INDIAN CHILDREN AT THE LOWER STRATA

‘Unfortunately, we are often confronted with a lack of sensitivity among adults about the rights of children. Children have never been regarded as an important constituency by the political system and society. They are seen only in a patronizing manner. We have to talk to people and tell them that children need to be treated with dignity and as equals. It is not enough that you give them love, it is equally important to give them dignity. The moment you start treating them as equal, you give them dinigty.’ – Santha Sinha, Chairperson NCPCR and Magsaysay Award winner (Courtesy : The HINDU)
My Mumbai life was replete with several experiences, both good and bad, some never to be forgotten because of the pleasure and pain involved, actually I do want to share with the readers, but here I am compelled to touch upon only one subject and that is everything to do with children. As a youth who was fortunate and unfortunate to live at different places, here I mean suburbs as a paying guest I could witness many instances of hardships and sufferings undergone by children and elders alike. Furthermore the chances to travel by local trains, buses, taxis and autorickshaws along with my friends or single-handedly provided me with much food for thought especially about the street children and their hapless parents. Lakhs and lakhs of slum dwellers, their children’s wayward living, their lack of opportunities even to join schools or kindergartens, no cloths worth wearing, no slates, books, pencils or pens, all made me ponder over their future. Many people even live in make-shift tents on the streets which could be blown away if a strong wind were to visit the city.
A govt basking in the glory of high growth trajectory (nice word) and the country with 667 millions of people with no sanitation facilities, an equal number of citizens without even roofs over their heads make pathetic as also wonderful reading.
As a man who did have the opportunity of living close to a place near Dharavi I `could witness elders and children living under pitiful conditions. With the elders leaving slums to faraway places for work the children are left with nobody to care these children often land in the hands of paedophiles, there are no dearth for them, some children getting involved in thefts and pick-pocketing sometimes caught in the act and beaten up mercilessly by people, they do not even get the luck to even visit the door-step of school or kindergartens. The girl children are the most exploited in such a tender age, mind you, ‘the save girl child’ advertisements and campaigns are seen on the TVs and heard on radios only. Platitudes abound, no visible action however not taken by the rulers. The elders who go to work reach their slums in inebriated conditions with no paise left to spend for the family, the entire responsibility falls upon the hapless, emaciated shoulders of the women members of the families.
These are the state of affairs of a cosmopolitan city like Mumbai. These are the predicaments of the children of Mumbai. Most people keep a mistaken notion that in the cities everything is fine, only in the interior parts of India only children lack educational facilities and other amenities.
I think in the remote interior parts of our nation, as far as the conditions of the children are concerned they are one step ahead.
Today I happened to read an interview with Santha Sinha, head of NCPCR (National Commission for Protection of Children’s Rights), the Magsaysay award winner titled ‘Our living adds to the sufferings of poor children’.
She dwells upon many aspects of children’s education in the remote corners of the nation. The roles of Anganwadis in villages play a great role in the growth of children, like mid-day meal schemes etc.
She also dwells upon the corporal punishment being awarded to children by various institutions and as an instance she points towards a haunting fact that 98 children had to undergo corporal punishment in Tamil Nadu alone in the year 2008 and such punishments often lead the children to suicides. Instances of child abuses even by government and non-governmental organizations especially due to the apathy of the political parties. Girls, for the sake of their siblings sacrifice their education looking after household chores. Their parents too go to works leaving girl children alone at homes. Similarly, a number of issues she has pointed out as the Chairman of NCPCR (National Commission for Protection of Children’s Rights) and a long list of remedial measures.
She has noted that child labour is a perennial problem and stresses that there is a need to sensitize the plight of working children in the country. At the age of going to schools they are forced to work in textile factories, brick kilns, salt pans etc.
It is really a matter of pride for all of us Indians that a great lady of Santha Sinha’s stature has devoted her whole life for the better education of our children.