 January 26th, 1997 |
LOW ON HOPE,
HIGH ON DOPE
Dial '1098' for help |
|
January 26th, 1997 |
LOW ON HOPE,
HIGH ON DOPE
Dial '1098' for help |
I have tasted my own hunger Sold my body to survive..... Lord, I know I am bound for heaven Because I'have done my time in hell -Children Of the Night by singer Richard Marx.
Virender pushed the blood-stained limb away from the rail track, part of the mangled remains of a suicide victim. Picking up a lump of flesh, the 10 year-old boy tossed it into the stretcher held by a policeman. The traumatic task completed, he was shooed away from the scene.
The boy walked towards a deserted stretch of the platform, emotions surging across his face. His frail arms were wrapped tightly around his body as if to stifile the nausea in his throat. Suddenly, he darted off to the parking lot of the station.
Making sure no one was observing him, Virender took out a piece of cloth and dipped it into the petrol tank of an unattended vehicle. Lifting the drenched rag, he took it to his nose and inhaled deeply. His restless eyes calmed as the fumes swept into his lungs. In a few minutes, Virender slipped into a petrol-induced sleep under a tree.
In the big, menacing cities of India, thousands of young and unloved children like Virender were finding solace in substances such as petrol, glue and photocopier solutions. To these youngsters a couple of deep drags brought a breath of calm that people around them had taken away.
Their pathetic existence was the highlight of a recent joint study conducted by the ministry of welfare and agencies such as the United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) and World Health Organisation (WHO). The study reported widespread drug abuse and sexual exploitation among street kids.
At a national workshop in Delhi last month representatives of the government, NGOs and UN agencies were urged to set up a task force to tackle the problems of street children. "The problem of street children is not new," said Koli Kuame, regional director of the UNDCP. "What is new is the dimension and the diversity of the substances are using."
The problem of street children was not unknown, yet they continued to be ignored and misunderstood. For most urban dwellers, in fact, street children were to be avoided. They were an eyesore in their landscaped localities. Their hands dirtied the windows of their cars at traffic lights. They would steal at the first opportunity.
|
Glue, petrol, photocopier solution, nail polish, etc. Becoming increasingly popular among urban street kids. |
| Availability These are legally available and easily accessible to children. Glue ranges from Rs 12 to Rs 15 a can while petrol goes for Rs 21 a litre in Delhi. |
| How they are used Sniffed through the nose and mouth. Often a plastic bag is used to cover the head to prevent the fumes from escaping. (Chances of suffocation is high in this case) |
| Effects and risks When first used, it can lead to nausea and vomiting and even cause death in extreme cases. Use for a prolonged period could result in brain damage. |
The city did not welcome these waifs who had escaped the miseries and injustices at home. Some ran away because they could not adjust with a new parent after their father or mother remarried. Little Mohammed landed in Hyderabad because "Bhaiya ne mujhe bahut mara (my brother hit me)". Hamid, who lived on the crowded streets of Central Mumbai, wanted to free himself from the chains of poverty in his village near Lucknow. He heard that "Mumbai mein bahut maza aata hai (Mumbai was a fun city). So I decided to come here."
"These are children with reckless courage," said Varadhan of the Society for Integrated Development in Urban and Rural Areas (SIDUR) in Hyderabad. "They have not been able to identify with the normal pattern in their homes."
Estimates of the number of street children in India varied since no serious studies had been done. Quoting from figures available with the Planning Commission, A.P. Singh, deputy secretary in the ministry of welfare, came up with a figure of 20 million. A recent UNICEF study, on the other hand, put the number at 12 million. . A Delhi Police estimate two years ago said there were 400,000 in the capital. And Mumbai, ever a magnet for the young and the homeless, was believed to have 100,000. Some others like Jaru Billimoria who worked with the Childline emergency telephone service for street children in Mumbai, believed there were at least 150,000.
Determining the number of street children hooked on drugs was equally difficult. But no one doubted that the figures were large. Social workers in Mumbai, for instance, believed that most street boys in the city had used drugs in some form or the other. According to Ashita Mittal, programme officer of the UNDCP, "Peer pressure and the availability of drugs is such that every street child must have tried drugs at least once."
"The drug substances are cheap and easily available." Said Gabriel Britto of the National Addiction Research Centre in Mumbai. The commonly used substances were solvents like glue, petrol, photocopier solution and nail polish removers. These were easily available and inexpensive. Many street kids in Mumbai found it easier to break open a can of photocopier fluid and take a few sniffs; cost of a can was a mere Rs 8.
"When the child spends about Rs.10 a day on these drugs it helps him to feel good and forget his problems," said Britto.
The use of glue as a mood alterer by street children came to light a few years ago in Rio de Janeiro and other south American cities. The lives of street children there were racked by shocking children there were racked by shocking levels of violence and sexual abuse. Shift the scene to India and the situation seemed frightfully similar.
Glue had slowly become a popular stress-reliever among children in Indian cities as well. Inhaling the substance made the user lightheaded and relaxed. And it stifled hunger pangs. Which was more important to the street kid in Delhi or Mumbai than the effects of prolonged use: brain damage and even death. "
"Price, availability and peer group pressure are the main factors leading street children to go in for solvent sniffing," said Jyothi Mehra, who had studied has behaviour of street children and was the national research consultant of the government-sponsored study.
With law enforcement agencies plugging the heroin and cocaine routes, street kids found it easier to go in for alternative substances like glue and photocopier solution : these were available legally, were cheaper and gave more or less the same high.
The price factor was important too. Many of the users, for instance, were low-paid young employees in the dingy factories in the capital's Walled City. During a low spell, the street child survived for days on periodic sniffing of glue and endless cups of tea, both available cheaply.
For these children, drugs could begin a slide into sexual exploitation. According to Mohammed Rafiuddin, director of the Hyderabad Council of Human Welfare and founder of Marg, an organisation which worked with street children, "Younger children are accosted by older ones, given food, shelter and some money, and are then slowly introduced to the world of sex."
|
Heroin, Opium, Morphine, etc. Popularly known as smack,junk, gard and brown sugar. |
| Availability and rate Not easily available since they are banned. In Delhi, available through contacts of the drug mafia at places like Paharganj, certain spots in and around Old Delhi and Trans-Yamuna. Rates vary from place to place. Smack goes for Rs 20 to Rs 30 per pudiya at Motia Khan. |
| How they are used Smack is usually smoked (referred to as 'chasing'). After prolonged use, they turn to injections ('shooting up' or 'maintaining') |
| Effects and risks Very addictive. Since the dosage goes on increasing, people often resort to crime to get money. An overdose can be fatal. HIV/AIDS can be transmitted if infected needles are used. Since the pudiya is almost always adulterated with substances ranging from talcum powder to glass dust, it can be deadly. Withdrawal symptoms, which last for months, include convulsions, sweating, muscle cramps, stomach pain, vomiting. |
These children found themselves gradually trapped in a vicious circle. Once on the street the boy was desperate to be accepted by his peers. Often sexual abuse was the price he had to pay. And to escape from the guilt and pain he took to drugs.
But sexual encounters made them susceptible to infections, including HIV. It did not seem to worry many children. "Sex just happens with whoever is available when we feel like having it," boasted Naushad, a 'veteran' street boy in the narrow lanes near Delhi's Jama Masjid.
What was 'available' was often a younger boy.
For older boys like Naushad, homosexuality was a measure of their machismo. They sodomised young boys, believing sex with them would cleanse them of venereal disease.
"The percentage of boys who have been homosexually abused is 80 per cent," said Suresh Nanda, a social worker who interacted with street children at Delhi's Inter-State Bus Terminus. "It is more or less a normal way of life for them."
DEEPAK claimed he was 15 years old though he looked much younger. He came to Delhi two years ago from his village in Unnao in Uttar Pradesh, and landed in the custody of an auto rikshaw driver who turned out to be a sexual fiend. "I was so miserable that I requested two dadas to help me," he recounted.
The dadas confronted the auto driver only to be pacified by him with liquor and food. The same night, Deepak's would-be saviours returned in a liquor-driven stupor, pulled the boy out of his pavement bed, and took turns in sodomising him. Deepak learnt a lesson that painful night. "There are no saviours for us here. I am here on my own," he said.
Over time some of the children gave in to their tormentors rather than resist, but extracted a price. "You tell me, is anything possible without money?" burst out Rahim, 12, who lived in the Walled City. "To get money I allowed men to have sex with me," he said.
"It happens here in the open, and if you don't negotiate for yourself the dadas and the policemen will rape you and go away. By allowing them sex in exchange for money or food, at least I will be gaining something."
Thus initiated, many of the street children went about making the most of a lucrative trade. In Delhi, for instance, they could be seen soliciting at the Central Park in Cannaught Place, Lodhi Gardens and around the Jama Masjid. It was rare to find girls living alone on the street; the ones who made that mistake were raped or swept off to brothels.
The situation was alarming, yet in contrast to the global scenario the number of children living alone on the streets in India was only 20 per cent of the total. The other street kids maintained links with their families who lived in nearby towns or in the city slums.
"Children from jhuggis like Jahangirpur are virtually out on the streets, working as rag-pickers or doing similar jobs during the day and returning at night," said Mehra.
|
Marijuana, Cannabis oil, Hashish. Popularly known as Ganja, Charas, Grass, Pot, Bhang etc. |
| Availability and rate A dose of Ganja is available for Rs 5 to Rs 12 while Charas the size of a rupee coin costs Rs 20. Bhang is used during festivals and is permitted in north Indian society. Though cannabis was banned in 1985, there is a demand for lifting the ban. |
| How they are used Ganja is usually smoked, often mixed with tobacco while bhang is eaten or taken with milk. |
| Effects and risks Not addictive and has no withdrawal symptoms. Some studies say that it is less harmful than alcohol intake, but other studies calim that prolonged use may affect reproductive system. |
According to Shabnam Ramaswamy, who started a teaching centre in the Motia Khan slums of the capital, "Living with the family does not offer a protective cushion for street children; in many cases the conditions at home are worse." That was true in the case of the Sansi tribesmen from Rajasthan where parents themselves pushed children into prostitution and drug pedding.
"The children are thrashed by their parents if they fail to bring home money," revealed Mehra.
Young street children could also be enticed to be drug couriers. Irshad, 16, sold drugs in the capital's Chandini Chowk and Subash Park for two years. "I was approached by two local dadas and asked if I was willing to sell charas," he recounted. He made around Rs 130 a day by selling pudiyas, sachets of smack (heroin) adulterated with chalk powder.
It was a dangerous yet attractive business for the local mafia; the sale of smack brought them 100 per cent profits. "In Motia Khan, the pardi tribals control the drug trade and they make their children sell smack," said Shabnam Ramaswamy.
It was safer to make the children carry the substance. According to Rita Panicker, director of Butterflies, an organisation working with street children in Delhi, girls were frequently used as couriers since the police rarely suspected or searched them.
THE police were viewed with suspicion and distrust by the drug dons and even the NGOs. The cops attracted flak when the plight of Bindiya, a Sansi tribal girl in the capital, came to light recently. She sold the pudiyas from her Motia Khan hut, ostensibly to look after her alcoholic father.
When she was caught by constables from the Pharganj station, Bindiya was offered a deal: she had to hand over half the spoils, provide information on the new peddlers in the area, and make herself 'available' to the cops. Though released on bail, the girl was scared of retribution even though a shake-up had been ordered in the police department.
The NGOs too were furious with the cops. "We gave identity cards to the children working as unlicensed porters, explaining their condition," said a volunteer of the Salaam Balak Trust, which conducted non-formal education for street children at the New Delhi railway station. "But the policemen tore up the cards."
Left at the mercy of the local goons, older boys and the police, the street children waged a bitter battle for survival. Many scrimmaged for leftover food in the Shatabadi Expresses every morning; their evening collection was spent at a dhaba followed by a trip to the movies.
"There are no savings. Any money remaining with them is grabbed by older boys," said Rajesh, a social worker. "So their natural instinct is to spend whatever money they make."
Making money was an art that some of the younger children had perfected. They regularly received gifts of toys, shoes and clothes from tourists after telling sob stories. Once the foreigners left the spot, the children sold their gifts. Another common tactic was pleading with the tourists or the city's affluent to buy them a shoe-shine kit and help them do a decent job.
Previn Malhotra, a Delhi publisher, recalled how she bought a shoe-shine kit for a "sad-looking" boy at a New Delhi railway station.
It was desperation that made them beg and steal. "Wouldn't you snatch a purse if you felt cold and hungry at the end of the day?" asked Shabnam Ramaswamy. "If a fraction of what the average street child goes through happened to a kid in a rich area like Defence Colony there would have been an uproar."
|
Mandrax, tranquillisers like Valium. Mandrax is not easily available but tranquillisers can be got over the counter. Costs only a few rupees. |
| How they are used Swallowed or taken with alcohol |
| Effects and risks Long term abuse of Mandrax can impair body functions, harm the eye, cause unstable emotion and fatigue. High doses can lead to delusions, hallucinations, disorientation and confusion. Abrupt withdrawal can be life threatening. |
Nevertheless, the government was spending substantial amounts of money on schemes for street children. It financed the 80-odd schemes in 23 cities that were run by NGOs, with the ministry of welfare providing broad parameters. Yet most of the programmes failed to make an impact, providing non-formal education for a few children while a majority of them lived in indescribable conditions. There were also disagreements among the NGOs on how to approach issues such as promiscuity and drugs.
According to Jaru Billimoria of Mumbai, drugs were part of the street culture. "These children are not addicts. They try drugs as an experiment. We talk to them in group sessions because they mainly take drugs together and often mainly take drugs together and often the whole group decides to quit together."
"The study has confirmed out doubts regarding the behaviour patterns of street children. Now we have to fine-tune our programmes," said a government official.
"Our aim to reduce the number of children on the street may seem utopian, but that should be our ambition," said Anand Bordia, joint secretary in the ministry of welfare. "In our ninth-plan proposals we have incorporated awareness campaigns for drug abuse and HIV prevention as priority projects."
Others were sceptical. "Our were sceptical. "Our schemes are only skin-deep.... We treat the problem of street children as if it did not exist," said deputy secretary A.P. Singh. The department of woman and child development, he pointed out, had no schemes for children above six years.
Most street children were denied health care and education. "These children don't have access to general hospitals since rules stipulate they have to be accompanied by an adult," said Gabriel Britto of the National Addiction Research Centre.
The way out of this miserable existence lay perhaps with the children themselves. "Caught in a world of sex and drugs, most of them yearn for a better life," said Mehra. The street child's mind was a concoction of uncontrollable emotions, which combined to project him as a delinquent. "People miss the vulnerability, the anguish and the need to be accepted, " said Rafiuddin of Hyderabad's Marg. NGOs like Mansoor Umar's group in Mumbai gave the children vocational guidance and taught them to become independent. Butterflies in Delhi helped the children to run a dhaba at the Inter-State Bus Terminus.
"I want to become a teacher and help other helpless children," said Irshad, who peddled drugs in Delhi till a few months ago. He could not read or write the alphabet properly but was determined to shape a better life. "I can lear," he said.
With some earnest help the child on the street could perhaps dream of a new world, one not inhaled with petrol or glue.
K. SUNIL THOMAS in Delhi
with LALITA IYER in Hyderabad and
SEJAL SHAH in Mumbai.
 PUGMARKS HOME |
|
Your Comments
You are visitor # |