What keeps children in India fed, safe, and learning every day?

Not only policies or programme budgets. But the quiet, daily balancing act of caregivers; the invisible ledgers of care they improvise, hour by hour.

Over six months, we stayed in conversation with 12 caregivers across India. We didn’t just arrive once and leave with a story. We returned, again and again: phone calls on the way back from work, WhatsApp voice notes while stirring dal, video calls from kitchens and courtyards.

What emerged was not a dataset, but a textured picture of trade-offs, rupees redirected, hours rearranged, dignity defended, and joy created even in scarcity.

The Four Ledgers of Care

• Time was fragile. A crèche closing an hour early could unravel a whole week.

• Money was stretched. Every rupee was asked to feed, to protect, to buy back time.

• Dignity mattered deeply. Families could endure scarcity, but not humiliation.

• Joy was essential. A kulfi on a birthday or a favourite shirt washed thrice for photo day were not extras. They kept children, and carers, afloat.

The Patterns We Saw

• Carers lived in rhythm and recalibration, while systems expected rigidity.

• Support often came from neighbours and cousins before it came from the state.

• Scarcity could be borne, but dignity decided whether families stayed or left systems.

• Joy was not a luxury, it was the foundation of resilience.

These are not exceptions. This is the system as lived. Caregivers, in their everyday improvisations, already hold up the architecture of care.

What We Ask

If time, money, dignity, and joy are the real currencies of care, then systems must learn to hold these ledgers too. Care is not a side issue. It is the ground beneath health, education, and growth.

The question is not whether we can support caregivers. They are already supporting us. The question is whether we can build alongside them.

Read the report here:

This piece is part of Voices of Care, a Bachpan Manao CollabAction seeded by EkStep Foundation in 2024. It is an ongoing inquiry into the caregiving systems that shape childhood in India. By understanding what enables care to thrive, we uncover what allows children to flourish. This work is anchored at mudito.