The god of small children

They often press their little faces upon the closed windows of the cars that stop at traffic signals. Their snotty noses, dirty feet and vanquished faces tell their story without many words. These are the street children who beg at traffic signals, running between cars and other vehicles and braving the harsh Delhi winter in tattered clothes and bare feet.

India has the largest population of street children in the world. At least eighteen million children live or work on the streets of urban India, laboring as porters at bus or railway terminals; as mechanics in informal auto-repair shops; as vendors of food, tea, or handmade articles; as street tailors; or as rag pickers, picking through heaps of garbage and selling usable materials to local buyers.

Various NGO’s who try to pick them up and make efforts to give them work, education and shelter often face stiff resistance from the children themselves. The children who run away from home to escape the impoverished existence and violent treatments become wary of these shelter homes. Talking to some volunteers of such organisations revealed to me that the relentless exposure to harsh life has turned some of them into precocious cynics, and they refuse to trust anyone.

Often they are addicted to drugs and run back to the streets to get their quota from the dark alleys of the city.

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.

There is a 15 year old who spends most of his time polishing shoes and doing odd jobs around. He likes to call himself Peter – after his favourite character ‘Peter Parker’ from his favourite movie The Spiderman. His ten year old sister is a charming little girl who claims to remember everybody who gives her money, especially the foreign tourists, as they tend to give more money. They often do street shows such as acrobatics to entertain the commuters who wait at the traffic signals.

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.

A reporter Mahendar told me his horrific experience “ Once, a few of us decided to spend a night on the streets of Delhi just to experience everything that these kids face everyday. We spent the night on a road in Jama Masjid (a mosque in Old Delhi) area and it was truly a learning experience for us. The scariest incident was when a heavy truck almost ran over us. In fact, it actually kissed our heads as it went away.”

The laws applicable under the Juvenile Justice Act 1986 relate quite strongly to the care and rights of children in general.

But until 1993, the term ‘Street Child’ did not figure in the ‘Official Vocabulary’ of post-independent India. Under persistent pressure from the NGO’s in the field of assistance to street children, the Government of India set up a ‘Scheme for Assistance to Street Children’ under Ministry of Welfare, which was launched in February 1993.

Mahendar says “It is found that they are not implemented properly at all. In fact, many police officers/constables in the field do not know about the details of this Act.”

What is being done?

However, there is a bright light at the end of this dark tunnel. Most NGO’s are coming up with the rehabilitation programes to help these children come out from their impoverished and degrading life with education and awareness.

Their motto is to create a sense of social responsibility among the people and channel the energy of the youth towards voluntary work.

Here is a success story from Karim “There was this boy named Lulla living on the streets of Delhi. He had run away from home and had done everything in life – from diving for coins in Haridwar to being an assistant in a shop in New Delhi. After being in contact with our NGO, he is now being trained to be an electrician. He has learnt to play guitar, and aspires to make a lot of money from his music. He makes special efforts to cover up and catch up with the others in studies. He is a success story for us.”

He adds further “Interacting with children living on the streets is not very difficult. Most of these kids are hungry for human love – a hug here and a kind word there and you have them on to your side. On the flip side though, you can’t do anything to capture their attention span for long. They have low concentration and get bored easily. However, there have been many success stories in our organisation. Tutu, who used to beg for money everyday, went for a stage play with our theatre group to spread awareness among the people there. Now after coming back he has stopped begging, pays attention to his studies and discourages his mates from begging”