Being a child in India

We all know that India is the second most populated country in the world. The percentage of children is higher in India when compared to other countries. While taking into consideration their development growth, we lack behind. There is a report that says the death rate of children in India is on the higher level. This is due to many reasons. I would like to point out some of them.

The main and foremost reason is, more percentage of children die due to malnutrition. They dont get enough or proper dietary food or food supplements, that results in underweight children which in turn limit not only their growth and development, but also their capacity to learn things, probably leading to death.

Secondly, there is a data that claims nearly three lakh babies die within a few hours of birth because of infections and preventable causes. Not only this, nearly 4 lakh children are affected by easily preventable diseases like pneumonia and diarrhoea and they die even before the age of five.

There is one more issue that acts a major role in the death of babies, especially the girl baby- female foeticide. In some parts of the country, the girl child is utterly disliked and the baby is killed the moment she is born. Even if she escapes death, she is forced to face many problems throught out her life. She is given a second class citizenship like no proper food, no education, no rights, etc. Another serious issue which is even now prevailing in many areas is the child marriage. Girl child not knowing anything is forced to marry at the very young age. As a result, she gives birth to a underweight baby due to poor nourishment, as a case there is very less chance of survival at the end, for both the child mother and the baby.

We know that many children die every year due to malnutrition, the other reason that stands for is childhood obesity. This is because of the present day food culture that we follow like junk food and lack of physical play, which leads to many diseases and health related issues in children starting at the very young age of five.

Whatever we have seen as the reasons and causes for the death of children in India, are preventable and avoidable. Only thing is that we should frame strict rules and precautionary measures to eradicate poverty, malnutrition and severe rules and regulations to abolish chid marriage and see that every girl child gets her citizenship rights.