New Delhi: Though East Asia has made
considerable progress in child well-being in recent years but even then India
is among the worst places in the world for a child, according to the Child
Development Index (CDI) released on Thursday by Save the Children, a non-profit
organisation.
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| Child Development Index shows how India has slipped by 12 ranks in terms of well-being of children. Photo Credit: Save the Children NGO |
Out of the 141 countries ranked on the basis of child
health, education and nutrition, India is among the 14 whose position has
dropped.
Study by the
same organisation shows that India has slipped by 12 ranks since 1995 and is
placed 112th in the global "Child Development Index".
India (where
almost three-quarters of the region’s children live) made the least progress of
any country in South Asia just a 27% improvement.
Study focuses on
the fact that in India, child nutrition is a substantial obstacle; almost 1 in
2 children is underweight.
Malnutrition
levels are not being reduced rapidly enough; India’s enrolment indicator
improved by 59% while its nutrition indicator improved by only 14%. Higher levels
of economic growth in the region are not widely translating into reduced child
deprivation, study revealed.
India is also ranked the lowest
among BRICS nations, the grouping that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China
and South Africa. China is in the highest quartile, the report said, adding
that in relative terms, Asia’s biggest economy is heavily investing on
children. More than 40% of India’s children are moderately or severely
underweight, compared with less than 5% in China.
India’s under-five mortality rate
exceeds 60 out of 1,000 compared with 20 in China, the report said.
India, Congo, Pakistan, Nigeria
and China account for half the world’s under-five mortality, according to the
report. Experts say the report points to increasing inequity in society despite
state welfare programmes such as the National Rural Health Mission and Sarva
Siksha Abhiyan (education for all).