Brave New World Beckons in Child-friendly Villages

Brave New World Beckons in Child-friendly Villages: Razia Sultan’s eyes sparkle. Just 11, she is already a mix of power-lady and princess. Nothing in her mien gives away the fact that the eldest of nine siblings toiled for four hours every day after school to stitch footballs in Meerut for two years till 2004.

Child-friendly Villages

But Razia’s come a long way since those days. Her village, Nanglakhumba, on the outskirts of Meerut in west Uttar Pradesh, has been a child-friendly village, or bal mitra gram, for four years now. And Razia is an elected member of the bal mahapanchayat, a national body that deals with children’s issues such as labour and early marriage. She is the oldest among her nine siblings and clearly a beacon of sorts for her peer group.

Razia’s transformation from football-maker to child activist who has ensured separate toilets for girls in her school, is a story of hope. It is the tale of what village communities can achieve once shown the way. Like thousands of others, Nanglakhumba village was a hub of child labour till villagers rooted out the practice and recognized that the road to a better future cannot be built on the labour of children.

The shift in the villagers’ mindset was an outcome of an initiative by Bachpan Bachao Andolan working with a group of foreign NGOs for a project called Building Child Friendly Villages. The concept of such a village is simple, if difficult to actualize. Villages with intensive child labour are identified, followed by extensive awareness and goal-oriented programmes where villagers are weaned away from acceptance of child labour. Enrollment in schools is ensured and village-level surveillance is mounted so that no unscrupulous person exploits children.

The panchayat is usually the first to acknowledge the evil of child labour. Community-level intervention leads to compulsory education. Every village where child labour is rooted out has its own bal panchayat, which interacts with the adults.

The results are remarkable. In a report, child rights activist Bhuwan Ribhu says that in conservative Tewari village near Jaipur, an alert panchayat welcomed the initiative and one of its first actions was to shoot off complaint letters about the absence of a health worker and teachers in the local government school. The realization that villagers themselves can work towards improving their lot has raised the community’s self-esteem. An active bal panchayat here vociferously advocates withdrawing children from work and curbing child marriage.

But it’s easier said than done. Activists report facing stiff resistance in every village, but in the 10 years since the project has been implemented in India, 238 villages have become childlabour free, and at present 43 are in the process of conversion, says Umesh Gupta, an activist with Bachpan Bachao Andolan. It takes an average of two years to rid a village of the practice and make it a bal mitra gram.

Nangalkhumba’s bal panchayat is headed by 11-year-old Ubed, the youngest of eight brothers. Pradhan Ubed, as he is called, is happy to record that his panchayat has pushed parents of 48 kids to enroll this year alone. He has a steely gaze and understated confidence. He wants to be a doctor.

Razia asserts she will become a samajsevika. She is preparing for a meeting with the district magistrate on Nov 25. There are issues, she says, that need to be tackled. There’s no missing the purpose in her voice.

Rakesh

Brave New World Beckons in Child-friendly Villages: Seven years ago, Rakesh was lured by the village dalal who offered him “a laddu”. From Bihar’s Ghina in Saharsa district, he was brought to Punjab along with five other kids and sold to a farmer, who further sold him to another man. Rakesh’s job was to clean buffaloes, work the fields. He was fed two rotis and tea laced with drugs to keep him going. But he would often faint. And was tortured with iron rods and beaten up. It took his father five years to track down his kidnapped son, and get help to raid the farmer and rescue him. Once back home, Rakesh took months to adjust, language being the biggest hurdle. He knew only Punjabi and his parents knew only the local dialect. His father agreed to send him to school in Jaipur.

Rakesh visited Sweden to win a World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child Award in 2006. He is now a jury member for choosing awardees till 2013, when he turns 18. When he sits to meditate, he dreams of making a film, and playing professional football.