HELPLESS CHILD, DISABLED CHILD HELPLINE (update about rescue)

Dear All,

I had a conversation with Varun from Childline last night and i must tell you that he is working hard on this case. Think i was cutting into his dinner time as he spoke to me about the event of rescue in detail! It's a more complicated situation now because the abusive contractors are using pressure tactics to get out of the legal mess they have landed themselves in.

Varun's team had gone back to the same slaughter house yesterday, all prepared with about 35 people- three gypsies with the SDM, SHO and ACP in each, one police truck with police force- and rescued more trapped children as was suggested by the runaway kids day before yesterday, when they had approached Pardarshita for help for the first time, who in turn contacted Childline.

What really struck me was the level of danger the rescuers faced themselves, and the level of motivation they had to rescue child labourers at any cost. They were faced with about a dozen guards armed with pistols in the premises of the two contractors, Ali and Maneer, both with ample money and muscle power, as was also visible (in total there were about 400-500 people inside). Despite seeing the police force approaching, the factory guards continued shutting down/blocking entrance to the 'workshop'.

In the midst of all the verbal threatening and high-pitch exchange between the guards and police officials did the doors open, but by then, many children were made to escape simultaneously from the back door (from hall 3 and 4) when finally, about 11 children could be rescued from hall one and two, along with 6 adult men.

Monnat, the 12-year-old boy whose photos of injured body were heart rendering, was one of the few boys who were tortured for running away once before. They were being tortured so that they don't run away again. Glad they did!

My regards and wishes to all the people who care about children and try to do their work with sincerity. And, constructive criticism never harmed anyone either :) (in the context of chain mails below).

Shaweta.

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25/05/11:

Monnat, a 12-year-old child, along with two other minor boys worked as bonded laborers in a slaughter house at Gazi Pur under contractors Siddiqui Ali and Maneer. Ali and Maneer used to beat them brutally, give electric shocks especially to Monnat and keep him locked in a room.

These boys escaped from the clutches of the contractors on 25th May, 2011 and approached people in New Seema Puri, who in turn approached us at Pardarshita office. We promptly dialed Childline helpline number 1098 and after some time, received a call back from 011-22577917. The person on the other side enquired about the runaway children, asking us to reach his office at Tahirpur, Delhi, immediately.

We informed him that one of the boys was very serious as he couldn’t even move, so travelling to Tahirpur was not possible. We were then advised to call the police as they would ‘automatically hand over the boys’ to them. When we asked the name of the person who called us, he refused to identify himself.

As suggested, we dialed 100 number and within half an hour, a PCR van was at our office doorstep. After some time, two constables and one sub-inspector from Seema Puri Police station arrived and, without any logical correlation, gave us an hour-long lecture regarding law, before leaving us a little surprised because that’s not what was expected out of them when everyone was desperately trying to help the children. Anyway, we re-dialed 100 number as Monnat’s condition was continuously deteriorating.

As we also knew Mr. Varun, the coordinator of Childline helpline, we called him on his personal mobile phone and narrated the matter. He promised to send some representatives on the spot asap. After some time, two people from Childline did come, but till then, the police had already taken the injured boys to a hospital in their PCR van.

Monnat belongs to village Guttipada, district Dhupuri, Assam. Out of total four escaped children, the oldest, a 16-year-old, informed us that there are more than ten minor boys also working as bonded laborers with the same contractors.

At the end of the day, we would like to thank Mr Varun because he sent someone from Childline helpline. But we are left thinking about the common man, who does not know him personally and trusts the big, attractive hoardings that claim from rooftops that Childline helpline works for the welfare of children, 24x7, because many times (at least ten times), there has been no appropriate response from them.

Therefore we humbly submit to the helpline in question that reputation does not get built only by distributing promising pamphlets or displaying big hoardings by the road side. What is actually needed is diligent functioning on ground, that too, consistently.

Ritu, Rajiv

Pardarshita

**************************************************************************

Response by Childline; 26/05/11

Dear Mr. Rajiv

We appreciate your concern towards children and case refferals to CHILDLINE 1098. I would not like to comment on the sequence of event at this point of time but would get back to you at the earliest. It definitely looks like there has been some miscommunication/ issues in understanding. I was not able to have a detailed communication with the team members as they were involved in the intervention.

The child is with CHILDLINE and even now while i am writing this mail the team is in the hospital attending to the health needs of the child. It would then take forward the process of filing of the First Information Report and also reporting the caseto the child welfare committee.

Just to share CHILDLINE in Delhi directly intervenes in more than 250 cases in a month . It would be irresponsible on your part to write judgemental statements about the service without knowing the actual functioning and efforts made by teams in case intervention. As an organization we have inbuilt processes to identify issues and handle complaints In the last mail written by Ms Ritu from your organization on the BAA network, I had clearly requested her to report if there js a problem. We at CHILDLINE India Foundation have never received any formal complaint from your end though you claim that the service has not been responsive atleast 10 times. I feel if there is an issue of dysfunctionality atleast you report to appropriate personnel rather than opinion building on a group email.

We do not boast of our achievements and niether do we publicize them. All stakeholders in contact do understand the same.

We are taking cognizance of your email and would definitely get back to you about the case.

Thanks

Komal

CHILDLINE India Foundation.

Mobile - 9899998023

**********************************************************************************

Response by Pardarshita; 26/05/11

Dear Komal,

Greetings!

It is not a statement we made against your helpline in particular. Neither are we competing in this field with you nor we work on this particular issue specifically. But as a common person, whenever we come across such problems, we are unable to resist from helping children in need. With that intention we call your helpline number, with a hope that the children will get support but the attitude of the helpline assistant always disappoints us.

A few months back, we happened to rescue a child from Karkardooma court, called 100 number and also the helpline but no FIR was recorded despite our written statement and photographs to DCP, East. We don't even know what happened to that rescued child subsequently.

We hope and expect that an ordinary person should be able to get full support from a helpline number, without having to call anyone personally, Mr. Varun in this case.

Regards,

Rajiv.

HELPLESS CHILD, DISABLED CHILD HELPLINE; 25/05/11

Monnat, a 12-year-old child, along with two other minor boys worked as bonded laborers in a slaughter house at Gazi Pur under contractors Siddiqui Ali and Maneer. Ali and Maneer used to beat them brutally, give electric shocks especially to Monnat and keep him locked in a room.

These boys escaped from the clutches of the contractors on 25th May, 2011 and approached people in New Seema Puri, who in turn approached us at Pardarshita office. We promptly dialed Childline helpline number 1098 and after some time, received a call back from 011-22577917. The person on the other side enquired about the runaway children, asking us to reach his office at Tahirpur, Delhi, immediately.

We informed him that one of the boys was very serious as he couldn’t even move, so travelling to Tahirpur was not possible. We were then advised to call the police as they would ‘automatically hand over the boys’ to them. When we asked the name of the person who called us, he refused to identify himself.

As suggested, we dialed 100 number and within half an hour, a PCR van was at our office doorstep. After some time, two constables and one sub-inspector from Seema Puri Police station arrived and, without any logical correlation, gave us an hour-long lecture regarding law, before leaving us a little surprised because that’s not what was expected out of them when everyone was desperately trying to help the children. Anyway, we re-dialed 100 number as Monnat’s condition was continuously deteriorating.

As we also knew Mr. Varun, the coordinator of Childline helpline, we called him on his personal mobile phone and narrated the matter. He promised to send some representatives on the spot asap. After some time, two people from Childline did come, but till then, the police had already taken the injured boys to a hospital in their PCR van.

Monnat belongs to village Guttipada, district Dhupuri, Assam. Out of total four escaped children, the oldest, a 16-year-old, informed us that there are more than ten minor boys also working as bonded laborers with the same contractors.

At the end of the day, we would like to thank Mr Varun because he sent someone from Childline helpline. But we are left thinking about the common man, who does not know him personally and trusts the big, attractive hoardings that claim from rooftops that Childline helpline works for the welfare of children, 24x7, because many times (at least ten times), there has been no appropriate response from them.

Therefore we humbly submit to the helpline in question that reputation does not get built only by distributing promising pamphlets or displaying big hoardings by the road side. What is actually needed is diligent functioning on ground, that too, consistently.

Ritu, Rajiv

Pardarshita

Response by Childline; 26/05/11

Dear Mr. Rajiv
We appreciate your concern towards children and case refferals to CHILDLINE 1098. I would not like to comment on the sequence of event at this point of time but would get back to you at the earliest. It definitely looks like there has been some miscommunication/ issues in understanding. I was not able to have a detailed communication with the team members as they were involved in the intervention.

The child is with CHILDLINE and even now while i am writing this mail the team is in the hospital attending to the health needs of the child. It would then take forward the process of filing of the First Information Report and also reporting the caseto the child welfare committee.

Just to share CHILDLINE in Delhi directly intervenes in more than 250 cases in a month . It would be irresponsible on your part to write judgemental statements about the service without knowing the actual functioning and efforts made by teams in case intervention. As an organization we have inbuilt processes to identify issues and handle complaints In the last mail written by Ms Ritu from your organization on the BAA network, I had clearly requested her to report if there js a problem. We at CHILDLINE India Foundation have never received any formal complaint from your end though you claim that the service has not been responsive atleast 10 times. I feel if there is an issue of dysfunctionality atleast you report to appropriate personnel rather than opinion building on a group email.

We do not boast of our achievements and niether do we publicize them. All stakeholders in contact do understand the same.

We are taking cognizance of your email and would definitely get back to you about the case.

Thanks
Komal
CHILDLINE India Foundation.
Mobile - 9899998023

Response by Pardarshita; 26/05/11

Dear Komal,

Greetings!
It is not a statement we made against your helpline in particular. Neither are we competing in this field with you nor we work on this particular issue specifically. But as a common person, whenever we come across such problems, we are unable to resist from helping children in need. With that intention we call your helpline number, with a hope that the children will get support but the attitude of the helpline assistant always disappoints us.

A few months back, we happened to rescue a child from Karkardooma court, called 100 number and also the helpline but no FIR was recorded despite our written statement and photographs to DCP, East. We don't even know what happened to that rescued child subsequently.

We hope and expect that an ordinary person should be able to get full support from a helpline number, without having to call anyone personally, Mr. Varun in this case.

Regards,

Rajiv

'Rs 1,000 instead of grain terrible idea'- HT report

HT Correspondents

New Delhi, May 19, 2011

A number of NGOs have opposed the Delhi government's proposal of giving Rs 1,000 cash per family per month instead of subsidised foodgrains under the Public Distribution System (PDS). A pilot project for approximately 100 families is being run in Raghubir Nagar in west Delhi wherein instead of the subsidised grain, the government is doling out Rs 1,000 in cash.

NGOs working with poor people, however, are aghast at the idea. Ritu Mehra of Pardarshita, said, "The very concept is wrong. Rs 1,000 can hardly fetch the poor the quantity of grain they need from the open market today. Add inflation, and what would you get four years later?"

Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit had convened a meeting with representatives of several NGOs on Wednesday, wherein she reportedly said the step was being taken at the behest of Planning Commission.

Parivartan’s Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said, "PDS can make a difference in the life of poor people. PDS is critical for country's food economy. It directly affects food procurement and, in turn stabilises food prices."

Santosh Koli from NGO Parivartan narrated how when her team visited the Raghubir Nagar area on May 5, they were stopped by the authorities.

Kejriwal and Koli, in a press conference on Thursday, alleged, "Dikshit is hell bent on the implementation of cash in lieu of subsidy. She has also threatened to arrest anybody who intervened in the government procedure."

The chief minister, in turn, thought it was too premature to pass a judgement on the exercise. "It is just a pilot project—it is experimental," Dikshit told HT. She, however, refused to comment on any of Parivartan's allegations.

Haroon Yusuf, Delhi's food and supplies minister, only said, "This is a pilot project by United Nations Development Programme."

The NGOs have now formed a 'Ration Vyavastha Sudhar Abhiyan' front and have been stressing on the need to carry out a detailed survey to know what the people want and a detailed debate on the issue.

Ritu Mehra wins Citizen Journalist award

Dear Friends

It is a great pleasure in sharing the news about our latest achievement as a team. Our team member Ritu Mehra has been honoured with Citizen Journalist Award for reporting a story using a picture to communicate the issue. The picture shows students of a government school, asking residents and passersby to give them water. The school has no drinking water, literally leaving the students and teachers high and dry.

The award adheres to a 2-tier selection process involving The IBN18 Editorial Board that generates a list of nominees across various categories & The Jury comprising Eminent Citizens who select the final Citizen Journalist Award winners. It is an excellent platform to pay a tribute to civil heroes of the society who reported fearlessly and dared to raise their voice against injustice and all odds of society for a better tomorrow.

http://picasaweb.google.com/pardarshita.india/IBNCJAwards?authkey=Gv1sRgCJysieO1oIuCdg#

Best Regards

Rajiv Kumar

Pardarshita

Police sub inspector robs a rag picker

Dear friends,

This is to bring to your notice a horrible incident that happened with Ibrahim, resident of E-44/273, New Seema Puri, New Delhi – 95, few days before New Year’s eve. 

Ibrahim is a rag-picker, who has been honestly doing his work at a garbage bin (Dhallav) situated at Shahdara (in front of Muskaan  Restaurant) for almost 15 years now, earning a dignified livelihood for himself and his family, without ever troubling anyone.

At middle of the night on 27.12.2010, 1:45am precisely, Sub Inspector (SI) Shishpal along with six policemen barged into his modest dwelling and like criminals, looted Rs 37,000 cash the man had painstakingly saved for his daughter’s wedding. The policemen also used abusive language while slapping him on his face in front of his wife and children. The harassment didn't end here as they dragged Ibrahim to Seema Puri Police Station after robbing him first at midnight.

As if this wasn't enough to disgrace khaki vardi, policemen even asked few thieves already in lock up to identify Ibrahim  as their accomplice in unlawful activities, but none of them identified  the rag picker as one of them.

After not being able to charge Ibrahim with any illegal activity at the thana, SI Shishpal ordered him to go back home. Before leaving,  when the hassled man demanded that his money be returned, he was hung upside down, and beaten severely on his lower body parts with sticks. This is police treatment meted out to hardened criminals while here is an innocent man getting subjected to inhuman, shock treatment, who was shaken out of his sleep, robbed of his life’s savings, abused physically and verbally in front of family members for no fault of his.

Next day i.e. on 28.12.2010, Ibrahim submitted a written complaint to Deputy Police Commissioner District North East Delhi, but no action against SI Shishpal was taken. On the contrary, the SI and other policemen are currently threatening strict action against Ibrahim if he didn’t withdraw his complaint.

It is such incidents that make our Nation kneel down in shame, and embarassment, where  a poor person from the minority Muslim community is targetted for extortion and loot by police, and never any rich or powerful personality, who has the resources to put everyone in their places in case of  slight trouble they might have to go through. Such crimes by police are regularly happening in Seema Puri as the majority population  here  comprises poor Muslims. It's a matter of utter shame that the level of discrimination against the weaker and vulnerable sections in our society is so high that even police has stood up against them, looting them and torturing them instead of protecting their interests as per their mandate. 

We are circulating this mail to you for seeking your suggestions because there are very few persons like Ibrahim who raise their voice against such  unlawful acts by police.  

We, at Pardarshita, believe we must help Ibrahim in his fight against a corrupt system.

Zindabad!

Rajiv Kumar

HEAVY PENALTY PAID BY BPL CARD HOLDERS DUE TO MODERNISATION OF FOOD & SUPPLY DEPARTMENT

Dear friends,

This is very unfortunate that on the one hand  food grains are rotting in godowns while on other, thousands of people who have BPL and Antodaya ration cards are not getting ration.

The Assistant Commissioner of North East District has stated before the Central Information Commission:  “because of an error in their computer program, thousands of BPL persons, who are eligible for getting ration, have been denied ration supplies.”  As a result of departmental fault ,people are not getting ration for last five months despite their ration cards.

Since August 2010, the ration supply for thousands of BPL& Antodaya card holders at 70 Circles of Delhi has stopped suddenly. On inquiry, the people affected were told the following at their respective Circle Offices: "the Head Quarter has cancelled the cards; we do not know the reason for the same.” 

The Food & Supply Department had not sent any notice for the cancellation of cards and all of a sudden, when people went to withdraw ration from the FPS shop they were told that their cards are cancelled.

In Seema Puri Constituency, 707 BPL & Antodaya cards were cancelled and when some of the card holders sought reasons for cancellation of their cards under the RTI Act, then the Public Information officer did not provide  any explanation for their cancellation. 

When the matter reached CIC,  at the time of hearing, the PIO gave the list of cancelled 707 BPL & Antodaya Ration Card Holders and informed the Commission that due to the technical fault of computer the BPL & Antodaya Cards throughout Delhi has been cancelled.

The Hon’ble Commissioner directed the PIO to provide compensation of Rs.2000 to the information seekers for not providing the information in set time limit. The Commission also directed the Food Commissioner to provide reasons why the ration has not been provided to the appellants. 

Warm Regards

Rajiv Kumar

Pardarshita

F-185,186 New Seema Puri

Delhi-110095

Ph: 01122356476, 9899358835

Blog:http://pardarshita.blogspot.com
Email: pardarshita_india@yahoo.com

DCPCR working under pressure of Delhi Government

In the month of May 2010, many parents of New Seema Puri approached Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya (SKV), New Seema Puri with a written request for admission of their children. The Vice Principal of SKV denied admission to these children stating, in writing, that 'there is no seat available in the school, therefore admission cannot be given' to them.

 

The Right to Education Act 2009 (RTE) implemented since April 1 2010 ensures free and compulsory elementary education to all children. So now, it is the right of every child to get admission to school. A Commission in Delhi has also been set up under the Act for ensuring the rights of children. Hence it is the responsibility of the Delhi Commission for Protection of Childs Rights (DCPCR) to ensure the children get admitted to school.

 

A complaint was filed with DCPCR regarding the written denial for the admission of these children by the vice principal of the school. The Commission directed the Directorate of Education to admit these children or otherwise action would be taken against Department.

 

However, it is extremely surprising that after four months, DCPCR has sent a letter on September 1 2010 stating that “admission to these children cannot be given in SKV, New Seema Puri because of non-availability of seats in the school. The parents of these children are advised to take admission in other neighborhood schools.”

 

But, the fact is that in this particular SKV, there are 60-80 students who are studying in a single section of many classes. 

Now, four months have passed and the admissions are closed, question is where will these children study. Other questions we ask are:

 

• For whom is this Commission functioning - the GOVERNMENT or the CHILDREN?
• Is this Commission bound to work under pressure of the Government?
• Are the appointments being made just to oblige the people who are closer to the Government?
• Who is responsible for spoiling one year of these children?
• How will the children be compensated for this one year's loss?

Rajiv Kumar

Pardarshita

F-185,186 New Seema Puri

Delhi-110095

Ph: 011-22356476, 9899358835

Email: pardarshita_india@yahoo.com