Unaccomplished goals of national action plan for children, framed in 2005, including abolishing child labour and child marriage by 2010, are the priority areas of the government's new action plan.
The National Plan of Action for Children (NPAC)-2016, drafted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, will carry forward the goals of the last action plan, framed in 2005 for a period of five years, a senior ministry official said.
The plan seeks to address important issues pertaining to children's rights to survival, health, nutrition, education, dignity, protection and participation and invited suggestions from various stakeholders and the civil society.
"It (NPAC-2016) will carry forward the goals of the last action plan that was framed in 2005 for a period of five years," the official said.
"While no formal evaluation of the plan (2005) has been undertaken, many of the goals remain unfulfilled, like reducing infant mortality rate to 30 per 1000 live births and maternal mortality rate to 100 per 100,000 live births; 100 per cent coverage for rural sanitation, universalisation of early childhood care and education services, elementary education, complete abolition of child labour and child marriage by 2010," he said.
Some of the key priority areas of the NPAC-2016 includes ensuring registration of birth of all children, reducing early marriage among girls and use of social media platforms to generate awareness on internet safety.
Aimed at addressing the issues identified on the basis of existing data on child survival, health, nutrition and protection, the action plan provides a roadmap that links the policy objectives to actionable strategies under four key priority areas namely Survival, Health and Nutrition; Education and Development; Protection and Participation, he said.
"Currently, 30.3 per cent women in the age 20-24 years are married before 18 years. Approximately 40 per cent of the reported offences against children are sexual and 33 million children in the age group of 5-18 years engaged in the labour force," he said.
Stunting is a consequence of malnutrition in the first
1,000 days from conception until age two. It is largely irreversible after the age of two, making those first 1,000 days critical to a child's development.
The report said that some 140,000 children under five in India die each year of diarrhoeal diseases related to the lack of these basic services.
Around 50 per cent of malnutrition cases are linked to infections, including chronic diarrhoea, caused by lack of safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) including handwashing with soap, the report said.
It said that in the developing world, a lack of clean water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) is a major contributor to malnutrition and one impact of this is stunting, where severe and prolonged under-nutrition makes children shorter than normal for their age and affects their emotional, social and cognitive development.
"India has made progress on reducing child stunting, from 48 per cent of all children in 2006 to 39 per cent in 2014. However, alongside the high numbers of people without access to adequate toilets, India also has the highest concentration in the world of people practising open defecation.
"Research shows that high rates of open defecation have a strong correlation with increased rates of stunting as faeces in the environment contaminate hands and surroundings, and spread disease and infection," the report said.
WaterAid India's Policy Manager Arundati Muralidharan, said that water, sanitation and hygiene are important determinants of nutrition.
"With open defecation rampant in India, frequent diarrhoea hinders the ability of children to absorb nutrients. India has made significant efforts to improve the nutritional status of children and women, but the beneficial impact of these efforts are threatened by poor WASH.
"For our children to be healthy and well-nourished, we need both nutrition specific interventions that get essential nutrients to children, as well as nutrition sensitive interventions on WASH," she said.
Last September world leaders made commitments in the UN Global Goals to end hunger and malnutrition and to reach everyone everywhere with clean water and sanitation, all by 2030. WaterAid also urged governments to make ambitious investments in water, sanitation and hygiene for all.
