The street stars of India

 

Isn’t it a special occasion when a newborn infant arrives in Indian homes? We celebrate it like a festival. Spend money, distribute fruits and sweets like nothing as a source of our happiness. Followed by several customs and rituals for welcoming the newborn. In India, it is said that in children we can find reflections of God. But in developing countries like India, the life of a child born along the roadside first revolves around all sorts of hazards. Footpath child is forced to stay in such surroundings, where willingly or unwillingly he has to survive in the hazardous pollution and revolve all day around in dirt and dust. With a single or sometimes even no clothes to wear, the child starts eating whatever he finds. Leave alone education they do not have access to a normal life, enduring extreme poverty along with their parents, they do not have access to basic amenities even.

What inspired me to write this, is an incident I recently went through. I was walking through one of the most crowded markets and that too before an event like Saraswati puja. From adorns to apparel, everyone was busy in their world. But suddenly, someone pulled my fingers down to call me. It was a little girl of around 4-5 years of age with barely a scrap of clothing and bones sticking out, standing out with a packet of cotton buds in her tiny hands. For an instance I become amazed and without even thinking once, I bought a packet of cotton buds. At a time when every lady withinside the crowd was searching for things to make them look beautiful, that little 4-5 years old 'lady' was working to earn. Isn't it strange? 

Now, imagine your daughter sleeping alone on the street. Or your son getting breakfast from a garbage heap. Picture them begging, laboring, selling kinds of stuff from newspapers to cotton buds, or stealing just so they can survive long enough to do it all again tomorrow. This is the reality for up to 100 million children around the world. In fact, this doesn't stop here, some are even crippled by gang leaders to force them to beg, some are trapped in brothels, filling their short lives with fear and cruel abuse, some picked up for illegal activities such as child labor, drug trafficking, women/girl trafficking, etc under the hypnosis that they will be paid well to support their family. Irrespective of this, eating or working under unhygienic conditions cause serious health problems for which they either have to rush to BMC’s or just wait for someone to help them out or at the most die asking help. These children become vulnerable to many diseases which takes a toll on their lives.

Children can be seen on the streets across all cities in India. They are part of the crowd. Often we do not even notice them. They seem to be invisible. It is “normal” to see unaccompanied minors in public places. They may be alone or with their families; they may sleep on sidewalks, shelters, or in dwellings. The fact that links them all is that they spend most of their time on the streets. Living on the streets makes childhood take upon an altogether different meaning for these children. The presence of children on the streets has become ‘normalized’ to such an extent that their existence has become almost ‘invisible’. But is this the desired justification? Is this the position of India that was dreamt by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Sir

Solutions?

• Today every minute, we speak about the reservation system for the backward strata of the society neglecting the fact that are they really in need of such systems? Being a youth voice of better India, today what I feel is, we should all stand up with one voice for providing reservation to this excluded section of our society for a better tomorrow.
• Immediately lift all religious restrictions on the use of medically approved contraceptive devices and birth control pills. Make these devices and pills freely available to everyone. Universally educate the public about the causes and impact of this problem. Make this education compulsory for every one of reproductive age. Legally restrict the freedom to bear children to people who can demonstrate their ability to provide adequate care for them now, and a commitment to raise them to adulthood. Ruthless sentencing for rape and related assault crimes, even spousal ones.
• Children who live on the streets should be placed in foster care until they can be adopted. If a country doesn't have a foster system they should set one up. Financial support should be given to struggling families so that they can afford to care for their children.
• A child welfare system should be set up if it doesn't exist and improved if it does to better protect children. Teachers should be trained to recognize and report signs of abuse and neglect
• If possible recourses should be invested in mental health care and substance abuse treatment along with, public campaigns should be conducted to encourage parents to not throw their children out of the home for cultural reasons.
• Progressive India should contain a progressive society with a 100% literacy rate. No one can ever wonder that amongst those footpath children one could have been a doctor, an engineer, or even a scientist, etc, and drive India to the next success horizon. I strongly believe that there are many initiatives already being undertaken by various NGO’s and individuals too. What currently the need of the hour is to take such initiatives in every nook and corner of society.
• Skilled India programs can be undertaken for the adults so that even they can earn a respectful living by working hard in upbringing their talents and not by begging. It is a high time alarm for the government to tackle this hindrance in progress with the active involvement and truly live up to their words of “Padhega India, Tabhi Toh Badhega India”.

A footpath child too has desires possibly not outsourced because of the lagging platform or due to parent’s pressure. He is being brought up under the circumstances where he is just made to beg and beg and beg only. And someday, if no one offers him food to eat or water to drink, he is even forced to eat or drink whatever her finds in garbage. For overcoming this problems, great care should be taken at every stage right from the beginning till the end of the plan; else the entire exercise becomes futile.