NATIONAL PLAN OF ACTION
COMMITMENT TO THE CHILD

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
DEPARTMENT OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
1992
(Reprint 1996)

PREFACE

India’s commitment to the cause of children is as old as her civilization. Post-independent India saw the unequivocal expression of this commit- ment through Constitutional provisions, through the National Policy on Children and expanding programme for early childhood interventions, most notably the ICDS Programme. The National Plan of Action reiterates and reaffirms this commitment. A follow-up of the promises made by the global fraternity at the World Summit for Children, this Plan of Action sets out a quntifiable and time dimension to India’s Charter of Action for women and children.

This Plan of Action is a result of close interactions both within the Government between Ministries and Departments as well as outside the Government with NGOs and social activists. If the targets set forth in the the National Plan of Action (NPA) are to be met, we must have unstinted cooperation from all sections of the society. It is my hope that this Plan of Action will help forge and strengthen such cooperation.

New Delhi                                                                 ARJUN SINGH
August 1992                      Minister for Human Resource Development

NATIONAL PLAN OF ACTION ON CHILDREN

INTRODUCTION

Right through the ages, care for children has been one of the causes to which Indian policy has remained committed. In independent India, this commitment was enshrined in our Constitutional provisions. The Constitution of India in its Directive Principles of State Policy pledges that "the State shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing... that the health and strength of workers, men and women, and the tender age of children, are not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength; that children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth are protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment". As a follow up to this commitment, Government of India adopted a National Policy for Children in 1974 which reaffirms the Constitutional provisions and declared that "it shall be the policy of the State to provide adequate services to children, both before and after birth and through the period of growth, to ensure their full physical, mental and social development. The State shall progressively increase the scope of such services so that, within a reasonable time, all children in the country enjoy optimum conditions for their balanced growth". The specific measures to be adopted towards the attainment of these objectives are in Appendix-II.

2.      Since independence human resource development programes focussed on maternal and child health, nutrition and education have occupied an important place in India’s efforts to raise the living standards of its poor. Successive Five Year Plans have provided the wherewithal to deal with these issues. In the last decade of this century, dramatic technological development particularly in health, nutrition and related spheres have opened up new vistas of opportunities for redeeming our age-old pledges to the cause of children. It is against this backdrop that India joined the commity of nations in the successive reaffirmations of global commitment to the cause of children in 1989-90. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in November 1989, the World Conference on Education for All at Jomtien in March 1990, the global consultation on Water and Sanitation in September, 1990, the World Summit on Children in the autumn of 1990 and the SAARC Summit on Children soon after the World Summit were all part of this reaffirmation process which transcended national barriers. India is a signatory to the World Declaration (September 1990) in the Survival, Protection and Development of Children and the Plan of Action for implementing it.

3.  This National Plan of Action represents India’s response to the unprecedented opportunities which the nineties decade has ushered in both through technology as well as a global ambience for redeeming India’s age-old pledges. This Plan of Action identifies quantifiable targets in terms of major as well as supporting sectoral goals (detailed in Appendix-I of this Plan of Action) representing the needs and aspirations of almost over 300 million children of India in the spheres of health, nutrition, education and related aspects of social support.

SITUATION OF CHILDREN

4.    Overall, basic indicators on children show a positive trend. For example, the infant mortality rate fell almost steadily from 146 per 1000 live births in 1960 to 80 per 1000 live births in 1990. The prevalence of severe and moderate degrees of malnutrition among children declined for the period 1974 to 1989. Primary school enrolment rates increased from 38 per cent in 1951 to 94 per cent 1989. The availability of drinking water in rural areas improved significantly and by the end of the VII Plan (1989-90) 80 per cent of the population had been provided with potable water sources.

5.     Major problems however, remain intertwined with the factors of poverty. For instance, about 30 per cent of the children born each year have low birth weight. The major causes of infant mortality viz. Diarrhoea, pneumonia, neonatal tetanus and measles, are often aggravated by malnutrition. Protein-energy mal-nutrition affect about 52.5 per cent of all children below six years, with approximately a tenth of them suffering from severe malnutrition. Deficiency in Vitamin A causes, possibly among other adverse effects, an estimated 40,000 new cases of nutritional blindness each year. Some 70 per cent of women of child bearing age suffer from chronic anaemia. Iodine deficiency is more widespread than hitherto suspected.

6.     While there is a primary school in nearly all villages, problems remain in basic education, including lack of access to school, low achievement, high drop-out and repeater rates and severe disparities between socio-economic groups, geographic regions, rural and urban areas and between the boys and girls. While, Since 1951, the basic education system has grown into one of the largest in the world with an enrolment, in 1989, of about 131 million children reaching out to about 94 per cent of the population, the retention has remained unsatisfactory with a drop out rate of 45 per cent for classes I-V and 60 per cent for classes I-VIII. At the end of the 1980's the overall picture shows that the gross enrolment ratio for primary education has reached about 100 per cent however, the major reviews have advocated that targets for universalization of elementary education should no longer be set in terms of additional enrolments for the country as a whole; disaggregated target setting policy has to be followed.

7.     Inadequacy in the availability of safe drinking water, improper disposal of human excreta, solid and liquid water leading to unfavourable environmental conditions and lack of personal hygiene have been one of the major causes of disease and disability among children. In 13 States drinking water sources are contaminated with excess fluoride causing thousands of children affected with dental and skeletal fluorosis. Excess nitrate in drinking water sources which might cause, Blue baby to children, is also observed in a number of States. About 15 lakh children die due to dehydration caused by Diarrhoea. As regards sanitation, the situation continues to be unsatisfactory as only about 3 per cent of the rural households are provided with low cost on-site human excreta disposal facilities as in 1990. Therefore, ensuring drinking water quality and strengthening its supportive linkages with health and sanitation remain major challenges.

8.    Children in especially difficult circumstances are without adequate family support and they may not be accessible through regular services. The rapid urbanization, increased rural urban migration do have an adverse effect on children.

9.      The situation of girls and boys differs significantly according to most indicators, particularly in the northern States.

10.    The state of children hinges on the condition of women. Most social indicators, including the sex ratio (929 females per 1000 males) and literacy (39 for females and 64 for males for all ages), point to the depressed situation of women. Socio-cultural biases, combined with poverty, weight heavily on women who marry early and bear children young, and who work excessively long hours in the home and outside, with unequal access to health and nutrition, educational and other opportunities, as well as insufficient legal protection and social and political participation.

11.   The goals for children are promoted necessarily within the broader framework of  national development planning. The key social development objectives of the 8^th Five Year Plan (1992-97), are population control, employment generation and basic human needs particularly health care, literacy including elementary education and drinking water which is closely linked to sanitation.

12.    Most of the recommendations of the World Summit for Children contained in the Plan of Action for Survival, Protection and Development of Children were found relevant however, wherever these appeared to be too ambitious or beyond the resources likely to be available for these sectors, have been modified.

(i) Eradication of poliomyelitis by the year 2000;
(ii) Elimination of neonatal tetanus by 1995;
(iii) Reduction by 95 per cent in measles deaths and reduction by 90 per cent of measles cases compared to  preimmunization levels by 1995; 
(iv) Achievement and maintenance of high level of    immunization coverage at a level of 100 per cent of infants and against tetanus for women of child bearing age;
(v) Reduction by 50 per cent in deaths due to diarrhoea in children under the age of 5 years and 25 per cent of diarrhoea in incidence rate;
(vi) To endeavour to reduce mortality rates due to ARI among children under 5 by 40 per cent by 2000 A.D. from the present level.

The basic instruments for achieving the stated objectives are:

For young children:
    Newborn Care, (below 3 years): Primary immunization by 12 months, Administration of Vitamin ‘A’ Pneumonia therapy and control of diarrhoeal diseases.

For mothers:
    Antenatal Care, Immunization against tetanus, Anaemia control during pregnancy, Screening and referral of high risk cases, care at birth and promoting spacing and timing of births.

The thrust would be control of vaccine preventable diseases and documentation of ‘zero’ levels of neonatal tetanus in a phased manner. The elimination of neonatal tetanus implies immunization combined with better birth practices, with safe motherhood.

(a) The training communication, supply and logistic support for village level care for diarrhoeal diseases will be made operational universally in districts in a phased manner.

(b) Case management will be improved at hospital referral centres, more specially, district hospitals and primary health centres.

B. MATERNAL HEALTH

I.B.1 Major Goal

Universal access to primary Education with special emphasis for girls and accelerated literacy programme for women.

NUTRITION

II.1 Major Goal

Between 1990 and the year 2000 A.D. reduction in severe and moderate malnutrition among under-5 children by half.

(vi) empowerment of all women to breast-feed their children exclusively for four to six months and to continue breast-feeding with complementary food, well into the second year,

(vii) Growth promotion and its regular monitoring to be institutionalised by the end of the 1990s,

(viii) Dissemination of knowledge and supporting services to increase food production to ensure household food security.

II.1.2.4 Control of iodine deficiency disorder

II.1.2.6 Empowerment of all women to breastfeed their children exclusively for four to six months and to continue breastfeeding with complementary food, well into the second year

Activities

II.1.2.7 Growth promotion and its regular monitoring to be institutionalised by the end of the 1990s.

Activities

II.1.2.8 Dissemination of knowledge and supporting services to increase food production to ensure household food security.

Activities

Universal access to safe drinking water and improved access to sanitary means of excreta disposal.

III.1.1 The norms for providing drinking water in rural areas and those pertaining to sanitation are as follows:-

        i) To arrange potable water source within a distance of one Km.              horizontal and 50 meters elevation difference.

ii) One spot source or standpost for 100/150 presons.

A package linked with the demand and need and with a differential beneficiary contribution.

• To provide the entire rural population with potable water supplies @ 40 lpcd.
• To cover 10 percent of population with sanitary facilities by the year 1997.
• To eradicate guineaworm disease by 1995.
• To provide safe water with fluoride content within tolerable limits by the year 2000 A.D.

Activities

WATER

• Coverage of remaining no-source villages.
• Coverage of habitation with special emphasis on Scheduled Castes(SC)/Scheduled Tribes(ST).
• Augmentation of service level.
• Improved operation and maintenance.
• Quality improvement.
• Water resource management and prevention of failure of sources.
• Health Education, Community Participation and Awareness programme.

• Taking sanitation as a package.
• Adoption of a demand and need based approach to make the programme a people’s movement.
• Establishment/Strengthening of State/District Sanitation Cell.
• Intensive district programming.
• Development of appropriate delivery system.
• Adoption of an appropriate IEC strategy.
• Empowerment of women on improved sanitary practices.
• Co-ordination with other related programmes.
• Involvement of community, voluntary organisations and NGO’s.
• R&D to develop appropriate area specific low cost technology to suit different geo-hydrological conditions.

IV. EDUCATION

Universal enrolment, retention, minimum level of learning, reduction of disparities and universalization of effective access of schooling.

1. Universal enrolment of all children including girls, using both full time formal schools & part time non-formal arrangements.
2. Reduction of drop-out rate between class I to V and I to VIII from the existing 45 per cent and 60 per cent to 20 per cent and 40 per cent respectively.
3. Achievement of minimum level of learning by approximately all children at the primary level and introduction of this concept at the upper primary state on large scale.
4. Reduction in disparities by emphasis on girl’s education and special measures for children belonging to Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes(SC/ST).

(e) Expansion of Early Childhood Development activities   including appropriate low cost family and community based interventions.

(f) Universalization of effective access to schooling. The two broad strategy frames for reaching the targets are:

1. Micro-planning through people’s participation and decentralisation; and
2. Introducing Minimum Levels of Learning(MLL) in schools. Mocro-planning would be area specific, population specific through mobilising community participation, decentralising educational administration, reorienting and strengthening local administrative and resource support systems, ascertaining educational requirements of the area, bringing to school all children who can be enrolled, seeing that all children regularly and actually participate in primary education and planning for the improvement of the schools. Minimum levels of learning strategy focuses on learning acquisition in schools & outcomes and is proposed to be implemented through an assessment of the existing level of learning achievement; a definition of the MLL for the area and the time frame for achieving it; reorientation of teaching practices to competency based teaching; introduction of evaluation of student learning; review of textbooks and re-revision, if required and the provision of inputs to improve learning acquisition to the MLL including provision of physical facilities, teacher training, supervision, evaluation etc.

i) Universal enrolment of all children including girls, using both full-time formal schools and part-time non-formal arrangements.

ii) Reduction of drop-out rate between classes I to V and I to VIII from the existing 45 per cent and 60 per cent to 20 per cent and 40 per cent respectively.

iii) Achievement of minimum level of learning by approximately all children at the primary level and introduction of this concept at the upper primary stage on a large scale.

Activities

i) Seek people’s participation by arousing them to the need for education, creating a sense of responsibility towards children’s education and empowering them to take accountability of the school system.

ii) Community mobilization and environment building will use folk and traditional media, people-to-people discussions, group meetings etc.

iii) Village Education Committees(VEC) will be formed in each village, with adequate representation of women and the disadvantaged groups, to interact with teachers, provide support to the school, ensure regular participation of all children through parental motivation and take accountability over the running of the school.

iv) Efforts will be made to involve suitable NGOs or field level organisations/project management and to strengthen them adequately for such provision of support to the VEC. Capacity building at local levels will be an essential activity in all areas adopting the micro-planning strategy.

22. In the next 5 years, efforts will be made to shift educational planning to the district level, by setting up District Boards of Education and District Institutes of Education & Training(DIETs).   

vi) An effective MIS will be created to provide information required for decision making, planning and management to the district levels and information for monitoring district plans of the State and national levels.

vii) The accent during the next 5 years will be upon opening of new primary schools according to the norm in the unserved habitation, and the provision of non-formal education programmes for smaller habitations and for children who cannot benefit from the school system.

viii) In order to increase enrolment at the upper primary stage, the infrastructure at the upper primary stage will be considerably expanded.

ix) The existing norms of providing an upper primary school within 3 km walking distance, for all practical purposes, denies education at this level to a large section of girls. This norm will be relaxed and the existing ratio between primary and upper primary schools will be improved to 1:2.

24) Provisions will be made to add additional rooms and provide additional teachers to existing schools through the scheme of Operation Blackboard and the existing norm for the minimum-2 classrooms and 2 teachers-will be raised successively.

xi) Non-formal education(NFE) will be developed as a complementary system to the formal education system, such that there will be parallel administrative apparatus for NFE; greater attention to the interests of the learner, and its quality will be comparable with formal system and conform to the MLLs laid down for the primary stage.

xii) Mechanisms will be developed for entry from non-formal to the formal system and vice-versa.

xiii) The NFE programme will include a substantial enhancement in costs per learner, on the reasoning that it is not possible to reach out to the marginalised groups with marginalised funding.

xiv) in order to ensure that regular in-service training and academic supervision is provided to teachers, a beginning will be made to create Teachers’ Centres for every cluster of 20-25 primary schools to provide a forum to teachers to get together, discuss issues, resolve common problems and receive academic guidance to build upon their capacities and skills.

xv) A programme of in-service training of teachers will be coordinated by this block level team to infuse a level of competency in teachers to effectively transact curriculum and textual material.

xvi) At the State level the existing Councils of Educational Research and Training(SCERT) will be restructured so that they become institutions principally for resource support to elementary education, non-formal education and early childhood education.

xvii) Resource support through researches and studies will be encouraged by continuing support to Colleges of Teacher Education and Institutes of Advaced Studies in Education.

xviii) District specific plans will be developed as projects, with specific activities, clearly defined responsibilities, definite time-schedules and district specific targets. Apart from effective UEE the goals of each project will include the reduction of existing disparities in educational access, the provision of alternative systems of comparable standards to the disadvantaged groups, bringing about a substantial improvement in the quality of schooling facilities, obtaining a genuine community involvement in running of schools, and building up local level capacity to ensure effective decentralisation of educational planning.

xix) A monitoring system will be developed to obtain timely and reliable information on enrolment, retention, completion and achievement. In addition the qualitative monitoring of achievement will also be introduced.

For Reduction in Disparities:-by Emphasis on girls’ education, - and Special measures for children belonging to Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes(SC/ST).

i) An effort will be made to provide a comprehensive system of incentives and support services for girls and children of the economically weaker sections of society.

ii) A provision of services such as establishment of Day Care Centres for pre-school children and infants, provision of free uniforms, text books and stationary as attendance incentives to girls, coordination of support services such as drinking water, fodder and fuel.

iii) A similar incentive as appropriate, will be provided in the non-formal system, also, in addition to provision of free text books and stationery to all NFE learners.

For Early Childhood Education:-

Expansion of early childhood development activities including appropriate low-cost family and community based interventions.

i) During the VIII Five Year Plan, the ICDS will be expanded and will be the main scheme for early childhood activities.

ii) The contribution of ICDS to basic education will be enhanced by adjusting it to school timings and by strengthening its educational component.

iii) Other existing schemes for early childhood education will be improved so as to become holistic schemes providing nutrition and health care as well as education.

iv) Emphasis and efforts will be made on training of personnel, production of sufficient playway learning material for children, creation of a system of monitoring and supervision; and development of effective rapport between ECCE and community and the primary school.

Achievement of adult literacy rate of 80 percent (which is of mastery level) in the age group 15-35, with emphasis on female literacy.

Objective

Imparting of functional literacy so as to enable the learners to achieve self-reliance in literacy and nueracy, to make them aware of the causes of their deprivation and move towards amelioration of their condition through organisation and participation in the process of development, acquire skills to improve their economic status and general well-being and imbibe in themselves the values of national integration, conservation of the environment, women’s equality, observance of small family norms, etc.

22. CHILDREN IN ESPECIALLY DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES

Improved protection of children in especially difficult circumstances.

Provision of protection of children in especially difficult circumstances and tackle the root cause leading to such situations. This would include children in following categories; physically handicapped; mentally handicapped; drug addicts, victims of natural and man-made disasters, refugee children, street children, slum & migrant children, orphans & destitutes; children suffering from AIDS, children of parents with AIDS & AIDS orphans, children of prostitutes & child prostitutes & juvenile delinquents and child labour.

To assist children affected by one or more disabilities, having no access to proper rehabilitative services and especially to lift up the status of those most marginalised.

To set in motion advocacy and services for disabled children in two main phases:

There will be four main priority areas for work in child disability fields:-

i) To enable and to mobilize all central areas in social services beginning at the community level to assist in the process of primary detection, prevention, and rehabilitation;

ii) To create a cadre of very well trained workers ranging in expertise from early detection and rehabilitation at the community level, to those who have the most up-to-date skills; to make sure that the best quality care is made available at the most appropriate level for disabled people.

iii) Communication efforts needed at all levels will be made to alert people to the fact the disabilities need not become handicaps, that they can be prevented, that when they occur they need not unnecessarily prevent an individual from being a full member of the community. Good communication campaigns which can also deeply change people’s attitude towards disablement and towards people who are affected by a disability or handicap will be launched. Communications campaigns and strategies that can ensure that all of those who can affect and improved the quality of services available to the disabled people see this as an appropriate priority and take suitable action.

iv) To support and encourage the various institutions, both government and non-governmental which are putting new ideas into practice in the field of disability. Support would be given to these institutions to help them implement them and to measure the impact and effect of these strategies.

V.3 Amongst children who are neglected, abandoned or rendered destitute a large number of children are handicapped and special provisions need to be made for such children. The aims and objectives for the handicapped children would, therefore, be:

(i) to provide residential facilities to children suffering from severe/profound mental retardation or cerebral palsy;

(ii) to provide facilities for care and protection, maintenance, treatment and rehabilitation for such children;

(iii) to provide pre-vocational training in accordance with the needs and capabilities of the children; and

(iv) to workout development based approaches, strategies, programmes and services for these children.

VI. GIRL CHILD

VI.1 Objective

To remove the gender bias and to improve the status of the girl child in society so as to provide her with equal opportunities for her survival and development to her full protential.

Keeping in view the prevailing gender bias and disadvantaged status of the female child, special programmes and interventions directed at the girl child are required to ensure her an equal status and a better quality of life. These should take into account her peculiar social, cultural and economic mileau which would require special-strategies and interventions. The Action Plan for the SAARC Decade of the Girl Child includes programmes of both advocacy and action in the developmental areas of health, education, welfare etc. A special focus will be on child survival. The Action Plan is proposed to be implemented in close collaboration with the concerned Central Ministries, State Governments and Non-governmental Organisations.

VII. ADOLESCENT GIRLS

VII.1. Objective

Programme for the adolescent girls should embrace a whole range of activities, such as nutrition, health, education, health and nutrition education, recreation, upgradation of home-based skills and promotion of her decision making capability as adolescent girls who are one of the most critical human resource, particularly at the village level with the following objectives:-

1) to cover girls in the age group of 11 to 18 years;

2) to improve the nutritional and health status of girls in this age group;

3) to provide them the required literacy and numeracy skills, through the non-formal stream of education, to stipulate a desire for more social exposure and knowledge and to help them improve their decision making capabilities, especially on issues regarding their future;

iv) to train and equip the girls to improve and upgrade home based skills;

22. to promote awareness of health, hygiene, nutrition and family welfare, home management and child care, to take all other measures as would facilitate their marrying only after attaining the age of 18 and, if possible, even later.

VIII. CHILDREN AND THE ENVIRONMENT

VIII.1 Objective

To conserve and protect environment so that it is conducive to the health and well being of the children.

Awareness should be created among children regarding importance of protection of the environment and they should be encouraged to participate in activities aimed at protection of environment.

Development of women is intertwined with that of Children and constitutes a vital component of a country’s human resource development. Therefore, these two target groups deserve special treatment in addition to their legitimate share from all other general developmental programmes. The major objective of all the developmental programmes, both women- specific and women-related has, therefore, been to ensure a state of ‘well- being’ and children particularly those of the weaker sections of society. In this direction, a special emphasis will be on developing Women’s potential and main-streaming them into the national development process through enhanced access to skill development and income generation opportunities which are expected to provide not only the desired economic independence but also to help improve their quality of life as well as that of their families and children. The ongoing 27-beneficiary oriented schemes for women in the major developmental areas of health, education, family welfare, employment, rural and urban development, science and technology, etc. will be further strengthened by adding additionalities like safe motherhood, child survival, employment and income generation, etc.

Advocacy for the child as everyone’s concern and advocacy with policy makers, planners, programme implementors at national and international levels for focus on the child will be integral to the achievement of the goals. In order to implement the plan of children, voluntary organisations, local bodies, religious institutions and political parties would be mobilised for achieving the above mentioned goals. All channels of communication, formal and informal including mass media would be utilised for wider dissemination of the urgent need for achieving goals concerning children.

Efforts would be made to mobilise adequate financial resources for implementation of the National Plan of Action on Children.

To monitor the quality of service and the attainment of goals, the country will select appropriate indicators for each of the state goals, to be monitored by the relevant sectors at regular intervals. For this the following activities will be pursued:-

(iii) Action research and field studies relevant to the achievement of the goals for children.

Appendix I

I.A.1 Major Goal:
Reduction of infant mortality rate to less than 60 per thousand live births and reduction of child mortality rate to less than 10 by 2000 A.D.

I.A.1.1 Objectives:

2.  MATERNAL HEALTH

Between 1990 and the year 2000, reduction of maternal mortality rate by half.

I.B.1.1 Objectives for Women’s Health and Education.

(i) Special attention to the health and nutrition of the female child and to pregnant and lactating women,

(ii) Access by all couples to information and services to prevent pregnancies that are too early too closely spaced, too late or too many,

(iii) Access by all pregnant women to prenatal care, trained attendants during child birth and referral facilities for high risk pregnancies and obstetric emergencies,

(iv) Universal access to primary education with special emphasis for girls and accelerated literacy programmes for women.

II. NUTRITION

II.1. Major Goal

Between 1990 and the year 2000 A.D. reduction in severe and moderate malnutition among under-5 children by half.

(i) Reduction in severe as well as moderate malnutrition among under-5 children by half of 1990 levels;

(ii) Reduction in incidence of low birth weight (2.5 kg. or less) babies;

(iii) Reduction of iron deficiency anaemia in women;

(iv) Control of iodine deficiency disorders;

(v) Control of Vitamin A deficiency and its consequences, including blindness;

(vi) Empowerment of all women to breastfeed their children exclusively for four to six months and to continue breast-feeding with complementary food, well into the second year;

(vii) Growth promotion and its regular monitoring to be institutionalised by the end of the 1990s;

(viii) Dissemination of knowledge and supporting services to increase food production to ensure household food security.

III. WATER AND SANITATION

III.1 Major Goal

Universal access to safe drinking water and improved access to sanitary means of excreta disposal.

III.1.1. The norms for providing drinking water in rural areas and those pertaining to sanitation are as follows:-

(i) To arrange potable water source within a distance of one Km. horizontal and 50 metres elevation difference.

(ii) One spot source or standpost for 100/150 persons.

A package linked with the demand and need and with a differential beneficiary contribution.

(i) To provide the entire rural population with potable water supplies @ 40 lpcd.

(ii) To cover 10 percent population with sanitary facilities by the year 1997.

(iii) To eradicate guineaworm disease by 1995.

(iv) To provide safe water with fluoride content within tolerable limits by the year 2000 A.D.

IV. EDUCATION

IV.1. Major Goal

Universal enrolment, retention, minimum level of learning, reduction of disparities and universalisation of effective access of schooling.

(i) Universal enrolment of all children including girls, using both full time formal schools & part time non-formal arrangements.

(ii) Reduction of drop-out rate between class I to V and I to VIII from the existing 45 percent and 60 per cent to 20 per cent and 40 per cent respectively.

(iii) Achievement of minimum level of learning by approximately all children at the primary level and introduction of this concept at the upper primary state on large scale.

(iv) Reduction in disparities by emphasis on girls’ education and special measures for children belonging to SC/ST.

(v) Expansion of Early Childhood Development activities including appropriate low cost family and community based interventions.

(vi) Universalisation of effective access to schooling.

Achievement of adult literacy rate of 80 per cent (which is of mastery level) in the age-group 15-35, with emphasis on female literacy.

Imparting of functional literacy so as to enable the learners to achieve self-reliance in literacy and numeracy, to make them aware of the causes of their deprivation and move towards amelioration of their condition through organisation and participation in the process of development, acquire skills to improve their economic status and general well-being and imbibe in themselves the values of national integration, conservation of the environment, women’s equality, observance of small family norms, etc.

22.  CHILDREN IN ESPECIALLY DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES

Improved protection of children in especially difficult circumstances.

Provision of protection of children in especially difficult circumstances and tackle and root cause leading to such situations. This would include children in following categories; physically handicapped; mentally handicapped; drug addicts, victims of natural and man-made disasters, refugee children, street children, slum & migrant children, orphans & destitutes; children suffering from AIDS, children of partents with AIDS & AIDS orphans, children of prostitutes & child prostitutes & juvenile delinquents, and child labour.

To assist children affected by one or more disabilities, having no access to proper rehabilitative services and especially to lift up the status of those most marginalised.

VI. GIRL CHILD

VI.1. Objective

To remove the gender bias and to improve the status of the girl child in society so as to provide her with equal opportunities for her survival and development to her full potential.

VII. ADOLESCENT GIRLS

VII.1. Objective

Programme for the adolescent girls should embrace a whole range of activities, such as nutrition, health, education, health and nutrition education, recreation, upgradation of home-based skills and promotion of her decision making capability as adolescent girls who are one of the most critical human resource, particularly at the village level as a part of the ICDS programme with the following objectives:

1) to cover girls in the age group of 11 to 18 years;

2) to improve the nutritional and health status of girls in this age group;

3) to provide them the required literacy and numeracy skills, through the non-formal stream of education, to stipulate a desire for more social exposure and knowledge and to help them improve their decision making capabilities, especially on issues regarding their future;

iv) to train and equip the girls to improve and upgrade home based skills;

22. to promote awareness of health, hygiene, nutrition and family welfare, home management and child care, to take all other measures as would facilitate their marrying only after attaining the age of 18 and, if possible, even later.

To conserve and protect environment so that it is conducive to the health and well being of the children.

Existing programmes for women to raise their status in society with special emphasis on creation of employment opportunities for them would be strengthened keeping in view the direct impact of such programmes on the welfare of children.

24. ADVOCACY & PEOPLE’S PARTICIPATION

Advocacy for the child as everyone’s concern and advocacy with policy makers, planners, programme implementors at national and international levels for focus on the child will be integral to the achievement of the goals.

Appendix II

Extracts: National Policy for Children

i) All children shall be covered by a comprehensive health programme.

ii) Programmes shall be implemented to provide nutrition services with the object of removing deficiencies in the diet of children.

iii) Programmes will be undertaken for the general improvement of the health and for the care, nutrition and nutrition education of expectant and nursing mothers.

iv) The State shall take steps to provide free and compulsory education for all children upto the age of 14 for which a time-bound programme will be drawn up consistent with the availability of resources. Special efforts will be made to reduce the prevailing wastage and stagnation in schools, particularly in the case of girls and children of the weaker sections of the society. The programme of informal education for pre-school children from such sections will also be taken up.

22. Children who are not able to take full advantage of formal school education should be provided other forms of education suited to their requirements.

vi) Physical education, games, sports and other types of recreational as well as cultural and scientific activities shall be promoted in schools, community centres and such other institutions.

vii) To ensure the equality of opportunity, special assistance shall be provided to all children belonging to the weaker sections of the society, such as children belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and those belonging to the economically weaker sections, both in urban and rural areas.

viii) Children who are socially handicapped, who have become delinquent or have been forced to take to begging or are otherwise in distress, shall be provided facilities of education, training and rehabilitation and will be helped to become useful citizens.

ix) Children shall be protected against neglect, cruelty and exploitation.

       24) No child under 14 years shall be permitted to be engaged in any  hazardous occupation or be made to undertake heavy work.

xi) Facilities shall be provided for special treatment, education, rehabilitation and care of children who are physically handicapped, emotionally disturbed or mentally retarded.

xii) Children shall be given priority for protection and relief in times of distress or natural calamity.

xiii) Special programmes shall be formulated to spot, encourage and assist gifted children, particularly those belonging to the weaker sections of the society.

xiv) Existing laws should be amended so that in all legal disputes whether between parents or institutions, the interests of children are given paramount consideration.

xv) In organising services for children, efforts would be directed to strengthen family ties so that full potentialities of growth of children are realised within the normal family, neighbourhood and community environment.