April 15, 2014
They Can’t Vote. But They Still Know What They Want From
These Elections. This Is The Children’s Manifesto!
At an age when most
children are interested in their toys and gadgets, these kids from slums in
Bhubaneshwar are dealing with real life problems and have clear
thoughts on what they want from their elected leaders. What’s more, they
have also drawn up a manifesto for their demands! Find out what they want and
what the politicians think.
Bikash, 10, the son of daily wage labourers,
lives in a slum in Bhubaneswar, the state capital of Odisha. On most days, this
Class Five student of Ruchika School in the neighbourhood has to skip studies
and work with his parents and two elder sisters on construction sites to
supplement the family income. Although Bikash is not yet a voter, he wants
political leaders hoping to come to power after General Election 2014 to
promise they will tackle the issue of child labour.
Similarly, Jasmin, 12,
a Class Eight student, wants her elected representative to provide safe drinking
water near her Science Park ‘basti’ so that she doesn’t have to stand in line
for hours at a tap a long distance away from her home and end up being late for
her classes. The three tube wells in the slum she lives in have been
dysfunctional for some years now and although there is piped water in homes
here, erratic supply has the 500 residents making a beeline to a faraway source
nearly every day. Apart from water, young Jasmin is demanding toilets in their
homes so that she doesn’t have to step out at the crack of dawn for her daily
ablutions.
Jasmin,
12, a Class Eight student, wants her elected representative to provide safe
drinking water near her Science Park ‘basti’ so that she doesn’t have to stand
in line for hours at a tap a long distance away from her home and end up being
late for her classes. (Credit: Sarada Lahangir\WFS)
Says Bikash, “Although I
am not eligible to vote, I am a beneficiary of all development schemes and I
should be given priority. Don’t I deserve amenities and a chance for a better
life?” Adds Jasmin,
Safe drinking water is a basic facility that
the government is supposed to provide to the people, so why has my slum been
deprived of it? Leaders have to address these matters because it has adverse
effects on our lives.
Like Bikash and
Jasmin, across the city (Bhubaneshwar) there are around 100 child leaders who
have put their thoughts together to create a Children’s Manifesto and Charter
of Demands for political parties. They are no longer okay about their needs
being overlooked and it is the Hamara Bachpan campaign that has enabled them to reflect on the larger social
problems that affect them and look for workable solutions.
According to ‘Slums in
India – A Statistical Compendium 2011’, published by the Government of India, every eighth urban child
in the country in the age-group of 0-6 years stays in slums. Moreover, a report
compiled by the National Buildings Organisation (NBO) of the Ministry of
Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, reveals that children living in slums constitute
13.1 per cent of the total child population in urban areas.
Urban poverty impacts
these youngsters severely. As per a Planning Commission report, 50 per cent of
urban child mortality in slums is the result of the lack of clean drinking
water, while 23 million are at risk due to poor sanitation. According to the
World Health Organization (WHO), 22 per cent of children die because of
respiratory diseases every year. And while there should be provision for “well
ventilated houses for better indoor air quality and development of eco-friendly
neighborhood”, in reality, the
Census 2011 reveals, only 1 per cent notified and 7 per cent non notified slums
in India have an electricity connection.
In this bleak
scenario, the Hamara Bachpan campaign has emerged as an important initiative to create
awareness and protect the rights of children living in slums. It is a national
programme that works on ensuring a safe and healthy environment for
impoverished city kids and calls for inclusion of child-friendly components in
government schemes such as the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission
(JnNURM) and Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY). At present, it is active in 15 states and
has reached out to 15,000 children through its child clubs.
“Despite
being a signatory to the United Nation’s Convention on Child Rights, India has
not been very successful in safeguarding their rights. Whether it is about
education, nutrition and health or safety, children here have not been given a
fair deal,” observes Ananta
Prasad, Communications Officer, Hamara Bachpan campaign.
Creating awareness
that facilitates advocacy to bring about change is the main focus of this
campaign. Adds Prasad,
Initially, the community did question our
existence but through street plays and meetings with parents we managed to
convince them that we were interested in bringing about change at the policy
level that would enable them to have better living conditions, increased
opportunities and so on.
Empowering children
with knowledge and giving them a voice has produced encouraging results.
Sasmita Mohanty, 10, a Class Three student from Salia Sahi slum of Bhubaneswar,
is a child club leader who has made a significant contribution in her locality.
After the tragic death of a seven-year-old girl, who was raped and murdered few
months ago, a very disturbed Sasmita gathered her friends and went to meet the
Commissioner of Police, R.K. Sharma, the very next day, demanding more street
lights and a dedicated police outpost in their area. Not only did Commissioner
Sharma listen to the children – incidentally, they were not accompanied by any
adults, including their parents – but this interaction led to increased police
patrolling. Further, working street lights have been installed in the
neighbourhood as well.
Unveiling
the Children’s Manifesto, representatives from various political parties got an
understanding of what kids want. (Credit: Sarada Lahangir\WFS)
Besides safety,
Sasmita has raised the issue of access to education and a curb on child labour.
What has given her efforts – and that of other child leaders – a definite boost
are the upcoming elections. As the activists of Hamara Bachpan campaign motivated them to create a Children’s
Manifesto, the club kids responded wholeheartedly. Remarks Preeti Prada,
National Campaign Coordinator, Humara Bachpan,
No political party has directly spoken of or
considered the issues related to children, who comprise 40 per cent of the
population. We have tried to empower them to become the watchdogs of urban development
policies. As citizens, their well being should also be on the agenda of
political parties.
So what is this
Children’s Manifesto all about? “We want all political parties to support and create
provisions to make Odisha a child-friendly state, by including the following
demands in their political manifestoes,” reads the document. What are these demands?
The charter calls for ensuring urban development schemes like RAY and JnNURM
are revised in the best interest of children, that there is adequate access to
clean drinking water, sanitation facilities, a pollution-free living
environment, proper electricity supply, well-ventilated housing and adequate
recreational spaces. Other demands include participation of children at every
phase of the planning process for better living conditions, an increase in
government allocation for children’s well being and, most importantly, a zero
tolerance policy towards child labour.
Of course, when the Hamara
Bachpan child leaders
presented the Children’s Manifesto to the local politicians at a recent
meeting, as intended, it had a serious impact. When Sajjan Sharma, a local
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, read through the document he relialised
that this was no ordinary initiative. According to him, “The voices
raised from this forum are those that we have as yet been neglecting. We have
deprived them of their rights and it is high time that this situation changes.” Representatives from other political parties
including Pratap Jena of Congress, Nishikant Mohapatra of Aam Admi Party (AAP),
Hemant Rath of Kalinga Sena and Suresh Panigrahy of Communist Party of India
(Marxist) have had similar reactions. Says Nishikant Mohapatra,
I do admit that the children have raised the
right points. They are our future and we can’t afford to overlook them. By
raising their voice they have raised our hopes for a better tomorrow. There is
positive change waiting to happen and these alert children are going to make it
happen.
Written by Sarada
Lahangir for Women’s Feature Service and
republished here in arrangement with WFS.
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