What children want: Centre's survey to find out

States to be ranked on the basis of how they treat children

The Centre will conduct a first-of-its-kind survey to assess the living conditions of children across the country and grade states on the basis of how they treat kids.

Two Union ministries — the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) and the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation — will first conduct a ‘National Child Survey’ and then develop a ‘Child Index’.

The mandate for both the programmes is with the WCD ministry but the statistics ministry will implement them. The survey and index will be built at the district level.

WCD officials told DH that such a survey, which has never been conducted by the government, will help them in policy planning and also to understand what children really want.

“How should we respond to the problems related to today’s children... What programmes should we design... And with the changes in the way children perceive things now, what are their needs today? We hope the survey will throw up answers to some of these questions,” an official said.

Health, nutrition, education, incidences of child marriage and the effect of violence on children are likely to be some of the parameters. On the basis of the Child Index, the performance of various districts, states and Union Territories will be evaluated.

This, officials said, will help to find specific areas of improvement and identify where interventions can be made.

Though the government has not taken up such an initiative, NGOs and developmental bodies have done similar exercises in the past. The Niti Aayog’s evaluation of “aspirational districts” — where the planning body evaluates districts that need attention — is another drive on similar lines.

Some of these parameters are related to children.

In 2020, India stood at the 131st position among 180 countries in a ranking measuring the survival rates of children in a study by the World Health Organisation (WHO), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and The Lancet medical journal.

Child rights activist and co-founder of ‘HAQ: Centre for Child Rights’ Enakshi Ganguly said that a survey will help the government demarcate resources better.

“The government will be able to plan better. They will be able to stage interventions or plan policies for states or districts that need them more. It will be important to note the parameters for the survey. Ideally, the findings should be added to the district planning document,” Ganguly said.