Losing their childhood to drugs
A survey done by an NGO shows that almost 70-80 per cent of children living at railway stations in New Delhi are into substance abuse. Several of them, the study says, want to get out of the problem, but have no clue how to do so.
New Delhi, Jan 16: Sandeep lost his childhood, many years back to the mean streets of Delhi. At an age when children haggle for pocket money, this 13-year-old earns and spends most it on intoxicants.
The fact that he continues to be addicted, even after going through a "de-addiction programme" questions the effectiveness of such programmes, say experts working on the field.
Sandeep earns about Rs 150-200 a day by rag-picking at the New Delhi Railway station and spends more than half of it to buy correction fluid and alcohol everyday.
There are several children who are addicted like Sandeep living on the streets of the national capital. A survey done by an international NGO shows that almost 70-80 per cent of children living at railway stations here are into substance abuse. Several of them, the study says, want to get out of the problem, but have no clue how to do so.
People working with street kids attribute this alarming and persistent problem of addiction to the absence of a specialised de-addiction programme exclusively for street children.
"Any level of addiction in children leads to a lot disorientation and vulnerability mainly because of the substance. And as we don't have rehabilitation centres exclusively for children, this problem is persistent," says Mrinalini Rao, programme director (India) of Railway Children.
Most of these children get addicted to intoxicants to "numb the pain of the beating they are subjected to by the police, to supress their hunger and also to be a part of the group," she says.
Agreeing with her is Raj Mangal Prasad, of Association for Development (AFD) - an NGO working on advocacy aspect of children's issue.
"Most of these kids say that they want to get out of addiction but have no clue how to go about it. Government does not have any infrastructure to deal with children who are addicted," he says.
Last year, AFD had taken 15 addicted children from New Delhi and Old Delhi stations to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) of the Social Welfare Department. The department official reportedly rejected their plea saying that they did not have facilities to provide medical treatment to these children.
"Getting a place in a NGO-run centre is also not easy," he says. "Most of them charge money as the government grant covers only the cost of 90-day treatment. Once these children return from such short-term rehablitation they get into the habit again. There is absloutely no system to monitor these kids," he explains.
The CWC, which was apprised about this issue by the organisation, has notified the Social Welfare Department about it.
"This is one missing link in the welfare programme for street kids," says M N Vidyarthi, a member of CWC.
"Government of Delhi or Government of India per se, has no rehablitation programme for addicted children. The department has identified some institutes to deal with this. But these institutes charge for the treatment which, the children can't afford."
"A lot of intervention is needed in this regard," he adds.
NGO's are also stressing the need to address this issue immediately. "De-addiction programme must be integrated with other rehabilitation programmes of street children and there is a urgent need to address this issue," says Mrinalini.
These children should be made aware of the consequences of such acts. Education should be an essential part of the programme if these children have to be made to ralise the importance of a better standard of life, she says.
"What is needed for any organisation working with street children is to have a strength-based programme leading to a personal transformation of an individual and most importantly a sense of future has to be imparted to these kids," she adds.
~ GDN
New Delhi, Jan 16: Sandeep lost his childhood, many years back to the mean streets of Delhi. At an age when children haggle for pocket money, this 13-year-old earns and spends most it on intoxicants.The fact that he continues to be addicted, even after going through a "de-addiction programme" questions the effectiveness of such programmes, say experts working on the field.
Sandeep earns about Rs 150-200 a day by rag-picking at the New Delhi Railway station and spends more than half of it to buy correction fluid and alcohol everyday.
There are several children who are addicted like Sandeep living on the streets of the national capital. A survey done by an international NGO shows that almost 70-80 per cent of children living at railway stations here are into substance abuse. Several of them, the study says, want to get out of the problem, but have no clue how to do so.
People working with street kids attribute this alarming and persistent problem of addiction to the absence of a specialised de-addiction programme exclusively for street children.
"Any level of addiction in children leads to a lot disorientation and vulnerability mainly because of the substance. And as we don't have rehabilitation centres exclusively for children, this problem is persistent," says Mrinalini Rao, programme director (India) of Railway Children.
Most of these children get addicted to intoxicants to "numb the pain of the beating they are subjected to by the police, to supress their hunger and also to be a part of the group," she says.
Agreeing with her is Raj Mangal Prasad, of Association for Development (AFD) - an NGO working on advocacy aspect of children's issue.
"Most of these kids say that they want to get out of addiction but have no clue how to go about it. Government does not have any infrastructure to deal with children who are addicted," he says.
Last year, AFD had taken 15 addicted children from New Delhi and Old Delhi stations to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) of the Social Welfare Department. The department official reportedly rejected their plea saying that they did not have facilities to provide medical treatment to these children.
"Getting a place in a NGO-run centre is also not easy," he says. "Most of them charge money as the government grant covers only the cost of 90-day treatment. Once these children return from such short-term rehablitation they get into the habit again. There is absloutely no system to monitor these kids," he explains.
The CWC, which was apprised about this issue by the organisation, has notified the Social Welfare Department about it.
"This is one missing link in the welfare programme for street kids," says M N Vidyarthi, a member of CWC.
"Government of Delhi or Government of India per se, has no rehablitation programme for addicted children. The department has identified some institutes to deal with this. But these institutes charge for the treatment which, the children can't afford."
"A lot of intervention is needed in this regard," he adds.
NGO's are also stressing the need to address this issue immediately. "De-addiction programme must be integrated with other rehabilitation programmes of street children and there is a urgent need to address this issue," says Mrinalini.
These children should be made aware of the consequences of such acts. Education should be an essential part of the programme if these children have to be made to ralise the importance of a better standard of life, she says.
"What is needed for any organisation working with street children is to have a strength-based programme leading to a personal transformation of an individual and most importantly a sense of future has to be imparted to these kids," she adds.
~ GDN
posted by Giridhar Narayan | 14:45
3 Comments:
Nice Blog :)
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Hey Giri,
Thanks for visiting my blog! I liked the issues that you have dealt with in yours! It is a tragedy that these children seem to have been cast aside by everyone - from the common citizen to the Government!
You may want to see "Born in Brothels" a moving depiction of the life of the children of prostitutes. Its much easier said about these children, than do something for them.
Will visit more often! Thanks again.
Giri dear...
Probably its just a coinicidence that I happen to read ur post, barely 2 days after having witnessed 2 boys barely into their teenage, using worn-out syringes to inject themselves with god-knows-what in a secluded corner in a Trivandrum park. Sad, that theres nothing much we can do abt it. Sadder that they remain ignorant of the dire consequences. And saddest that the menace outgrows itself at alarming rates, squashing quite a few lives in the bargain!
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