“The Lost Childhood (Human Rights of Socially Deprived)”

(Prof Shankar Chatterjee)

The book under the title of “THE LOST CHILDHOOD (HUMAN RIGHTS OF SOCIALLY DEPRIVED)” written by Vijay Prakash Sharma and Mrigank Prakash Sharma published by Sankalp Publication of Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh is a wonderful piece of work. Published in 2023 with the price of Rs. 375 each library of school, college, university can procure it.

The main focus of the book is to understand ground realities and descriptions of contemporary social problems. The present debates about social and economic human rights emphasize vital, economically driven needs for food, shelter, health care, and basic education by ignoring fundamental needs for socialization, interpersonal caring, and meaningful associations. This portrays slanted image of social and economic human rights and allows the provision of economic needs to be promoted without due attention to the social needs that accompany them. Similarly, debates and discussions about civil and political human rights have focused on the rights against torture and cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment while giving little or no attention to the intersection between these exclusions.  It is pertinent to mention that the term ‘Social exclusion’ is a socially constructed concept and can depend on an idea of what is considered ‘normal.’ The concept of social exclusion is vague and often difficult to ‘objectively’ identify who is socially excluded, because it is a matter of the criteria adopted and the judgments used. The state of Jharkhand is one of the migrating states, especially for child labourers. Their labour is unaccountable. They usually suffer from anemia and reproductive infections. One of the main obstacles to tribal development is superstitious beliefs and practices. They think that diseases, famines, water scarcity, poor crop or crop failure, the spread of epidemics, premature death, etc., befall them only when the evil spirits are angry. Thus, the socio-economic conditions of the tribal are awful because of many factors, i.e., undulating topography, less cultivable land with no irrigation facilities, lack of Government infrastructure facilities, superstitious beliefs, etc.

Another issue is migration and child trafficking, which should be prevented through the collaborative action of influential members of society and community leaders, police personnel, media people, NGOs working in the field, and individuals who are in a professional capacity can influence state legislation to successfully combat trafficking. Education with professional/ technical skills for income generation activities is needed. Migration and child trafficking must be prevented through the collaborative action of influential members of society and community leaders, police personnel, media people, NGOs working in the field, and individuals who are in a professional capacity who can influence state legislation to combat trafficking successfully. Education with professional/ technical skills for income generation activities is needed. Livelihood facilities have to be ensured by providing sustainable income. Because of lack of income, many tribal girls have been going out of their homes where they are forever lost, where their lives end as victims of sexual exploitation in various ways, and they fall prey to sexual exploitation in the brothels or outside the brothels.  There are altogether 21 chapters in this book. These are : a) Human Rights of Socially Deprived, b) The Most Marginal and Vulnerable Communities, c) Peasant Empowerment and Development Model, d) Land and Water Resource Management in Tribal Areas of Middle India, e) Women Empowerment: Tribal Issues, f) Peoples Participation and Food Security in India, g) Bio-Cultural Diversity of Populations in 21st Century, h) Gender Entrepreneurship in Rural and Tribal areas, i) Health Empowerment of Tribal Women, j)Tribal Indigenous Knowledge, k) Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)- Concept and Approach, l) Converging the Unique into Universal: Nutritional Anthropology, m) An Intellectual Delusion: Ethnicity and Ethnic Identity in India, n) The Role of Education as an Instrument of Socio-economic Transformation, o) The Lost Childhood,  p) Caste(Jati), Castism and Caste(Jati) Politics in India,  q) Use of Photography in Anthropological Research,  r) Art and Culture in North-East India: Case of Hmar Art, s) Art and Culture in North-East India: Case of Hmar Art, t) Practice of Religious tolerance in Hinduism and u) Tribal Forest Interfaces and Conservation.

I have presented all the chapters’ titles so that readers can get an idea about the book’s content. This volume will be helpful to administrators, social scientists, journalists, social activists, and research scholars who are interested in tribal issues.

(The author Dr. Shankar Chatterjee is a former Professor & Head (CPME), NIRD & PR, Hyderabad)