure that ONLY THOSE SECTIONS OF
SOCIETY WHO CAN AFFORD PRIVATE PRE-SCHOOL WILL BE ABLE
TO AVAIL OF ITS BENEFITS, WHICH AUTOMATICALLY RULES OUT
ALL THE CHILDREN WHO NEED FREE EDUCATION.
6. It is further short sighted to provide free schooling up to 14 years or class 8 when
the first board certification is at 16 years or class ten. It is of note that most
vocational training programmes and entry into a ‘reserved’ category require a
minimum of schooling through the 10th class.
7. We have serious reservations on the financial clause, which is grossly inadequate
even for schooling for 6 to 14 age group requiring a threefold increase. The
project cost of EARLY CHILDCARE AND EDUCATION through
comprehensive and integrated daycare lies at a minimum of 18.250 crores.
Concern re Definition of Education
EDUCATION IS NOT MERE
DEVELOPMENTAL ACTIVITY.
SCHOOLING FROM 6-14 YEARS BUT A
Appropriate in content and process to the age, development stage and cultural
context of the child;
• In diverse settings not necessarily institutional in nature in case of children
below 6 years;
• Provided by appropriately qualified persons recognized for ECD as equivalent to
elementary school teacher;
• Of a quality adequate to achieve the learning competencies essential for each
stage of development;
• Able to harness and mobilize through requisite regulation/legislation and
incentives, the full range of governmental and non-governmental initiatives
available.
•
(The above definition has been modified from NCERT Consultation on ECE and Bill on
Fundamental Rights to Education, March 25, 1998).
Annexure - V(b)
Coverage of 0-6 age group by State Programmes,
Allocations and Gaps, 2000-2001
Total number of children
(poverty groups)
0-6 years =60 million
Total Number covered under ICDS
( ICDS does not provide Daycare services)
= 26.85 million
ICDS Budget
850.56 crores
Total Number covered by Creche Schemes = 3,75.000 children
for Working and Ailing Mothers Scheme
and the National Creche Fund
(Because of very limited allocations, the programmes function more as Balwadis than
Creches, thus leaving the problem of caring for under - threes to older siblings.)
THE YAWING GAP BETWEEN NEED AND COVERAGE IS OBMOUS FROM THE ABOVE.
Annexure ■ VI
Questions and Comments Pertaining to Specific Clauses of the
Constitution (Eighty-Third ) Amendment Bill, 1997.
I. Clause 21 A. 1)
L Why has the commitment to free and compulsory education rtup to
14 years" in the Article 45 been changed to "6-14"?
The Constitution of India, the Supreme Court judgment in the case of Unnikrishnan
vs State of Andhra Pradesh (1993), the National Policy on Education
(1968,1986,1992) and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by India
in 1992, all talk about the child’s right to education up to the age of 14 years and not
6-14 years of age.
Early Childcare and Education (ECCE) is a well understood component of Education.
This is the stage at which the foundations of a child’s personality and confidence are
laid and maximum development of the brain takes place. "The all-round balanced
development of the child in the age group 0-6 year "collectively described in NPE
(1986) as Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) ” is an essential preparation
for school
The educational process forms a continuum from birth and has to be
appropriate at each stage. 0-6 age group requires ECCE and the 6-14 age group
requires formal schooling. Childhood must not be divided by legislation. ECCE is
part of the Right to Education. "ECCE is the birth right of every child," (Ramamurthy
Commission).
The importance of ECCE in the Indian context of poverty cannot be stressed
sufficiently. It addresses the rights of very young children, it frees girls from sibling
care responsibilities and thereby, for schooling. It also empowers poor women and
helps them to become economically viable. Education has also emerged as the only
alternative to child labour and ECCE is the first rung in the process. (Non-formal
schooling, as is being currently proposed, can in no way help to realize child rights
and is an unfair substitute for formal education.
The exclusion of the under-sixes from the right to education must be seriously
examined for its educational, social and constitutional implications
iL What is meant by 'free'?
The term “free” should be defined clearly. It is public knowledge that for the socalled free education, poor parents are paying through their noses for books,
stationary, uniforms etc. If the 50% poor children who are out of the school system,
are to be brought into it, the term "free” should include fee-exemption as well as
books, stationary, uniform, etc.
How does the State intend to make Education ’’free’, when privatization is the clarion
call of the day? Privatization is geared towards profit-making as is evident from the
mushrooming growth of ’’teaching shops’’ all over. "Privatization” and "Free
Education" are contradictory notions.
UL
Why has the term "children" been substituted by "citizens"?
There is concern that this change of term opens the door to harassment of minorities,
displaced persons etc.
iv.
What is meant by the term "compulsory"?
Is the ’’Compulsion'’ to be on poor parents or on the state, which has failed to fulfill
constitutional and political promises for fifty years?
It is recommended that the clause read as ” the State shall provide free and universal
education to all children up to 14 years through ECCE and the formal school system”.
IL Clause 21 A (3)
Why should private institutions be left out of the scope of any law
enacted for enforcement offree and compulsory education? Will this
not amount to discrimination?
The unaided private (so-called public) school received hidden aid in the form of dirt
cheap land, tax exemptions and trained teachers (who receive their B.Ed. degrees
through a subsidized education system). Hence, it is wrong to call them unaided and
leave them out of the scope of this Bill. This is also unconstitutional. Fundamental
Right to Equal Opportunity for all is guaranteed by Article 14 of the Constitution of
India. To be constitutionally valid, the Bill must be in consonance with Article 14.
The only way to ensure right to equal opportunity to education for all is through the
Common School System recommended by the Kothari Commission in the 1968.
There should be provision for concrete steps to improve the quality of average
schooling and to move towards the Common School System. Going ahead with this
clause as it stands would mean perpetuating the inequalities present in the hierarchical
system of schooling and of society.
Free and universal education has to be of a certain quality - which should include
infrastructure (building, toilets, drinking water, furniture, etc.), books, uniforms, good
teacher/ pupil ratio, a child-friendly approach, proper teacher training etc. - all
necessary for greater retention of children in school.
The clause exempting private schools from the purview of the Bill needs to be deleted
and greater clarity on the issue of quality must be included in the Bill.
HL 21 A (2) 1
Why shouldn't better and stronger guidelines be delineated for the
States to make laws in consonance with the Fundamental Right to
Education, which includes the concerns articulated above?
There are nineteen states in India (including Bihar, Haryana and Kerala) where laws
on compulsory education exist on the statute books, but are hardly enforced, as, prior
to 1976, Education was a state subject. A greater compulsion on the part cf states is
needed. If states may enforce the right to free and compulsory education "in such a
manner as they may by law determine", existing cases (for example, PIL by Satvapal
Delhi High Court, Civil Writ Petition, 3956, of 2000, based on Article 45, supported
by Unnikrishnan judgment) coming up for hearing in the Supreme Court, will be held
in abeyance pending state legislation and the cases will then be decided in accordance
with the new laws. Therefore, new laws must be such that they do not dilute or
circumscribe what already exists.
IV Why is Article 45 being deleted?
Part IV of the Constitution spells out goals whereas Articles under Part III <ue the
means to the goal. By placing Article 45 in Part III, goals are being circumscribed by
means. Therefore Article 45 must feature in both Part III and Part IV of the
Constitution. It is strongly recommended that Article 45 must be retained under Part
IV of the Constitution as it is, omitting ’’within 10 years of the commencement of the
Constitution".
v.
Why should it be the fundamental duties of parents to provide
opportunities for education when there aren't well functioning
schools around them?
The sub clause (k) should not be added to the 51 A of the Constitution. Several
studies (e g. Probe Report) have show that the majority of poor parents - urban and
rural- would like their sons and daughters in schools provided there is a regular well
functioning school in the vicinity, which provides relevant and meaningful education,
and, which is programmed according to local milieu and culture. The insertion of this
sub-clause will lead to harassment of the poor and punishment to those who have
been already punished through denial of their basic human right.
vL Is the amount offorty thousand crores for a period offive years
sufficient to provide quality education to hundred million out-ofschool children, which includes drop-outs, never enrolled and
working children?
The Tapas Mazumdar Committee recommended the amount of 138,000 crores as
additional expenditure over 10 years to bring 6 crore out-of-school children into
’’-STOP
school at the current rate of spending of Rs 948/- per child per annum. (NSS data
places the number of out-of school children as 12 cr.) The Saikia Committee not only
whittled it down to 40,000 cr for (5 years) but also did not take fresh estimates of the
actual number of children required to be covered.
Do we intend retaining the present abysmally poor quality of schooling? Is this the
way towards retention and sustenance of education of children?
The Kothari Commission has recommended 6% of the GNP for education way back
in the 60s. Even today, almost forty years down the line, only 3.8% of the GNP goes
to education. What happens to the accumulative gap of about forty years? Costs have
spiralled. Fresh estimates have to be made at current prices for all that had to be done
in these lost decades. It is pertinent to keep in mind that GNP standards should also
be revised and updated according to international standards.
Financial priorities will have to be realigned if the state is genuinely interested in
Universalization of Elementary Education and it must include ECCE. The cost
computed by Saikia Commission does not take into account basic factors like:
•
•
•
•
•
Borewells so that girls are free to go to school
Provision of creches so that girls are released from sibling care duties
Provision of wheel chairs and appliances so that children with Disability can
access schools
Provision of safety and security on the way to middle schools - a major reason
why girls leave after class V.
Provision of costs for an active prevention of Child Marriage Campaign another factor affecting education of girl children
To build an arsenal of 350-400 nuclear weapons over a period of 30 years, the amount
of 7,70,000 crores seems eminently affordable (Bharat Kamard as quoted by Prof.
Krishna Kumar in The Times of India). Yet, for education there seems to be a
’’resource crunch”.
”There is no way a country can become an economic giant if its population does
not stand in line with rest of world in knowledge, information and skills The
education budget should be considered as national defense budget" (Prof.
Yashpal)
-
JSiW'EL*’
Annexure - VII
AN ALTERNATIVE BILL ON 83rd AMENDMENT
TO THE CONSTITUTION
The Alternative Bill, prepared by the Prarambhik Shiksha Lok
Viapikaran Sanjha Manch, Rajasthan in September, 1997 is presented
below in a modified form in the light of the subsequent development
(1997-2001) of the issue of ECCE and its link with UEE.
PREAMBLE TO THE ACT
Universalisation of Elementary Education
1
We welcome the step of the Union Government in proposing the 83rd Amendment
to the Constitution that will ultimately make elementary education a fundamental
right for every citizen upto the age of 14 years.
2. So far, the commitment towards elementary education for children was
incorporated in Article 45 of Directive Principles of State Policy. But, in reality,
37 years after the stipulated period, this goal has proved elusive.
3. However, the Bill in its present form proposed by the MHRD on July 9, 1997, is
not adequate to ensure universal elementary education to all citizens upto the age
of 14 years.
4. (a) The proposed Bill fails to see education as an integrated process of life’s
development of individual and society.
(b) The proposed Bill fails to respond to the educational needs of the specific age
group of children below the age of 6 years, which is the most crucial
developmental stage of life. Earlier, this age group was included in Article 45.
(c) The proposed bill is woefully silent on the character and essence of the nature
of education.
(d) The provision of ‘compulsion’ in the proposed bill would adversely affect the
poor.
5. We believe that education is related to the totality of life processes. Hence, all the
relevant Articles in the Indian Constitution such as Articles 24, 39, 41, 42 and 46
directly affect the education of the children of the poor and the oppressed.
6. Education should be an instrument of achieving equality, freedom and social
justice. Hence, we strongly support an equitable common system of elementary
education for all.
7.
The term Education should be defined clearly. Education is not mere schooling
from 6-14 yrs, but a developmental activity
•
appropriate in content and process to the age, development stage and
cultural context of the child.
•
in diverse settings not necessarily institutional in nature, in case of
children below 6 years.
•
provided by appropriately qualified persons recognized for ECD as
equivalent to elementary school teacher.
•
of an adequate to achieve the learning competencies essential for each
stage of development.
•
able to harness and mobilize, through requisite regulation / legislation and
incentives, the full range of governmental and non governmental
initiatives available.
(The above definition is modified from NCERT, Consultation on ECE and
Bill on Fundamental Right to Education, March 25th, 1998)
8. Without an adequately democratized and decentralized educational mechanism
involving the neighborhood community, it is not possible to provide equitable and
qualitative universal elementary education.
9. We, thereby, strongly propose that the Bill for universalisation of elementary
education should ensure:
(a) Free, equitable and qualitative elementary education including ECCE
through the neighborhood common school, system which has been
proposed in detail in the Kothari Commission Report.
(b) That poverty, geographical conditions and local circumstances should not
be deterrents for equitable, qualitative and compulsory education.
(c) Adequate democratic and decentralized mechanism of community
participation and control over the elementary education system.
We demand that the State demonstrates the necessary political will and administrative
resolve; provide adequate financial and other resources for the country to achieve in
reality, Universalisation of Elementary Education by the year 2005 A.D.
THE CONSTITUTION (EIGHTY-THIRD AMENDMENT) BILL,
1997
A
BILL
Further to amend the Constitution of India.
Be it enacted by Parliament in the Forty-eighth Year of the Republic of India as
follow:
(1) (1) This Act may be called the UNIVERSALISATION OF ELEMENTARY
EDUCATION ACT.
By elementary education, we hereby understand ECCE upto age of 5 years
and formal education upto the level of standard 8th.
(ECCE upto age five needs to include the universal availability of Maternity
Entitlement, Creches and nursery schools as necessary inputs into child
development and to release girls from sibling care responsibility).
(2) it shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by
notification in the official Gazette, appoint.
2. After Article 21 of the Constitution, the following Article shall be inserted,
namely:21 A (1) The State shall provide free, compulsory, equitable and qualitative
education to all citizens upto the age of 14 years, within 8 years from the date the
Act comes into force.
21 A (2 ) The state direct its policy towards securing that children are given
opportunity and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of
freedom and dignity, and that childhood and youth are protected against
exploitation and against moral and material abandonment (Delete this section
from Article 39F - Directive Principles of State Policies).
21 A (3) The right to free, compulsory, equitable and qualitative education
referred to as ‘common school’ in Kothari Commission report, shall be enforced
in such manner as the state may, by law, determine. Every state law shall follow
all the guidelines given in the related schedule.
21 A (4) Even those educational institutions not maintained by the state or not
receiving aid out of state funds will be governed by the same law.
21 B (1) No child below the age of 14 years shall be employed for cash or kind to
work either at home or outside.
—-s"—
21 B (2) No child upto the age of 14 years shall ever be engaged in any hazardous
work being done either at home or outside.
21 C (1) No child upto the age of 14 years shall be denied admission into any
neighborhood educational institution run for elementary education.
3. Article 35 of the Constitution shall be renumbered as clause (1) of that article and
after clause (1) so renumbered and before the Explanation, the following clause
shall be inserted, namely (2) The competent legislature shall make the law for the enforcement of right to
free, compulsory, equitable and qualitative education referred to in clause (1)
of article 21A within one year from the commencement of the
Universalisation of Elementary Education Act.
Provided that a provision of any law relating to free compulsory education in
force in a State immediately before the commencement of the Universalisation
of Elementary Education Act, which is inconsistent with the provisions of
Article 21 A, shall continue to be in force until amended or repealed by a
competent legislature or another competent authority or until the expiration of
one year from such commencement which ever is earlier.
4. Article 24, 39F & 45 of the Constitution shall be omitted.
5. A new article 5IB shall be added to the Constitution viz fundamental duties of
group of citizens (Neighborhood Communities) :
It shall be the fundamental duty of the neighborhood community to ensure that all
citizens upto the age of 14 years in the neighborhood attend elementary school.
SHEDULE (Related to Guidelines for State Laws)
The state Law shall ensure the following.
2. That the elementary education of no child in the state may be adversely affected
due to conditions of poverty.
3. That the elementary education system shall be geared to suit the variations of
geographical and local conditions and situations of different areas such that
quality of education is not compromised.
4. That the concept and practice of ‘neighborhood common school’ system, shall be
effectwely implemented.
5. That based on the principles of democratization and decentralization, the citizen
groups (neighborhood community mechanism) shall be actively involved in
planning, implementing and controlling elementary education.
6. That the elementary education system will specifically incorporate the local,
region at and cultural milieu in form and content.
7. Meaningful relationship between education and creative labour.
-
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Different voices, one chorus - campaigning for transparency
Issue 54, Nov. 20 - Dec. 4 2004
PEC conducts Access Audit at BDA
The Proof Energy Centre in collaboration with the Office
of the Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities conducted
an access audit at the Bangalore Development Authority
(BDA) on October 26,2004, to determine whether the building
is accessible to the disabled and if the facilities are disabled
friendly.
The PEC team first met the Secretary, BDA, Mr.
G.H.Puttahalagaiya who listened to the views of the team and
assured them that all recommendations to make BDA disabled
friendly will be adopted and implemented. He further said
that in three months the BDA will be computerised and
information will be available on the website. This should help
the disabled to access information without hassle.
Mr. Peeryanaik the executive engineer, BDA, assisted the
team in the audit. The PEC team made the following
observations:
1.Ramps: Ramps with railings are present at all entrances,
the main gate, and the parking areas and at the commissioner’s
office (D block). Ramps are also present from the ground floor
to the first floor in all buildings except one. However, it was
observed that the distance from the parking to the ramps is
long making it difficult for the disabled to walk up to the ramps.
Recommendations:
■ Disabled people should be allowed to drive their vehicles
right up to the ramp so as to facilitate easy movement.
■ Ramp to be built in the new building from ground floor to
first floor as steps are not accessible by people in the wheel
chair and other disabled.
Z.Lifts: There are two lifts in the BDA, one in the old building
and another in the new building. Though the lift in the old
building is in working condition, it is not disabled friendly.
The entrance of the lift is not wide enough to enable
wheelchairs to get in. Also, it was found that the lift would
close-in on the person before they could come out. The lift in
the new building is not working, making it difficult for the
disabled to climb to the first floor.
Recommendations:
■ Lifts should have doors that are automatic and close only
when there is no person entering or coming out.
■ The lift operating buttons should be at a height that will
enable the disabled to access it themselves.
■ The lifts should have voice system so that visually
challenged can also access it independently.
for private circulation
liiS-ll
KiliBR &&
I
A person with disabilities trying out the ramp at
the BDA Office.
3. Toilets:
There are two toilets for ladies and two for gents in each floor.
But none of them are disabled friendly. The toilets for ladies
are both Indian in style making it extremely difficult for the
disabled to use them. The spaces inside the toilets are not
enough for wheelchair movement, and the toilets were situated
at a raised platform making it further inaccessible to the
disabled.
Recommendations:
■ One toilet in each floor needs to be of western style for
the disabled to access them.
■ The elevation to the toilets needs to be removed as it
hampers the movement of wheelchair.
■ There must be enough space between the walls and the
commode to enable persons in wheelchair to turn and hoist
themselves from the wheelchair to the commode.
■ There must be railings from the entrance of the toilets to
the commode to enable people with crutches and visually
challenged to walk easily.
Future plans: The executive engineer informed that the PRO
will be situated in the ground floor where all facilities for the
disabled such as seating, ramps, toilets and information in
Braille will be provided. He also said that disabled people
employed will be placed on the ground floor.
The PEC team recommended that officials should attend
to the disabledpeople at the PR Office even if; the departments
are located on the other floors.
Jayanthi Noronha, Coordinator, Proof Energy Centre
In this week’s issue
Right to
2 Information
Access
3 Audit
4
Q&A
essentials
What is the PROOF Energy
Centre?
The Proof Energy Centre (PEC) isa committed group of individuals
from across Bangalore who meet
regularly at Voices (an NGO) to
discuss issues related to local
governance and voice concerns of
citizens of Bangalore. The PEC’s i
activities are supported by Voices.
The PEC was born out of the
PROOF campaign which seeks to
bring about transparency and
accountability in the financial
operations of the city government.
Today the PEC has extended its
mandate to concern itself with
issues such as disability, slums and
senior citizens. It envisages going
even further in future.
Who are the PEC
coordinators?
The PEC members listed below are
taking responsibility for special
activities in community communi
cations - they may need your help! If
you would like to know more about
their particular area of interest - or to
help in any way - please call them or
e-mail them directly.
H.S. Srikantha, Mint-discussion series
■t 26585104.
S.N. Shiva Shankar, College activities
t;’26507225.
C. K Shantha Building Bridges
IBS
Rajeev Yeshwanth, Talk About Proof
t S5305Q rap iter
hotmaitcon
Ananda Rao, proof Puttanna
t, 26588132., einwao^'lycos.com
P J, Thomas/Sharma, Namma budget
t: 25280311 / 26644245
Jayanthi Norohna,
Our Right to
Information
A comparison of RTI
legislation across the country shows
that KRIA is a relatively
progressive legislation. The real test
however lies in the implementation
of KRIA. With the realisation that
unless KRIA genuinely serves the
information needs of the people it
would amount to nothing. Public
Affairs Centre (PAC), Bangalore
and Commonwealth Human Rights
Initiative (CHRI), New Delhi,
embarked on a joint effort of to
conduct the ‘Implementation
Audit’ of KRIA in November 2002.
The idea behind the effort
was to assess the implementation
of KRIA in Bangalore, and in doing
so, generate valuable citizen
feedback/ recommendations that
would be relayed to the government
in order to improve systems for
effective implementation. With
these objectives in mind, PAC and
CHRI brought together concerned
citizens, orienting them on KRIA
and the various procedures
involved in seeking information. In
securing their participation in
creating a demand for information,
PAC and CHRI were able to
galvanise civil society groups into
actively testing the efficacy of
KRIA in Bangalore City.
The Implementation Audit
began with the training of
volunteers, who then identified
their information needs and the
public authorities they wished to
approach for information. Care was
taken to file the applications
according to the procedure
stipulated in KRIA, as this would
enable accurate assessment of the
operational efficacy of the law. This
study is a reflection of the
experiences of ordinary citizens in
their attempt at trying to use KRIA
in Bangalore.
Twenty public authorities
were approached and 100
applications were submitted
between the period November 2002
and April 2003. The response of the
public authorities has been varied some have been proactive and
others have been non-responsive.
The agency factsheets that follow
provide a complete picture of these
public authorities in the context of
implementing KRIA.
PAC and CHRI would like
to thank the volunteers for their
contribution, and the time and effort
spent by them to make this
“Implementation Audit” of KRIA
possible. We hope these findings
provide the necessary feedback to
various public authorities in order
to enable them to put in place
systems to effectively implement
the Karnataka Right to Information
Act, 2000 which is acknowledged
to be one of the progressive laws
on the topic in the Country.
Continued in next issue
Access Audit at Nirmala Toilets
in South Bangalore
At the junction of 40th cross and Kanakapura
1.
Road, 8th block, Jayanagar.
The sulabha shouchalaya was constructed by the
Karnataka Land Army for the BMP. The shouchalaya
caters to both men and women. However, it is not userfriendly to the disabled citizens for the following
reasons:
(a) The construction is on a very busy area where the
traffic both on Kanakapura Road as well as on 40th
Cross is extremely high. It is very difficult to cross
the road at any given time for normal citizens. It is
highly impossible for the physically handicapped
persons to use tricycles or otherwise to commute
on the road.
(b) The approach to the entrance is on the 40th
crossroad. ‘No Parking’ sign is right in front of the
toilet. However, it is usually occupied by autos and
other vehicles
(c) Entrance to the toilet is through steep steps 4 nos,
each is around 8"(inches) high. Sides to the toilet
are rather narrow, in width.
(d) There is absolutely no chance for any ramp to be
provided at this stage of construction since there is
hardly any space for such a provision.
(e) No.of persons using the toilet is also not high
(f) A ramp, even of 3 feet wide, cannot be now
incorporated at any point in the toilet.
(g) The toilet is well maintained.
Toilet at the park on 10lh main, 5th Block,
2.
Jayanagar(near Adiga’s restaurant)
This toilet again constructed by the Karnataka Land
Army for BMP is not user-friendly to physically
handicapped/disabled persons for the following reasons-
(a) This is constructed on a busy main road, very close
to the park. However, ordinary citizens who visit
the park use this extensively.
b)
Entrance to the toilet is by five steps, the first
step is quite steep, about 10" high. The other
four are each more than 6" high.
(c) Steps leading to the toilet are quite narrow(both
in width and depth)
(d) On both sides of the steps, instead of open space,
flower plants have been planted.
(e) There is absolutely no scope for construction of
a ramp for use by the physically handicapped.
(f) The steps are made of smooth stone slabs,
leading to slippery surface
Recommendations for both /any new construction
Since the BMP has issued guidelines and instructions
for construction of buildings through building
byelaws, which are mandatory, any future
construction of the toilets should also be governed
by the same building byelaws. Then alone can these
toilets be used by all sections of the citizenry of the
metropolis.
Ramananjaneya & Kohinoor Grounds
3.
Toilet,
The Nirmal toilet at Kohinoor grounds in hyvadana
rao road is not yet commissioned. One side a ramp
can be constructed at a low cost. The doors, one is 2
and a half’ wide where wheel chairs can enter with
difficulty. The toilets are with Indian closets which
is not convenient for the physically challenged. One
of the toilets can be renovated to suit the handicapped
people. The entrance platform is 3" wide, the wheel
chair can be taken over. The toilet at Niraguna Road,
at the foot of the hill is also not commissioned. The
feature of this toilet is same as the Hyavadana Rao
road toilet.
Write away !
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\ y°ur
Voices-Nimma Dhwanigidhe Shakthi on Tuesday the 12th
October 2004 featured MnAnand Rao, a PEC member
due to the non-availability of the scheduled guest
Mr.RameGowda, Engineering Chief, BMP. Mr.Anand
Rao answered queries related to the activities of the Proof
Energy Centre in its new avatar as a “Citizens
Information and Communication Centre.-' Many
listeners called in to know more about the PEC.
J, questions
answered
5*1
a
a
Mr.Shivaji from M.S.Ramaiahnagar
complained about improper drainage,
construction in drains and indifference of
officials of ward inspite of repeated
requests. He also complained about
potholes on the road causing problems for
the residents of the area.
Mr.Rao requested Mr.Shivajii to bring the
above to the notice of BMP, Chief Engineer,
through a collectively signed letter on behalf
of residents of the area, marking a copy of
the said letter to the PEC for follow-up.
Mr.Rao said that if BMP does not act or does
not give satisfactory reply, the residents can
approach the Lokayukta for necessary action.
(Lokayukta has an office at the BMP
premises).
Mr.Chandrappa from Austin Town
complained about the Land use
convertion from residential to commercial
inspite of objections by residents of the
area.
Mr.Rao requested Mr.Chandrappa to write
to PEC with details so that the same can be
taken up as a citizen’s query with concerned
officials of BDA and BMP.
Mr.Rajanna from Shanthinagar wondered by BMP
which is so much concerned about high-tech city
problems relating to infrastructure and concentrating
on few roads, is not bothered to set right the bad
condition of road near the bus stop(mission road) and
the bad smell in the area. He wanted BMP to act swiftly
to make it a presentable spot.
Mr.Rao agreed with the observation and said that inspite of
two new bus shelters built, passengers still crowd near the
BMP office gate and the road is in bad shape (including
footpaths). The matter will be brought to the notice of BMP
commissioner and Mayor. Mr.Rao said.
a
Mr.Shamarao of Ramamurthynagar gave
three suggestions to be implemented by
BMP for better administration and
effectiveness.
In each of the 100 wards, 5 active residents’
representatives should interact with the ward
office and corporator to identify problems
and solve them through follow-up.
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For answers to all of these questions contact
us NOW!
A security firm member (ward no.97) on R.T.Nagar
Main Road complained about dumping of garbage
regularly near ING Vysya Bank and not clearing the
garbage for days together. He said the helpline of BMP
for garbage clearance does not function most of the time.
Mr.Rao said that the same would be brought to the notice
of BMP health officer for taking necessary action. Mr.Rao
wanted the caller to ring up VOICES-Proof Energy Centre
office once the work was done.
Reported by Anand Rao, Coordinator, VNDS
Do you have a question to ask PROOF?
Please send any question about the
campaign to us at the address or e-mail
printed at the bottom of this page.
How to contact PROOF at VOICES
write: PROOF, 165, First Floor, 9th Cross, 1st Stage,
Indiranagar, Bangalore - 560 038
tel: 91 -80-25213902/03 / fax: 91-80-25213901
e-mail: proof_voices@vsnl.net , www.voicesforall.org
TAP coordinator-: Rajeev Yeshwanth.
Supported by : New Zealand Aid
published by VOICES on behalf of PROOF, 2004
Position: 1799 (2 views)