Child Rights in India

Key developments have taken place, both nationally and internationally, relating to child rights. A marked change in traditional thinking about child rights was promoted by the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989. 20 November 2014 marked 25 years of the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the emergence of a different perspective on providing justice to children. This, the fully revised third edition of Child Rights in India: Law, Policy, and Practice, highlights the key developments that have taken place to promote and protect the rights of children. Since the publication of the last edition in 2005, there have been several legislations, progressive court judgments, and policy initiatives in India and other countries on the rights-based approach. This edition covers the new developments in India like the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protectionof Children) Act, 2015, the new CARA guidelines, shared custody or joint parenting, international trends relating to joint custody, missing children, out-of-school children, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, Child Nutrition, and the National Food Security Act, 2013, and soon. Each chapter is structured to include: national laws, leading case law, major policies and schemes of the government, international law, interventions and strategies by non-governmental organizations to protect and promote child rights, gaps in implementation of laws and policies, and recommendations for legislative reform in support of children.

Asha Bajpai is Founder Dean and Professor of Law at the School of Law, Rights and Constitutional Governance, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, India. She is a PhD in Law with specialization on child rights. She has been involved in teaching, research, training, and legislative reform for more than two decades. Professor Bajpai recently became Indias first chair of UNCRC Policy Center.