EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT (ECD) IN INDIA: PROGRESS, CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS

India has the largest child population in the world with 60 million children between the ages of three and six. The early childhood stage is globally recognized as a crucial stage of learning and cumulative brain development. Therefore, most democratic countries invested in the development of early childhood. Recently, the government of India launched National Education Policy-2020 and announced that quality early childhood care and education will be achieved as soon as possible, and no later than 2030. A number of initiatives have been taken by the Government of India for bringing quality at the early childhood stage in the form of policies, plans, laws and constitutional provisions. However, the status of child and maternal mortality rates in Indian states are still upsetting and quality ECCE is not available to crores of young children particularly children from socio-economically disadvantaged groups. This paper is an attempt to study the different child welfare laws, policies and schemes running in India along with their challenges and prospects. Towards the end of the paper, some major challenges are discussed with possible enablers to reach out to the holistic development of early childhood development in India. Key Words: Early Childhood Development, ICDS, ECCE in India, Prospects of ECCE, Challenges