The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will soon begin research in the field of social determinants and management of children in difficult circumstances.

To address the issues of social determinants and management of children in difficult circumstances, the ICMR has invited concept proposals in the priority areas like: Children in difficult circumstances (street children, working children, destitute, refugee children, children with disabilities, juvenile delinquents, drug addicts, children suffering from HIV/AIDS, victims of domestic violence and abuse, sexual abuse and natural disasters); Child abuse and neglect; Child sexual abuse; Adolescent violence; Children with special needs; and Early childhood development.

This programme would help obtain nationally representative data on children in difficult circumstances, children with special social and health needs. The focus of the call would be on development of intervention programmes, in addition to developing a registry and tracking system for such children, enabling coverage in government programme.

The ICMR's initiative in this regard is significant as India is home to the largest child population in the world. National Policy for children has declared children as the nation’s “supremely important assets”. Children should find prominent place in national plans for the development of human resources, so that they grow up to become robust and responsible citizens, physically and mentally fit.

However, major focus of the child health care initiatives in India has so far been on case management and disease specific interventions aiming at child survival. Child development and quality of life issues have not been adequately addressed yet. Social paediatrics is not a well developed discipline in the country. The social environment is a significant contributor to overall child development. Adverse socio-economic factors are interlinked with lack of education and sub-optimal development in under-privileged and marginalized children. Over 1/3 child population in India suffers from under nutrition leading to developmental delays. Lack of appropriate education and opportunities result in sub- optimal development.

A large population of children remains exploited in various forms and several million (who should be in schools) contribute to the country’s labour force. There is a significant proportion of population of children in difficult circumstances that includes: Street children, working children, destitute, refugee children, children with disabilities, juvenile delinquents, drug addicts, children suffering from HIV/AIDS, victims of domestic violence and abuse, sexual abuse and natural disasters.

There is lack of systematically collected data to address the above issues , absence of credible data leads to many of such children being excluded from government programmes and services. Many of them have no legal status or identity, as they are mobile and belong to cyclically disadvantaged communities.

According to a census conducted by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) there are an estimated 37,059 children who live on streets of Mumbai. Two out of five of them have witnessed physical, verbal or sexual abuse or forced starvation at some point in their lives. Government protection like the Right to Education Act does not reach them, with nearly one out of four in the school-going age remaining illiterate.

India has the largest population of street children in the world. There are about 100 million children in India who are off schools. The prevalence of high levels of child labour is attributable to the fact that primary education for children is not compulsory in India.