Child Rights: Government’s procrastination to act on law panel report

Child rights activists and eminent jurists rued the government’s fragmented approach to childcare and decried the slow progress in implementing the recommendations of the Law Commission’s 259th report on Early Childhood Development and Legal Entitlements, which was submitted last year.

Speaking at the round table discussion on the report, former Law Commission Chairman Justice AP Shah expressed his disappointment over the lack of response from the government’s side. “The report was submitted to the government in August 2015, but I have not heard of any progress on the report since then,” said Justice Shah, who suggested that the rights organisations working in the field should “approach the executive” about the delay.

“Ultimately Parliamentarians are not going to implement it. Our Parliamentary system moves slowly,” he said. The Law Commission in its report had recommended several changes in the existing labour laws, food security act and integrated child development schemes (ICDS) to better protect the basic rights of children under 6 years of age. The Commission’s report had also pointed out lapses in the implementation of various schemes currently in place for welfare of children and women.

The conference was organised by the Alliance for the Right to Early Childhood Development, which also released a book on issues concerning early childhood rights and the legal framework required to provide the basic rights, including nutrition, education, healthcare, and development to children under six.

By – Nikita Goel