This article argues that the poor state of paediatric medicine in India still restrains and often prevents the healthy development of far too many young Indians. Infants as junior-most citizens deserve diligent care, as they have legal entitlements to specialised medical services, ensuring their survival and healthy growth, ultimately for the benefit of the entire nation. The article first traces the somewhat stunted colonial institutional development of paediatric medicine in India. It then proceeds to perform a critical analysis of the continuing harm of negligence concerning the health and upbringing of India’s vulnerable infants, challenging the state to become more committed to integrated child development.
AriesP. (1996) Centuries of Childhood: A Social History of Family Life. Pimlico: University of Virginia.
2.
ArnoldD. (1993a) Colonizing the Body: State Medicine and Epidemic Disease in Nineteenth Century India. Berkeley: University of California Press.
3.
ArnoldD. (1993b) ‘Smallpox and Colonial Medicine in Nineteenth Century India’. In ArnoldD.RobbP. (Eds), Institutions and Ideologies: A SOAS South Asia Reader (pp. 224–44). Richmond: Curzon Press.
BakshiP.M. (2011) The Constitution of India, 11th Edition.New Delhi: Universal.
6.
BansalC.P.GuptaS. (2013) ‘The Past Half Century of Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP)’, Indian Paediatrics, 50(1): 39–48.
7.
BaruR.V. (Ed.) (2008) School Health Services in India: The Social and Economic Contexts. New Delhi: SAGE Publications.
8.
BasuB. (2018) ‘Sports Education in Colonial Bengal: A Double-Edged Sword?’, South Asia Research, 38(3): 268–86.
9.
ChakrabartiN.K.NagM.K.ChatterjeeS.S. (Eds) (2004) Law and Child. Kolkata: R. Cambray & Co. Private Ltd.
10.
ChandrashekharS. (1959) Infant Mortality in India: A Matter of Life and Death, 1901–55. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd.
11.
ChaudhuryR.N. (2006) Law Relating to Juvenile Justice in India. Allahabad: Orient Publishing Company.
12.
ChoudharyN. (2015) ‘Malnutrition in Mumbai Slums: Entitlement Analysis of Group Differentials in Basic Capabilities’, South Asia Research, 35(3): 280–97.
13.
ColonA.R.ColonP.A. (1999) Nurturing Children: A History of Paediatrics. London: Greenwood Press.
14.
DeatonA. (2008) ‘Height, Health, and Inequality: The Distribution of Adult Heights in India’, American Economic Review, 98(2): 468–74.
15.
DhanalakshmiN. (1993) Childhood Morbidity in Rural Areas. Bio-Social Determinants. New Delhi: Discovery Publishing House.
16.
DLHS-3 (2010, April) District Level Household and Facility Survey. Mumbai: International Institute for Population Sciences.
17.
DrèzeJ.GoyalA. (2003) ‘Future of Mid-day Meals’, Economic & Political Weekly, 38(44): 4673–83.
Government of India (2016a) National Health Profile 2016. New Delhi: Central Bureau of Health Intelligence, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
23.
Government of India (2016b) National Plan of Action for Children—Safe Children Happy Childhood. New Delhi: Ministry of Women and Child Development.
24.
Government of India (2016c) Health Sector Financing by Centre and States/UTs in India (2013–14 to 2015–16). New Delhi: National Health Accounts Cell, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
25.
Government of India (2016d) National Health Accounts, Estimates for India, 2013–14. New Delhi: National Health Account Technical Secretariat, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
26.
Government of India (2017) Health Sector Financing by Centre and States/UTs in India [2014–15 to 2016–17]. New Delhi: National Health Accounts Cell, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. URL (consulted 8 May 2019), from https://mohfw.gov.in/sites/default/files/22788863581486024659%20%281%29.pdf
27.
JamesS.P. (1909) Smallpox and Vaccination in British India. Calcutta: Thacker, Spink and Co.
28.
KapurP. (Ed.) (1993) Girl Child and Family Violence. New Delhi: Har-Anand Publications.
29.
MohammadS. (Ed.) (1972) Writings and Speeches of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. Bombay: Nachiketa Publications.
30.
NangaluR.PooniP.A.BhargavS.BainsH.S. (2016) ‘Impact of Malnutrition on Paediatric Risk of Mortality Score and Outcome in Paediatric Intensive Care Unit’, Indian Journal of Critical Care Medicine, 20(7): 385–90.
31.
NFHS-3 (2007) National Family Health Survey, 2005–06. Mumbai: International Institute for Population Sciences.
PakrasiK.B. (1970) Female Infanticide in India. Calcutta: Editions Indian.
34.
PearsonF. (1877) Returns of the Vaccination in the North-Western Provinces (1876–1877). Allahabad: North-Western Provinces and Oudh Government Press.
35.
PomfretD.M. (2015) Youth and Empire: Trans-Colonial Childhoods in British and French Asia. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
36.
RazaM.NangiaS. (1986) Atlas of the Child in India. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company.
37.
RobinsonS.SleightS. (Eds) (2016) Children, Childhood, and Youth in the British World. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
38.
SahaR. (2017) ‘Milk, “Race” and Nation: Medical Advice on Breastfeeding in Colonial Bengal’, South Asia Research, 37(2): 147–65.
39.
SankarR.B.PulgerT. (1994) ‘Intellectual and Motor Functions in School Children from Severely Iodine Deficient region in Sikkim’, Indian Journal of Pediatrics, 61(3): 231–6.
40.
SenI. (2010) ‘Memsahibs and Health in Colonial Medical Writings, c. 1840 to c. 1930’, South Asia Research, 30(3): 253–74.
41.
SeshadriS.GopaldasT. (1989) ‘Impact of Iron Supplementation on Cognitive Functions in Preschool and School-aged Children: The Indian Experience’, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 50(3Suppl.): 675–86.
42.
SharmaK. (2019) ‘Hunger in Jharkhand: Dimensions of Poverty and Food Security in Palamu District’, South Asia Research, 39(1): 43–60.
43.
SrinivasanK.SaxenaP.C.KanitkarT. (Eds) (1979) Demographic and Socio-Economic Aspects of the Child in India. Bombay: Himalaya.
44.
SrivastavaA.MahmoodS.E.SrivastavaP.M.ShrotriyaV.P.KumarB. (2012) ‘Nutritional Status of School Age Children—A Scenario of Urban Slums in India’, Archives of Public Health, 70(1): 1–8.
UpadhyayS.K.AgarwalK.N.AgarwalD.K. (1989) ‘Influence of Malnutrition on Social Maturity, Visual Motor Coordination and Memory in Rural School Children [Abstract]’, Indian Journal of Medical Research, 90(9): 320–7.
48.
UPSA (1918) ‘Medical Inspection of School Children’. Education Department, 1918. File No. 19/1918. Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh State Archives.
49.
UPSA (1925) ‘Purchase of Weighing Machines for 56 Institutions’. Education Department, 1925. File No. 409/1924. Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh State Archives.
50.
Vaccination Report UP (1909) Notes on Vaccination in United Provinces of Agra and Oudh for the Year 1908–09. Allahabad: Government Press, United Provinces.
51.
WeinerM. (1991) The Child and the State in India. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
