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FEATURED ARTICLES *** More kids flee abuse than poverty Express News Service, Ahmedabad, November 20,
2006 cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=210145 [accessed 24 May 2011] Contrary to popular
myth, more children leave home due to a disturbed domestic environment than
abject poverty, according to a report from the Ahmedabad Study Action Group (ASAG)
and the Gujarat Institute of Development Research (GIDR). The study
ranks familial harassment as the top reason behind children running away from
home. On the streets where they live [PDF] www.infochangeindia.org infochangeindia.org/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=725 [accessed 24 May 2011] Police Abuse And Killings Of Street
Children In Human Rights Watch Children's Rights
Project, November 1996 www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/1996/India4.htm [accessed 24 May 2011] Journey to the streets Harsh Mander, The
Hindu, Jul 13, 2008 www.hindu.com/mag/2008/07/13/stories/2008071350080300.htm [accessed 24 May 2011] HARSH NECESSITIES - Abuse often drives
boys from their homes, who flee their families to
escape intolerable abuse. These are acts of incredible courage for children
so young, echoed and repeated in the lives of tens of thousands of street
children who decide at very young ages to bravely escape violence and abuse
in their homes — alcoholic fathers, physical and sexual violence — by fending
for themselves, at whatever cost. But we also have children who were lost or
abandoned by their families at such a young age that they do not recall their
origins. The streets are the only home that they remember. NO OTHER HOME - Some are also
simply born to the streets. In Chennai, in particular, we encountered several
families which had lived for several generations on the same piece of
pavement. Their great grandparents came to the city, sometimes 80 years
earlier or longer, and the patriarchs colonised
gradually “their” part of the pavement. New generations were born, one
following the next, and they all grew up in the same stretch of pavement.
This was the only home that the large extended family now knew. Mohan, a
street boy in Chennai, said, “Homelessness is not a new thing for me. I was
born into streets, and it was here that I was brought up.” He is convinced
that they will be forced to return to the streets. Likewise, Mythili is another of “homeless lineage”. When she was a
child, her father was irresponsible, “a drunkard, he never cared for us”, she
recounts, and her mother fed them by selling food cooked by her on the
pavements to other homeless people. ***
ARCHIVES *** CHILDLINE - Toll Free Call 1098 - Night
& Day www.childlineindia.org.in/aboutus08.htm [accessed 10 February 2011] CHILDLINE reaches out to all
children in need of care and protection such as: street children, child labourers, children who have been abused, child victims
of flesh trade, differently-abled children, child addicts, children in
conflict with the law, children in institutions, mentally challenged
children, HIV/AIDs infected children, children affected by conflict and
disaster, child political refugees, children whose families are in crises. The Government of
Delhi running the 'youth' helpline named Yuva Phone
line in 24-hour children's helpdesk at CMBT The Hindu, Tamil Nadu - Chennai, Mar 22,
2007 www.hindu.com/2007/03/22/stories/2007032217700300.htm [accessed 24 May 2011] The Indian Council
for Child Welfare (ICCW) and Childline has set up a
24-hour helpdesk for children in the Chennai Mofussil
Bus Terminus (CMBT) complex.
"Since last April, we have rescued about 100 children from the
CMBT. Some have run away from home, while others are being brought to work in
the city," said S. A. Jayamary, Street
Children Project Officer, ICCW, Tamil Nadu. The helpdesk, inaugurated on Wednesday,
seeks to strengthen the rescue efforts at the point of the children's entry
into the city. Helplines for
children are 1098 and 26260097. Website to track missing children launched Anasuya Menon,
The Hindu, www.hindu.com/2007/02/10/stories/2007021013590100.htm [accessed 10 February 2011] Anyone who has lost
their child can post a message on this website and a search will be set in
motion simultaneously in 40 cities in the country. Launched by Don Bosco
National Forum for Youth at Risk in association with UNICEF, www.missingchildsearch.net
will
be closely watched and monitored by child welfare organisations
in all major cities in the country and a search will be generated
immediately. The Don Bosco National Forum for Youth
at Risk is a major partner of Childline India
Foundation and extends service to hundreds of children who are victims of
war, conflict, natural calamities, sexual exploitation, trafficking and
HIV/AIDS. They also take care of street and working children. www.missingindiankids.com/index.htm [accessed 24 May 2011] Video Playlists for www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=4F18A878F384D4B1 [accessed 24 May 2011] There are an increasing number of street children videos now available that constitute a supplementary source of information for researchers, especially for those who may not have experienced the reality of street children. [Playlist developed by Brian Horne of almudo.com & streetkidnews.blogsome.com] UNICEF
– www.unicef.org/infobycountry/india.html [accessed 24 May 2011] The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/india.htm [accessed 10 February 2011] [2032] Children
work on the streets doing odd jobs, as rag dealers, shoe shiners and vendors. Concluding Observations of the Committee on
the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,
26 February 2004 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/india2004.html [accessed 10 February 2011] [76] The Committee
welcomes the existence of the Integrated Program for Street Children but
remains concerned at the growing number of street children in the State
party, due notably to the structural situation of the State party as well as
to the lack of proactive policies and programs of prevention and for the
support of the family. The brave tender souls Experience by Salman Nizami,
Greater www.greaterkashmir.com/news/2010/Oct/28/the-brave-tender-souls-14.asp
[accessed Oct. 29, 2010] The weather has
suddenly turned colder in valley. The sun is hidden behind the clouds and the
jagged peaks of the mountains which overlook the city are thick with snow.
The street children are sheltering from the chill - huddling in doorways. One
boy I often see in the morning charging around near the guest house in
Shalimar where I was stayed covers his head with his ragged and blackened
jacket to give himself some relief from the cold. There are numerous children
who wait outside the guest house hoping for some work with me on the laptop,
According to them working on laptop means earning good money. Most of them
are contract labourers, shoe shiners, handicraft,
fruit, vegetable vendor boys and I have got to know a number of them. There is Ibrahim
whose serious face contrasts with his pink Mickey Mouse baseball cap, and Irfaan who is painfully thin, and constantly asks the
same question: "Mister, how are you?" And then there is Wajid, with his brown curly mop of hair and cheeky smile.
My favourite is Aabid, a
shy boy, who talks slowly in Kashmiri language. His sombre
expression belies his young age just 13. They all have similar tales, a
father dead due to the Streetkids in grip of STDs Times News Network (The Times of timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata-/Streetkids-in-grip-of-STDs/articleshow/6771541.cms [accessed 24 May 2011] Did you know that
almost every child living on the city's pavements is subjected to sexual
abuse? If this doesn't surprise you, you should know that of these children a
vast majority has contracted sexually transmitted diseases? A recently-concluded survey among streetchildren in certain parts of the city show that at
least 15,000 of them are either HIV positive or have contracted sexually
transmitted diseases like Syphilis, Gonorrhea, warts, hepatitis and herpes.
The survey was recently conducted by the National Institute for
Cholera and Enteric Diseases (Niced) along
with Unicef, a number of NGOs who have been working
with street children. The survey was conducted in 54 wards of the
Kolkata Municipal Corporation.
According to the report, a copy of which is to be sent to the ministry
of health, most of the kids in question are between 18 months and 14 years of
age. While only 15,000 have already contracted infections, almost every
street child that the survey team came across during the survey, has been
exposed to sexual abuse. "The youngest
are the worst off. Kids as young as six to eight years old are forced to have
sex night after night for a paltry sum of Rs 50! Of
this they have to give up Rs 40," revealed Goutam Panja, spokesperson of
the NGO, Network Positive. About 30 kids between 18 months and 14 years of
age who are affected by sexual diseases have enrolled in
this NGO as members. The
survey found that at least 80% of the affected kids are orphans who have left
their original "homes" to migrate elsewhere and are working as
child labourers. "Their right to work is
attached with their willingness to offer themselves for sexual abuse by
employers and sometimes even by clients'. Hidden hunger Harsh Mander, The
Hindu, Apr 19, 2009 www.hindu.com/mag/2009/04/19/stories/2009041950150300.htm [accessed 24 May 2011] SACRIFICING
EVERYTHING ELSE
- If they still manage to eat nutritious food, it is to the sacrifice of
almost everything else. In Patna, we met Deepak studying under a street
light. He is the 10-year-old son of a rickshaw-puller, who lives with his
father on the pavement. His father wanted him to become a “sahib”, and
therefore brought him to study in a school in the city, instead of leaving
him in his village with his mother. He is a caring father, who spends a great
deal of what he earns to feed his son well. He buys for him every night a
packet of biscuits for three rupees. This is his breakfast the next morning.
Later the boy eats roti with vegetables bought from a roadside hotel, and a
small cup of milk. Ganesh, Deepak’s father says, “Even if I don’t eat, I buy
a cup of milk for my Deepak everyday.” In school, there is khichri or gruel in the State financed midday meal.
Ganesh buys an egg for Deepak once in few days. Indian street urchin bank weathers global
crisis Frederic Spohr,
Deutsche Presse-Agentur (German Press Agency) DPA, [accessed 24 May 2011] Bank manager Sudhir has never heard of credit derivates and has no clue
about investment funds. He is just about capable of doing basic arithmetic
and calculating interest rates. But while his counterparts in
posh Western office towers worry about gaping holes in their balance sheets,
the 13-year-old's business is going strong. Still, the
bank's staff and customers are far from free of fear of losing their
livelihoods. They are street children in India's capital, New Delhi. The Wild Dogged ones Samarth Pathak, Hardnews, www.hardnewsmedia.com/2009/03/2714 [accessed 24 May 2011] An important aspect
of street life is that most of these kids are in the dawn of puberty. For
them, the mix of testosteronic rush and freedom is
the gateway to all kinds of ‘experiments'. Very early in life, these kids
develop a serious dependence on drugs. It is whiteners and glues for the fattoos (who are beginners, usually aged between 8 to 10
years) while the dadas (or pros, aged 12 to 16
years) do ganja (marijuana) and charas. "A
street kid, on an average, earns about Rs 70-80 a
day. Out of this, Rs 30 goes in procuring drugs.
One may not get food to eat, but a day without drugs is impossible. Drug
peddlers and addas operate openly in the bylanes of Paharganj and Jama Masjid right under the nose of the police,"
says Javed. Besides drugs, sex
is rampant. Young boys and girls become intimate after facing struggles
together and fall in love. This fondness usually leads to sexual encounters
among children. Homosexuality is common, and it is the younger kids of the
lot who end up being exploited by their gang leaders, pimps, local goons and
cops. "Usually, the kids indulge in unprotected intercourse, which
leaves them vulnerable to all kinds of sexually transmitted diseases.
Pregnancies in adolescent girls are routine. They either deliver the babies
and run or lose their life in the process," says Shekhar.
Street children
usually live in groups, and operate as one unit in their areas. At the New
Delhi railway station, territories are specifically divided among numerous
gangs, with each gang ‘owning' one platform. Every group consists of 10-14
members, and the eldest of the lot (and the strongest) is the undisputed
leader. Boundaries are meant to be respected, and no trespassing is
tolerated. Fights break out often, especially over food and money. Still, in the midst
of the hardships, friendship blooms. No street kid eats alone. Food is shared
between all members of the group, even if it means sharing a single loaf of
bread among eight of them. Anil recounts, "Once, one of my friends told
us that there was a wedding near Ajmeri Gate. So we
all quietly gate-crashed and gorged on chicken and biryani. When the guards
came, we all grabbed whatever was around and managed to bring back some food
for the others too." Save the Children in Thomson Reuters Foundation, March 11, 2009 www.globalhealth.org/news/article/10869 [accessed 24 May 2011] Q. Save the Children is active in A. It's hard to have
a precise figure but thousands of children live in slums that lack the most
basic of amenities such as drainage, water supply, sanitation. And there is
no infrastructure worth the name. After Slumdog
Millionaire there has been much talk in the Western media about the life
of children living in slums in Mumbai but one cannot ignore the reality
elsewhere in the country: Millions of children across towns and cities in
India have no access to education and health care and live in deplorable
conditions in slums. Squalor's children honour
slum gods Rhys Blakely, The Australian, 24 February
2009 At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 24 May 2011] One of the main
reservations this young audience has about the film's accuracy concerns its
depiction of the gang master who rounds up children to set them begging and
mutilates them to make a bigger profit. "It doesn't
happen like that," says Vipin, who claims to
be 14. "Most of the beggars stay with their families. Their mothers and
fathers are in charge." The children say
that nobody in their neighbourhood has been
mutilated deliberately, similar to the fictional youngster who isblinded in Slumdog, but they
believe thatsuch atrocities do happen elsewhere inMumbai. Among Chowpatty's child beggars, the physical scars are more
subtle but no less invidious than those depicted in the film: the small
babies who are carried alongside busy roads by young girl beggars (a practice
alluded to in Slumdog) quickly develop acute
respiratory problems and many are malnourished. Ailments such as scabies,
tuberculosis and rickets are common. Health workers who deal with street
families regularly see babies whose skulls have not formed properly because
of calcium deficiencies. Virtually everyone
in the audience has been chased and beaten by the police, the scenario that
forms the backdrop to the film's opening credits. Asked if they find the film
insulting, the children reply with a bemused "no". It shows real
things, they reiterate: poverty, prostitution, murder, theft, blackmail,
religious violence, the exploitation of the weak. It's good for outsiders to
see how they exist. Surviving on a little luck and lots of
street smarts Mark Magnier, The
www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/asia/la-fg-india-slumdog21-2009feb21,0,1071590.story [accessed 24 May 2011] CAMARADERIE - Sahni joined three other homeless boys, sleeping under a
stairway on Platform 12 or on the roof of a kiosk on Platform 5 as streams of
people rushed past to their families, weddings, business
meetings. Despite occasional bouts of homesickness, he felt great freedom in
living on the street. "It was
fun," he said with a laugh. "Really fun." The four boys didn't pool what they earned
scavenging, selling the items at dingy recycling stalls near the station. But
working in a pack prevented other ragpickers from
muscling in on their turf. On a good day he made $6. But $2 was more
typical. Some of their best hauls
came from the long-distance trains arriving on Platform 1, which had
better-quality refuse. They'd scoop up anything of value, including the
railroad's metal trays, before cleaners or railway police chased them away.
Twice Sahni was badly beaten by police, who tended
to catch the slow, weak and inexperienced. After that he was more vigilant. Love and longing on the streets Harsh Mander, The
Hindu, Feb 08, 2009 www.hindu.com/mag/2009/02/08/stories/2009020850100300.htm [accessed 24 May 2011] LASTING
RELATIONSHIPS
- For those without a family — either in the village or on the streets — new
bonds often grow on the streets between strangers, which may prove closer and
more loyal than many ties of blood. As many as a quarter of the homeless
people we met said they shared their life on the streets with adopted
relatives. I recall a street
boy who adopted a disabled old man as his grandfather: he would carry him
long distance on his back, and for years save from his own earnings in
rag-picking for food, medicines and even the old man’s addictions. A mentally ill
woman occupied the same space on the pavement outside New Delhi railway
station for years, but would eat only if one particular street boy would
bring her food, and the boy, himself less than 10 years old, made it a point
to share his earnings buying food for her everyday. SHARING TO SURVIVE - Street boys, cut
off from their families in their village and alone in the city, tend to live
in gangs, sharing everything — food, clothes, intoxicants, sleeping under the
same sheet — teaching each other trades like rag-picking and recycling
drinking water bottles, protecting each other from street violence and the
police, and feeding each other in sickness. Cops are villains who make our lives
miserable: Street children Poonam Aggarwal,
NDTV www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20090082417 [accessed 24 May 2011] Each one them said
that policemen are here to harass them, and that they are not saviours rather villains who make their lives
miserable. Eight-year-old Kanchan, who begs near one of the temples in the locality
and earns Rs 50-150 a day, was beaten up by the
police four months ago. The stories of
these street children find resonance with the brutal beating of a the girl in Etawah on
Tuesday. "One policeman gave me Rs 100 and told me to come with him. I refused as I knew
that his intentions were bad," said Suman, a
street kid. Slumdog-type tales of hope
in Ambika Pandit,
Times News Network (The Times of [accessed 24 May 2011] The triumph of
human spirit that has made `Slumdog Millionaire'
speak in a universal language to a global audience is not just a celluloid
fantasy. Even as you read this and the film gathers critical and popular
acclaim, many people are trying to claw their way up from grinding poverty to
give themselves an identity. There's Vicky Roy,
21 a one-time ragpicker who is now an accomplished
photographer wowing international audiences. Next month, Vicky will be flying
to New York for a six-month photo assignment, recording the reconstruction of
the World Trade Center. He will also study at the Visual Arts Institute in
that city. Then, there's
Sanjay Malhotra, 25, who has gone from being a
street bully outside the Sai Baba Temple on Lodhi Road to an activist working for rehabilitating
street children. In fact, he identifies with the character of Salim in the film. Similary, 18-year-old Rani
who sold knick-knacks at the Kalkaji Temple was
saved from marriage with a 28-year-old man at the age of 14. Today, she leads
a 5,000-strong group of street children. Just two days back, she got an award
for her endeavour as part of Clean India campaign
in Hyderabad. Plastic banned, street kids hit bull’s eye
with jute bags Neha Sinha,
The Indian Express News Service, www.expressindia.com/latest-news/plastic-banned-street-kids-hit-bulls-eye-with-jute-bags/415528/ [accessed 24 May 2011] In 2004, a group of
street children and ragpickers got together to make
bags from scrap cloth and jute. Now, following a ban on plastic bags, the
jute bags made by their organisation Lakhshya Badhte Kadam might just have hit the bull’s eye. Ramesh, from the organisation,
says the first orders have begun trickling in. “We have received requests to
make cheap jute bags and newspaper bags for shopkeepers in Hauz Khas and Janpath,” he says. “We employ young adults, who may have
run away from home, and economically deprived women. The war against begging Harsh Mander, The
Hindu, Jan 25, 2009 www.hindu.com/mag/2009/01/25/stories/2009012550090300.htm [accessed 24 May 2011] MERE IMPEDIMENTS? - The most recent
skirmish in this sporadic warfare is a recent notification by the Delhi
Traffic Police under the Motor Vehicles Act, which slaps fines of Rs. 1,000 on those who give alms to people begging at
traffic lights. Beggars are therefore seen not as a spectacular human tragedy
but an impediment to traffic. This view is endorsed by courts. PREJUDICED
PERCEPTIONS
- The notion that begging is a crime derives not just from fears of begging
mafias, but also from the conviction that begging is the first resort of the
lazy poor. It assumes that most homeless people beg as a matter of choice.
But as a recent study by PUCL-CSDS in Delhi found, only nine per cent
homeless adults beg. Remarkably, we have found this ratio to apply even to
street children, who prefer work — picking rags, serving tea in eateries or
even vocations on the dark side of the law — to begging, … Slumdog Millionaire: Meet
the real Dean Nelson, The Telegraph, 18 Jan 2009 [accessed 24 May 2011] Mohammed says he
earns good money at Victoria Terminus station, where he works with a gang of
12 children, each blocking 18 seats on several trains – forcing commuters to
pay to sit down – and some making up to £6 a day. "We can make good
money if we work hard," he says.
But it's dangerous work. He has seen knife-fights between gangs, paedophiles preying on the younger, weaker boys, and
gangsters offering drugs – heroin, cannabis and solvents – to lure children
into begging. According to Mohammed,
violence is a way of life, and he and his gang are often the aggressors.
Occasionally, when passengers refuse to pay his charge, he uses his fists to
force them. "If they don't pay, we fight, we beat them up, but it only
happens once a week. Passengers know they have to pay. Fourteen-year-old Rahul
left his family's smallholding three years ago after he beat up a boy at
school. He has an angelic face, but it's grubby and his SpongeBob SquarePants T-shirt is even dirtier. He lives on platform
15, where he began by begging, then graduated to collecting plastic bottles,
before joining Mohammed in the seat‑blocking scam. "It was difficult at first because of
other boys. They took drugs and beat me up and threatened me with
knives," he says. He makes only 50 rupees a day (60p) because he is
smaller than the others and cannot block as many seats. "I spend my
money on dahl and some vegetables. There's no money
for fun. We do have some freedom, we can go around
and see movies." But he wants to go back to his village one day, where
he wants to return to farming. He misses his family. Street beggar to star striker, Raja is Gethin Chamberlain, The
Observer, 4 January 2009 www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/04/raja-chinnaswamy-india-football-star [accessed 24 May 2011] Hoping their luck
would change, the boy and his father headed for the town of Some of the other
street children spotted him begging at the station. They told the gullible
six-year-old they could get him a job and one for his father. Instead they
took him to meet the boss of the local begging mafia, a man also called Chinnaswamy, behind a row of shops. The man threatened
him and warned him against trying to escape. "He said I had
to give him 100 rupees a day or he would kill my father," Raja said. If
he tried to escape, he was told, the other children would inform on him. One
day Raja failed to hit his target. His father was sick with a fever and the
boy needed to care for him. "In the
evening I went begging and went to see Chinnaswamy
to give him the 50 rupees I had made. He tied me to a stove and hit me with
an iron rod," he said. Chinnaswamy had
gathered the other children round to watch, to make sure that they learned
the lesson. The rod was heated on the stove until it was red hot. Raja rolls
down his sock to show the scars. There is another scar to the left of one eye
from where he was burned with a cigarette. The god of small children Nazia Mallick,
Ode Magazine, December 10, 2008 www.odemagazine.com/blogs/readers_blog/4115/the_god_of_small_children [accessed 24 May 2011] HOW DO THEY END UP
ON THE STREETS?
- Basically it is the need for survival. These children come from very poor,
violent and broken homes. There are many kids who have been literally
abandoned by their parents/relatives or choose to leave home due to constant
abuse such as physical, mental and sexual exploitation. Their tolerance level
breaks at some point, leading to the drastic decision of running away. Those who run away from home are either
those who wanted to study and work but were not allowed to, or they ran away
from remote villages to experience the perceived excitement of city life.
Such children are abducted and pushed into begging. Some are forced into the
street by their parents, when the parents are unable to feed and nourish
them. An UNICEF study
found that almost 40,000 children die every day in developing countries, 25%
of which are in India. Studies
indicate that the street children in India suffer from various chronic
diseases and malnourishment. Being constantly exposed to dirt, smoke and
other environmental hazards, their health condition is poor. Many suffer from
serious diseases like TB, leprosy, typhoid, malaria, jaundice
and liver/kidney disorders. There are cases of scabies, gangrene, broken
limbs and epilepsy. Fatal diseases like HIV & AIDS is also spreading
widely among them due to high incidence of sexual abuse and exploitation. A
large number have genital lesions and suggestions of secondary syphilis. All
these children have little or no family support. Street children a ‘security threat’ at rly
station Manoj More, The Indian
Express News Service, Dec 03, 2008 www.expressindia.com/latest-news/street-children-a-security-threat-at-rly-station/393396/ [accessed 24 May 2011] Officials said from
time to time they have taken up the issue with the Government Railway Police
(GRP), but the situation hadn’t changed one bit. They keep coming on the
station premises, roam all over the place, sleep anywhere they want, quarrel
among themselves and even steal passenger luggage and parcels arriving from
other cities. Their number is around 50. “We want these kids out. They are a
nuisance and a security threat,” said Divisional Railway Manager D K Jain.
The biggest danger, said Jain, was that these youth can be bought over
easily. “Many of them are addicted to
drugs. Some of them beg. So you cannot deny the possibility that these
children will be used by miscreants to create trouble,” Jain said. The Railway is also hassled by thefts of
parcels. “In the night, you will find them sleeping on the parcels. They
steal items from these parcels by using razors or knives. We have to
compensate commuters for the loss,” said Y K Singh of Central Railway. In
2007, 13 thefts of parcels were reported while this year the number has risen
to 15. A bank for street children Piya Kochhar,
Radio www.featurez.com/bank_for_street_children.html [accessed 19 September 2011] Street children
running a bank for other street children. The idea might sound incongruous,
but over 8,000 street children around the world are saving some of their
meager earnings to build a better life. TREASURE CHEST - In Delhi alone,
2000 street children have accounts in the 12 Khazana
branches around the city. Most of these "branches" are located in
make-shift posts at railway stations and crowded marketplaces... basically,
anywhere where street children hang out. Chasms between children Harsh Mander, The
Hindu, Oct 05, 2008 www.hindu.com/mag/2008/10/05/stories/2008100550060300.htm [accessed 24 May 2011] A child was talking
of how he lost his home and ended up on the streets. He was travelling with
his parents in a crowded train when he was very young. He got off the
compartment at a station, and the train left with his mother and father. He
never found his parents again. For most of his childhood years, he grew up on
railway platforms with other homeless children as his only family, earning
his food through selling water bottles or picking rags, battling sexual abuse
and police batons, seeking solace in drugs and the comradeship of his street
friends. Ragpickers who saved Delhi Sidharth Pandey,
NDTV www.ndtv.com/video/player/news/ragpickers-who-saved-delhi/38607 [accessed 12 October 2012] Without them However, NGOs say
that this is a bitter irony as the capital's 1 lakh street children are often
at the receiving end of the law.
Connaught Place, the heart of Delhi, also home to thousands of
street-children who are its eyes and ears but go unnoticed, unheard. It's been a long walk for Javed and Sunil, both in their teens, from broken
families one from Bareily the other from Madhya
Pradesh. A year ago, they ran away
from their homes and came to Delhi looking for work. But all they managed to
do is this risky business especially after live bombs were found in dustbins
on Saturday. "We are scared as we
pick garbage and especially from dustbins it could be bomb and something may
happen but what to do, it's about survival," said Mohammad Javed, ragpicker. The two walk over five kilometers each day,
looking for stuff that can be sold to scrap dealers, 40-50 rupees is all they
earn, life on the streets is not easy. The former street kid who got his life back
in focus www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/News/Article.aspx?id=832982 [Last access date unavailable] Because of problems
at school, he fled his West Bengal home at the age of 11 and sought shelter
on the streets of Every sunrise has a sunset: Lives on the
streets Anshul Tewari,
merinews, Aug 11, 2008 www.merinews.com/article/every-sunrise-has-a-sunset-lives-on-the-streets/139154.shtml [accessed 24 May 2011] CHILDREN CUT SHORT: TREATMENT OF STREET CHILDREN - Street children
in MAJOR PROBLEM THEY FACE: AIDS - One of the major problems the children
face is AIDS. The street children at
the railway stations are worst affected and 35 per cent of them have
Tuberculosis, the first symptom of AIDS. More than five million children on
Indian streets are HIV positive. Of
these, girls are the worst affected. They are raped, taken away by touts and
sold in brothels. Not a single girl at the New Delhi railway station has been
spared. In 1997, the Inter Press News
Service wrote an article stating that the street children in India are most
vulnerable to AIDS. The article brought to the fore the irony of one such
girl among millions. Uma (name changed) a nine-year old girl was raped by a
gang of homeless boys at the New Delhi railway station, where she also lived.
The same happened over and over again. This led to the poor child delivering
a still born baby Living off the city's mean streets Deepa Suryanarayan,
Daily News & Analysis DNA, Mumbai, Jul 25, 2008 www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_living-off-the-citys-mean-streets_1179640 [accessed 24 May 2011] According to the UN
High Commissioner for Human Rights, The fate of a girl
is very different from that of a boy on the street. "The average girl
arriving in the city will last about 15 minutes before being approached by a
person posing as a friendly stranger offering help," says Valerie Tripp
of an NGO Saathi. "More often than not, these
friendly strangers are agents who whisk away the unsuspecting girl to a
brothel." As for the boys,
the railway platform is their permanent home. "They start with begging
and selling knick-knacks, and when they get no money, they turn to
crime," says Kasbe. "In many cases these
children are picked by criminals to run errands." Kasbe says these street
children have a network of their own. "Most children who have been in
the city for 15 days know where they can find free food," he says. The
children form groups and head towards temples or shelters where food is
distributed free, he says. They also know that they can find work in places
like small hotels and shops. The children of a street god Surekha S & Humaira Ansari, Daily News & Analysis DNA, Mumbai,
Jul 24, 2008 www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_the-children-of-a-street-god_1179421 [accessed 24 May 2011] Even before the
train comes to a halt, what one sees is a mad scramble of young lads, as they
leap into the compartments, dodging passengers to collect leftover food. It's
with a sense of achievement that they emerge victoriously with packets of
half eaten kurkure, dahi
cups, mineral water, omelettes, Appy
Fizz etc. These kids who many Mumbaikars shun, or simply take for granted as being part
of the urbanscape, earn about Rs50 to 60 a day.
Some sell newspapers, some pick up plastic litter to sell to the local bangarwalla,
others make their money carrying luggage and doing odd jobs. Newspaper-vending, the most predominant
occupation, also helps the ones who can read, know about the happenings in
the city. It also gives the kids information about the latest film releases.
So it's no surprise to hear the titles Hancock and Jane Tu
being mentioned. The kids catch up on the films at their favourite
cinemas, namely Maratha Mandir and Gaiety. Coming from diverse parts of the country -
Bihar, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and the interior of Maharashtra - these kids
live life on their own terms; enjoying their life away from home as much as
they can. Flintoff, an 18-year-old
boy from Madgaon came to Mumbai at the age of nine
to become a film hero. But now, he says philosophically, "Everyone comes
here to become a hero but ends up being a villain." He ran away from
home to escape a drunkard for a father, and has since been living on the
streets of Mumbai. He has no wish to return home. According to him: "We
get food, a place to sleep, some money, and most important of all
unrestricted freedom. What more do we want?" But his words contradict his wish that
11-year-old Irfan, who joined his group recently,
be taken away in order to lead a better life. Unaware of the harsh realities
of street life, Irfan ran away from his home in Umarkhand to educate himself in Mumbai. Though the kids
paint a rosy picture of life, they are also aware of its grim realities.
Apart from sustaining themselves, what they fear most is the beatings met out
by the police. Entering the trains to procure meals, sleeping on platforms by
night invite police lathis. But it is drug-addiction that is the
biggest cause for concern, when it comes to street children, according to the
city's NGOs. Giving children a voice: street wise www.guardian.co.uk/journalismcompetition/street.wise [Last access date unavailable] Shekhar was 12 when he ran
away from his home in On arrival in
Delhi, Shekhar met another street kid who pointed
him to the temple for a free meal. Shekhar joined
the estimated one million children who make their homes on the streets of
Delhi, ekeing out a living - rag picking, shoe
shining and in some cases, pickpocketing and drug peddling. Not all of the
children are runaways: some are abandoned, or neglected; others work on the
streets returning home to sleep. For these children the street is a work
place, and they are an integral part of the city's economy. Some, like Shekhar, work sweeping the train cars and collecting any
left over food. Rag pickers and bottle collectors play a useful role in a
city with no real recycling programme or general
rubbish collection. Delhi's streets are
an urban jungle where each day is spent battling against hunger, abuse,
illness and fear. The popular perception of the street children is of
lawless, crime-prone outcasts. Police and local officials use violence and
intimidation widely against them. The government response is to round the
children up and dump them in jail-like remand homes. Journey to the streets Harsh Mander, The
Hindu, Jul 13, 2008 www.hindu.com/mag/2008/07/13/stories/2008071350080300.htm [accessed 24 May 2011] HARSH NECESSITIES - Abuse often
drives boys from their homes, who flee their
families to escape intolerable abuse. These are acts of incredible courage
for children so young, echoed and repeated in the lives of tens of thousands
of street children who decide at very young ages to bravely escape violence
and abuse in their homes — alcoholic fathers, physical and sexual violence —
by fending for themselves, at whatever cost. But we also have children who
were lost or abandoned by their families at such a young age that they do not
recall their origins. The streets are the only home that they remember. NO OTHER HOME - Some are also
simply born to the streets. In Chennai, in particular, we encountered several
families which had lived for several generations on the same piece of
pavement. Their great grandparents came to the city, sometimes 80 years
earlier or longer, and the patriarchs colonised
gradually “their” part of the pavement. New generations were born, one
following the next, and they all grew up in the same stretch of pavement.
This was the only home that the large extended family now knew. Mohan, a
street boy in Chennai, said, “Homelessness is not a new thing for me. I was
born into streets, and it was here that I was brought up.” He is convinced
that they will be forced to return to the streets. Likewise, Mythili is another of “homeless lineage”. When she was a
child, her father was irresponsible, “a drunkard, he never cared for us”, she
recounts, and her mother fed them by selling food cooked by her on the pavements
to other homeless people. The future of capitalism Arun Maira,
The Economic Times ET Bureau, Jul 10, 2008 [accessed 24 May 2011] I attended a
workshop with 60 school children in Street children struggle to survive in
Mumbai Shilpa Hassani,
merinews, Jun 03, 2008 www.merinews.com/article/street-children-struggle-to-survive-in-mumbai/135153.shtml [accessed 24 May 2011] Most In pictures: Indian railways' runaway
children BBC News [accessed 24 May 2011] CBI goes after foster parents in child
racket K Praveen Kumar, Times News Network (The
Times of [accessed 10 February 2011] The case had originated
on the basis of complaints from parents about missing children. One of them,
the child of Kathiravel and Nagamani,
pavement-dwellers in Pulianthope, had been allegedly kidnapped and sold to a
Dutch couple. Similarly, the
four-year-old child of Sylvia, a woman from Otteri,
was kidnapped from an auto and sold to a couple in Australia. Another couple
from the city had lost their one-and-a-half-year old child, who was traced to
the US. The racket was
busted in the city in the first week of May 2005 after the Otteri police received specific information about
kidnapping of children in and around Otteri. The police team then started investigations
and arrested seven people identified as Varadharajan,
Sheikh Dawood, Navjeen, Sabeera, Manoharan, Salima and K.T. Dawood. They
subsequently traced the racket to an illegal adoption agency, Malaysian
Social Service, which had kidnapped street
children and sold them to foreigners after forging certificates. The case
was subsequently transferred to the Crime Branch. - htsc Promoter held for raping street children The Statesman, Kolkata, 13 May 2008 At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 24 May 2011] An
NGO informed the city police few months ago that they received
complaints of street children being sexually abused by few taxi drivers at
night. The NGO has already rescued some of the abused girls who are now
staying in a shelter home. A senior city police officer said that
initiatives have been taken to protect street children from being abused. In a first, BMC gets talking about street
children’s health Express News Service, Mumbai, May 10, 2008 www.expressindia.com/latest-news/In-a-first-BMC-gets-talking-about-street-childrens-health/307730/ [accessed 24 May 2011] Recently, we took a
friend to the Mumbai has an
estimated 1.5 lakh street children, who take refuge at railway stations,
pavements and shelter homes, with little or no access to healthcare. Aras noted that as
most street children do not have bathing and toilet facilities, many suffer
from chronic diseases like asthma and dysentery. Dr Pallavi Shelke from Sion Hospital who attended Friday’s session also noted
that respiratory tract infection was most common, along with complaints of diarrhoea, sticky stools, abdominal pain and worm
infestation, scabies, boils, malnutrition. A glimpse at life on the streets in India Judy Stoffman,
The www.thestar.com/Travel/article/417529 [accessed 24 May 2011] It's a place he
knows first-hand. Shekhar was born in Bihar, the
poorest of India's 28 states, and ran away at age 12, jumping on a train and
eluding ticket takers all the way to Delhi.
"Basically, most of the children run away from the country
because of poverty; they know they are a burden to their families," he
says. He quickly found
that the children look out for one another.
"When I got here, I met another rag picker and he said `Are you
hungry?' and he took me to the Sisganj Gurdwara (Sikh temple) for a free meal," Shekhar recalls. These children, it
turns out, are not an anomaly, but integrated into
the city's economy. They are not beggars
– they work sweeping the train cars and collecting any leftover food.
First-class trains are particularly good.
"My friend got into a car with a wedding party and got two pieces
of chicken," he says. From a
bridge between the platforms, he points out some boys jumping between the
tracks, collecting empty plastic water bottles, which fetch half a rupee
each. They make, he says,
60 to 70 rupees a day or about $2. In
a nook below the overpass, a child is sleeping under a piece of
cardboard. We walk past a juice seller
who lets children sleep on top of his booth, and acts as a banker, keeping
their scant rupees safe from theft.
Another shop on the platform is Chemist Corner, where sick children go
to buy herbal medicines. "Street
children are crazy about Bollywood movies," says Shekhar.
"Some will hop the train to Mumbai to see a premiere. They play hide and
seek with the railway police; if they are caught they get badly beaten." Geetanjali Krishna: Children
of a lesser god Geetanjali Krishna, Business
Standard, www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=320539 [accessed 24 May 2011] “It takes most
children less than a month on the streets to take to glue,” said Amit, who started Jamghat. He
and his friends estimate that almost every single child on the streets of
Delhi has been sexually, physically or mentally abused. The children face
other problems as well — the money they make begging, pushing carts or as
coolies, is more often than not, snatched by older
residents of the park, even by the police themselves. “It is sad,” said Amit, “but the fact is that today, few are willing to
take on the responsibility of these troubled children.” Streetsmart bankers Meenakshi Sinha,
Times News Network (The Times of [accessed 24 May 2011] This red-and-
yellow enclosure is the Children's Development Bank (CDB) — run by street
children, exclusively for street children.
As soon as the bank opens at 6:30 pm (unlike regular banks, CDB
operates only in the evening because street children work during the day),
its young customers line up to make withdrawals or deposit their day's
earnings. Thirteen-year-old Durgesh waits patiently as the cashier — who is as old as
Durgesh — makes an entry in his passbook and hands
him a note of Rs 50. Apart from his daily expenses and an
occasional movie outing, Durgesh is saving up hard
to go home. "The bank is a safe place to deposit my money," he
says. There are many like him —
runaways from desperately poor rural homes who join the big city's floating population of ragpickers
and street vendors. "Most of them are boys; there aren't many girls on
the streets," says Suman Sachdeva,
development manager of Butterflies, the NGO behind the initiative. The bank opens for an hour everyday — a
busy time for its manager-cum-cashier, a nominated child volunteer who runs
the affairs. The job is rotated every six months, giving youngsters (usually
in the 12-14 age group) a chance to learn accounting
and be responsible with money. Child-beggars: Battering experiences,
bitter future Sharmila Govande,
merinews, Feb 26, 2008 www.merinews.com/article/child-beggars-battering-experiences-bitter-future/130553.shtml [accessed 24 May 2011] The life of a child
beggar is very daunting and frightful. Akbar (name changed) shivers every
time he recollects the days when he was forced to beg. He was beaten,
assaulted, tortured whenever he was not able to bring in his daily quota of
earnings. He took to pick pocketing and other petty crimes in order to
protect himself from the wrath of his dealer. He took to smelling glue to
overcome his hunger. He did not have a bath for months and used any open
space to defecate. Fortunately, he was
rescued by an NGO working for street children. “I was lucky, since I was an
orphan. Didi did not have to seek any ones
permission for taking me to their shelter. Many others continued suffering as
it was their own parents who forced them into begging.” PMC to build a nest for street kids Times News Network (The Times of [accessed 24 May 2011] In a unique
initiative, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has undertaken a project to
provide shelter to all street children in the city. The 'Gharte'
(Nest) project will ensure that no child on the street is left without
care. If the PMC successfully
implements the scheme, it will be the first civic body in the country to
provide 100 per cent rehabilitation of street children. "We will ensure that the childhood of
no kid is destroyed on the streets. It is our social responsibility to look
after these children. It is possible to take care of street kids whose lives
are getting wasted," municipal commissioner Pravinsinh
Pardeshi said while speaking to TOI. The beneficiaries of the project will be
children of single parent or no parent, children of sex workers, runaway
children and children of parents who do not care for them. New scheme gives street kids home, school Preeti Jha,
The Indian Express News Service, www.expressindia.com/latest-news/New-scheme-gives-street-kids-home-school/261144/ [accessed 24 May 2011] By opening a school
that runs classes during the day and provides meals and secure lodgings at
night, the DoE hopes it will attract and educate both students who have never
enrolled in a school and those who would otherwise drop out to earn a livelihood.
“We’re not opening a children’s home,” stressed Education Secretary Rina Ray, “but we are trying to address a few of the
underlying problems that prevent street children or child labourers,
for instance, from going to school.” In a simultaneous move,
destitute women will also be recruited to live alongside groups of five or
six students--a concept inspired by NGO SOS-India, which runs children’s
villages across the country for orphaned and abandoned children, uniquely
teaming up a childcare professional, known as a mother, with a child. “The
mothers will be able to guide and aid their group of children’s educational
and general development,” said Ray. Christmas sales bring cheer to street
children Indo-Asian News Service IANS, 25 December
2007 [accessed 24 May 2011] Sanjida, heavily pregnant
and a young mother of two, similarly is really happy with the sales. “I have
sold 50 such caps in two days,” she smiled, sitting on the pavement with her
children in south Budget for children neglects health,
protection Hemlata Verma,
The Indian Express News Service, Shimla, Dec 25, 2007 www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Budget-for-children-neglects-health-protection/253796/ [accessed 24 May 2011] A look at the state
budget for children in the past four years reveals that the government’s
investment in the education sector has been at the cost of children’s
requirement of health and protection facilities. As a result, the state has
seen a sharp rise in the number of street children and very little
improvement in the condition of 58 per cent anaemic
children (between 6-35 months age). Besides, health and protection, requirements
of adolescents have also remained totally neglected. This was revealed in a report, “Analysis of
State’s Priorities Towards Children”, released by Himachal Pradesh Voluntary
Health Association (HPVHA) in collaboration with Centre for Child Rights. The
report was recently released by Governor V.S. Kokje. Childhood marred with sex and drugs Kishalay Bhattacharjee,
NDTV, Dimpaur, December 22, 2007 www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070036638&ch=12/22/2007%201:40:00%20PM [accessed 25 May 2011] Street children in
the north-east are trapped in a vicious circle of substance and sexual abuse.
This street culture drives them to a life of theft. AB's (name protected) home
are the streets of Dimapur, where he's spent
all his 17 years. Except the time he went to jail but that's not his concern
right now. He is back and trying to
fit back to the only life he has had, drugs, theft and unsafe sex. "I live on the footpath, pick up
scrap, take dendrite and drugs. We were told about HIV, through the injections that we take we know that HIV
can be transmitted. Then I went to jail for drugs and theft, we were also
told about condom use. Mom left and dad married someone else so he left. I am
here in Dimpaur." Jonathan Allen, Reuters, in.reuters.com/article/2007/12/17/idINIndia-31018320071217 [accessed 25 May 2011] Eleven-year-old Anurag never went to school because he had to scavenge
through "I
never had a home, so it's not like I've left home," he said, holding
hands with his new best friend, 10-year-old Rahul. "I ran away from home because they
wouldn't send me to school," adds Rahul, explaining that his parents sent
him to work at a motorcycle repair shop on Delhi's outskirts. Anurag and Rahul
are among 30 homeless children involved in a pilot project in Delhi, giving
them housing and "bridging" classes to help them catch up on lost
years of schooling. The Herald ( [accessed 25 May 2011] The father of six
is not alone. In the months leading up to the games, more than 5000 families
have been forced from their homes as the city authorities demolished hundreds
of slums and encampments around New Delhi, a crowded, traffic-choked city of
14 million people. New Delhi already
has 150,000 homeless residents - the vast majority of them women and children
- a staggering figure that critics say is largely ignored by city leaders. But Delhi's
handling of its homeless population has brought into sharp focus a larger
problem facing India, an emerging superpower where the needs of the country's
70 million homeless, mostly women and children, are often brushed aside as
the gap widens between the haves and the have-nots. In her own words: Katy French in Calcutta Katy French, October 07 2007 www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/in-her-own-words-katy-french-in-calcutta-13384016.html [accessed 25 May 2011] These children have
no homes, no water, no food, no health service, and no education. They are
alone. Often children as young as four are thrown on to the streets by their
own mother and father, simply because they cannot provide for them. They are
seen more as a burden than a blessing. Many are maimed; others are
handicapped, yet they are nonetheless discarded because they cannot
contribute. All are just little
children left wondering what to do and where to go. They are at the mercy of
those who would use and abuse them, rather than help them. Kids earn brownies for companies Business Standard BS, www.rediff.com/money/2007/nov/20kids.htm [accessed 25 May 2011] Can islands of
welfare initiatives change the larger picture for children in Says Pooran Pandey, who heads Times
Foundation: "These scattered efforts, unless put together, cannot have
an impact. For, there is no guarantee that good models are replicated with
every company trying to re-invent the wheel." HIV Prevention among street children in Mohammed MU; International Conference on
AIDS -- Int Conf AIDS.
2002 Jul 7-12; 14: abstract no. WeOrD1273, S.V.University,
Dept. of Population Studies, Tirupati - gateway.nlm.nih.gov/MeetingAbstracts/ma?f=102253115.html [accessed 25 May 2011] Children’s Day under the shadow of the rape
of childhood Rishabh, merinews, Nov 13, 2007 www.ecpat.net/ei/resource_newsclippings.asp?id=61 [accessed 12 October 2012] The definition of a ‘child’ in the Indian
legal and policy framework is someone below 18 years. Our laws are neither
child friendly nor child oriented. Here are few figures: - sccp q Less than half of
India’s children between the age of six and 14 go to school. q Only 38 per cent of
children below two years are immunised. q Over 50 per cent
children are malnourished. q One out of every six
girls does not live to see her 15th birthday. q Of 12 million girls
born, one million do not see their first birthday. q Females are victimised far more than males in their childhood. q 53 per cent of girls
in the age group of five to nine years are illiterate. q There are two
million child commercial sex workers between the age of five and 15 years. q 17 million children
in India work out of compulsion, not out of choice. Giving At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 25 May 2011] CHILDREN OF THE
STREETS
- They're seen just about everywhere in Lost, runaway street children find their
way back home via cyberspace Mihika Basu,
The Indian Express News Service, Mumbai, November 02, 2007 [accessed 25 May 2011] Rinku is one among
several children who run away from home everyday in search of a better life
in Mumbai but ultimately end up on its streets. Thanks to the consistent
efforts of the shelter, several like him are able to relocate their families
though a homelink website (www.homelink.in)
launched in July this year. Opportunists Allegedly Sponsoring Street
Beggars in Voice of www.voanews.com/content/a-13-2007-10-23-voa40-66518332/553427.html [accessed 12 October 2012] “The way these
children were picking [taking] the money was rather professional. All
of them were using a [one] particular arm (the right arm) they wave it in
front of your face, and when they pick [take] the money you see them running
to an adult who is sited [waiting] on the side of the road – which brought
out the picture that this was an organized arrangement assisted by
politicians.” Lokwir John, a
12-year-old Karimajog beggar denied this. He
told me that he was not attending school and came to Kampala to seek money
for food. He said his uncle put him on a bus with other Karamoja
families going to Kampala for a better life. He said every week, he sends his money home to his mother in the
village. ‘Street Dreams’ come true in life and on
film for two shutterbugs Upneet Pansare,
The Indian Express News Service, Mumbai, Oct 23, 2007 [accessed 25 May 2011] At 11, both Dont erazeus out... Nina C George, This article has been archived by World
Street Children News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 25 May 2011] Following their
path Suhas discovered that these children consume Erazex during late evening and at night. Open drains,
parks, and empty spaces serve as ideal places where they sit in a large group
and sniff off a cloth which they pass from one person to another. “There’s a
dog accompanying every gang. These are good watch dogs and protect these
children from police, underworld gangsters or by older street boys who bully
them and use them to achieve their own ends,” explains Suhas. No Child’s Play This Screen www.screenindia.com/old/fullstory.php?content_id=17502 [accessed 25 May 2011] But more than
creating awareness about these issues, our aim is to stress the need for
education of these children. By employing them as domestics or giving them
other jobs, we think we get them out of a financial crisis, but in the
bargain we are depriving them of their basic right of…..Education. Street children campaign for their rights
in Kolkata The Indian Express News Service, Kolkata,
Oct 13, 2007 www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Street-children-campaign-for-their-rights-in-Kolkata/227934/ [accessed 25 May 2011] They have no place
to stay and have made the streets their home. Armed with placards requesting
the authorities concerned not to evict them, more than 80 street children
below the age of 15 years marched down the crowded streets of north Kolkata
on Friday with their parents by their side. For Gita Paswan, a Class I student, the march was to stop the
police from destroying their shanties and separating them from their parents.
Dinesh (13), a school dropout was there to make people aware of the plight of
others like him. “Police come and evict us from our homes. The worst
sufferers are those who go to schools as there is little time to study if one
stays on the streets,” he said. 7.6 million children are still out of the
school, says official The Hindu, Karnataka - www.hindu.com/2007/10/05/stories/2007100558961100.htm [accessed 25 May 2011] There are 7.6
million children who are out of school in Admitting that
retention of children in schools was a worrying issue, he said the next area
of priority would be “hard to reach” children such as street children and
those in slums. The drop out rate was particularly high among children from
minority communities and those from Scheduled Tribes, he said. Seemi PashaSeemi
Pasha , Indian News Channel CNN-IBN News, ibnlive.in.com/news/delhi-street-kid-becomes-professional-photographer/49538-19.html [accessed 25 May 2011] Vicky Roy's big
city dream started as a rag picker. After picking up empty bottles and
selling them for Rs 5 each, he graduated to working
in a dhaba near the New Delhi Railway Station. “I ran away from home in 1999. The first
day I was here, I slept at the railway station,” says Vicky. But today Vicky is a photographer with
exhibitions at the India Habitat Centre in Delhi as well as in London. “Street boys are
usually very tough but Vicky was a very soft boy. He showed interest in
photography so we put him in touch with a professional,” says Founder, Salaam
Balak Trust, Praveen
Nair. With several exhibitions lined
up for his work in India and abroad, Vicky has surely proved that if given an
opportunity even a street kid change his destiny. Auto rickshaw driver turns savoir of street
children Asian News International ANI, news.webindia123.com/news/ar_showdetails.asp?id=709150311&cat=&n_date=20070915 [accessed 25 May 2011] Hundereds of street children
in Four SSC passouts
were drug addicts 10 yrs ago www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmpaper.aspx?page=article§id=2&contentid=200706270235551254888984f [Last access date unavailable] Four street
children who were addicted to drugs 10 years ago appeared for the SSC exams
this year and passed with flying colours. Kashyap, who secured 76
per cent, said he wanted to become an artist and study at the J J School of Art. He said that due to poverty and
ill-treatment by parents, he ran away from his home in a Jharkhand village
and reached CST station where he spent a year. “Initially, I begged. Later, I befriended
some people, who taught me to work as a coolie. When I did not have
sufficient food, a friend suggested that drugs could suppress hunger,” he
said. He became a habitual drug user till he was offered help by the
NGO. Support officials
said that such children are first sent for detoxification and then to the
rehabilitation department, a process that takes about six months. Once this
is through, they are able to go to school. Satinder Bains,
Punjab Newsline, www.punjabnewsline.com/content/view/5572/38/ [accessed 25 May 2011] With a view to
empowering the street children and to ensure their rehabilitation as productive
members of society, the Punjab Governor and Administration Union Territory,
Chandigarh, Gen. (Retd.) S.F. Rodrigues,
Friday laid the foundation stone of a vocational training center for 900
street children near village Maloya, which will be
fully equipped with facilities of Education, Vocational Training, Residential
facilities, playground and other necessary support structures. Agnes Chan, The search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20070906f1.html [accessed 25 May 2011] Eighty million
people are considered middle and upper class in No one knows
exactly how many street people there are, but the number of street children
has been estimated by local child-rights NGO AMRAE at 200,000. The scale of
homelessness is simply mind-boggling. Many children are born into unfortunate
situations where the huge divide between the haves and have-nots depends not
only on materialistic issues but on class and culture: It is about where
people were born, what name they bear, their gender and what religion they
follow. All these factors influence the opportunities a child will receive in
life. Everyone is supposedly born equal, but generations of Indian children
have endured the same unfortunate destination. From polishing shoes to driving rickshaw,
he works his way towards a better future Vikram Rautela,
The Indian Express News Service, Ahmedabad, August 29, 2007 cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=253422 [accessed 25 May 2011] As a 10-year-old
boy, he used to move around on city roads with a shoe polish box slung around
on his shoulders. Then known as ‘Paka’ polishwala, Jitesh Parmar used to polish people’s shoes near Dilli Darwaja. Now, after more than a decade, Parmar aspires to become a civil servant. The 21-year-old
youth is doing MCom from a college in the
city. Parmar’s
life did not change overnight _ and nor did he find any magic wand. It was a
worker from city-based voluntary organisation, Rachanatmak Abhigam Trust, who
got a school dropout Parmar
admitted to a school again. The NGO
also arranged for a free of cost vocational training for Parmar
at its training and rehabilitation centre for
street children, so that he could earn while studying and not become a
liability on his poor parents. Piggy bankers Neha Sinha,
The Indian Express News Service, cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=251633 [accessed 25 May 2011] In a corner of a
grubby MCD night shelter, children queue up with their ‘passports’ and their
pennies at the counter of the Children’s Development Bank. At the end of a
hard day’s work, this is where they ‘invest’ their money — in “chalu accounts”. The award-winning
Children’s Development Bank, set up with help from the NGO Butterflies, is
run by children and has street children for its customers. Red FM extends social activities with 'Dil Se' Indiantelevision.com Team, Mumbai, 13
August 2007 www.indiantelevision.com/mam/headlines/y2k7/aug/augmam56.php [accessed 25 May 2011] Red FM Delhi in
association with the NGO Centre for Equity Studies has launched a social
campaign 'Dil Se' to provide all-round care for
street children in the city. The campaign is supported by the Department of
Education, Government of Delhi under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). As part of the campaign, Red FM and the NGO
will refurbish government schools and other buildings to accommodate street
children with arrangement for boarding and lodging. In Plain Sight but Invisible Shelley Seale, Worldpress,
July 19, 2007 www.worldpress.org/Asia/2868.cfm [accessed 25 May 2011] When brought face
to face with such children — an all-too-common occurrence virtually
everywhere in Meet the heroes www.cybernoon.com/DisplayArticle.asp?section=fromthepress&subsection=inbombay&xfile=July2007_inbombay_standard13453 [Last access date unavailable] It works at various
levels, which are an Outreach program which reaches out to street children
and encourages them to leave their street life, a Drop-in Centre, which
provides basic facilities for children who decide to continue to live on the
street, a 24 hour Open House for street children with any problem, a
Residential Home for the children, a Drug De-addiction and Therapeutic
Community, a Research and Development centre, which
publishes the learning's of the organisation, a
Rural Development Program and an Urban Slum Development program which aims at
empowering people at the grass root level and improving their quality of life
and preventing the children from leaving their homes for the street. Government Programme
To News Post At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 25 May 2011] The Integrated Programme for Street Children includes the setting up of
24-hour drop-in shelters with facilities for night stay, safe drinking water,
bathrooms, latrines, first-aid and recreation, an official release said
here. The programme
also includes non-formal education and training facilities for meaningful
vocations, trades and skills to enhance their earning capacity. At this meet, small voices address big
issues Pulkit Vasudha,
The Indian Express News Service, Ahmedabad, July 03, 2007 cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=243967 [accessed 25 May 2011] The Sheetal Waghela, 13, expressed her concern about the
insensitivity with which the police dealt with street children. “Though not
all policemen are bad to us, street children are terrified at the sight of
policemen,” she said. NGO to move HC seeking ban on use of ‘white
ink’ Sobhana K, The Indian
Express News Service, cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=242852 [accessed 25 May 2011] An NGO is planning
to file a public interest litigation in the High
Court seeking a ban on correction fluids—used in offices—and adhesives used
for repairing tyres. The NGO decided to file the petition after
a study conducted by it showed that more than 70 per cent of street children
are addicted to drugs and over 50 per cent of them inhale such “cheap drugs”. The study by Chetna
(Childhood Enhancement through Training and Action) also states that “white
fluid” worth over Rs 60 lakh is bought by these
street children in Delhi every day.
“The liquid is not used any longer in offices. A ban on the liquid
will save the lives of many street children,” said Sanjay Gupta, director,
CHETNA. A New LIfe
Getting Children off the Streets Gita Pullapilly,
Frontline/World, June 21, 2007 www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2007/06/india_street_ch.html [accessed 25 May 2011] Although life on
the streets is harsh and dangerous, it has a certain allure. According to Koshy and his team, it takes roughly a month for a child
to become addicted to hustling. Earning money from rag-picking and collecting
recyclables, the children quickly bond with each other and become accustomed
to the relative freedom of street life. Once they have enough rupees, they
buy food, the occasional luxury of a ticket to see a movie in an air-conditioned
theater, and cheap drugs. "The street addiction is very strong,"
says Dasaka, who's affectionately known as Anu Auntie. Kolkata registers its young street dwellers Asian News International ANI, June 19, 2007 www.andhranews.net/India/2007/June/19-Kolkata-registers-5260.asp [accessed 25 May 2011] Civic authorities
in Kolkata have registered thousands of its street children enabling them
access to the state's social security system.
Civic authorities handed out birth certificates to about 50,000 street
children in the city, a pre-requisite for access to any government welfare
scheme. The children said
that the certificate would entitle them to things they were deprived of. "I have come here for my certificate.
I need a birth certificate to make my voter identity card, to register myself
in the State's social security schemes and school admission," said
Muhammad Aslam, a street boy, receiving a birth
certificate. Summer shelters for Press Trust of www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/004200706180307.htm [accessed 25 May 2011] Sleeping children
on footpaths or on road dividers in Aiding the addicted June 04, 2007 This article has been archived by World
Street Children News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 25 May 2011] Support
NGO works for the betterment of street children who have fallen prey to
narcotics. After spending twenty years
with Support- NGO, Managing Director, Sujata Ganega has written a book on the rehabilitation of street children. “The
book — ‘FLUTE’ is totally based on my experience through life,” said Sujata. Talking about the main cause, Sujata
said, “The drug addiction habit is spreading because the bad company. Man arrested for molesting street children
in Andhra city Reuters, gulfnews.com/news/world/india/man-arrested-for-molesting-street-children-in-andhra-city-1.180155 [accessed 25 May 2011] Police in southern Madhur Tankha,
The Hindu, www.hindu.com/2007/05/18/stories/2007051814440400.htm [accessed 25 May 2011] By all accounts the
Capital's street children are vulnerable to all forms of exploitation and
abuse. And their daily lives are likely to be far removed from the childhood
envisaged in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. As a result, these children suffer from
sexually transmitted diseases, drug abuse and crime resulting in a deep sense
of insecurity and emotional conflict. Life's lessons learnt on the sidewalk Nikhil Hemrajani,
Times News Network (The Times of [accessed 25 May 2011] At the helm of Hamara Footpath is its founder, 24-year-old Shubhangi Swarup. "It is
an open community effort where people from all walks of life are encouraged
to step in and engage themselves with the street kids in any manner that is
helpful," she says. Thrice a week, from 7.30 pm to 9 pm, volunteers
assemble on the footpath facing a jewellery
showroom and interact with the kids. The sidewalk
classes see about 25 kids with five to 10 volunteers, picnics attract over 50
children, including a few of their street-dwelling parents. Money for such
outings is raised by volunteers from peers by way of e-mails and oral communication.
But it does not end there. Nearby chemists, general practitioners and
shopkeepers also offer a helping hand by sponsoring medicines or performing
medical check-ups. Today, with more
than 18 million kids on the street, India has the highest concentration of
street children in the world. And the number is growing. Many of these
children die young for want of simple care. Many of those who survive are
consumed by the city’s underbelly. Human Rights Watch - Street Children Human Rights Watch At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 25 May 2011] In Street kids fight another odd: AIDS cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=235423 At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [Last access date unavailable] They clean your car
while you wait at the traffic signal, serve you tea at roadside stalls or
just loiter around begging. And a number of them are carriers of the dreaded
HIV or may be actually suffering from AIDS. Deprived of
childhood, education and a good future, a large number of street children in
West Bengal, especially in Kolkata, have fallen prey to the dreaded disease
through regular sexual exploitation and addiction to injectible
drugs. “Street children
are victims of various kinds of perversions, like sodomy, rape, and other paedophilic activities. Many are also drug addicts. Girls
are more vulnerable,” said Subhasish Guha, associate professor, School of Tropical Medicine.
“They are so marginalised that their infections do
not come to light, nor do they get medical attention in time. We are
providing free anti-retroviral therapy, yet hardly any street children come
to us,” he added. When the school comes calling to these
street children Azera Rahman,
Indo-Asian News Service IANS, [accessed 25 May 2011] Her hair unkempt and
dressed in rags, seven-year-old Rani holds a stack of newspapers under her
arm at a busy traffic intersection in the city waiting for a car to halt.
Just then a van wheels by making her squeal in delight. A host of other kids
join her and they run towards it chanting 'Didi'(elder
sister). As three teachers step out of
it, the kids gather around it in excitement. The Tamasha
Roadshow Van, a mobile school initiative, is a sliver of hope for kids like
Rani from the drudgery of their daily grind at the various traffic signals of
the city where they sell newspapers, flowers and other odds and ends. Filled with colourful storybooks and having computers fitted in them,
these vans are a storehouse of excitement for the kids. Besides telling
stories, colourful pictures, puppets, cards and
marbles are also used to teach them in a fun-filled manner. The sessions last
for two to three hours a day. That's
not all. Various workshops on candle making, card making and painting are
also conducted so that the children can learn new skills and can use them to
earn a better living. 'The parents are also convinced this will help their
kids enhance skills to earn more that hence encourages them to come to us
every day,' she said. Govt, UNICEF plan education on wheels
for slum, street kids Tenzing Lamsang,
The Indian Express News Service, cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=234441 [accessed 25 May 2011] initially, two buses
provided by the Delhi State Industrial Development Corporation will be
redesigned, officials said. The bus, which will be designed so that it can
reach crowded slums, will cover four areas a day. The bus, on reaching a
particular area, will ring an alarm signalling its
arrival. Focus will be on school
drop-outs and children who have never gone to school. The bus will also be
instrumental in spreading awareness on malaria, dengue and environment,
officials added. For these children, labour is survival Harshad Pandharipande,
Times News Network (The Times of articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2007-05-01/nagpur/27886772_1_railway-station-boys-ravi [accessed 25 May 2011] Chetan Chauhan,
Hindustan Times, [accessed 25 May 2011] Although not all
the children would be covered the government intends to bring street children
in central The government will
also allocate funds for construction of the "child shelter homes"
having facilities for education and games for children. Explaining the idea
behind these homes, a senior ministry official said, children would be
welcome in these homes around the clock but no one would be forced to come
here. The homes would be run by the NGOs with the help of WCD department of
the Delhi government. NGO lights up future of streetkids Ruchi Sharma , Indian
News Channel CNN-IBN News, ibnlive.in.com/news/ngo-lights-up-future-of-streetkids/39208-3.html [accessed 25 May 2011] Many children like Sagar, who sell flowers or simply beg at traffic points,
are today getting an window to education thanks to
an initiative called 'Steps for Change'. An NGO, run by a group of youths,
has begun this initiative to help street children get basic education. The NGO educates 80 children in five
makeshift centres in Delhi. They teach the children
counting, Hindi, English and basic hygiene. The initiative may
or may not have changed much in the lives of these children today. But what
seems to be changing for sure is the future of these children and it surely
looks much brighter. But the
volunteers of Steps for Change admit that it's difficult to keep the kids
like Sagar hooked to books. "Initially, it was really very
difficult to get these kids to come to classes, because first of all, it was
a very big thing to connect with them so that they listen to you in the first
place," says Pawan, a founder member of the
NGO. Street kids get a park of their own Sumati Yengkhom,
Times News Network (The Times of [accessed 25 May 2011] An adventure park
exclusively for the underprivileged children has come up in the city. Tucked
away on the southern fringes, Monobitan will open
its gates on Thursday. An initiative
of Child In Need Institute (CINI), the fiveacre
park near Thakurpurkur has different play areas for
children of different ages. While Badhan Hara, a
lush green play area for children upto six years
has a merry-goround, sea-saw and swings, Bana Mallika caters to bigger
children. It has facilities like multi-climbing structure, cycling trek,
roller skating pitches and tunnels where the children can play hide and seek.
"While working with more than 50,000 street children in Kolkata I realised that they were living in a concrete jungle with
no open space to play. The underprivileged children do not have access to the
numerous parks in the city. That is how the idea was conceived," said
CINI director Samir Chaudhuri. Street Children in Phulwari
Area Admitted in School www.patnadaily.com/news2007/apr/041207/children_admitted_in_school.html This article has been archived by World
Street Children News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 25 May 2011] Phulwarisharif police station
in-charge Shabbir Ahmed, on Thursday, accompanied
by other police officials, visited several areas and picked up 76 young boys
and girls wandering aimlessly on the streets and had them admitted in a
government school in an attempt to rehabilitate them. Ahmed promised the
kids to reward them if they did well in their studies while assuring the
parents that the children will be provided with free lunch and free books as
long as they stayed in the school. Why summer means spring for these street
children The Indian Express News Service, Ahmedabad,
April 8, 2007 cities.expressindia.com/local-news/fullstory.php?newsid=230746 [accessed 25 May 2011] Runaway guides Paromita Pain, The Hindu Business
Line, Apr 06, 2007 www.thehindubusinessline.in/life/2007/04/06/stories/2007040600050100.htm [accessed 25 May 2011] WINDOW TO THEIR
WORLD
- Shekhar Saini and Javed Khan, trust members and designated guides, love
their newfound roles. They share their stories with generous doses of candour and humour as they
point out the various spots at the station where children get on with their
lives. Saini, 21, ran away from home when he was
12. He hung around the Delhi station for a year and then went to the Trust.
Today, he has just finished high school and wants to be an actor. He greets
the waiting group with infectious enthusiasm and warm confidence, speaking clearly
and fast in English while cutting quite a dashing figure in well-fitting
jeans and cool accessories. He puts the walk in perspective — "This
isn't just about raising awareness about street kids but also showing how
much they can achieve if given the right opportunities." 50,000 street kids to get birth
certificates cities.expressindia.com/local-news/fullstory.php?newsid=228654 At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [Last access date unavailable] As many as 50,000
of the city’s underprivileged children under the age of 18 years would soon
get Indian citizenship. These are
children living on streets, those living below poverty line, and sex workers’
children. CLPOA’s
Bhattacharya said the survey was conducted last year under the guidance of
UNICEF. “We decided to give citizenship status to all deprived children born
in Kolkata,” he said. “Once they have the birth certificates, these children
will be able to get ration cards and other legal documents.” Interpreter of dreams Tanvi Sirari,
The Indian Express News Service, cities.expressindia.com/local-news/fullstory.php?newsid=228237 [accessed 26 May 2011] How to change the world - The role of the
social entrepreneur Nikhil Mustaffa,
The Daily Mirror, March 15, 2007 At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 23 September 2011] As Childline expanded to new cities, the call-tracking
system also emerged as an important source of child protection information.
National data showed that the biggest killer of street children was
tuberculosis, but regional call patterns revealed a variety of local
problems. In Jaipur, for example, childline
received reports of abuse in the garment and jewelry industries. In Varanasi,
there were reports of children being abducted to work in the sari industry.
In Delhi, many calls came from middle-class children. In Nagpur, a transit
hub, there were frequent reports of children abandoned in train stations. In
Goa, a beach resort, a major problem was the sexual abuse of children by
foreign tourists. Street kids make it to classrooms and how Mihika Basu,
The Indian Express News Service, Mumbai, March 11, 2007 cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=226060 [accessed 26 May 2011] Three-years back all that Sheetal Jagdish Jadhav did was to look after her siblings and roam the
streets. Two-year’s ago, Kanaka Valli and her
parents used to sell flowers at street signals. And both could never dream of
making it to a mainstream school. Blossoms in the dust M.G., The Hindu, Mar 04, 2007 www.hindu.com/mag/2007/03/04/stories/2007030400200400.htm [accessed 26 May 2011] In the bleak
barracks behind the Vijay Ghat, on the Yamuna Pushta, are growing up small blossoms in the dust. A
group of street children have found a home here, in a shelter run by the Ashray Adhikar Abhiyan (AAA). AAA volunteers had
come across many vulnerable street children and their big concern was how to
keep these kids away from drugs, petty crime and exploitation and make them
believe that another life was possible. The organisation felt that education was the key. However, no
school was willing to admit children from the streets. In many cases their
date of birth, father's name and identification were not known and these were
major hurdles to admission. Slum kids fear rehabilitation The Indian Express News Service, cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=224397 [accessed 26 May 2011] During the group
discussion sessions, children from state shelter homes said the problem of
rehabilitation always haunts them. They also said the homes lack proper
health facilities. Those children who came from slums complained about the
poor health and educational facilities, while those living on the stations
said stations witness a lot of criminal activities of which they are forced
to be a part. VOICE children enact street-to-home journey The Indian Express News Service, Mumbai,
February 25, 2007 cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=224019 [accessed 26 May 2011] Sixteen-year-old Kirti Katarmale started selling
lemons at road signals when she was two years old. Now she is preparing for
the National Open School board exams and wants to become a teacher. Fourteen-year-old Radha
Shiva Goud has lived outside stations throughout
her life, but now has a roof over her head and attends regular classes of
English, Hindi and mathematics, besides yoga and karate. Like Radha and Kirti, 25 girl street
children have a place they call “home”, four-square meals a day and proper
education all thanks to Sanjivani, a residential
home for street children started in August 2006. Mumbai has over 2,50,000
street children. From street child to surgeon, Indian girl
follows dream Reuters, Jaipur, 19 February 2007 [accessed 26 May 2011] Chand’s mother was
a prostitute with 16 children living in Japiur’s
red light area, and the girl — her family name has been withheld to protect
her — was already a child prostitute when she ran away to eke an existence on
the streets aged six. Even for Chand,
there is the constant threat of her past dragging her back to wreck her
future. “If I saw my family
again they would want me back to become a prostitute again to earn money,”
she said simply. The Indian Express News Service, Vadodara,
February 19, 2007 cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=222972 [accessed 26 May 2011] Western Railway authorities
are helping to put street kids on the right track. A few months ago, a
classroom for non-formal education being run for street children by the Vikas Jyot Trust (VJT), at the
Vadodara railway station, was levelled during
construction of platform number 6. Following this, the local women's welfare
committee, comprising of female railway employees and wives of railway
employees, approached the railway authorities and asked them to provide an
alternate place for developing a new NFE classroom. Railway authorities
agreed to give a stretch of land at Jetalpur Road,
in the close vicinity of the railway station. Vocational training centre
for 900 street kids in Maloya The Indian Express News Service, cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=221886 [accessed 26 May 2011] Chandigarh Housing
Board (CHB) is going to construct a vocational training centre
for 900 street children at Maloya. While the work
on the Rs 9 crore project will start in March, the tenders would be floated
next week. According to the CHB
officials, the proposed project would include a hostel for the street
children, besides a vocational training centre,
where they would be provided training to enable them to become
self-dependent. The project would
help in the upliftment of 900 street children, who
after their selection, would stay in the hostel and get the required training
to make both ends meet. Civic body offers lifeline for street
children Thiruvananthapuram, The Hindu, Feb 02, 2007 www.hindu.com/2007/02/02/stories/2007020222800300.htm [accessed 26 May 2011] Robbed of childhood
and adult protection, hundreds of street children and juvenile migrant labourers in the city are compelled to negotiate a
precarious existence in a dark world of crime, misery and exploitation. The
City Corporation is now holding out a lifeline for these vulnerable children. While a majority of
the children have severed ties with their family, a good number of them live
with their family either in the streets of the city or in the suburbs. The
CDP points out that these children are not deviant or delinquent; in fact
they are intrinsically more gifted than the mainstream ones. The Corporation is
planning to establish three new rehabilitation centres
in different regions of the city. The existing rehabilitation centres and juvenile homes would be upgraded with
improved facilities. It is also proposed to open four bridge schools to
impart education to the working children. 10 rescued street children leave for home
States The Hindu, www.hindu.com/2007/02/01/stories/2007020120140300.htm [accessed 26 May 2011] Ten children
rescued from the streets in Kerala started the journey back to their home
States, with the help of Don Bosco Sneha Bhavan, from here on
Wednesday. During the past
month, the children had been under the care of the Sneha
Bhavan, which had been working in association with
the city Corporation for 32 years for the welfare of children left on the
streets under various circumstances. A rehabilitation programme for them is being implemented with the
cooperation of the Don Bosco network in the
country. Journeying into dark lives of Nayanima Basu,
Indo-Asian News Service IANS, [accessed 26 May 2011] These poor kids
flee their homes for a better life in the huge metros and get gobbled up in
the narrow by-lanes, or stinking sewers of the railway stations or bus-stops
which are, according to one estimate, home to some 3,000-odd poor young
runaways. They trade leftover drinking
water bottles to watch the new movie that comes in the nearby Sheila movie
theatre on Fridays. One uncrushed bottle fetches them up to Rs.2, whereas a
crushed bottle brings a paltry 50 paise. Sometimes they also pick up leftover fruits
from trains and sell them to the juice-sellers in the platform and earn
money. The children,
according to Saini, often fall prey to gang leaders
who sometimes sexually assault them or get them into drug addiction. If by
chance they escape from the clutches of gang leaders, they are not spared by
the railway police who beat them without any reason. NGOs’ solution to missing saga: Database of
slum kids Tarannum Manjul,
The Indian Express News Service, cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=217629 [accessed 26 May 2011] With the number of
missing children increasing in the state, NGOs working for the
under-privileged children different districts are now trying to keep a
database of street-children and those living in slums. The database will
include all details about these children, and in case any child goes missing
the NGOs plan to help the police with the same. Noida — The mirror of Indian society At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [Last access date unavailable] THE LITTLE PREYS - The weakest of Braving every day [PDF] Harsh Mander, Aman Biradari, January 8, 2007 www.amanbiradari.org/Braving_Every_Day.pdf [accessed 23 September 2011] Like many children who
flee their families to escape intolerable abuse, Ratul
is unwilling to talk about precisely what drove him from his home. But one
night at the age of seven, he walked away decisively from his truck-driving
father, mother and two younger brothers, never to return. It was an act of
incredible courage for a child so young, echoed and repeated in the lives of
tens of thousands of street children who decide at very young ages to bravely
escape violence and abuse in their homes — alcoholic fathers, physical and
sexual violence — by fending for themselves, at whatever cost. Mumbai’s street fighters Deepa Gahlot,
Daily News & Analysis DNA, Mumbai, Jan 9, 2007 www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_mumbais-street-fighters_1073474 [accessed 26 May 2011] “It’s almost
impossible to get an accurate census as they are a floating population,” says
Dr Madhav Chavan, one of the founders and programme
directors of Pratham, an NGO that provides primary
education to these children in Mumbai. “Once they get a taste of freedom,
living like adults and surviving successfully on the mean streets, they
prefer not to return to a disciplined lifestyle.” Five years ago, the average of children who
ran away from home in states such as Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh used to be
eight years old. Today that average has dropped to six. Poor kids appeal to Prez
to ensure safety Press Trust of [accessed 26 May 2011] Demonstrating
against the killings in front of the Indian Social Institute here, Secretary
of the organisation Subhash
Kumar said, "we condemn the ghastly killings and hereby make an appeal
to the honourable President that he take a close look into the matter and ensure the safety of
all homeless street children and all those still involved in child
labour." Uwe Buse,
Spiegel OnLine International, www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,454601,00.html [accessed 26 May 2011] Children living on
the streets of Nearly P.Vijian, Malaysian National
News Agency Bernama.com, This article has been archived by World
Street Children News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 26 May 2011] The temperature
continues to drop in this capital city but these two children continue to
defy nature's harsh climate to earn some paisa to feed themselves
in the gripping winter. Similarly, an
estimated 400,000 street children in the city hog the streets daily to eke
out a painful living in the bustling capital -- resisting all kinds of
harassment, from changing climate to child abusers. Undernourished and
thinly dressed, many homeless street children appear to be the most
vulnerable people during winter, especially this time around where the
weatherman expects temperature to dip below 10 degrees Celsius during most
nights in the coming months. Many of them escape
grinding poverty at home, broken families or abusive parents, and bravely
venture into the city to feed themselves, despite the extreme cold conditions
or scorching heat in summer, which arrives just after winter in the month of
May. Tapping the talent on city streets At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [Last access date unavailable] In a bid to
bringing these children into the mainstream society, Humanity Association is
going to organise a children’s theatre festival in
February next year. More kids flee abuse than poverty Express News Service, Ahmedabad, November
20, 2006 cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=210145 [accessed 24 May 2011] Contrary to popular
myth, more children leave home due to a disturbed domestic environment than abject
poverty, according to a report from the Ahmedabad Study Action Group (ASAG)
and the Gujarat Institute of Development Research (GIDR). The study ranks familial harassment as the
top reason behind children running away from home. Education Made Me a Real Human Being Tehelka, Nov 25 , 2006 www.tehelka.com/story_main22.asp?filename=Ne112506Education_p24.asp [accessed 26 May 2011] Arriving in The Kerala difference R. Krishnakumar,
Frontline, Volume 23 - Issue 22 :: Nov. 04-17, 2006 www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2322/stories/20061117003503000.htm [accessed 19 September 2011] Street children
have been found to spend their entire day's wages immediately on food,
watching adult movies, or buying drugs, alcohol and other addictive
substances; they feel insecure carrying money on them. These children are a
challenge to those involved in their rehabilitation, he said. Street kids have edifying visit to Empire
Circus October 30, 2006 This article has been archived by World
Street Children News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 26 May 2011] Humaara Footpath is the
brainchild of Shubhangi Swarup,
a 25-year-old Xavier’s graduate. At the age of 18, she felt an urgent desire
to educate street children and now has an informal network of 16 friends
helping her realise her dream. “I first started
with the girls who sell gajras at signals,” she
said. “We get together at least three times a week in the evenings in front
of Tanishq at Churchgate,
lay out chatais and do whatever they want, whether
it’s drawing, story-telling, singing or English. The biggest need of the day
is to create the desire to learn in them. That is the biggest hurdle. So
forcing them to bury their noses in books is the last thing anyone should
do.” Smile Please! Shinjini Singh, The Indian
Express News Service, October 29, 2006 cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=207132 [accessed 26 May 2011] In Sector 8 Vikas Nagar, house number 212, "Gharaunda",
is home to eighteen little boys who have progressed from being homeless
street kids on the railway station to being students at the local Rani Laxmi Bai school. It has all
happened under the loving care of Shachi Singh and
her NGO Ehsaas. Mermier Bal Ashram: a ray of hope for street children Preeti Gupta, Navi Mumbai News, October 6, 2006 This article has been archived by World
Street Children News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 26 May 2011] Young children
doing odd jobs like polishing shoes, picking rags, working at small eateries,
begging at the traffic signals etc., are a common sight in our city. Most of
these kids have fled from their home for various reasons and live on streets.
The hunger pangs lead these kids towards these weird jobs or begging, The sad state of
these kids smashes our claims of being a modern and progressive city.
However, all hope is not yet lost. Non-governmental organizations like Jan Vikas Society (JVS) are trying to create a better world,
fit for all children irrespective of caste, colour,
creed and sex. 40 per cent of workers on building sites
are children Chitra V. Ramani, The Hindu, www.hindu.com/2006/10/07/stories/2006100706550400.htm [accessed 26 May 2011] "I do not work
every day. I only work on days when my mother is ill," said Hema (names of the children have been changed to protect
identities), a nine-year-old construction worker. "I ran away
from home because my father used to beat me every day," said Mukesh, a 12-year-old who cleans the floor of train
compartments to earn some money. Hema and Mukesh are two of a kind, both working when they should
be studying and playing like other children. Southern News - Andhra Pradesh, This article has been archived by World
Street Children News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 26 May 2011] Each child has a
tale to tell. For instance, Mokkulu Rajendra Kumar (12) lost his parents in a road accident
at Gudiwada four months back. Since then, he has
been eking out a livelihood here by collecting waste paper. Childline to help children
in distress in India www.theindiancatholic.com/report.asp?nid=3620 [Last access date unavailable] For instance, close
to 150,000 street children live in Homeless No More www.mumbaimirror.com/nmirror/mmpaper.asp?sectid=2&articleid=927200605934484927200605543859&pubyear= 2006&pubday=27&pubmth=9 [Last access date unavailable] "Today we have
20 children, seven of them girls, all aged between four to 14; abandoned in
slums and railway stations around the area. Parents of some of the children
cannot afford to look after them," says John. The couple has promised to
look after the children for 18 years. Their parents and grand parents are
granted visiting rights. No room for child labour Paromita Pain & Shalini Umachandran, The Hindu
Business Line, Sep 08, 2006 www.thehindubusinessline.in/life/2006/09/08/stories/2006090800030100.htm [accessed 26 May 2011] From October 1, no
home or hotel can employ children below 14 years. But can a mere ban resolve
the complex socio-economics issues involved? Bhola (name changed)
left his mother, siblings and their ramshackle hut in Himachal Pradesh and
came down to Chennai to work. He takes care of a partially paralysed senior citizen, and his chores include wiping
away the constant dribble from his mouth and feeding mashed food with
tremendous patience. Bhola, all of nine years, sits
quietly by the old man's wheelchair with a `wipe cloth' tied to his waist. From October 10,
though, life might change for Bhola and children
like him when the Government's ban on employment of children below 14 in
homes, hotels, roadside eateries, resorts, and spas comes into effect. Early
in August, the Labour Ministry announced that it was adding these jobs to the
list of hazardous occupations in which child labour is banned under the Child
Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986. NGO to teach more street children The Indian Express News Service, Mumbai,
August 27, 2006 cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=198566 [accessed 26 May 2011] Eleven-year-old
Farida, a street kid, wants to become a doctor. She would have perhaps never
believed she could realise her dream had it not
been for Door Step School. Backward and forward linkages that
strengthen primary education Vimala Ramachandran,
17 August 2006 -- [This is an overview of a collection of 10 case studies on
backward and forward linkages that strengthen primary education. This
research (supported by DFID, At one time this article had been archived and
may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 26 May 2011] IV CHILDREN, WORK
AND EDUCATION
- Primary education in There is, formally,
a widespread consensus about ending child labour and establishing compulsory
universal primary education for all children up to the age of 14, a
commitment that can be traced back to Gopal Krishna
Gokhale’s efforts at the turn of the last century.
Yet, numerous commissions, reports, plans and experiments notwithstanding,
more than five decades after independence, the situation remains dismal. Not
only do many children never enter school, there are many of those who do drop
out before completing basic education. And scores of children from the most
deprived strata are or become part of the workforce. At Anuradha Mane, The Indian
Express News Service, Pune, August 17, 2006 cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=197128 [accessed 27 May 2011] And it was only
after a rigorous five-day training, squeezed between
their daily schedules of rag-picking or selling knick-knacks at traffic
signals, that the 100 children were ready for the D-day. The heroes of Jamghat Madhu Gurung,
The Hindu, Aug 13, 2006 www.hindu.com/mag/2006/08/13/stories/2006081300040400.htm [accessed 27 May 2011] SAME STORY, AGAIN
AND AGAIN
- He was 10 when he began living on the streets of Rajasthan's homeless children find shelter www.streetchildren.org.uk/reports/Rajasthan%27s%20homeless%20children%20find%20shelter.mht [Last access date unavailable] JUVENILE JUSTICE ACT - The Juvenile
Justice Act of 2000 states that all children must be given the right to food,
shelter, healthcare and education. So far, even a
formal census on the number of children living on the streets and are
vulnerable to abuses has not been conducted. In Rajasthan alone,
an informal organisation found that out of 1.5
million street children, not even one per cent have been provided shelter. Vagrants & street children: they need a
hand At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [Last access date unavailable] The privileged and
the employed have, more often than not, regarded vagrants with suspicion and contempt
apart from the usual dismissive sneer. Little are they aware of the creative
fire that lies in them. The “Bhabaghure O Pathashishu Mela — 2006” aims
at exploring that creative streak in vagrants and street children. Unique talent hunt for street kids Bindu Shajan
Perappadan, The Hindu, www.hindu.com/2006/07/30/stories/2006073006790300.htm [accessed 27 May 2011] It's a search for
the Capital's very own "Chhupey Rustum''. Looking for the star of tomorrow, this unique talent hunt exclusively for street and working
children under 18 is all set to take off this coming month. It will comb
through every nook and corner of the city scouting for the very best talent
in performing arts. The boy racer Amelia Gentleman, Observer Sport Monthly,
30 July 2006 www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2006/jul/30/features.sport9 [accessed 12 February 2011] There is something
disturbing about Budhia's odd touring lifestyle,
with the constant pressure on him to run, dress up and perform for the media.
But there is something just as bleak about the slum life into which he was
born. A few hundred yards from the hostel, dozens of street children Budhia's age are struggling to survive in the slums by
old Delhi railway station. They can be seen in the streets nearby, addicted
to industrial solvents, fighting among themselves as they scavenge for food.
This is the life that Budhia could have had and has
left behind, at least for now. SNEHA Chalks Out Scientific Plans To Tackle
Malnutrition Jayata Sharma, The Indian
Express Healthcare Management, July 2006 www.expresshealthcaremgmt.com/200607/initiative01.shtml [accessed 27 May 2011] ITS Monsoon of points in Kolkata Nick Hyde, Quins
Community Development, Kolkata At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 27 May 2011] The second game of
the season was the opening game in the 'cup', with Future Hope Harlequins
facing their old adversaries, the Kolkata Police. Things have changed in
Kolkata; street children were regularly pursued by policemen, but Future Hope
and rugby has started to change the perception of street children within the
Kolkata Police. Now best of friends, Future Hope boys have coached and
officiated for the police and were integral to the smooth running of the
Kolkata Police 10s played last month. 'Street India Movement' to help street
children in Kerala Bureau Report, www.zeenews.com/news307350.html [accessed 23 September 2011] With the objective
of wiping out child labour and begging by children and to create an Street children join celebration The Hindu, Tamil Nadu - Chennai, Jun 26,
2006 www.hindu.com/2006/06/26/stories/2006062615780500.htm [accessed 27 May 2011] More than 500
street and working children gathered at the St. Anthony's The non-governmental
organisation has been enabling out of school
children to enter mainstream schools with counselling and material assistance
from year 2000. The keepers of the flame moneycontrol.com, 2006-06-23 At one time this article had been archived and
may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 27 May 2011] Social workers are
faith workers of a different kind. They aim to right the accident of birth -
like helping slum children not having access to education or clean
drinking water. Seen ragpickers rummaging
through dustbins for their food? Well, this is reality at its worst for
some children, almost the minute their born but there is hope, because some noble people keep them going. What these street children dream of?
Education The Indian Express News Service, Ahmedabad,
June 11, 2006 cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=187348 [accessed 27 May 2011] These street
children live in areas surrounding the Kalupur
Railway Station like the Tejas Mehta, Mumbai, June
5, 2006 This article has been archived by World
Street Children News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 27 May 2011] A large number of
street kids in Mumbai are heavily into dope, by chasing, snorting, smoking
and injecting. Many of these children stay doped through the day to hide from
the daily run of the city. They have been addicts for years, and some started
as early as at the age of eight. Parul Gupta, Agence France-Presse AFP, May
11, 2006 www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\05\11\story_11-5-2006_pg4_23 [accessed 27 May 2011] Javed Khan left his
village home at the age of nine to see monuments in the Indian capital During that time,
Khan lived in an empty sewer, went without food for five days, was stabbed,
reported to a gang leader of street children and saw his friends lose their
lives to alcohol and drug addiction. Slum tours: a day trip too far? Amelia Gentleman, The Observer, 7 May 2006 www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2006/may/07/delhi.india.ethicalliving [accessed 27 May 2011] He pauses to give
the group of visitors from These children finally have an identity to
flash Tarannum Manjul,
The Indian Express News Service, cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=180918 [accessed 27 May 2011] Seven-year-old Munnu is no longer just another face in the crowd of
street children. He finally has an identity which he carries with pride. Munnu, like nearly
2,000 other destitute children of the city, are now identified as the ‘Street
and Working Children’, and also, ‘Children in Difficult Circumstances’. TV star reunites runaway & family Reena Thapar
Kapoor and Santosh Andhale, May 25, 2006 This article has been archived by World
Street Children News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 27 May 2011] Rafiq said that he ran
away from home because he was fed up of the constant shouting and nagging of
his step mother and grandmother. "Nani beat me
up ruthlessly because I was weak in studies so I left home and headed towards
the railway station. Once there, I did not know what to do so I boarded the first
train that came on the platform," disclosed Rafiq. Though he does not
remember which train it was, he said he realised he
had reached Mumbai as the sign board read Mumbai Central and he was told that
the train would not go beyond that. Without any relative
or friend in Mumbai, Rafiq started begging on the
trains for the first two months and slept on various railway stations. Street children savour
care Rajib Chatterjee,
The Statesman, Kolkata, April 30, 2006 This article has been archived by World Street
Children News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 27 May 2011] Where have all the street children gone? They have gone to schools, thanks to Love and Care Foundation, a social service organisation formed by the residents of Tarakeswar, Singur and Haripal. About 120 street
children from Tarakeswar, Singur
and Haripal go to three schools formed by the organisation at three villages in Tarakeswar.
Apart from offering the usual lessons, the organisation
also tries to develop moral and ethical values among the students. The schools also
provide vocational training to the children. Many of the students have gone
to secondary schools after passing out from primary school. Begging menace on the increase The Hindu, Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 29, 2006 hindu.com/2006/04/29/stories/2006042921390300.htm [accessed 27 May 2011] Street children, who
form a sizable segment of alms-seekers in city, are vulnerable to wanton
cruelty, sexual exploitation and drug abuse. A majority of the street
children are hooked to chemical solvents such as petrol, liquid shoe-polish
and adhesives that contain addictive substances. Inhalation of
petrol fumes is a common addiction seen among the street children. The street children
procure shoe-polish, thinner and adhesives which contain turpentine from
shops and inhale them to get a high. A dream come true for street kids Bindu Shajan
Perappadan, The Hindu, www.hindu.com/2006/04/26/stories/2006042604040200.htm [accessed 27 May 2011] It was like a dream
come true for 52 street children and working children from Street children now direct traffic as
policemen AsiaNews/UCAN, At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 27 May 2011] Former street
children now direct traffic on the busy roads of INDIA-AIDS: Street
Children Are Most Vulnerable Bijoy Basant
Patro, InterPress News
Service IPS, NEW www.aegis.com/news/ips/1997/IP970902.html [accessed 27 May 2011] Uma (not her real
name) was nine years old when she was first raped by a gang of homeless boys
at the Information about Street Children - This report is taken from “A Civil Society
Forum for South Asia on Promoting and Protecting the Rights of Street
Children”, 12- 14 December 2001, At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 27 May 2011] Police Abuse And Killings Of Street
Children In Human Rights Watch Children's Rights
Project, November 1996 www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/1996/India4.htm [accessed 24 May 2011] Street Kids Street Kids India Expedition SK'i.e -- funded by Singapore International Foundation
SIF At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 27 May 2011] Kolkata is the
capital city of the state of Sexual Health in
Slum & Street children India, Research & Intervention Streetkids-Sexual and
Reproductive Health SRH www.streetkids-srh.org/project.php [accessed 27 May 2011] Since 2001 an
extensive research & prevention / intervention program on sexual health
and teenage slum & street children in Street
Children Of Nigam S., PMID: 12289892 [PubMed - indexed
for MEDLINE] U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12289892?dopt=Abstract [accessed 28 May 2011] 90% of street
children are working children with regular family ties who live with their
families, but are on the streets due to poverty and their parents'
unemployment. The remaining 10% are either working children with few family
ties who view the streets as their homes or abandoned and neglected children
with no family tie CDB is the first bank initiated and run by
street & working children [DOC] The Children's Development Bank CDB At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 23 September 2011] The Children’s Development
Bank’s (CDB) 400 account holders -- mostly "rag pickers" and
street-children -- own and run the bank from its headquarters at a night
shelter for homeless children. Many of the children, some as young as 10 and
11, sell newspapers, boxes of tissues and other wares at traffic
intersections. Some work on daily wages. Others collect waste and then sell
it for recycling. BBC News, 27 August, 2001 news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1502820.stm [accessed 28 May 2011] His idea was
simple. He installed a computer on the wall of his south Railway cops' bid
to reform street children Neil Pate, Times News Network (The Times of
[accessed 19 September 2011] Touched by the
plight of city urchins, many of whom are forced to live on railway platforms,
the Government Railway Police (GRP) have started holding evening classes in
hygiene and primary education for the children. Marathi and Hindi primary school texts form
the basis of this extraordinary platform.
A majority of the urchins have fled their homes to escape ill
treatment and poverty. Most of them
make a living as rag pickers, shoeshine boys or hawkers. The most disturbing problem, however, is
that nearly 90 per cent of them are addicted to inhaling toxic vapors of
chemicals such as thinners and whiteners. Oxfam in India -
The street children of Mysore Oxfam www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/kidsweb/world/india/indioxf2.htm [accessed 28 May 2011] Some children in 25/09/2003 - Summer team big hit with Welshpool Baptist Church WBC At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 28 May 2011] “We taught at the Street Children Of At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 23 September 2011] An estimated 35,000
street children live in Street kids find
joy with Miss India Times News Network (The Times of [accessed 28 May 2011] Ms Vashi said that she was glad to be associated with
Project Mainstream which takes care of 19,000 street children, providing
meals and vocational training for them. A business analyst herself, Ms Vashi said that Project Mainstream’s
effort to improve the lot of these children and make them independent was
particularly impressive. On the streets where they live [PDF] www.infochangeindia.org infochangeindia.org/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=725 [accessed 24 May 2011] Why Become a Rag-Picker or Street Child? Street Children Ministry www.abfindia.net/ragpickers.html [accessed 24 August 2011] THE
RAGPICKER'S DAILY ROUTINE - As a street
child, between five and eighteen years of age, these children earn their
livelihood by polishing shoes, washing cars, finding parking spaces, rag
picking (recycling garbage), selling lottery tickets and news papers, etc.
They also work as coolies and helpers in automobile repair shops,
construction sites, and hotels. Their average earnings vary between 15 Rupees
to 20 per day, while the more experienced ones earn 25 to 40 Rupees. However,
these are the lucky ones. The Girls are forced into prostitution at an early
age. Arising
at dawn, the rag picker children start their rounds. With feet bare and backs
aching, they carry the heavy gunny bags that contain the day's pickings.
Sometimes on foot they travel over 20 kilometers each day for the best
pickings. Their clothing is filthy, tattered, ill fitting, and wholly
inadequate for protection especially, when the weather is wet and cold. Life
is very hard as they rummage (competing and fighting with stray dogs and
cattle) through every filthy garbage heap in the city and railway stations.
All recyclable garbage is collected and sorted: paper, plastic, bottles,
bones, metals and rotting discarded food thrown out by households and railway
passengers. With this they fill their bags and often their starving bellies.
If the day's collection is bad, they resort to stealing for survival. If
good, they rush to the nearest wayside shop to ease their hunger. All
have regular scrap dealers to buy their loot. They receive a meager pittance,
and sometimes this pittance is withheld to repay a previous enforced loan.
Some days they starve. If a better price is negotiated by another dealer, the
child is frequently beaten and tied up. However
the issue of greater concern is related to their pattern of spending, where a
major part of their income is spent on drugs, alcohol, solvent abuse
(sniffing solvents), and gambling. They frequently become involved in street
fights. With little money and too much freedom, they are vulnerable and fall
prey to any number of situations that threaten life and soul. Late
in the afternoon they resume their second round of collection. Then after
sorting and selling their loot, they spend their nights on the streets or in
graveyards, where they are exploited and abused. Older rag pickers and
perverted people give them drugs or threaten them for sexual purposes, thus
exposing them to A.I.D.S, and many more sexual and life threatening diseases. A
rag picker is not a beggar. He works hard and considers rag picking a
profession of choice. It enables him to earn money, daily, and offers him
ample amounts of free time. They are very loyal and protective of each other,
sharing food and money. The rag picker is proud and feels that he is master
of his own life.
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