Earning or Learning?

Connaught place is a very well known place for all the Delhiites and for people from other states as well. Located in central Delhi and probably the most well planned place in the capital of India, Connaught place is like heart of this city. The symbol of sacrifice and national integrity India gate, parliament of India, Rashtrapati Bhavan and many such structures are located inside or around C.P. The inner circle is famous for all the restaurants, cafes, shops, places to hang out and obviously not to forget, our very own Palika Bazar and Central Park. Huge numbers of people visit the place everyday and this place certainly represents the culture of Delhi in number of ways.

These two kids were so excited while telling me that they know the meaning of an English word which was taught to them by a stranger 'DIDI'

And from there it all started..we need your suggestions to do something for them :)

If you have visited the place, I am sure that you must have seen a contrasting picture too. Among all the people from different backgrounds and cultures, we also see dozens of little children begging on the roads. Perhaps, a lot of us chose to ignore them. However, two well aware and responsible citizens, who are also students of Delhi University, chose not to ignore this situation. Instead, they decided to take out time and gather more information about this.

On 16th February 2014, on my request Karan Kakkar and Vandana Khosla went to C.P., not to hang out but to do a little research about these kids. They were overwhelmed with the experience and managed to jot down a few points.

They interviewed a street kid (pen seller), a police constable and a security guard. The kid’s name, as he told them, was Abdul. He belonged to ‘Narela’ in Delhi and came to C.P. everyday along with his mother and friends. They all travel from their village in a train. They usually start from their places at 4:00 in the morning. He told them that his father is an auto driver and so he comes home only once in a couple of months. When asked about studies, he said that his mother wanted him to attend a regular school and get a proper education. However, he chose to sell pens because this way he earns 250-300 Rs. Everyday and he can support his family. Nevertheless, after persuading him to talk more and share his feelings, he agreed that he would join a school if all the other children did the same.

The constable also talked about his limitations and problems when asked about it. He was although happy about the fact that someone wanted to hear his or her perspective about the whole situation. Speaking about NGOs, he said that these organisations were somewhere promoting these activities by being over protective for these people. He also shared a personal incident, where he talked about how everything backfired when he decided to take an action. He told that once he tried to admit a beggar in rehabilitation centre. He was dragging that person to his van from outside the famous Hanuman temple and the beggar hurt himself intentionally as he was high on drugs. The NGOs took notice of this incident and he had to face an enquiry because of the whole incident.

He also talked to us about all the different ways or tactics used by these kids to get money from people. He also shared that sometimes these kids steal mobile phones and wallets whenever they get a chance. He raised a very important point about the ignorance of youth towards all these problems. He said that if the people stopped giving money to these beggars, then why they would continue to beg here. This is a very simple thing to do but still the picture does not change.

There are hundreds of organisations working for street kids, but the impact seems rather negligible in C.P. In addition, RTE is failing too. Both these young people invite the whole student fraternity to join hands and do something for this cause.