Introduction:

In the first part of this article we discussed the nature, scope, reasons and consequences of the problem of street children in general and of India in particular. In the subsequent portion of this article I propose to talk about the response of the Indian society, both on the governmental and the non-governmental level. In this part however, we will restrict ourselves to two broad areas, viz. the background and development of NGO-(Non-Government-Organization) activities related to street- children, and the profile of certain outstanding NGOs in the city of Bombay. Profile of organisations outside the city of Bombay will be presented in the third part of this article. All the organisations selected for presentation here are both outstanding and unique in their own ways. Before we proceed however, we shall have a quick look at the main points covered in the first part.

Summary of the first part

1) Street children is a world wide urban phenomenon Rapid urbanization, breakdown of families. poverty and related problems are considered as the major contributors the emergence and growth of the problem.

2) It is hard to enumerate their number and equally difficult even to estimate it to near accuracy. UNICEF estimates put them anywhere between 30 and 100 millions world over; India is supposed to be having the largest congregation in the world.

3) Street children are divided into two broad categories: ' children on the streets ' and ' children of the streets ' . The difference is in the degree of contact the children have with their parents and family. The ' children on the street ' live with their families and spend most of their time on streets because their families live there. On the other hand the ' children of the street ' have very little or contact with their parents or family. They are either runaway, destitute or orphan children, who are on the streets and who fend for themselves. This article deals only with the second category of the street children: children of the streets.

4) Characteristically, these children are independent by nature, resent authority and at same time they usually move in groups and have strong group bonds and group loyalty.

5) The kind of life these children live poses many problems for them. They have no protection of a caring adult and no protection of a house. They are thus exposed to all kinds of natural and human onslaughts. Their life is full of health hazards, deprivations and exploitative situation.

With this brief recapitulation we shall now proceed to see the kind of activities and services available in India for these children.

Background and Development of NGOs' Work

All of the major metropolitan cities in India such as, Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Banglore etc. have a sizeable number of NGOs working for the cause of street children. For example, Bombay alone has about 20 to 25 organisations whose focus of work is street children. Many of these organisations have started their work in the early 80s or around that time. The number of organisations has increased greatly after 1979, which was declared as the International Year or the Child. International organisations such as UNICEF have been instrumental in increasing awareness and involvement of the NGOs in the problems of children in general and street children in particular. For example in the year 1984-85, UNICEF commissioned a study of the ' Homeless ' in the four Metropolitan cities of India. We have a concrete example of the organisation called YUVA (Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action) in Bombay who have included a programme for street children in their activities on the basis of the data collected for this study. In 1987 a national level conference was jointly organised by UNICEF and the NGOs. Subsequently in 1988, the second National level Workshop was organised by the Government of India jointly sponsored by UNICEF. At the same time city level surveys enumerating the street children and identifying their problems were conducted in 10 major cities in India. All of these studies were sponsored by UNICEF. The work with the children got further push after the convention on the Rights of Children in 1989 and after the World Summit for children in 1990.

In India as a follow up of the National level Workshops mentioned earlier, city level forums were formed in which concerned NGOs and the Government Departments participated as members. The forums provided a common platform for exchange of ideas, and collectively they could lobby much more effectively with the concerned authorities. Also, the participation of the Government officials as co-members helped in better understanding of each others way of thinking and functioning. With greater understanding things could move much faster at the Government level. A very good example of this kind of mutual understanding is the facility of identity cards for the children. The children on the street are often the first suspects if anything goes wrong in the vicinity. It was the experience of the NGOs that the police often catch these children without much investigation, which was not fair. However the children were helpless and there was nobody to fend for them in such situations. When these problems were discussed in the forum meetings a solution was worked out. It was decided that the organisations could take identity cards for the children they knew. The identity cards were issued by the police on the recommendation of the concerned organisation. If anything went wrong the police would inform the organisation as soon as they took the child into custody. This helped a great deal both the children and the police. Issuing of identity cards is now a regular feature with the Bombay Police.

If we look at the development of services for street children we see that the NGOs have played a very important role. In fact, NGOs were the first to experiment in different ways, and they were doing this for a prolonged period of time. For example, Sneh-Sadan in Bombay has been working with the street children for than 25 years now. In fact we can categorise the activities in India in three or four major groups. First is the direct service, which is offered by many NGOs. Secondly there is a major activity of research and documentation. This is done on various levels such UNICEF. State or central Government Departments. In addition there are studies on smaller scales such as the ones conducted by the students of colleges of Social-Work, Home-Science, Departments of Continuing Education etc. Although many such studies only generate information a few do lead to the development of a field project. For example, a project called ' Vatsalya ' is a direct outcome of a study conducted by a student of the college of Social Work, of the ' Rag-Pickers ' in the city of Bombay The number covered under the study was small. However the data proved to be useful to start simple recreational activities with the group. The College of Social-Work developed it further for students' field placement and it has today grown into a fullfledged independent NGO. Advocacy and Networking is another major area in which some of the NGOs and particularily the city level NGO forums are actively involved. NGOs like ' Butterflies ' in Delhi, and ' REDS ' in Banglore. Have been successful in organising the street children themselves into groups with a view to creating awareness among them about their problems, and their right. Thus we find that rallies are organised for these children in which they are brought face to face with the concerned Departments such as Police, Railways, Civic authorities etc. and the children present their problems and the authorities explain to them the rules and regulations within which they have to function.

The Nature of Services Offered

We have seen that the number of organisations working in the field and providing direct services is fairly large. Each organisation selects its area of activity and functions accordingly. The services offered by the individual organisation vary from organisation to organisation. For example, some organisation provide residential services, some do not. Some give health care services, some recreational; some consider education a priority, whereas some others provide nutrition and other facilities; some provide for the whole range of services while some give a mix of two or three. There are organisations which are open 24 hours a day all days of the week. Some give weekly or biweekly services. However, there are certain areas of work which are common for all. The first and the most important is the ' contact ' programme. Whatever is the nature of the service, it is important that the children are contacted and a rapport developed with them. It is not easy to contact these children for obvious reasons. Firstly, they are hard to find in one place and secondly they do not trust the adult world. In order to develop contacts with them some kind of activity is necessary as a medium. Generally it is a recreational activity which precedes all other activities of the organisation. If we ask the children to indicate their needs, recreations nowhere in the picture. Children want Night shelter with provision of bath and toilet first and then comes food, clothing, health care and thereafter education and vocational training, in that order. We therefore find that some of the NGOs have found a midway. They make arrangements for the children to come together, to relax, to watch TV, or to wash, bathe etc. Bathing facility becomes an important convenience in India because there is no system of public bath houses. Some organisations provide health care and education, particularly on AIDS and other such diseases. Many try to start educational activities but the success in this area is very slow to come by. Some try distribution of nutritional food once or twice a week which helps greatly to bring the children together. Thus different ways and different models of working with the street children are adopted by the Indian NGOs. We will now see the profile of some of the organisations in Bombay.

28-9-95

Profesor
School of Social Work
Shikoku Gakuin University