Rights of the

Youngest

Ms. Amrita Jain

Mobile Creches
6th October 2021

Mobile Creches
 Importance and Critically of the Age
1. Scientific Argument

Birth to 6 years – Foundational years of human life

• Period of - Most rapid growth Evidence from Neuro Science: The brain growth curve
- Maximum vulnerability
- Neglect causes irreversible
damage

• 90% of brain development

in the first 5 years
 Rate of Return to Human Capital Investment
2. Economic Argument
at different Ages

• Studies done by James J. Heckman says that one rupee

invested in early years can yield (7-17)% gain in the
GDP.
• Preventive and proactive strategy to address poverty

3. Rights argument and Commitments

• CRC (Child Rights Convention)

• Constitutional Mandates
• SDG

4. Social justice and equity argument

Source: James. J. Heckman

 Key Indicators- For Young Children in India
 Number of children under 6 years of age- 15.87 crore (13.12% of the total population)
 Infant Mortality Rate : 41 per 1000 live birth (NFHS- 2016)
 Stunted children : 38.4%
 Wasted children : 21%
 Underweight children* : 35.8%
Source NFHS-4
 Women work participation: 20.6% (International Labour Organization, ILOSTAT
database,2019)
Care & Protection

Health

Nutrition

Play/Learning/
Education

Basic
Infrastructure

Maternal Health/
ME
Non Negotiable Entitlements- Under Six Years
 te c tion
& Pro
Care

Health

Nutrition

Play/Learning/
Education

Basic
Infrastructure

Maternal Health/
ME
If One is Missed, the Damage is Irreversible
 Piaget Theory
• Sensimotor - birth to 2yrs

• Pre-operational stage – 2yrs -7yrs

• Concrete operational stage-7-11yrs

• Formal operational stage 12 and above

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Nurturing Childhood Sowing Change
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 How is the Situation Addressed?

Programs Policy Legal

and Entitlement
Schemes
 A Child belongs to Ministries and Department
Ministry of Women
and Child
Central
lth
Level Hea
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ritio

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N ut fet

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ar
y &

ni
Bu
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ote
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Health Food and Supply Finance MHRD Social Justice

Ministry Ministry Ministry Ministry Ministry

State State Govt.

Level

District Block Panchayat ULBs

Link
 Program and Schemes for Women and Children

Scheme Eligibility criteria Benefits

Janni Surekha Yojna (JSY) Only for two children. Institutional Delivery, 600 (differ from different state
Promote institutional Delivery BPL family

Pradham Mantri Matritva Yojna Only for one children 5000

(PMMVY) three installment
Support for nutrition and health

Ladli Yojna Adhar card, BPL card, Birth certificate etc. 200000
Encourage the girl child

Sukhaya Samdhri Yojna 1)Account on girls name, not 150000

Encourage the girl child (ii)
Girl not more than 10 years.
(iii)
For two girls

Saksham ICDS and POSHAN 2.0 To all pregnant, lactating and under six years Nutrition, Pre-school education,
Holistic care and development for under children Immunization, growth monitoring,
six years Nutrition counselling and Referral
services

National Crèches Scheme Crèches/Daycare 7 hours’ program with early

Children of between age group 6 months to 6 stimulation, care, and attention.
Manyyears,
other state specific schemes are also there
Programmes for Children Under 6 Years
 Public provision – key and largest provider of services to children under six
• ICDS
• National Creche Scheme
• Poshan Abhiyan
• Mission shakti

State programmes like MAMATA, Phulwari

 Private Service provider – organized and unorganized, perhaps the second largest
provider of ECD services
 Civil Society – Smaller scale and sparsely distributed, innovative and considered
good practices

No norms and benchmark across sectors

 Gaps and Challenges

 Lack of awareness about schemes, therefore access is a challenge

 Poor implementation of schemes and policies

 Difficulty in Inclusion of Disability and Minority groups

 Terrains- Urban, Rural, Tribal, Mountainous Region of young children

 Allocation of budged- Insufficient

 Remuneration of Aanganwadi workers not adequate

 Lack of training
Share of Budget for Children (BoC) in the
Union Budget 2021-22 (%)

2.46%

97.54%

Share of Children Union Budget

Children receive the lowest share of the Union
Budget in last ten years

4.76 4.64 4.52

3.26 3.32 3.32 3.24 3.29 3.16

2.46
National Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Policy 2013

• Definition – ECCE encompasses care, health, nutrition, play and early learning elements
within a protective and enabling environment

• Age group - Conception to six years : Sub stages: Conception to birth, Birth to 3yrs and
3yrs to 6yrs

• Commitment of Govt. – Integrated services, holistic development, comprehensive

Mobile Creches
approach.

• With ‘Focus on Care and Learning’.

 Ensuring Quality
• Non-negotiable for promoting quality ECCE
• One classroom of at least 35 sq. ft for 30 children and at least 30 sq. ft of outdoor
space
• Child centric curriculum in local vernacular/mother tongue
• Safe building, drinking water, child friendly toilets
• Adult care to child ratio for 3-6 years – 1:20
• For under 3s – 1:10

Mobile Creches
• National ECCE Council to develop Regulatory framework for ECCE within one year
and states shall implement it within 3 years from the notification of Policy

• ECCE Curriculum to be developed within six months of the notification of the Policy
Mobile Creches
New Education Policy 2020

Mobile Creches
 Gaps and Challenges In Policy(s)

 Recommendations in ECCE are not taken forward

 NEP 2020 is not implemented yet

 Existing Laws
 National Food Security Act, 2013 – delayed implementation
 Statutory Creches under Labour Laws – very poor implementation, conditional
 Factories Act , 1948 revised in 1987- 30 employees
 Plantation Labour-1951-50 or more than 30 children
 Mines-1952Act-Creche rules 1966-30 children
 Beedi & Cigar workers, -1966-50 children
 Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition)-1970-50 workers
 Inter state migrant workers 1979-50 workers
 Building and other Construction workers Act-1996- 50 workers
 MGNERG Act -2005
-8 Laws
 PESA Act 1996
 Maternity Benefit Act 2017 - implementable only for organized sector, 95% women are left out
 Inter-connected Acts
 PC_PNDT Act- Pre- Conception & Pre- Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994

 IMS Act: Infant Milk Substitutes, Feeding Bottles and Infants Foods (Regulation of

Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 1992 1. 2. .

 Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000

 The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006 

 The Child Labor (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986

 The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, POCSO

 The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill - 2016"

 Gaps and Challenges

 Conditionality as a barrier

 Poor Implementation

 Lack of Convergence

 86th Amendment- Right to Education only for children 6-14 Years

 The child is divided into many ministries

 Most of these laws are from the perspective of a ‘Woman’ not for the ‘Child’
 International Conventions, Treaties and
Declarations
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948-48 countries
• HealthforAllDeclaration, 1978.
• United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) 1989 _1992(India) ratified by
192 countries
• World Declaration on Education for All’ 1990-155countries , Jomitein Thailand
• MaternityProtectionConvention, 2000
• WorldConferenceon Early Childhood Care and Education, 2010
• Dakar Framework for Action, Education for All’ were the landmarks in global EFA movement-
2000-2015
• Millennium Development Goals-8 Goals -2000-2015- 155countries
• Sustainable Development goals -17 goals- 2016- 2030- 193 countries
• Includes new areas such as climate
MCNurturing Childhood Sowing Change
Challenges in Universal Access with Equity and
Inclusion
 Require the comprehensive law for children under 6 years of age- Law Commission
Report 2015
Access to all children through Decentralized and Contextualized approach
 Mainly through ICDS and in convergence with other sector and programmes

Mobile Creches
ECCE center to be functional as per population norms and preferably functional
within 500 meters for universal access
Aanganwadi cum Crèches to be developed, piloted and scaled up (5% of AWC
converted to AWCC))
Linkage with concerned programmes/sectors to ensure inclusion of children
with disabilities and children in urban slums
 The Way Forward

Prioritize ECD

Comprehensive legal
Better implementation
entitlement for young
of existing programs
children

Enhanced Awareness at
Budget all level
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Mobile Creches
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