Kerala, Karnataka tops child rights index; NE states rank lowest

The country's first national child rights index placed Kerala and Karnataka at the top and Arunachal Pradesh at the bottom in protecting rights of children.

The Child Rights Index (CRI) published by NGO HAQ-Centre for Child Rights states that Karnataka is the best state for children to live in. The state has the least number of cases of crime against children, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. The NGO's report is based on government data â€" both central and state.

Crimes against children included infanticide, murder, rape, kidnapping and abduction, foeticide, abetment of suicide, exposure and abandonment, buying and selling of minor girls for prostitution and child marriage.

The report divulged that Uttar Pradesh had the highest head count of working children in the country.

Kerala was ranked last in gender equality in prevention of child marriages and stands ninth in its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) status. Maharashtra, which ranks first in the GDP, is standing third in child rights.

West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu too ranked high on the prevention of child marriage index.

The 'worst performing' states included Sikkim, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.

Kerala and Goa, the two best performing states in health, are performing poorly in the provision of health infrastructure. Himachal Pradesh ranks among the last five in HIV/AIDS intervention.

The index was timed to coincide with the 12th Five Year Planning process, said Enakshi Ganguly Thukral of HAQ.

"We hope it will help to identify the states that still lag behind, and highlight the specific areas â€" geographical and sectoral â€" that pull them down, so that they can be paid attention to," The Hindu quoted Ganguly as saying.

According to HAQ, tribal-dominated states Jharkhand and Arunachal Pradesh fared badly in education and health. Other states that performed poorly in health include Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Nagaland.