For most working parents, leaving a toddler at a daycare is as much an act of necessity as a leap of faith — that the vigilance and kindness of well-meaning strangers will stand in for a parent’s own presence for those hours. The alleged abuse of toddlers at an on-campus crèche of global IT firm Capgemini in Bengaluru, where children too young to articulate or comprehend their ordeal were locked in washrooms and washing machines to discipline them, strikes at the heart of that trust. The incident raises disturbing questions about a sector that has come up in response to changing family structures and rising workforce participation of women but still lacks commensurate oversight mechanisms.

Reliable childcare is crucial to women’s participation in the labour market. A Dalberg-UNDP study published earlier this year found that India’s public childcare system currently meets only around 5 per cent of urban demand, while private alternatives are largely unaffordable for low-income families. An estimated 6-7 million urban women need crèche access, a figure projected to reach 20-23 million by 2047. The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 requires establishments with 50 or more employees to provide crèche facilities, but it covers only a fraction of India’s workforce and leaves the unorganised sector entirely out of its ambit. While the female labour force participation rate has risen to 41.7 per cent in 2023-24, it is driven by rural, often unpaid or distress-led self-employment. Urban female participation has stayed stubbornly in the mid-to-high twenties. Each reported case of abuse leads to more women cutting back hours, turning down professional opportunities, or leaving the workforce entirely to take on the onus of care work.

While the investigation in Bengaluru must run its course, justice after the fact cannot substitute prevention. That task begins with recognising childcare as essential social and economic infrastructure rather than a discretionary employment perk. At present, daycare centres are governed by an uneven web of state rules, municipal by-laws and local licensing norms, with little uniformity in standards and even less consistency in enforcement. India needs a national regulatory framework that establishes minimum standards for registration, caregiver training, staff verification, child-to-caregiver ratios, inspections and grievance-redressal mechanisms. Regulation must also be matched by sustained public investment to expand access to quality childcare, ensuring that safety is a right, not a privilege.