SLUM REFORMATION

We all know that slums are not new. They have been part of the history of most cities, particularly in the early years of urbanization and industrialization as population thrived. With the growth in population, slums are the only type of settlement affordable and accessible to those poor in cities where competition for land is intense. For overall development, slum melioration is very important. And the main reason behind melioration is that slum dwellers have also got the fundamental right to live with dignity and in decent living condition.

Slum Reformation consists of physical, social, economic, organizational and environmental improvements. And the main objective is to alleviate the living standard of slum dwellers as it is an important and necessary component of urban development. Slum melioration is the best solution to eradicate the problems faced by dwellers of slum. Basically we need to develop strategy to improve the infrastructure of slum by providing them with basic amenities like adequate drinking water supply, sewage system.

In 2009, our former President Smt. Pratibha Patil announced that their government aimed to create a slum free India. And in order to do so, the government planned to invest large amount of money into building affordable housing. This was a good step towards slum reformation by rather creating new homes for urban poor. Though this idea of building homes for slum residents doesn't came into practice.

Slum reformation can be effective only when it is linked with other melioration programs like poverty alleviation, Health & education.

Hence I believe that the first step towards slum reformation is to prevent new slums from developing and working for the improvement of existing slum.

Monika Bhatia has done her masters in Mass Communication from Nalanda University. She has worked at Maurya TV as Trainer Scheduler. She loves writing.
You can find her on facebook here:
https://www.facebook.com/monika.bhatia1










Edited by Naina Jha

SLUM CAPACITY

I often feel that slum dwellers are poor but they are not weak.

The ironical name of a famous Hollywood movie, presents a picture of India, mushroomed by slums, and slum kids have been compared with dogs. Yeah, I'm talking about 'Slumdog Millionaire'. This movie shows  the common thought of masses about the fateless people of slum.

Though I feel reality is something different. And to believe me, you've to go and visit slum kids. And trust me you would be caught by 'Awe', seeing the potential of those innocent kids.

Their smiling faces will tell you quietly that they, like other kids, too want to fly high and touch the limits of sky.
I suggest you to take a closer look and you'll be surprised to know that they're better than half of the kids, studying in those public schools in the city and who come from so called posh area.

If educated properly, I believe that they have the capacity to achieve heights in their life and make our nation proud.

Name anything like acting and other such things, within moments, you'll find a kid from that slum (which is considered as backward & under productive) crowd doing what you wanted them to do.

We just need to come out from our ghetto, and seek the potential out, to give India, stronger hands in coming decade and free it from its stained image of a country full of turbid slum.

This article is written by Akanksha Singh, who is pursuing engineering from Jaipur.

SLUM AND ITS LIVING CONDITION

Slums are known for its erroneous grungy substandard living. The dwellers of these slums live in such unhygenic conditions that they are prone to different diseases. They don't have proper sanitation (forget about separate washroom for male & female). Garbage seems to be an important part of their life which is very sad. Slums have very raunchy living conditions. Children in slums grow up in those unsatisfactory conditions.

The inhabitants of slum keep on migrating here and there for just one time meal. For slum dwellers, food is more important than their identity for survival which I guess is sad for our developing India. Daily lives of people dwelling in slums are defined by drugs, alcohal, sexual abuse.. Deficient environment and health problems are part and parcel of their life.

The slum dwellers generally live in huts made of corrugated iron which usually house about 10 people. They don't have paved roads or even the basic infrastructure, i.e, pure water, electricity or sewage system. During rainy season, hut bog down in mud. The flood not only carry away their houses but also the inhabitants. The danger of epidemic out break is very high at that time. Some major ailments through which slum dwellers suffer are measles, cold, flu, typhoid and so on. Generally hospitals don't admit them and they don't get any support from police or government as well.

I think it's high time now that the government should include slums in their development plans because slums are a major part of our nation.

Shailja Jha is pursuing her bachelors from Patna Women's College in Communicative English with Media Studies. She loves writing. She has keen interest in singing as well. 

SLUM AROUND

Monika Bhatia shares her view on slum, mentioning the current scenario of slum dwellers in Bihar. She talks about some serious issues faced by slum dwellers.

Recent estimates by the International Labour Organization ( ILO) state that about 215 million children worldwide are involved in child labour with more than half this number involved in worst forms.

India has an estimated 17 million child workers. According to a report by UNICEF, about 12 percent of children in India aged 5-14 years are engaged in child labour activities, including Rag Picking. Many children start working as Rag Pickers at the young age of 5 years.

The main reason for young children's getting involved in the job of rag picking. Is poverty that  the slum families are facing.
It was found out in a study by PRIA under Democratizing Urban Governance : Promoting Participation and Social Accountability, it was revealed that in Patna and Raipur about 26 to 20% of total rag pickers in the city are children of the age 5-14 years, while 40% of the total dump site waste pickers were children, which is a huge percentage.
These are the children who don't have access to education and are subjected to health threats.

Though laws have been made for compulsory education of children upto the age of 14 years, but what we see around ourselves is the reverse conditions wherby children's are forcibly made to work as Rag pickers and child labours and the sole reason behind such happenings are the loopholes existing in our societies like- lack of education, lack of awareness regarding family planning and other plans and programs. Not only this there is no direct contact of slum dwellers with the government which makes their life more miserable.

Therefore, Bihar is considered as one of the poorest states in India and Patna- the State Capital is called city with heaps of garbage, and slum neighborhoods exist right in the heart of the city. House of broken bricks, sheets and rags and cardboard boxes stretched for miles can be seen around.
As a result, we do not have proper development of our state but what we get to see around is a state with lack of basic facilities like sanitation giving rise to excreta related diseases, malnourished, physically stunned and mentally disabled children's.

Though to combat these issues residents of slums around have formed temporary toilets near to their respective households, which is not a permanent solution to the problem.

For bringing a solution to all these problems, what needs to be done is creating awareness among the slum dwellers and making them understand the importance of education in the life of a human being. A connection needs to be established between the government and slum population so that both of them can be aware and informed about the problems faced by each of them.
Communication providing Information and Education is the key solution to the problems faced by the slum 

dwellers.

Monika Bhatia has done her masters in Mass Communication from Nalanda University. She has worked at Maurya TV as Trainer Scheduler. She loves writing. You can find her on facebook here: 

https://www.facebook.com/monika.bhatia1

SLUM.... A Barrier In Development!!!

Shailja Jha talks about how slum is a major barrier in the development of cur nation and what is the living condition and mindset of people living in those slums.
The writer is a CEMS IInd year student at Patna Women's College.

"Life in a slum is a life in and from garbage"

Slum population simply refers to people living in slum areas below the poverty line. As India is still on the path of development ,there is a large number of people living below poverty line.These people usually live in slum areas connected to the city or situated at ends of city. Children who are born in sprawl of over crowded shacks or tenant buildings start life on poverty's front line.They die before they are five year old from indoor air pollution and easily preventable disease. And for those who survive,hard living conditions thrust them prematurely into adult responsibilities and rob them of the learning process and joys of childhood. A child who survive for the first five years of his or her life is a reliable indicator of progress or its absence, in human and economic development. 

Children are often nothing more then cheap workers ,being exploited or forced into child labour. They hardly have a chance to decide their own destiny. Rather forget about destiny, they don't have the preveledge of dreaming about good life.. a happy life. Children living in slums rarely have any access to education. The local schools does not accept these children and thus they rely on outside charity and organisations for help. And the educated people living around doesn't allow them to get friends with their children because their so called cultured children will go on wrong path. But even if a child is accepted into school he prefers to work so as to earn money instead of attending classes. And those students who go to school, usually goes for having a proper meal in lunch time and to get all those things which a government school provides them for free. They don't go with the motive of learning. Girl child falls victim to early marriages and pregnancy while others are forced to go out and work to add up to the family incomes. 

Situations and various circumstances make people of slum area very ignorant towards education, good life. The kids living in those slums accepts the fact from their childhood that they're going to spend their whole life in this slum and going to die one day there only. They don't even try to do something for themselves.  

India is a developing country at present and in future if we dream of seeing our "India" a developed nation then we need to eradicate slums or at least lower it down to the minimum.      

                                                                                                  

LIFE OF A STREET CHILDREN!

 

According to UNO, “Street children are children who live in street and are left entirely to their own devices.”

Children in difficult circumstances find that even the most  basic of their rights are flouted. These children include street children, who have fled the indifference, negligence, ill-treatment and sexual abuse of their homes to end-up, for want of an alternative in the street. The street becomes their refuge and their gang, their new family. Yet they do not find safety for all that. Their living conditions are rough, and the threats hanging over them endanger their survival all the time. Being a street child means not eating one’s fill, sleeping in unsanitary places, confronting  violence and sometimes becoming a sacrificial victim, as well as growing up without support, love or protection, having no access to education or health services, losing all dignity, and becoming an adult before knowing what it is to be a child.

In many cases, children may also end up in the street as a result of tragic events; children orphans by AIDS, refuge children, and children who are not recognized by society because they’ve been brought into the world by adultery, incest, parents in prison, drug addicts or prostitutes. A child doesn’t live alone on the street; he or she joins a gang consisting of other children or teenagers. They face day-to-day problems, compensates for the huge deprivation. They suffer from malnutrition, skin & lung diseases & sexually transmitted illness.  Stigmatized by society and marked out by their vulnerability, street children are more exposed to all kinds of abuse and cannot count on any protection.

Very often, they involve themselves in drugs for various reasons like,

Ø  To resist and relieve pain, cold & hunger.

Ø  To reduce stress, anxiety, & fear.

Ø  To increase physical strength, courage & stamina.

Ø  To relax

Children of today are future of tomorrow. We can’t ignore the fact that street children are huge in number. So, our future won’t be good if we don’t actually educate these children. Thousands of children, who are deprived of even basic necessities of life, requires our support and above all, a little care to live a dignified life. Let’s all come together and join our hands to turn these children into a good human being and a responsible citizen of Independent India.