Reaching the Urban Disadvantaged Child Strategies for Action
Item
- Title
-
Reaching the Urban Disadvantaged Child
Strategies for Action - extracted text
-
Reaching the Urban Disadvantaged Child
Strategies for Action
Background Papers, Consultation Proceedings and
Recommendations
Institute of Social Sciences
New Delhi
with support from
■V.--
UNICEF
India Country Office
JiSE;
1
y
I
'I
This report contains the background papers, proceedings and
recommendations of a national consultation organised by the Institute
of Social Sciences. New Delhi on "Reaching the Urban Disadvantaged
Child: Strategies for Action.
1
This report was prepared by:
ARCHANA GHOSH
Research Coordinator
Department of Urban Studies
Institute of Social Sciences
UNICEF, India Country Office, New Delhi sponsored this
project.
5
INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES was founded in 1985 to
study contemporary social, political and economic issues and problems,
in an inter-disciplinary perspective and to make available its findings
and recommendations to government bodies, social scientists, policy
makers, people's and workers' organisations, so as to widen their options
for action. The evolution of an informed and action-oriented public
opinion is the primary aim of the Institute.
The research projects undertaken by the Institute cover a wide
range of subjects in the areas of local governance, womens’ studies,
environment and contemporary economic and political issues. The
Institute also organises seminars, workshops, discussions and training
programmes for the exchange of ideas and dissemination of its research
findings.
The major research thrust of the Institute is in the areas of Local
Governance (Panchayati Raj), Urban Studies and Economic Affairs.
The Institute seeks to build a community7 of concerned scholars
and activists engaged in ushering in a humane and just society7.
Chairman
S. Gopal
Director
George Mathew
>
Acknowledgement
)
We are indeed grateful to Ms. Sarala Gopalan, Secretary, Department of
Women and Child Welfare, for inaugurating the consultation and to Ms. Krishna
)
Singh, Adviser, Housing, Urban Development and Water Supply in the Planning
Commission, for chairing the concluding session despite their busy schedule. I
sincerely thank all the participants who came from all parts of the country and
participated in the meaningful discussion.
i
The organisation of the one-day consultation was at the behest of the
UNICEF, India Country Office. The meeting was successful because of the
' involvement of many in the UNICEF. The Institute is grateful to Dr. Gordon
Alexander,
Deputy Director and Dr.
Richard Young,
Chief,
Community
Development Section for their interest and involvement in the whole proceedings. 1
am personally very grateful to Ms. Marty Rajandran, Project Officer Urban
Development, for her help and guidance at every stage of the process. Thanks are
due to Ms. Deepika Srivastava, Dr. K.Suresh, Mr. Gerry Pinto, Ms. Harsharan Kaur
and Ms. Chetana Kohli for their assistance as rapporteurs in the working group
discussion.
The preparation of the consultation and production of this report involved
many of my colleagues in the Institute. Ms Shalini Sharma, Mr. Vivek Kaushik, Dr.
Santosh Singh, Ms. Rajyalakshmi, Ms. Neera Chaudhry' and Dr.S. Sami Ahmad
worked as rapporteurs and helped preparing the group reports. The presentations in
the plenary sessions were generally verbal. The entire proceeding was, therefore,
recorded. Ms. Shalini Sharma and Mr. Vivek Kaushik diligently transcribed the
whole proceeding. Mr. Nandkumar and Ms. Sapna Sharma did the word processing
and the final layout of the report.
Mr. Satya Narain provided the editorial
assistance. I am grateful to all of them. Finally,I express my sincere thanks to our
Director, Dr. George Mathew,for conducting the meeting in the plenary sessions
and also for his constant support and guidance in the whole endeavour.
Archana Ghosh
Convener of the Consultation
)
Contents
■)
)
1
Acknowledgement
!
Executive Summan'
1
Chapter I
15
Background Papers
Chapter II
31
77ze Inaugural Session
Chapter III
36
Theme Presentations
Chapter IV
52
Working Group Reports
Chapter V
The Concluding Session
AnnexuFe I
MJCS Sumey Tables
)
*
*
List of Participants
92
)
'l
)
Executive Summary
The one-day consultation on "Urban Disadvantaged Child - Strategies for Action"
-
'J
was organised by the Institute of Social Sciences and the UNICEF on 15 February,
1997 at UNDP Conference hall, New Delhi. The need for this brainstorming
meeting.arose from the emerging concern that the situation of urban child living in
various difficult circumstances has not undergone a significant change even after the
by the government. The Government’s
commitment to several international and national covenants especially, the
five decades of planned intervention
)
Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC)? ensuring every child’s rights to safe,
healthy and balanced development has raised new awareness and hopes. With this
background,
the one-day meeting was planned to bring together actors and
specialists from government and non-government sectors and donor agencies
dealing with the issues of child development in the urban poverty context. The
consultation was aimed at achieving the following:
i.
highlight issues and problems related to reaching the urban disadvantaged
child.
ii.
identify the obstacles in reaching the least-served.
iii.
suggest strategies for action for all the actors,
non-government sectors,
viz,
government,
elected representatives in urban local bodies,
private sector, community organisations, planners, researchers and others for
ensuring child rights, and
iv.
in the above context, come up with concrete suggestions regarding what
specific roles the UNICEF, India, can play in the next five years, the period
which coincides with the Ninth Five Year Plan, due to be launched from the
middle of 1997, in terms of advocacy, training, creating data base,
documentation, support for service delivery, communication, monitoring, etc.
for the realisation of basic rights among all urban disadvantaged children.
I
The meeting was inaugurated by Ms. Sarala Gopalan. Secretary, Department
of Women and Child Development of the Ministry of Human Resource
Development, Government of India. Dr. Gordon Alexander, Deputy Director,
UNICEF, India, welcomed the participants and gave an overview of the UNICEF’s
activities in India and its expectation from the consultation. The themes of the
consultation were presented by three experts from different fields. Mr.S.K. Guha of
UNIFEM, India, spoke on ‘Achieving Child Rights: A Social Sector Perspective, Mr.
Minar Pimple, YUVA, Mumbai dealt with the issues on "Child Friendly Habitat and
Safe Environment’ and Dr. George Mathew, ISS, New Delhi gave the perspective of
the role of urban local bodies in implementing child rights provisions through his
presentation on '74th Constitution Amendment and Concern for the Urban
Disadvantaged Child".
The inaugural session was followed by group discussions. Five inter-sectoral
groups focussed on five topics carefully selected by the organisers to reflect the
diversity and magnitude of the problems.
The concluding session of the meeting was chaired by Ms. Krishna Singh,
Adviser, Housing, Urban Development and Water Supply in the Planning
Commission. Group reports were presented in this session. Open discussion was
also held for a shortwhile on the group presentations.
Ms.
Krishna Singh
summarised the presentations and elaborated on government policy responses
towards some of the issues raised in the discussion. She emphasised the need for
convergence among all programmes, not within the urban sector alone but among
health, education, social welfare sectors as well for better reaching the urban poor.
Dr. Richard Young, Chief of Community Development section, UNICEF, India,
gave the concluding remarks.
Some of the common concerns which emerged from the theme presentations
and the group reports are as follows:
It was expressed that even though the child is a part of the family, targeting
the family for development programmes may not automatically lead to
child s development. A child should also be considered as a separate entity
to ensure his/her rights.
2
)
A
It was unanimously agreed that all children irrespective of the legal/illegal
status of the settlements they live in. howsoever temporary/scattered they
are, need basic services including health, education, sanitation, water, public
distribution system, etc. and other protections to ensure that their rights
under the Convention on the Rights of the Child are realised.
There is an urgent need for disaggregated data at town and community level
on number of children in difficult circumstances and their access to health,
education, basic amenities and so forth, in order to develop appropriate
intervention strategies.
scattered
Mapping of those localities, some of which are
and temporary, is extremely important for serving the children
living there.
The primary role of urban local bodies, decentralised to ward committee
level, is important in ensuring that sendees reach the urban poor children.
The 74th Constitution Amendment is an important step towards empowering
the urban local bodies.
But this has not expressed any specific sensitivity to
the child’s rights vis-a-vis the local government responsibilities.
There has
not been any specific mention of health and basic and pre-primary education,
which are special needs of the child, in the 12th schedule of the Amendment.
All the urban poverty alleviation programmes and sectoral programmes
which cater to the urban child directly and indirectly are not converged at the
local level, which leads to duplication and overlapping.
Community organisations, especially of women, are essential pre-requisite in
any urban development programme aiming at the urban poor. They need to
be "informed" of the "range of schemes available" and "choices" possible for
change based on resources which can be mobilised from within and outside
the community. There is a need to ensure that such development efforts are
sensitive to meeting the needs of women and children specifically.
There is an urgent need for training and capacity building of all the
functionaries at government, non-government and local level in order to
sensitise them about the needs of urban disadvantaged children and better
reach them through a more child-centred approach.
3
Summary of Recommendations
1.
Folic}' Perspectives
It was strongly recommended that the right of the child is supreme and has
legal sanctity. If this legal right ever comes into conflict with the legal status
of the settlements, then the former must get precedence.
Recognition of the primacy of the child rights should lead to adjustment and
amendment in the service provision policy in order to include populations in
illegal and scattered settlements, so that all children and women have
appropriate access to basic amenities and good services.
Cumulative pressure should be mobilised by people through concerted action
for legal recognition or resettlements of the illegal settlements and provision
of required social and infrastructural facilities for them. This is important for
ensuring that a child gets a safe, clean and suitable environment to support
and maintain full development.
All government schemes for children and also urban poverty alleviation
programmes should be implemented directly by the government or
non-government authorities, may be in collaboration with the community
based organisations, such as CDS\NHC of the UBSP strategy or those local
organisations established by NGOs.
All
existing legislations
should be reviewed or appropriate legislations
should be framed to ensure that children are protected from all forms of
exploitation - physical, social and mental.
Local bodies need to be empowered to take actions and monitor the steps
taken to prevent child abuse and exploitation.
Enforcement of legislations for safe roads, safe travel and transportation
should be ensured.
4
Laws should be enforced whereby builders and contractors are expected to
provide creches, clean drinking water and sanitation facilities for the children
of construction workers.
A comprehensive urbanisation policy needs to be adopted by the government
which should, inter alia, emphasise on, i) policies towards development of
small towns in order to reduce migration and ii) involvement of private
sector in urban infrastructure development.
£
Security of land tenure and housing needs to be emphasised. There should be
EWS component in new housing projects, especially sites and services and
the ownership should be on a community basis so that, if required, the
beneficiary sells the unit only to the community, not in the open market.
V
i&
fe
fe
©
©
©
%
e
e
e
€
©
The specific requirements of children should feature in an urban policy
document.
2.
Sectoral Interventions
a.
Health
Higher priority is needed to expand health and child care services for
children in the unrecognised settlements. This may be achieved by linking
such settlements formally to medical colleges, government and municipal
hospitals, through targetted outreach systems, ICDS centres etc. Private
sector participation in providing affordable health services to the poorer
communities is to be encouraged.
Primary health care infrastructure and services should be expanded for the
urban poor. Health clinics should have flexible timings convenient to the
local people. They should have adequate supply of drugs to meet the needs
of the poor.
Participatory planning and monitoring of health and nutrition services based
on community need assessment is to be encouraged.
C
5
r'
b.
Education
C
G
©
©
G
Q
©
C
©
c
©
©
o
c
G
o
©
All urban poor settlements, both authorised and unauthorised, should have
adequate access to pre-school and primary school facilities. The existing
primary school network may be linked to the illegal and distant settlements
through provision of para teachers and satellite schooling.
Early childhood education should also be the responsibility of education
department. It was suggested that an amendment to Article 45 of the
Constitution may be necessary to include the children of 3-5 years for
ensuring ECE to all.
Creches should be provided for the children of working mothers. To extend
the outreach, mobile creches and day-care centres should be provided in the
areas which are not easily accessible. These centres should be run by the
community with support from the appropriate government agencies.
Until child labour is completely abolished, all working children should have
access to primary education, appropriate to their circumstances including
open or part time formal school with flexible outreach to complete the school
education.
School premises may be used as community spaces after school hours for
community training of youth and women and for other community needs.
Municipal and government supported night shelters need to be developed
as centres for primary education, health and other needs of street children,
abandoned children, especially girls without family support.
&
€
©
©
The quality of education in terms of curricula and teaching methods should
be improved in all schools, especially those run by the municipal authorities
to achieve better enrolment and retention rates.
©
6
©
€
©
r
r
r
In order to extend the outreach of educational facilities various measures
<
should be taken to improve the supply side. For example, number of schools
to cater to the poor children should be increased, innovative methods like
adoption schools, school partnership, etc. should be encouraged.
(
t
L
c.
ICDS
Although ICDS is a major outreach programme for the urban poor, in its
present form it primarily caters to the children and women in the authorised
slums and even then only reaches a small percentage of urban poor
communities. It was recommended that ICDS policy and operational
(b
guidelines must be examined afresh in order to explore the possibilities of
extending the facilities to the unauthorised settlements as well and expanding
to reach other poor communities.
Mini AWCs may be formed in unauthorised settlements or they can be
tagged with AWCs in the neighbouring authorised colonies.
In view of the fact that the outreach of the programme is extremely low in
©
urban areas, it was suggested that new ICDS projects should be initiated in
e
urban poor localities which have not yet been covered and a per-child norm,
©
rather than the schematic norm, should be adopted in order to ensure better
coverage.
©
©
€
e
e
€
It was also recommended that the children living in the illegal settlements
should be provided with an identity and if a child has an immunisation card,
she\he should be allowed to avail of the other child care services, especially
those provided by the ICDS and UBSP.
Urban AWCs can not be the same as rural centres. A specific urban ICDS
approach to reach the different client groups more effectively and
comprehensively is needed.
Where ICDS systems are not in place a scheduled NGO may be encouraged
©
and financed to provide a temporary service until ICDS is introduced.
c *
7
©
e
1c
■i
1
I
©
©
d.
©
©
Child Labour\Abuse
Prevention and elimination of child labour should be a primary goal. In order
1 G
to ensure this in cities, municipal legislations clearly specifying the role of
ULBs in this respect may be needed.
©
©
The children who are currently working should be given a range of
'T-:
4 ©
I
i
©
opportunities for rehabilitation. They must be provided with mainstream
services, like education, health and basic amenities - accessible and relevant
to their needs.
©
©
The apex court’s recent judgement on child labour should be enforced
effectively. Such systems need to be developed. There should be strict
©
monitoring that children of school going age are not employed in hazardous
industries or working in any exploitative situation. Ultimately all children
aged 6-14 should be enrolled in schools and complete basic education.
©
• o
Comprehensive and appropriately designed city surveys should be
■
I o
undertaken at regular intervals to locate child labour and for identifying
I0
.7
G>
J
®
€>
©
©
©
J
©
1 G
e
children in hazardous industries or exploitative work conditions.The surveys
on child labour may be made a part of decennial census.
e.
Environmental Improvement and Urban Poverty Alleviation
Unauthorised colonies and other illegal settlements should be included for
the provision of basic services, like water, sanitation and social sector
infrastructure and services. The local governments must consider provision of
services for the children living in unauthorised colonies and other
disadvantaged situations while preparing and implementing service delivery
plans.
Rating of child-friendly cities can be introduced and the best rated city may
be given an award each year. Specific criteria should be developed for this
purpose.
©
4
e
8
V11
C
As far as possible individual toilet facilities should be available to poor
©
f/
I 1
households. However, in those cases where small community toilets are only
solutions, the community should work out appropriate locations and
maintenance system. Large community complexes which are not suited to the
r
needs of children and women should be discouraged. "Choices" should be
&
provided to communities, especially women.
©
0
Drainage connections to individual houses and water points needs to be
provided and waste collection facilities should be located nearby to keep
the environment clean.
$
The families of urban working children should be the special focus of the
Poverty Alleviation Programmes for eradication of child labour.
I
I
©
£
A state or city level poverty alleviation fund, as has been 'constituted in
Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, should be replicated in other states. Funds may
©
be mobilised from corporate sector and individual donors for ensuring the
special needs of disadvantaged children are met.
&
3
0
■ J)
<3
Nationalised banks and other financial institutions may be directly involved
in urban poverty alleviation as in the Kerala CDS model where NABARD is
making Ioans accessible to poor families with community responsibility for
their recovery. NGOs can also be involved to guarantee Ioan repayment for
which they can charge a commission.
A certain percentage of municipal funds should be allocated for the urban
poor in each municipality, as the Mahila Bal Kaiyan Fund in Maharashtra
where 5 per cent of the municipal fund is earmarked for the poor.
There should be holistic approach in poverty alleviation in the form of
%
%
integration of physical and social services with skill upgradation, credit and
employment opportunities including youth( girls and boys) and women.
UBSP may be shifted from the central sector programmes. It should be
%
decentralised at the state level and implemented more as a strategy in all
urban poverty alleviation programmes than as an independent programme.
%
9
is
C
I
Xi!
€
©
--n
^7
©
3.
Role of Partners and Stakeholders
a.
Local Governments
Local governments should play an important role in ensuring child rights.
K ©
The local officials and people’s representatives should be sensitive to the
child’s need and enhance their skill to plan and maintain a child- friendly
©
iI
e
city and cater to all children in both legal and illegal settlements.
Twelfth Schedide of the 74th Constitution Amendment should be suitably
amended(or interpretation expanded) to include child development and state
©
i
i &
governments should delegate planning, management and monitoring of child
related services to the urban local bodies.
Besides allocating a fixed percentage of their own resources for women and
a
child development, the local bodies should mobilise resources from other
sources, including the community, for this purpose.
©
Local bodies should involve the ward committees to be constituted according
©
to the 74th Constitution Amendment in planning, implementing and
©
monitoring of the local programmes for child development. Local CBOs,
©
©
©
NHCs\CDS should be members of such ward committees.
Local bodies should monitor child labour in the city enforcing the legislative
provisions relating to abolition of child labour and preventing child abuse.
Local governments should ensure primary education for ail children
I©
including residents of juvenile homes and other institutions.
i ©
It should be the local government’s responsibility to adopt "child- centred"
j ©
approach in formulating policies and actions. The city government should
©
: ©
facilitate access to health and education services to all children. Municipal
schools should be improved with community and other partnerships.
<
©
©
10
r
For planning a child friendly city the local governments should undertake
city mapping exercises to locate poor clusters with respect to locations of
health centres, primary schools, ICDS centres, PDS outlets etc. The planning
should involve the local communities through PLA (Participatory Learning
J*
’J
■•J
Action) methodology. Infrastructure development plans should focus on the
more distressed pockets of the city, ensuring solutions are appropriate to
address needs of children and women.
'•■I
-J
$
£
All available resources from central, state, local and other sources should be
pooled as a joint fund by the municipalities for better planning and allocation
S
targetting the poorest through community involvement.
—
Local authorities should adopt a "single window" system for responding to the
citizen’s queries, information,assistance and services. The UBSP network at
Ji
the community, ward and city level may be used for this purpose.
i
City governments must assure quality services, especially health, education,
ICDS, PDS, environmental sanitation. Even the poor may be willing to pay
user charges if the services provided are good, timely and appropriate.
Good governance with transparency and accountability and good
management should be the most important agenda for the local
v>
■:
*0
governments. All citizens, irrespective of age, caste, se,x, tenurai status etc.
have a right to better local governance.
b.
NG Os and CBOs
-a.
It was unanimously agreed that NGOs and community based organisations
must play a more active role in improving the condition of children living in
all kinds of disadvantaged situations and in preventing and eradicating child
labour. NGOs should bring to the notice of the concerned authorities the
violation of child rights.
The active participation of community groups, especially those of women,
should be included in "all" poverty programmes and sector\schemes for the
poor.
11
<
(J
*1 e
r
c
e
Hr
Child development programmes which are being implemented by the
5.7
government or local bodies should ensure active participation of community
organisations such as CDS\NHC of UBSP. NGOs can help in capacity
building of the communities to undertake such activities and translate
policies into actions.
B c
j
.5
G
rh:
c
Community groups and CDS\NHC should be encouraged to cooperate with
■'d
the local governments and other departments in the planning of community
I o
facilities and assets, maintenance and monitoring of quality of services of
G
all basic facilities like, community toilets,drainage, street lights, water points
etc. provided by the local bocfies. They may also help in running the creches
G
in their neighbourhoods, community libraries, study rooms for children etc.
They can help to ensure proper use and storage of water,improved garbage
IM ®1.5
management and collection and other aspects of environmental sanitation.
They should have systems to give feedback on quality of municipal services.
! G
Community groups, especially women, need to understand how to help
families and children "at-risk"-- exploitative child labour, victims of sexual
abuse and other types of abuse affecting children and women.
K
The formation of Thrift and Credit groups and assisting their access to wider
1
Networking of community associations in the model of UBSP\CDS is
I G
necessary for them to work as city wide pressure groups.
resources is essential to promote women’s organisations and empowerment.
.7
I®
I
Women
0
For ensuring child rights women must be made economically independent by
©
giving them access to economic resources, savings and credit arrangements.
e
o
Women leaders from poor communities need to be provided opportunities for
developing these skills for community improvement.
€>
©
©
II ©
©
I
c.
Land titles should be given to the women as joint owners when unauthorised
colonies are regularised or relocated.
12
s1 r
In
Flexible timings for health, centres, PDS centres etc. should be introduced so
that working women can avail of the services.
I
7he UBSP strategy for women mobilisation, organisation and participation
should be strengthened and universalised.
D
.Service providing agencies having schemes for the poor need to enhance
their capacities to interact in a positive way to empower communities,
J
especially women. Bottom-up approach and PLA for training and
interaction need to be adopted by such agencies.
>
d.
Children
J?
Children themselves also have a very important role to play in creating and
maintaining a child-friendly city environment. They can create awareness
among themselves about clean environment through school programmes,
contributing to newspapers and other children’s publications, participating in
media events etc.
J
J
3
J
Children can also participate in city management and demand accountability by
creating special city forum, like Shishu Nagar Palikas in Calcutta.
J
J
J
J
J
j
e.
Inter-sectoral and Inter-agency Coordination and Action
Effective sectoral coordination is necessary in cities to ensure "all” residents
have access to basic physical and social services. PLA techniques may be
adopted to facilitate such joint action at city and community levels. NGOs
and CBOs (CDS\NHC type of mechanisms and processes) should be
J
J
partners with ULBs and sectoral agencies ensuring all are targetted and
reached, minimising duplication of service and effort.
The government service providers need to learn how to work "with” and not
just "tor" the poor. Joint PLA exercises should be widely and regularly used
to promote such collaboration.
13
<
I•
II cc
City
€
Urban Poverty Alleviation funds should be available through
convergence of programme allocations from different sectors and agencies to
extend and enhance the quality of services and facilities.
©
1 O
Print and electronic media should cooperate with the authorities by creating
I
a more positive public image of the urban poor including sensitising the
Ji
non-poor communities to children’s needs and rights.
G
f.
Role of UNICEF
0
o
I©
0
0
©
0
©
©
UNICEF should support human resource development through training and
capacity building.
It should cooperate with national partners to develop comprehensive
indicators for impact assessment based on children’s and women’s rights for
ensuring accountability at all levels.
It should promote mechanisms for collection and dissemination of data on
situation of children in cities ensuring gender and income disaggregation.
It should play a lead role in advocacy of Convention on the Rights of the
Child at national, regional and local levels. It can encourage a network of
voluntary ambassadors to promote the CRC.
&
©
It should support policy research in the areas of urban health, nutrition and
<e
education, focussing on systems to reach the least served.
It should play a mediatory role in promoting partnership among the wide
©
range of stakeholders and partners.
It should work with specific cities and towns.not just the states, with a holistic
e
approach and adopt A scaling-up strategy instead of pilot project.
It should support both mass media and interactive media to bring the
©
children’s issues to the organisations and the public.
e
14
©
e
!
■3
CHAPTER I
Background Papers
a
-
1. Reaching the Urban Disadvantaged Child-Strategies for Action
Theme and Issues
•-
Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi
■ift
The State of Urban Disadvantaged Child
>
India has experienced a •phenomenal growth in its urban population in the last two
decades. From 109 million in 1971 the urban population reached*217 million in
3
1991. A significant proportion of this population are poor. According to the
Lakdawala Committee’s estimates, about 40 per cent or more than 80 million of the
A
urban population live in poverty and, as stated in the India National Report on
Habitat II, an estimated 30 million children in the urban areas live in conditions of
3
poverty and destitution.
>
The rapid increase in the urban population both as a result of natural growth
and steady rural to urban migration, has put tremendous pressure on housing and
basic amenities in the urban areas. As a consequence of unplanned settlement of the
3
ll
immigrants there has been sprawling growth of shanties and slums inhabited by
mostly the poor. It is estimated that 14.68 per cent or 47 million of urban population
live in slums in various cities and towns of the country. The children of these poor
J
3
There are around four lakh children who live and work on streets, with around 10
J
per cent without regular family support.
J
households are living in extremely unsafe, unhealthy and hazardous environment.
Child labour in cities may be found in hazardous industries including garbage
and waste picking, begging, restaurants, hotels, sex industry, as domestic workers or
J
J
2 j
Iat
as workers in their own homes. Joining the work force at an early age is not only
depriving them of opportunities for education and healthy childhood but it also
sometimes forces them to work in extremely dangerous conditions which jeopardise
15
II •
1c
| €
9
©
©
even their physical safety. It is disturbing to note that despite various ongoing
programmes and campaigns against child labour launched in the last few years, the
i ©
country has registered a 20 per cent increase in child labour as has been observed by
the ILO. The girl child is in an even more disadvantaged position.. The recent ILO
©
findings suggest that there is a rising incidence of full time urban female child
©
I©
workers^ in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. (TOI, 26 December
©
Life in shanties and slums has many disadvantages. They lack in public
©
utilities and safe environment.Even though the whole of urban India is facing the
:•
1996).
1
shortage of basic facilities like water, sanitation and health infrastructure, because
of distributional deficiencies, the slum dwellers or families living on the streets are
©
s
©
©
©
deprived of even the minimum facilities. The authorities try to providp services, like
water and sanitation facilities on community basis, but they are extremely
inadequate and do not solve the problems of women and children adequately. In
fact, the authorities are insensitive to women’s and children’s needs. Public toilets
designed to meet community needs do not adequately address the needs of women,
©
adolescent girls and children who may not be able to use the facilities due to long
I ®
I ©
distance from their homes. Without electricity and regular cleaning these toilets are
also unsafe and unhealthy.
The insanitary environment poses serious health hazards, most immediately
©
©
overall conditions in the city as a whole. Inadequate water and sanitation facilities
©
lead to the problem of malnutrition. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) of
c
1992 shows that both chronic and acute undernutrition are prevalent in India. While
I ©
©
■
to children living in slums, shanties and, pavements but it also affects the health and
almost 15 per cent of the urban children are undernourished according to their age,
weight and height according to the NFHS, the data from Multi Indicator Cluster
Survey (MICS) of 1995-96, conducted in the slums of 12 states, and other, sources
indicate that the rate may be 50 per cent or even higher. Although the urban
nutrition data are not disaggregated into slum and non-slum populations, the data
analysed from the national nutrition survey show that malnutrition by weight for age
©
criteria is the highest among the children in the slums who have no access to
latrines, and among those depending on public facilities.
©
©
©
©
16
I-
1
I
High infant mortality and illness due to preventible diseases are still high
among the urban poor. However, lack of disaggregated data on the urban poor
»
continues to cloud the stark intra-urban disparities in cities. Although in urban areas
the IMR (Infant Mortality Rate) has come down from 65 in 1981-83 to 51 in
I 5
II *
I3
1992-94, it is a matter of great concern that it touched a plateau from 1990-1993 and
even registered an increase from 1994.
A study in 1989 in Mumbai showed that the IMR in urban slums was 123 per
thousand live births as against an overall urban rate of 62 and it was more than five
times higher than the IMR among urban households above the poverty line
(22/1000 live births). A similar study in Delhi showed that the IMR among urban
slums was two and a half times greater than that of the non-poor population.
>
On the education front, although available data show that enrolment in
schools has increased significantly over time, a high drop-out rate is still a serious
problem. A recent study by MODE in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh,
1R
Madhya Pradesh and Bihar shows a high drop-out rate among urban children across
classes I to VIII in all these states. The MICS data confirm that although in slums
o
the percentage of children in 6-10 years age group currently attending schools is
reasonably high (70 to 95 per cent) in many states, the drop-out rate is also quite
%
%
significant. Affordability, income potential of the child, infrastructural facilities in
schools are some of the negative factors which influence retention in the schools.
Child development is closely related to the mother’s health,
P
nutrition,
educational status, decision making power and empowerment. Education of the
mother is extremely important for improving child’s nutrition level and reducing the
infant and under-five mortality rate. The NFHS reports that in urban India IMR is
two and a half times higher for children of illiterate mothers than for those of
a
k
mothers with at least a secondary school education.
Women do not have much say in the reproductive decision making. Different
studies have shown that pregnancy-associated anaemia is a major cause of concern
%
in respect of mother and child-health in the country. According to Dr Prema
Ramachandran, Adviser (Health), Planning Commission, a majority of the
%
child-bearing women in the poorer households, who subsist on 1200-1800 calories a
%
day, are left with a mere 800 calories a day after lactation. As a result, their weight
%
17
&
C
goes down by about two kilograms each month. (TOI, 26 December 1996). Although
women in poor households are contributing significantly to family income, they are
® ■
in a disadvantaged situation as their rights to access to minimum basic amenities,
health facilities, credit needs, and to land and tenure are often ignored. Without
©
these rights they are often unable to protect their children from vulnerable
©
©
situations.
Government Response to Child’s Needs
©
©
©
©
i
1I
I
€
©
©
and health facilities. In addition to various urban poverty alleviation programmes,
other specific schemes which have been launched keeping in view the special needs
of children and their mothers cover urban poor children as weJL The ICDS,
Universal Immunisation and different nutrition supplement programmes are
initiatives which are also intended to cater to the urban poor children and women.
Some of the major urban poverty alleviation programmes include Environmental
Improvement of Urban Slums (EIUS), Urban Basic Services for the Poor (UBSP),
©
Nehru Rozgar Yojana (NRY) and Low Cost Sanitation programmes (LCS). The
©
©
most recent addition is the Prime Minister's Integrated Urban Poverty Eradication
I
II ©
I ©
a
Since Independence, various programmes and policies have been adopted by the
Government to protect the life of children by giving them better education, nutrition
Programme (PMIUPEP) and the National Slum Improvement programme,
announced in 1996.
However, various assessments have shown that many of the sector specific
©
programmes as well as poverty programmes are not reaching the target groups as
©
©
intended. Health, education, and living conditions of children living in poor
©
©
©
©
| ©
I©
I®
1®
|e
|e
localities, slums and shanties are in urgent need of review. The children who live on
the streets are among the most deprived in terms of health care, nutrition and
educational services.
Despite the provision of various regulations, the government has not been
able to contain the employment of child labour in hazardous industries. Even the
judiciary has expressed serious concern about the state of the poor working children
in-.the country who include urban working children as well. The recent Supreme
Court directive to the employers of child labour in hazardous industries for setting
up a corpus fund of Rs.25,000 and to pay Rs.20,000/- as compensation for violation
18
$
>
of the Child Labour (prohibition and regulation) Act, 1986, is an eye-opener. Many
1
of the urban poor children who are working in disadvantaged situation may look for
J
>
some reprieve after this directive of the apex court.
■
Some
of the lacunae in the implementation of the social sector programmes
•»
highlighted in the Draft Approach Paper to the Ninth Plan are relevant to the urban
J
programmes and child development programmes as well. A review of 110 projects
o
across nine sectors by the Planning Commission shows that time and cost overruns,
lack of information for proper identification of target groups, leading to defective
programme design and targeting the same group by too many similar programmes
%
:
jeopardise effective implementation of the social development programmes. The
Commission notes that resources are thinly spread and the impact of some of the
programmes on beneficiaries is limited.
At the local level, the urban local bodies which are expected to provide basic
%
%
%
services to the urban households, including the urban poor, have likewise not been
able to to cover all urban dwellers for various reasons. They may also not have
adequate resources to provide basic amenities and social services to the rapidly
growing city population on an equitable basis. They may not have human resources
and expertise to plan, implement and coordinate social sector programmes to
ensure that they reach all urban residents. In some cases, they may even be
insensitive to the problem.
Role of NGOs, Community Based Organisations( CBOs) and Private Sector
%
It is now being increasingly recognised that there is a need for concerted action in
%
reaching in a sustainable manner the poor and vulnerable, especially the
disadvantaged children and women. There are some excellent and innovative
%
examples of cooperation between the government agencies and NGOs in areas like
w
shelter upgradation, slum improvement, education, health and community
%
development in poor urban neighbourhoods. While many of these efforts are
%
%
extremely localised and sometimes externally induced, they may be devoid of any
local participation, which restricts their replicability and sustainability in the long
run. There are other examples which are modelled in such a way that their
sustainability is built within the community structure. The slum networking model in
Indore, Baroda and Ahmedabad, Self Employed Women’s Association(SEWA)
I
19
II
©
1
Bank for the poor, Society for Promoting Area Resource Centre’s( SPARC)work
I
a
I
I
with women pavement dwellers and Exnora’s attempt in garbage management with
G
©
C
e
community initiatives are promising ventures. Kerala’s experience of Community
Development Societies(CDS) and networking with private hospitals for providing
health services to the poor also provides important examples of innovative
experience. Mobile creches which target a very vulnerable group - the "moving"
population of construction workers in Delhi, Pune and Bombay, is another notable
illustration of this community inbuilt model.
Commitments to Rights of the Child
©
©
€
many of the human rights instruments. The Convention of the ^Rights of the
&
Child(CRC) adopted by the United Nations in 1989 and ratified by 187 nations
G
O
©
O
J ©
8f-
©
©
In recent years there has been a serious rethinking on the future of children
internationally and on the home front. Children’s rights have been acknowledged in
including India by September 1996, recognises that children have the full spectrum
of rights enjoyed by the adults: civil, political, social, cultural and economic. The
Convention protects children’s right to survive and develop to their full potential,
and its provisions also affirm children’s right to the highest attainable standards of
health care. They have the right to be registered immediately after birth and to have
a name and nationality, a right to play and to protection from all forms of sexual
exploitation and abuse. Article 32 of the Convention recognises children’s right to
be protected from the work that threatens their health, education or development.
The Habitat II Agenda reaffirms the relevance of the Convention on the
©
3
I@
I©
©
©
1®
Rights of the Child. In the Agenda it is accepted that the survival and healthy
development of children is dependent upon their access to services and facilities and
these should form an integral part of their habitat. In addition to water, sanitation,
lighting and fuel, children need safe areas to live and play, access to health care,
education, child care etc. The well-being of the child has been officially accepted as
a monitoring indicator for the Habitat H’s Global Plan of Action.
Recent initiatives by the Government of India also suggest that high priority
is being accorded to the critical issue of well-being of children. The National Plan
for Children (1992) lists specific time-bound targets which are also incorporated in
I®
II ©
I©
I®
20
*
si
■“i-l
!
r
©
©
*
I
is
the national programmes in the health, nutrition and education sectors. The
National Plan of Action (NPA) for Habitat II also shows special concern for urban
poor children in terms of shelter, protection and development.
Issues for Consideration
"■
D
In the above context some of the issues which need close scrutiny are as follows:
1.
What are the reasons for low achievements of the programmes amongst the
urban poor: are the current strategies not comprehensive or appropriately
Ig
I
adapted in the urban poor context? Do the current strategies not fully target
the urban poor (including unauthorized colonies and street
families/children)? What are the reasons that the current strategies are not
5
fully implemented? Have current programmes for the urban poor (or those
J
regular programmes meant to also serve the urban poor) been assessed,
including stakeholder feedback? Are there legal or administrative barriers to
enhancing services for the urban poorest? How are the urban poor defined
■j
s?_-
I
and identified for specific interventions (Is the income criteria the only
9
applicable indicator)? How do sectors determine community needs, i.e.
J
through community-based plans, surveys, data from existing sources? What
2.
J
8 J
i
I
are the most effective approaches?
J
That it is necessary to see whether the present national and sector-specific
policies and programmes and their implementation strategies are sufficient
to attain the commitments in the CRC, which the Government of India has
ratified and which have been reinforced in the other country documents like
NPA for Habitat II, National Policy on Children and the National Plan for
children. What legal and policy-level interventions are necessary in future?
As the CRC provides for most of the national goals such as rights of
children and their families, in what ways does this influence the delivery and
monitoring of the programmes and services and their adjustment to changing
conditions? What legal actions on the basis of the Rights are necessary to
check their violation?
21
B
I1 e
3.
Is the current data base, both national systems and sector specific, providing
in a systematic manner patterns with respect to the urban poor? From
surveys done, it is clear that the great intra-urban disparity continues to be
©
•©
©
masked when only urban averages are recorded. What more needs to be
done?
4.
Non-government organisations provide in many cities services to the urban
poor that might otherwise not reach them through current government
systems. In some cases, their systems are innovative and perhaps replicable
on a wider scale. What are these examples and how has the government
responded to them? What are the special roles best suited to the NGO
€
sector? What are the administrative or other problems associated with NGO
collaboration? What needs to be done to create an alliance for children in
the cities through partnerships?
©
0
5.
What systems of community mobilisation are underway and what has been
their impact on ensuring children’s rights, women’s rights, basic services, etc.
I 0©
on a sustainable basis for the poor? How can systems for convergence of the
actions of the government and non-government sectors at the local level be
i
worked out and promoted to avoid duplication and wastage of resources?
0
-
What are the ways and means to involve the community and especially
women in improving their communities? What is the sector experience?
What has been the linkage to the UBSP community and neighbourhood
©
©
systems or other similar CBO approaches towards better targeting and
reaching the urban poor?
6.
What type of capacity building at local government, non-government, private
sector and community level is required for better managing of the cities and
4
a
=4
©
especially reaching the urban poor children and women within a stipulated
time-frame. What needs to be done at all levels: management, monitoring,
training for new roles or new ways to perform existing roles? Is there a need
©
©
for a set of easily monitorable indicators for all cities to assess
change/progress on selected child indicators?
’■ ©
•<
e
©
22
a
%
7.
It is well known that the private sector plays an important role in providing
services to the urban poor in health, education, pre-primary education, child
.
care, sale of commodities, etc. However, this is costly for the poor, which may
&
result in discrimination in who gets the service in the family, (i.e. women and
J
girls less than boys). In what other ways can the private sector be mobilized
to reduce the costs of their services for the poor? How can the private sector
become a partner in development rather than just a provider of welfare?
J
8.
Various bilateral and multilateral donor agencies have for quite a long time
been contributing financially and through manpower development in social
development sectors, including education, health, basic amenities, etc. for
children and women.
What are the lessons to be learned from their
experience in reaching the urban poor in terms of strategies, systems,
innovation, costs, etc.? What should be their future strategies to converge the
activities at the grassroots level to avoid duplication?
9.
Besides reservation of seats for women in urban local bodies, what else is
necessary for truly empowering them to have enhanced role in decision
J
making in plans and programmes which influence their own and their
children’s lives? What legal and economic policy responses are necessary?
|
I
I
I
10.
What will be the future role of urban local bodies (ULBs) in providing
services specifically for the poor children and women?
What type of
institutional upgradation and capacity building of municipalities are needed
for undertaking such responsibilities? What should be the role of ULBs and
other responsible sectors in tackling
cases of violation of basic rights of
children in cities - such as child prostitution, child labour in hazardous
conditions, child abuse within a family etc.?
In the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act(74th CAA) 1992, Twelfth
1
! u
Schedule is not as specific as the Eleventh Schedule of the 73rd
Constitution Amendment. What should be the role of the newly elected
urban local bodies( ULBs) towards achieving the sector goals, especially
those pertaining to the urban poor? How does it vary from that of the state in
■41
• e
I
■4
implementation? What needs to be done to better enable the ULBs to plan
and coordinate programmes and services ensuring equitable distribution and
23
I•
Ij cr
I@
necessary adaptation of programmes to better reach the urban poor? What
are the mechanisms for district/municipal systems linkages, especially in
million plus cities? Is there a difference in other Class I cities?
©
©
ii
11.
There is a feeling among many that the urban poor are creating so many
I €
problems in the city, without appreciating that they provide the cheap labour
C
€?
which makes urban living comfortable or bearable, and that in fact, they do
solve many of their own problems directly, such as housing. Is it necessary to
develop a spirit of civic pride and action towards making cities better by
working together by all partners? How could this be done: how could this
benefit the urban poor child?:
| ©
12.
actions we take now in a few years. How can children of all groups in the city
become involved in working together for better cities for all children?
■
■
Children are important stakeholders, especially as they will be inheriting the
@
I°
13.
As a partner with national, state, local governments and with a wide range of
experiences during the past two decades, what should be the UNICEF’s
strategies and plans of action in the next five years, which will coincide with
the Ninth Five Year Plan, and how can the UNICEF resources be best
utilised towards better targetting and reaching the urban poor and
disadvantaged child in a sustainable manner by attaining the CRC and NPA
goals?
: ©
©
14.
Other considerations.
e
e
©
©
©
©
©
©
e
24
e
i
I
2. UNICEF Cooperation in the Urban Sector
•5?
ii
I
I
UNICEF, New Delhi
J
©
J
J
Goals of UNICEF Collaboration:
UNICEF has worked with the Government of India for over 47 years,focussing on
improving the situation of the child. Over the years this cooperation has taken many
forms: support during emergencies, strengthening of national capacity in areas of
health, education, water, sanitation; developing and testing of new approaches such
J:
I
I
J
3
J
*
community development and urban basic services,to give a few examples.
Currently, the GOI has ratified the Convention-on the Rights of the Child (CRC),
which now provides a new imperative in its responsibilities to children, based on
Rights rather than a "welfare" approach. The government has also endorsed as part
of its commitment to the World Summit on Children, a set of national goals for
child development to be achieved by 2001. In the urban context, the National Plan
of Action for Habitat II clearly refers to the needs of children and women in
iJ
i
*
!
as the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), applied nutrition, urban
settlement planning and for sustainable settlements. However, recent data collected
specifically in urban poor communities throughout the country, shows that the
coverage amongst the urban poor for many of the social sector indicators is poor
(Refer Annexure I).
J
UNICEF Cooperation:
J
UNICEF has provided support in the urban context through the following types of
initiatives:
Urban Poverty Alleviation: Community development and Women’s
empowerment through the UBSP strategy.
Sector Specific Programmes: Health, Primary Education, Nutrition, ICDS,
1
Social Welfare, Child Labour and Others. ..
k
25
*
a
■f
■k.'-y
I•
II1 C
©
I
Urban Poverty Alleviation, Urban Community Development focus (UBSP):
UNICEF has provided support to a wide range of urban community development
approaches over the years, currently reflected under support to the Ministry of
Urban Affairs and Employment’s (MOUAE) Urban Poverty AIIeviation(UPA)
(UPA) Programme of Urban Basic Services for the Poor which has as its objectives
3 ®
| 0
I0
I
a)
©
©
I©
the mobilization and empowerment of urban poor women towards achieving
national social sector goals, including those of the National Plan of Action (NPA)
for Children, through a process of convergence with other sector programmes and
partnership with urban local bodies, NGOs and others. The UBSP is national in
scope, with UNICEF support limited to 16 states (largest states) for training,
management information system (MIS) communications and other information
materials; documentation; innovative activities, etc. Approximately 2^0 Class 1 cities
are covered (others are covered under the Prime Minister’s Integrated Urban
Poverty Eradication Programme (PMIUPEP) with some UNICEF support in
€
training), with around 30 cities more intensely supported towards universal coverage
a ©
of the urban poor through city plans of action and convergence with other
Ie
government services, including health, education, public distribution system (PDS),
ICDS, etc. Enhancing the capacities of state, city and especially women leaders
©
another UNICEF’s support measure. An extensive network of women leaders and
©
groups has been formed. An estimated 100,000 women leaders, Resident
Community Volunteers (RCVs) and up to 10000 neighbourhood groups or societies
• ®
-
through training, participatory learning action (PEA) and follow-up planning is
at ward or city level are available who are involved in planning and action in
differing ways.
*
Through UNICEF cooperation many of these groups have been
trained in Thrift and Credit management,
an activity now integral to the
UBSP-Government system. However, in spite of this network, the Scheme covers
only around 16% of the urban poor. In many states, unauthorized settlements or
©
©
street families may be excluded although the government guidelines provide for
their inclusion. Though many active women’s groups have been formed under
UBSP, sectoral systems have not yet responded or taken advantage of these groups
for enhancing or sustaining programme delivery. Lastly, through the state training
and-planning systems established as part of UBSP from 1993, training of elected
representatives, especially women, on the rights of the poor, including children and
©
e
26
>
II 95
I 5
IJ
I5
i*
I
i
J-
I J
J
iI J
J
J
I
J
Ii
>
t
&
women and the responsibilities of elected officials towards meeting these rights has
been undertaken. However, many urban local bodies are weak, especially in the
planning and implementation of urban poverty and social sector programmes.
b)
Sector Programmes:
i.
Health'.
UNICEF support has focused on strengthening basic maternal and child health
services nationwide through such schemes as Child Survival and Safe Motherhood
(CSSM) and now Reproductive and Child Health (RCH). However, therejhas been
a rural Primary Health Centre (PHC) bias. Since 1995, demonstration healthy city
planning activities have been supported in two states (Gujarat and Maharashtra)
and 10 cities towards better rationalization of existing resources, tinder the new
RCH programme, planning of activities and services based on community needs is
also emerging. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s guidelines to prepare
plans of action for RCH through a target free approach in urban areas with
post-partum centres to meet the client needs of the most needy population of the
town and commensurate to the professional expertise of existing staff, are a good
step to better reach the urban poor. Pulse polio campaigns have ensured that urban
poor communities are targeted, with good results seen in 18 out of the 23 million
plus cities. Involvement of urban hospitals and Indian Academy of Pediatrics in
polio surveillance during 1996 was achieved. It is hoped that the foci of polio in
'■ urban poor pockets will be identified and it would lead to actions to achieve polio
eradication in the cities. In Kerala through the UBSP systems, linkage of private
hospitals to community societies has been tried out, as a response to the importance
of the private sector in reaching the urban poor.
Community health
workers/volunteers (community financed) have been tried out in Andhra Pradesh
and Orissa. Through the production of a wide range of communications materials
on health themes, these may also find their way to urban poor communities.
However, the low coverage of most health indicators in the attached MICS summary
(Annexure I) clearly points to the challenge ahead.
27
3W--
r
| c
I<
I©
1
©
-©
I©
1 ©
©
c
■I
Ie
ii.
Primary education’.
Data in.various studies (MODE, MICS) shows high enrolments among the urban
poor, but also high dropout rates among them, especially those attending municipal
schools.
UNICEF support in primary education towards the goal of Universal
Primary Education (UPE) has focussed attention in rural areas (district planning);
upgrading the primary school programme beginning from Class I,
teacher
motivation through training and enhancing quality through the Minimum Learning
Levels (MLL) and Joyful learning, which provide scope for community planning and
action. While the thrust has been rural, some innovations in the cities have also
come up which include: Education Trust towards UPE, MLL and quality education
in Bombay; "joyful learning" and "micro community level planning" in urban areas
(Gujarat/Madhya Pradesh); and "joyful learning" as part of city action plans in
Calcutta and Delhi. In association with UBSP systems of bottom up planning, in
I e
several states new schools have come up (i.e. Haryana, Rajasthan) or existing
o
schools enlarged (Uttar Pradesh), based on community needs. UBSP may need to
J
M-
shift its current emphasis on non-formal education(NFE) to UPE and other national
policy priorities.
©
©
©
0
©
iii.
ICDS/ECE:
Current ICDS urban coverage is very low (less than 5% of urban poor targetted) but
expansion plans are in the process which would at least double the coverage by the
end of 1997.
UNICEF has provided support for promoting community based
innovative approaches to child care and development, training, supplies and
©
monitoring together with World Bank or other donors. The new women and child
development project in 5 states (with World Bank assistance) incorporates new
*
&
4
approaches to reach unreached urban poor groups. As part of healthy city planning
experiments in two states (Gujarat and Maharashtra), linkages with ICDS systems
are underway for better outreach and coverage, including joint training of ICDS,
©
©
©
©
ANMs and UBSP staff in Maharashtra. These initiatives focus on networking and
reprioritising available health and child care resources in the private and
govermflent sectors, including private practitioners, medical college hospitals,
©
healthy child development. A recent paper prepared on urban ICDS notes that in
municipal corporation "balwadis" to focus on preventing malnutrition and promoting
cities adaptations are also required, i.e. norms to be adapted for congested urban
©
28
1
i
IJ
I
9
5
J
J
)
D
J
J
$
1 J
J
J
I£1.
5
&
areas as well as programme content and focus and even selection of staff. Where
ICDS is not available, its package of activities may be available with different
elements possibly provided by UBSP "balwadis" or NGO programmes. Joint
initiatives with National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT)
and National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) are exploring new ways of
addressing the pressures on the pre-school child in urban areas, emanating from the
school system, promoting the concept of the joyful play/learning continuum across
the yourtg children’s life.
iv.
Water/Sanitation:
UNICEF support over the years has been in rural areas, including remote areas and
areas with technical difficulties.
Since 1995, UNICEF has supported some
>
demonstration activities in cities, i.e. Baroda (Slum Networking) and others in
Chennai and Maheshtala (West Bengal) for improved home and community
environments.
J
Through UBSP networks, some experimentation in community
management of water systems, motivation efforts towards individual latrines,
accessing whatever government subsidies are available, hygiene education have
been encouraged. User feedback on Environmental Improvement of Urban Slums
(EIUS) supported community latrine facilities has indicated that these are poorly
maintained and are not necessarily meeting the needs of women and children.
v.
Children in Difficult Circumstances:
J
UNICEF has provided support for networking among NGOs working with street
%
children and in the fields of advocacy and awareness creation on the problem of
child prostitution, advocacy for positive police support and other positive actions in
the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act, advocacy and publicity related to the eradication of
child labour and selective support towards implementation of appropriate strategies
in such cities as Ferozabad, Sivkasi, etc.
-4
vi.
Planning and Monitoring:
Most national data have not been disaggregated in the urban context. The extent of
intra-urban disparities in the social sector may be evident only through selected
micro-studies. Since 1995, UNICEF has supported the collection of indicative data
I
I
s
29
B©
IC
by launching multi-indicator cluster surveys(MICS) in urban poor communities,
©
towards the NPA Goals for children. The data currently available are shown in
Annex I. This has resulted in states undertaking state level review and action.
vii.
si
Communications'.
Many informative materials on the situation of children, sectoral messages, etc. have
I©
11 e€>
e
e
©
e
been produced together with the Government. In some sectors, notably nutrition,
media advisories have targetted the issue of supporting breastfeeding of babies as
part of the cooperation with the largely urban based Baby Friendly Hospital
Initiative(BFHI). Advocacy materials targetting television audiences e.g. spots on
health, ^girl child etc. also reach urban audiences.
A cartoon series, "Meena"
produced by UNICEF, highlights issues concerning the girl child, and although there
are no specific episodes on the urban situation, the series is being used in urban
areas through NGOs and has proved effective.
viii.
NG Os and other partnerships'.
! ©
NGOs have been involved in the design of materials, studies, evaluations, and
I®
0
©
<
programme support in cities through UBSP and sector initiatives. A review of the
NGOs role towards reaching the urban poor in partnerships with communities and
ULBs may help work towards enhancing their coverage and impact. Important
lessons for national programmes and strategies may also emerge.
Summaiy:
©
UNICEF support, while available in a wide range of sectors has not as yet come to
©
G
©
©
grips with the multi-faceted nature of urban poverty and its manifestations which are
having a negative effect on children and their families. As we embark upon a new
cooperative agreement with the Government, we seek the views of both the
Government and other experts on ways and means-to build upon past experience
and our limited resources towards supporting national efforts to achieve child rights
for all children, including those of the urban poor, in an affordable and sustainable
manner. This is the part of the global mandate of UNICEF.
©
l
©
e
l
30
>
i
n
i/
CHAPTER II
The Inaugural Session
i
i
j
I
)
)
Mr Gordon Alexander, Acting UNICEF Representative, India Country Office, in his
opening remarks welcomed the participants to the one-day meeting to share their
experiences towards reaching more effectively the urban disadvantaged child in
India, especially those children living in illegal settlements, on the streets, those
living in peri-urban areas or in legalized slums or resettlement colonies and other
situations of poverty or discrimination. As India has signed the Convention on the
I
1 e3
J
1
Rights of the Child, it now faces an imperative for action which may not have been
the case earlier and which offers new challenges to the government, *NGOs, social
activists, the UN and other aid agencies and UNICEF, especially within the context
of the Ninth Five Year Plan.
The situation of urban children,
1 J
who live in varying conditions of
impoverishment, may be more serious than earlier considered to be. This is partly
J
due to the lack of intra-urban disaggregated data. For example, infant mortality data
for Delhi, for the city as a whole, shows an IMR of around 30 per 1000 live-births;
but studies in urban poor clusters of Delhi shows an IMR at over 100 per thousand
live-births. National IMR rates are on the decline but cities are not showing this
J
downward trend. Data from a series of UNICEF supported studies in 12 states and
J
over 14,428 households in communities classified as urban slums found
unsatisfactory immunization coverage among children, poor coverage of women for
.e
the ante-natal package of services, extremely poor environmental conditions, high
* .>
malnutrition, unsatisfactory primary school attendance and completion among the
households surveyed. Data analysed from the NSS showed highest malnutrition
t
rates in cities among children in families practising open defecation.,.These issues
1
relate to fulfilment of basic rights
development.
for children for their survival and sound
t
f
31
c H1-'OO
msg
’
•
1
I*
rI
©
1 ©
©
©
o
I
©
©
There is, however, another set of Rights termed "protection rights" which
cover a wide range of situations: children without families (or care of the family),
neglected and abused children, child prostitution, child labour, children in conflict
with the law, etc. These issues require a different type of planning and intervention,
both on the preventive and rehabilitation fronts.
Cities in India are as diverse as its regions and states. Such diversity goes
down even to the community level. Slums and poor neighbourhoods are rarely
homogenous, with residents coming from different states and different religious and
cultural backgrounds. Among poor communities, differences based on "legality of
tenure" conditions will be found. Research shows that even though services such as
health centres or hospitals are available they are not used due to factors of social
access, timings, poor quality or unfriendly treatment. Schools may be available, but
a?
of poor quality. Fair price shops are available, but not necessarily convenient to the
©
©
©
©
populations to be served or with timings appropriate. Planning to meet the needs of
children in such areas requires flexible, decentralized systems, addressing these
circumstances through both immediate and longer-term measures.
Another critical theme is the close association between child rights and
women rights. Violence within the family directed at women (and children) is a
Efo
i 0
•
theme which needs more thoughtful and supportive response in all situations. Other
social problems such as alcoholism, substance abuse etc. likewise need to be
considered if we aim to reach children more comprehensively.
We also need to consider the images we have of the urban poor. Are these
always negative? Do we see them as a liability or a threat? Can we view them as
they are, assets which can be built upon to improve the conditions in the cities?
©
©
Dr Alexander concluded with a note of hope and expectation that the
meeting would be considered as a "brain-storming" of ideas, representing the diverse
©
and broad experiences present in the meeting. He said that in addition to what more
©
©
needs to be done for urban children and the means to this end, what is important is
to consider how this can be monitored, by families and communities directly as well
as at city level. It is also needed to understand how rights, including protective
rights, can be monitored over time. The Consultation will explore the range of
partnerships and the facilitating environment required to work towards reaching all
32
&
I
n
children in the cities more effectively and also will explore ideas on what UNICEF
could specifically do towards contributing to national efforts for Rights realization
for all children.
1
e
■)
J
)
I J
s
J
fl J
Silt}
II
4
*
9
9
9
Ms. Sarala Gopalan in her inaugural speech, dealt with various problems related to
reaching the urban disadvantaged child and emphasised the need for cooperation
between government and non-government sectors, community and society at large
towards achieving the goal of child rights. She said that the thrust of the government
programmes was on the rural areas as it was perceived that all the problems of
India were more in the villages. But now it is observed that a lot of the problems
have moved from rural to the urban areas and it could be that we were not very
careful m these last 25-30 years and the problems have been allowed to become very
severe and poverty has been allowed to grow in the urban areas. The poor have not
been taken care of by providing basic infrastructure, with the result that today the
urban problems seemed to be much more difficult to handle and much more
expensive to tackle than the problems in the rural areas, even though the population
living in the rural areas is much larger. Against this background, she hoped that we
apply our minds on why things have happened the way they have and what kind of
strategies need to be evolved for making optimal use of the available resources.
Referring to the confusing signals from people about role specification for
government and non-government sectors in social development, Ms. Gopalan said
that either the government is being attacked or the government is finding fault with
the people with whom it has to work, particularly NGOs. On the one hand, it is true
that the NGOs are the best agency to work within the community because of their
accessibility and flexibility and also good understanding of the problems and
capability to find solutions, on the other hand, the government perceives that it can
plan and allocate resources better and change situations by a directive or an order.
The reality is somewhere between these two perceptions, because the NGOs do not
always have all the resources that are required and the government functionaries do
not always have the spirit that is needed to discharge various functions. She said
that it is not one agency or persons who can be held responsible for this present
state of the urban poor child, it is the parents, the government, the NGOs and the
entire society.
U'
f
I •
33
I
!
E
■-
cMs. Gopalan emphasised on the need for a balanced approach towards
child’s development. While a child should not be deprived of the emotional
environment and the physical facilities it requires to grow into a well - developed
personality, it is equally important not to spoil it by giving things that ought not be
given or exposing it to situations it ought not to be exposed to. Although striking this
ft
©
balance is not very easy, the strategies to strike it have to be found. A child needs to
be recognised as an individual who has to grow with full freedom with joy, so that it
can be a complete individual. For this the entire mindset and varying perceptions
about the child need to be changed. On the one hand, the child has been looked at
as the future guardian of the family and on the other it has been looked at as a
9
©
I
•.-.j
I©
liability and in a third situation the child is needed to provide more hands to work.
It is argued by some people that if you have more children you will have less poverty
because every child works and brings some income and thus they^ put forth an
argument against the small family norm. On the other side, the emphasis is on the
small family norm and on use of resources more optimally for providing a conducive
environment for the child’s development. She said that in this tricky situation, we
have to see how best we can make use of this human resource by developing it
I
©
1
properly and giving it all the rights.
Commenting upon the slow progress of ICDS Ms. Gopalan said that the
scheme took more than 20 years to cover the whole country. There are another
thousand odd blocks to be covered and may be it would take a whole quarter
century to reach every child in this country.
@
Regarding compulsory education for children, she highlighted the mornentus
■i
e
judgement of the Supreme Court which has made it mandatory on all the
governments to see that children in their tender years are in school and not in the
work place. It is a real big landmark in our social development process, she said.
But how to achieve this objective as it is easy to mandate but difficult to implement.
First, there are not many good schools. By ‘good schools’ she meant not only big
©
©
I
s
e
e
I
I c?
I
building, good teachers and lessons but a combination of all these. Second, there is
this attitude among poor people, "what is the point of sending the child to school.
Without going to school my son will earn a livelihood. By sending the child to school
I will make him unemployable, he will have no skill". We have not yet identified that
ideal school which would build the capacity in the child to become a good worker
who,when grown up, can earn a decent income.
34
I
J
Highlighting the total neglect of the early child care and prevention of
disabilities, Ms. Gopalan said that it is not the poverty alone, but a lack of
awareness and information among the people which worsens the situation. A whole
range of disabilities like low birth weight, night blindness, anaemia etc. could be
prevented if there is the right kind of feeding at the right age. She said that in this
country today we really have to pierce through the minds of the people by giving
t
1
1
1
II
them a lot of knowledge and information and a large member of NGOs would be
required to do this job. She emphasised that a very strong partnership between
government and the NGOs and the community needs to be built. It has not to be a
"controlled raj" but a vigilant community that would find out the truant workers
who are not at their post at the time they ought to.be and not delivering the services
they are expected to deliver. Only such a self-correcting community can improve
the quality of services.
A
5
J
J
Ms. Gopalan emphasised that the problems like those of child labour, street
children, disabilities may be inevitable to some extent and one has to concentrate on
finding solutions for them, but emphasis should equally be placed on prevention of
the causes which give rise to them. We have to exercise our minds to bring out very
durable strategies that can prevent these things from happening. We have to mount
j
I
vigilance in the society to see that they do not happen. She felt that in our value
system, penalty for these kind of actions has to be increased so that we try to save
children against these crimes through fear of punishment.
J
J
J
Ms. Gopalan concluded with the message that the onerous task for the
community is to see that the spirit of the laws, the spirit of the courts, the value
system in the society is established so that we do not have to fear a policeman but
the conscience within us, that can bring greater quality into all that we are doing.
J
J
%
1 4
I uJ
1
35
^3,
I®
Ii C
CHAPTER III
©
s
Theme Presentations
i
1. Achieving Child Rights: A Social Sector Perspective
©
*
34
©
©
§
si e
S.K. Guha
UNIFEM, New Delhi
Urbanization in India is perhaps one of the most dramatic transformations over the:
last two decades. During 1981-91, the decadal urban growth was 36 percent vis-a-vis
the rural growth of 19 percent. For 1991-2001, the decadal growth figures are
projected at 41 percent and 11 percent for urban and rural areas respectively. In
other words the urban population is growing at almost four times that of rural areas.
Although the present share of urban population is 28 percent, by 2001 it is likely to
rise to 31 percent and by 2011 to 40 percent. In absolute terms this is a very large
urban population. Within the span of a single decade we might emerge as the
country with the world’s largest urban population.
©
What is ironic, however, is that this drama has gone almost unnoticed not
only by our political leadership but by our civil service and intelligentsia who largely
live, work and pontificate from within urban confines. In a certain sense the debate
over urban bias started by Michael Lipton in the 70’s went overboard in India. The
entire focus of our anti poverty and basic needs programmes was on the rural areas.
There Were, of course, valid reasons for such a focus. Over 80 percent of India’s
population was in rural areas.
©
In this maze the urban disadvantaged child was
forgotten.
Within the development
Further, basic issues of home and
This has also been the case at the global level.
£
debate, urban development got a back seat.
@
hearth and care and livelihood got lost in brick and mortar, housing and
transportation.
The only social issue which got some prominence within the
4 ®
somewhat marginalized urban issues was population control and family planning.
This has been the situation till very recently. In fact. Habitat II would have also
e
. e0!
©
36
a
i*'
gone the same way but for the determination of some NGOs, international agencies,
particularly UNICEF and governments, and most importantly, the force of
conviction and commitment carried by the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
I
i 1)
1
1
By and large programmes for poverty alleviation, both social and economic,
have been designed and delivered towards the rural poor. The true nature of urban
poverty has not been understood. For instance, there has been desultory and blind
replication of rural employment generation schemes in urban settings with very little
success.
What has been missed out is that unlike rural areas, the urban poor is
generally employed or self-employed and that,'too, in the urban informal sector.
| D
The problem, however is that almost the whole of the informal sector is outside the
IS 5
pale of law or organised structures.
Nearly 93 percent of the labour force
comprising roughly 290 million, co-mes under the informal sector. The present share
of self employment is over 46.5 percent.
Although the informal sector plays a
crucial role in keeping the wheels of industry moving and provides various essential
I
3
2)
3
services, there is no legal sanction or even physical space for such activities in urban
areas.
According to the estimates of the Expert Committee (Lakdawala Committee,
1993), accepted by the Planning Commission the incidence of urban poverty is 33
percent while rural poverty is 37 percent. The picture across states is that in more
J
J
3
J
1=3
I J
IJ
i
u
urbanized states urban poverty is higher than rural poverty. Unlike in rural areas,
people in the urban areas are without any fall back situation or informal social
support networks. The ravages of urban poverty are therefore harsher.
Women and children comprise two-thirds of the urban poor. A less adverse
sex ratio among the urban poor is indicative of the fact that more women and girls
are in poverty in urban areas than males. Twenty five to thirty percent of the
families are female headed. Urban migrant families pushed to the city because of
poverty and unemployment have no legal access, to house sites or, as mentioned
earlier, sites for carrying their petty businesses and services.
These families are,
therefore, criminalized by the very processes of subsistence in urban areas. The
greatest casualty in this insecure, uncertain and hostile world is childhood.
37
e
c"'
e
The latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data of 1992 show that
i©
Reference Population) ranges from 39.4 percent in Goa, 47.3 percent in Haryana
■©
and 58.9 percent in Maharashtra to 63.3 percent jn Karnataka and 67.7 percent in
&
Uttar Pradesh as against corresponding figures of 36.6 percent, 39.4 percent, 59.1
©
0
©
©
percent, 57.3 percent and 60.1 percent for the rural population.
I
r.
•C'
T
&
&
i
children more than two standard deviations below the median of the International
According to a survey of Urban Basic Services for the Poor (UBSP) covered
slums in India funded by UNICEF, the levels of literacy of these areas were much
lower than the city level figures. A large proportion of girls get married before they
are 18 years of age. About 30 to 40 percent have no access to ration cards. By and
large it is seen that the free services of the government health institutions do not
■
1
among the urban poor the percentage of underweight children (i.e., percentage of
®
©
©
$
i G
7-
©
©
©
©
©
3*
reach those who need them most. Immunization coverage was found to vary from
28 percent in Maharashtra and West Bengal to 81 percent in Tamil Nadu.
In the field of education, studies, including those by NSS and other
household surveys, show that despite willingness to send children to school even by
paying if necessary, there is a large incidence of children not going to school (59
percent and 49 percent enrolment in West Bengal and Bihar, as against 95.2 percent
in Kerala and overall enrolment rate of 72 percent; sex differential in enrolment is
also significant). The quality of education and performance of primary schools are
found to be unattractive to even poor families having motivation to send their
children to school.
contributing factor.
Poverty, i.e., inability to pay does not seem to be the major
A general concern for urban India is the gap between the demand and supply
of basic services and infrastructure and the inadequate urban management
response. For instance, if we look at the Integrated Child Development Services
(ICDS) scheme, as against a total number of 5320 ICDS projects sanctioned in rural
areas with an average of 148 anganwadis in each, there are only 310 ICDS projects
(for every slum with 50,000
population size)
in urban areas with only 50
i:
should be one anganwadi whether in rural or urban areas. On an average, an
©
universe, of 1000 population would have about 160 children below 6 years, one third
. &
of whom would be from families below poverty line i.e., 50-55 children which is an
■J
anganwadis in each. The current norm is that for every thousand population there
38
■ ®
$
1
'0
1
ii
I *9
f
1
a
1
I2 1
J?-,
I
J
I 'S
I >
i S
■•V
3
optimum number for each anganwadi. For urban slums which ICDS projects are
meant to serve, the entire 1000 population served by an anganwadi would normally
comprise people below poverty line (though for the metro cities this may not be
true), therefore, at least 160 children would have to be catered to by one
anganwadi. The inadequacy of the response is clear. Even within this poor service
coverage, the UBSP survey reveals that while 25 percent of the moderately
malnourished children received some supplementary nutrition, only 11.6 percent of
the severely malnourished received such services.
In so far as the urban management response is concerned, municipal services
are always found to be the least availed even by the poor. The only exception
perhaps are the municipal schools. Whether it is immunization or small ailments,
public hospitals and private clinics have been found to be preferred to public
sendees.
Most urban local bodies today have poor financial condition and excess
staff and are riddled with corruption. In any case most of their time is taken up by
the non slum areas of the cities. With the multiplicity of agencies one of the major
challenges today is the convergence of various social and economic services. The
local bodies are administratively too weak to effect such convergence.
Water supply is another critical area. Micro level studies indicate a very low
jJ
J
I,-'
1
3
concern.
There are studies to show that the maximum advantage of subsidized
water supply (as well as subsidized PDS) are cornered by the higher income groups,
particularly the burgeoning middle class.
While child labour does exist,
there are studies showing that a high
percentage of children in urban slums remain idle and do nothing. These are the
*
j
ones most prone to become street children (may or may not be without family
>
support at the initial stages), run-away children, delinquents, drug addicts, child
workers, child prostitutes and children in conflict with law.
J
J
Violence is a way of life in many urban slums.
According to the
Government’s National Report for the Habitat II conference, the police forces in
mega and metro cities have come under severe pressure by a wave of criminality
which can be traced to the vulnerability of rapidly expanding cities.
39
1
’
access of urban slums to potable water (less than 46 percent at times). The high
level of water pollution due to poor waste disposal and drainage is another related
W’
\W
I ®
IA ©
te
■
B ©
e
II ©
I ©
G
C
e
Air pollution is also rapidly rising with the increase of vehicular traffic,
congested streets, fuel burning etc. High levels of noise pollution compound the
situation.
Whether it is the lack of security of tenure or environmental pollution or
violence or traffic hazards or crime or economic exploitation or sexual exploitation,
it is women and children who bear the brunt.
A peculiar problem with the urban poor is that very often their problems get
masked in data and statistics. Urban averages with respect to social and economic
r
I ©
R
indicators tend to be better than the rural ones, making a case for more attention to
What happens is that in the absence of a disaggregated data
(disaggregated by income, or zones) it is not possible to capture the dimensions of
poverty "and deprivation in urban areas.
In fact, as most of the slums are
rural areas.
"unauthorized" these do not even get counted and their children not even
acknowledged. Information on slums, authorized or unauthorized, is quite sketchy
as it is. Provisions for adequate housing space, recreation or child entertainment
-
are almost unheard.
i
The resulting reality in the vision of the child is as far as can be from the
£5;
setting of a caring family supported by a caring community, government and civil
society. The urban poor child under severe social, economic, environmental and
i
psychological pressures, offers the greatest challenge to communities, local and state
governments, the Government of India, NGOs, the private sector, the religious
leaders, the media, women’s and youth organizations and civil society at large.
These children remind us that economic growth has not given them prosperity; that
I
they have been the victims of discrimination; that the situations of such stark
I©
inequity can cause anger and discontent; and that the rights of the most powerless
have been neglected. Although there have been many dramatic improvements in
enrolment, in IMR, in health and in food security in the country in general, the
urban poor and the children and women in particular among them have been missed
out. Therefore, it can not be business as usual. There has to be a change in the way
we have gone about tackling poverty and social infrastructure and child
S’;
development.
©
©
40
II r
I
!•?
I
11
i >
$
2
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which India has ratified,
offers a framework and a moral imperative to redress this gargantuan omission. It is
a banner for ensuring equity for those missed by the essential safety nets, not as acts
of charity but as fundamental rights of every child. The time is now most
appropriate for making that determined push that would ensure all children all their
rights, a vision long cherished but yet to be attained. We need to reorient our
programmes and priorities in keeping with the fundamental principles of the
Convention: viz., non discrimination, all rights for all children, best interests of the
child and the interdependence and indivisibility of rights (whether social, economic,
civil, cultural or political). Within this human rights framework, the Convention sets
out its vision of full and harmonious development of every child in a caring family
and social environment, through the different articles relating to survival,
development protection and participation (in accordance with the evolving
capabilities of children). Children are born with these rights: there are entitlements
which children can claim from the family, the state and other key actors whose
responses can be in terms of time, financial resources, legislation, regulation,
enforcement and advocacy etc. These rights are ipso facto cross sectoral and
interdisciplinary. Like all human rights they are timeless and borderless.
•‘3
I
J
The implications of this "right" based approach, as opposed to the need-based
approach (wherein the urban child was all but forgotten), are many. We must start
with situation analysis taking each of the CRC articles and determining the
constraints which exist in the way of their realization. We must involve the
community and children themselves in this analysis. The emphasis should be on
disaggregation (by income, gender, caste, etc.), transparency, advocacy, and
involvement of various public and private sector partners and the process should be
interdisciplinary and participatory in nature. Monitoring mechanisms need to be set
up at local and national levels with wide mandates. Specially vulnerable groups
within the urban poor children will have to be focussed on viz., children with
disabilities, adolescent girls, children in conflict with law, street children, children
without family support, children of unwed mothers etc.
Resource allocations, programme norms and delivery mechanisms will have
to be rethought in the light of such a "rights" approach. For instance, the ICDS
norms for urban slums will have to be changed so that anganwadis can cater to all
children of slums in the age group of 0-6. The earlier practice of funding the cost of
%
p
41
■
■V’S
health services in the urban projects under the ICDS itself may have to be
8
■ d*
£ G
fi
0
G
C
ii e
I
with gender sensitization. The whole question of security of tenure will have to be
re-examined from the aspect of best interests of the child as the home is where
§
&
disseminated in the urban slums, among municipal’ leaders and functionaries along
*
children spend most time and learn and play.
earning opportunities will have to be ensured for the families so that they can
provide for the children. The informal sector will, therefore, have to be recognized,
given space, technology and other support. The Juvenile Justice Act may have to be
looked into. The age of sexual consent and criminality may have to be reviewed.
One can go on listing. That would probably be beyond the scope of this paper. The
essential which needs to be made is that we must reckon with the reality of rapid
urbanization and transform our approach in the social services as far as children are
concerned from expansion of services delivery to a more focussed approach to
ensure that the rights of children hitherto unreached are realized.
%
5
G
1 c
e
1
i
©
•
I®
. ©
©
” ©
. ©
,1 ®
©
Access to resources and income
42
2. Child Friendly Habitat and Safe Environment
Minar Pimple, YUVA, Mumbai
A lot of work around the issue of Child Friendly Habitat and Safe Environment has
been done in the context of the Habitat II which took place in Istanbul in June 1996.
Rather in history of YUVA’s work, we started articulating in 1991 on housing
vis-a-vis children, especially with our work with street children and were trying to
look at the issue of street children in terms of the denial of rights to housing. This
subject was given a great fillip during the Habitat II process. YUVA launched a
major working group from the preparatory committee in Nairobi to start the whole
issue of including the Children’s agenda in the Habitat II. YUVA participated in the
expert group meeting organised by UNICEF in New York on this issue. Plan
Internatj'onal organised a follow-up meeting where
YUVA was a participant.
YUVA and UNICEF jointly organised an Indian consultation on the Habitat and
Children’s issues. So the combination of all the inputs that have come from these
processes is part of my presentation.
a
a
a
Before I start the presentation I would request you to look into the Approach
Paper to the Ninth Five Year Plan - it is critical because that is the basic objective of
this consultation which is to create a framework or a programmatic approach for the
next five years for the UNICEF, India. So out of the nine objectives of this Ninth
Plan almost seven objectives arc directly linked with the weaker sections, and more
specifically related to children and children’s issues. The issues are ensuring food
$
and nutritional security, providing basic minimum services, containing growth rate
a
of population, ensuring environmental sustainability, empowerment of women and
a
socially disadvantaged groups, promoting and developing people’s participatory
institutions, and strengthening efforts to build self-reliance - self reliance here might
mean irr terms of the country context, but it can also be interpreted in terms of the
community and family context. So out of these nine objectives, for the Plan itself,
almost seven objectives are directly linked to the kind of discussion that we are
having here.
The policy priorities outlined in the Approach Paper also have five priorities
that are directly linked to children - whether it is about the schemes for the larger
benefit of the poor, the schemes which benefit the women and children, the schemes
43
3
3
c
3
3
which have larger benefit of the backward region, the whole issue of schemes which
J
1
from the point of view of children, what are the basic minimum services that we are
y
3
3
3
3
are non-displacing and empowering, schemes which help the creation of productive
assets - personal or economy wide assets - service oriented schemes except those in
the category of basic minimum services. Here it is important to define very clearly
talking about because there the subsidy component is allowed. Except for those
schemes', government are not going to allow any subsidy components.
While dealing with the issues of the habitat, we need to clarify the concept of
housing or habitat that we have. In India, there was a major movement known as
National Campaign for Housing Rights, through which we defined housing as a
place to live in security and dignity; that was a kind of a wider definition that we
gave for housing. In that light what is children’s housing or housing for children,
what does it talk about? It talks about security, safe place that is nurturing, a place
3
or space which allows and promotes the child’s growth and development. It is in the
J
home and the community that the child discovers self and forms an identity. It is
here that the child’s basic physical, social, psycho-emotional and cultural needs are
fulfilled. So when you look at the habitat, these are the key functions that habitat is
>
J
>
1
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
performing as far as the child is concerned. In terms of his/her total growth, his/her
being a human person that is determined by where he/she is located in terms of the
home or the habitat or the community. I think that needs to be really understood.
So it is not the issue of just the physical conditions, it is the physical conditions which
have a larger bearing on the total being of a child.
And if we talk about the child friendly habitat and safe environment we are
essentially talking about the "child-centred" approach.
child-centred approach, needs to be clarified. The child centred approach in our
understanding, is improving the quality of children’s life through advancement of
their rights. It is not a question of improving the quality of their life by charity or
welfare alone, that has to be done through the advancement of their rights, so that it
is much more institutionalised, it is not something which is given and taken away, it
is something which gets institutionalized as part of the process and that is why the
"Rights" framework is a much more sustainable framework than the "charity welfare"” framework and that differentiation needs to be understood as a milestone
when India ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). So we are no
$
3
3
3
What we mean by
44
’•
more talking about something to be given and taken away, something to be reviewed
and withdrawn, but something which is there on a sustainable basis, on an ongoing
I
basis, and that departure needs to be very' very clearly located.
The second part of the child-centred approach is the strengthening of the
capacity of the family and community to provide their children with stability,
protection and security. Now, if these two conditions of the child centred approach
have to be fulfilled, then there are four components which I think need to be kept in
mind - (1) A very clear emphasis on aspects of habitat which are most crucial for
children, (2) The building of sustainable capacity in family and community to meet
the habitat needs of the children, (3) An integrated and holistic approach to all the
elements of habitat which would combine into a child centred approach and finally
(4) although betterment of family or community is important for child development
the whole notion that betterment of family and community would automatically lead
to betterment of children should be changed. So many times children are seen as
subset of a family and larger community, which is also creating a lot of problems.
Children in their own right have to be taken as independent actors/stakeholders in
the whole development programme. We need to question this myth. Children
cannot be seen as subset of anything - they are independent actors/stakeholders.
This is also the framework which CRC offers to us.
?
i)
What are those elements of the child friendly habitat and safe environment?
The first is the issue of family security. The family security issue is not only the issue
of legal security though it is very very critical. Many of the families in urban areas -
and it reflects in almost all the schemes - the issue of the legal security which gives a
particular status to the family and that particular status gives access to that family to
3
certain service structures. That linkup is associated with this whole issue of security.
That linkup needs to be understood and whether we can make a point where access
of children to services is irrespective of the legal status. For maintaining the family’s
access to adequate and secure housing, what needs to be done is providing legal
J
J
3
security, affordable access to housing, access to credit, access to land, the issue of
opportunities for work being present in the areas where they are working and most
importantly, the protection against forced evictions and displacement.
45
J
3
3
Secondly, there are also large number of children who are without families.
3
Do they have a right to family like setting or caring?- That needs to be seen. There
is also the home and the surroundings which involve issues related to safe and
5
healthy environment to combat malnourishment, gastro-intestinal ailments, access
3
to safe drinking water and sanitation, issues that create problems in terms of the
3
physical health of the child, adequate and culturally compatible space, availability
within and outside the surroundings of the child.
Both these parts are very
significant when we look at how as a structure our houses are spaced.
Protection
from work, especially for girl- children - the issues of early marriage of girls even in
urban slums - the issue of the security of the girl child- these are all important. The
)
whole issue of security also needs to be seen from the girl child’s point of views. At
the level of community one is talking about provision of basic infrastructure, health
services^including health information.
1
3
J
The third component which I want to highlight is the planning, design and
architecture of services in terms of child specific needs.
Sensitivity in terms of
building it into the curriculum of all the schools is ver,' very important. Community
measures are needed to reduce the radiation and all forms of pollution.
1
)
>
>
Another issue which is critical is the protection against intolerance and
violence which might be of communal and caste nature.
Protection against
exploitation, particularly sexual exploitation, across the board is coming to light
much more rapidly, because there is a large awareness around this issue, especially
3
the young children on the streets being used by the older children is also coming to
3
light very rapidly and also the economic exploitation.
3
exploitation has also to be combated because as far as children are concerned, it
)
3
Drugs and drug-related
does not only stop at their getting into drugs but their being forced to courier the
drugs. This is the most disastrous phenomenon that we have seen.
The whole issue of the access to education is the most important component
J
J
3
in terms of the habitat and environment. But the more important component of all
is the implications for governance. This needs to be highlighted critically in terms
of:
3
>
J
J
3
3
46
i
3
a
(1)
Sharing of responsibilities, powers and resources - We need to go beyond
the 73rd and 74th Amendments. Just being a votary or supporter of the
Amendments is not enough.
(2)
Empowerment of the civil society - Many of the issues being raised here are
not issues that demand lot of resources on part of the government. What
they demand is a sensitivity and awareness and many of these things can be
done without funding.
(3)
The issue of accountability - All levels of government and also the private
sector, international agencies, for the impact of their policies, their
investments and action on children and their families should have public
accountability.
(4)
Child impact assessment - We need to have a child impact assessment of any
project, programme or scheme that is coming in, to monitor accountability of
the international agencies and the private sector, before the schemes are
cleared.
I
I
I
a
a
8
kJ
5
47
kJ
I
3
3
3
$
3. 74th Constitutional Amendment and Concern for the
3
Urban Disadvantaged Child
3
3
George Mathew, 1SS, New Delhi
3
3
3
I
i
The 74th Constitution Amendment is a watershed for Urban Local Bodies
and their good governance. It became part of the Constitution on 30 May 1993. The
important features of the Amendment are:
9
3
3
1.
9
Municipalities have become "institutions of self-government". This means (a)
they have autonomy and (b) they have powers of governance. Ofcourse, they
have no legislative powers or that of law and order. If the present tempo of
devolution of power is kept up, sooner than later police powers will be with
the Municipalities. Municipalities will be of three types:
(i) Municipal Corporation in larger urban areas; (ii) Municipal Council in
smaller urban areas; (iii) Nagar Panchayats in transitional urban areas.
i
2.
3
The term of an elected Municipality will be for five years and this implies
that elections to these bodies every five years are mandatory. If they are
dissolved or suspended or superseded, within six months elections must be
held. Independent election commission in the states must look after proper
conduct of elections.
3
3
3.
One-third of the elected seats are reserved for women; for weaker sections
(Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) reservation will be according to
3
their population in the municipal area. The state government may by law
provide for reservation for women, SC and ST members in the office of
Chairpersons of municipalities.
□
3
3
3
3
4.
State Finance Commission (appointed once in five years) will make
recommendations on principles governing tax-sharing between Municipalities
and state government and distribution of tax proceeds between the
municipalities.
3
3
48
I
9
3
i
■
5.
Ward Committees will be constituted within the territorial area of a
Municipality having a population of 300,000 or more.
6.
The municipal bodies will prepare plans for economic development and
social justice, perform functions and implementation of schemes entrusted to
them; and prepare plans for municipalities which will be consolidated by
District Planning Committee. Draft Development plan will include: spatial
planning, sharing of water and other physical and natural resources, the
integrated development of infrastructure and environmental conservation.
In the 12th Schedule, eighteen subjects are given .to the Municipalities. They
are not mandatory but just suggested subjects.
t
By defining Nagar Panchayats, Municipalities and the Corporations as
Institutions of Self-Government, they have been made defacto the third tier of
governance in our federal system. In other words, after the Union and States, we
have now the Districts with panchayats and municipalities, depending on the rural
and urban population. The concept evolving is that of District Government. A lot of
ground work needs to be done to realise this objective.
Unfortunately, the health and status of our Municipalities were in poor state.
Till very recently 40-50 per cent of the local bodies were superseded, having no
elected bodies and very few urban bodies held elections regularly. Chennai, till a
few months back, had the distinction of running its affairs for about 25 years without
an elected body. Many other cities and towns were not different. Most of the powers
were usurped by the state governments and we had a system of commissioners. The
commissioner system was the bane of our Municipalities.
It may be recalled here that the municipal corporations in the country had
been functioning under the "Bombay model" - the Bombay Municipal Act 1888
(subsequently Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporations Act 1949) under which a
state-appointed official - the Commissioner - functioned as a co-ordinating
authority along with the council and its standing committee. All the three derived
executive power from the legislation itself. This was an anomaly. Another
contradiction was that the Commissioner was responsible for implementing the
decisions of the council and its standing committee. The Calcutta and Howrah
49
i
o
j
Municipal Corporations were the first two to move against this system in 1980
opting for a Mayor-in-Council system which is in tune with the cabinet system of
©
government. It has been found that Mayor-in-Council system in Calcutta and
Howrah is more efficient and effective than the Commissioner system. There is a
strong move for adopting Mayor-in-Council system throughout the country after the
1
Constitution (74th Amendment) Act had come into force.
c
r-
In the working of the urban bodies so far, the poor were in the periphery and
they were marginalised. Children were least cared for in this whole process.
(,
Under the new dispensation - the 74th Constitution Amendment - and its
implementation things could change for better. Today when full powers are coming
to the municipalities, child friendly cities can be a reality. One of the important
reasons for this new situation is the fact that one-third of the elected members will
be women. This is a substantial number which will influence decisions related to
child and child welfare. These are issues closer to their being, their day to day life.
Supersessions will be a thing of the past because within 6 months of
supersession there must be elected bodies. This ensures elected bodies with elected
members coming in as in charge of the affairs of the area. The finance commissions
(:
are working hard to see that a principle is evolved so that these bodies get enough
money. As of today, seven state finance commissions have submitted their reports.
In addition, the Municipalities have taxation powers to improve their financial base.
Being Institutions of self-government, all departments of the government
working in the corporations or the municipalities will be coming under the elected
councils.
Their work will be controlled by the elected representatives, standing
committees, ward committees and the mayor or the chairperson. Today most of the
©
G
G
e
o
:
0
C?
Conformity Acts, of the states are not following the Constitution Amendment in
spirit, they follow the letter of;the law. Therefore the tendency has been to place
the bureaucracy in such a way that the decisions of the elected representatives is not
final. Or bureaucracy could control the elected body one way or other. What is
unfortunate in today’s situation is that the state level politicians have not yet given
up their control or their power.I am of the view that given the present ethos and
50
9
9
climate for strengthening the local government system, the elected members will
fight for their rights and more powers will be wrested from the state governments,
and the civil service will be shown its place.
These municipalities could well become the nurseries of leadership. Ward
committees can be very active because of the presence of a large number of women.
9
9
9
If we look at the situation regarding rural and urban bodies, we find that the
unfolding panchayats are putting up a brave fight for devolution of more powers to
them, but not much is heard on this subject from the municipalities and municipal
elected members. But I hope things will change.
f
<*
Lastly, I would like to say, that as far as the question of children is concerned
a segmented approach is not the answer to the problems facing us. Children are a
part of the whole - we need a holistic approach. The issues of poverty, employment,
status of women, habitation, infrastructure, rural-urban migration are interlinked
and need to be tackled in a holistic way. Most importantly, the 74th Amendment
gives the possibility of creating this holistic approach with participation from all
sections of the society. It is a unique opportunity and we all must see to it that it
doesn’t fail.
$
8
8
•Or
51
1
1
3
CHAPTER IV
Working Group Reports
)
3
3
3
3
3
The most significant part of the consultation were the group discussions. Five
inter-sectoral groups of experts from different fields discussed five pre-defined
topics for at least half of the seven working hours•• of the day’s proceedings. Issues
identified and recommendations forwarded are of immense importance in the
context of deciding future policy interventions for all actors.
>
>
1
1
)
»
3
3
■3
For each group a few major issues were identified by the organisers to give a
broad outline. But to make the discussion participatory and to have maximum input
from all participants, a VIPP (Visualisation in Participatory Planning) session was
organised at the beginning where each participant raised priority issues which
he/she wanted to be discussed in the meeting. The present chapter gives the
proceedings of the meetings of the five groups and their recommendations. The
group reports generally contain three components - (i) general observations and
issues raised by participants on the assigned topic, (ii) general recommendations on
action and the responsibilities of different actors and stakeholders, (iii) specific
recommendations for UNICEF in the above context, with respect to advocacy,
training, action research, support for delivery services, communication, monitoring
and others.
5
J
J
□
3
I
3
i-
3
3
3
52
>:
Working Group - I
Topic:
Reaching Children in Illegal or Temporary Urban Settlements with Basic
Services towards Achievements of Child Rights.
Facilitator:
Mr. S.K. Cuba, UNIFEM
Chairperson Dr. Mani Kalliath, Catholic Health
Association of India (CHAI)
Rapporteurs: Dr. Santosh Singh, ISS
Ms. Rajyalakshmi, ISS
Ms. Deepika Srivastava, UNICEF
Scope
The scope of the discussion included child in unauthorised settlements, clusters along
railway tracks, nullahs or other illegal and dangerous locations, migrant tentages along
streets, families living on pavements and others.
Issues
The issues highlighted by the group participants through the VIPP technique and also in
the course of general discussions were as follows:
1.
Whether the child should be the focus of the service point or the legal status of the
settlement where the child’s family lives. The group felt that so far as the protection of
rights of children was concerned, the child should be the focus and not the legal status
of the settlement, and all basic services like sanitation, medical services, schools,
community organisation, creches and primary health care centres should be provided
to each and every child in whichever circumstances he/she lives. It was agreed that
right of the child is supreme and has legal sanctity. If this legal right of the child comes
into conflict with the legal status of the settlement, then the right of the child should
have precedence over the legal status of the settlement. The group strongly felt that no
53
child can be denied rights to survival, development, protection and participation or be
discriminated against, only because of the "legal status" or location of his\her
settlement.
IF'
F....
>•*
2.
The^ second issue which provided the focus of the discussion was the criticality of basic
R I
services for child survival and development, especially for the most vulnerable young
child. In this context ICDS was recognised as a major outreach programme for the
survival, development and protection of the young child. The discussion then veered
around to examining whether changes in ICDS policy and operational guidelines are
required to ensure that ICDS reaches and targets the unrecognised urban poor groups
more effectively, since at present it is largely focussed on reaching the children and
r-.-
fe
;■
-
'■
•
-
women in legal slums only.
3.
The third issue, was how to give an "identity" to these unrecognised illegal urban poor
groups and ensure that the basic amenities, viz., water, sanitation, education and other
services reach them.
4.
How to eradicate child labour, which is rampant in "illegal settlements" ?
5.
What roles the local elected representative', private sector, NGOs, civic society,
community groups, especially women can play in fulfilling this task ?
Recommendations
To fulfil the child’s holistic and interrelated basic needs the group suggested some general
provisions which will indirectly ensure the child’s access to services and some specific
recommendations particular to the child’s needs.
A. The general recommendations are as follows:
1.
Recognise the primacy of child rights over other legal positions and adjust/amend
service provision policy to include populations in illegal settlements so that children
and women have appropriate access to basic amenities and services.
i-
’H
54
r
9
9
9
9
2.
9
Cumulative pressures should be mobilised by people through concerted action for
legal recognition/or resettlement of illegal settlements. This is crucial because a
caring family and home environment is the primary institution for promoting child
rights, particularly in early childhood when young children are most vulnerable.
Legality of tenure is crucial for ensuring that children, who are active learners from
the beginning of life, receive a warm and stimulating environment to support and
&
maintain full development.
&
9
9
9
3.
Address changes in policy and regulatory framework to ensure enabling
environment by the government.
4.
All government schemes for children should be implemented directly by the
government or non-government authorities in collaboration with the community
based organisations such as CDS/NHC of the UBSP strategy. The requirement for
such programme implementation should be that the group of children exist
according to the requirement of the schemes, not according to their legal or illegal
status.
5.
f-
It is important to strengthen community’s capacity and processes for empowerment.
This is crucial for translating/enabling policies into practice at decentralised and
community levels.
6.
Effective sectoral coordination is necessary between local authorities, urban
development authorities, clubs, health associations, primary education authorities,
community organisations, women groups, NGOs under one umbrella through
CDS/NHC type of mechanisms and processes.
)
7.
representatives to make them sensitive to children’s rights.
9
8.
8
There is need for skill enhancement in government, local officials and people’s
The local governments should ensure inclusion of unauthorised groups/families in
their respective localities while preparing, implementing and monitoring service
delivery interventions.
55
f:-9
>
id!
9.
Print and electronic media should play an important role in creating a positive
public opinion towards these settlements and sensitise non-poor people to their
needs.
10.
>
It was recommended that the 74th Constitution Amendment, especially the 12th
Schedule, be broadened to include child development and that state governments
should delegate planning, management and monitoring of child related services to
T'
r '
the urban local bodies.
)
)
11.
Ward Committees should be given more power in planning, implementation and
monitoring of the programmes at the local level.
12.
It was suggested that a fixed percentage of urban local bodies’ funds be allocated for
children and women, including those in the unrecognised settlements, as has been
done in Maharashtra. Further, urban local bodies should also be encouraged to
mobilise resources for development of children and women from community
contribution as has been demonstrated by the Poriyawadi experience of Panchayati
Raj institutions in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh.
13.
Higher priority for ensuring that urban health and child care resources reach the
»
»
)
)
child in unrecognised settlements is important.
)
14.
)
)
)
It was also felt by some of the NGO representatives that the present requirement of
standard three year experience for the NGOs in the field to be entitled for working
with the poor child should be relaxed for those working in the illegal settlements.
This will motivate larger number of NGOs to cater to the needs of the children in
illegal settlements.
)
B.
Sector-specific Recommendations
)
)
The specific recommendations in different sectoral activities which emerged for
)
child care services are as follows:
)
)
)
)
)
z
)
56
?•
1.
Health
i.
Legislative provisions for continuation of. maternity and child care for informal
sector women workers and those living in unrecognised settlements need to be
reviewed.
>
>
ii.
The unauthorised settlements should be linked to health and child care systems
especially for preventive and promotive care. Urban health resources need to be
mobilised, networked and reprioritised to target unrecognised urban poor groups.
These resources include the medical colleges, government hospitals, private sector
hospitals, home science colleges, ICDS ‘Anganwadi’ Centres (AWCs), municipal
corporation Balwadis, voluntary agencies. Even if the full range of services cannot
be provided, the reprioritisation of these resources, like changes in duty charts of
ANMs/Anganwadi workers, retraining of Balwadi workers and Anganwadi workers
will at least ensure conduct of monthly outreach sessions for mothers in child
protection to prevent malnutrition among children in vulnerable unrecognised
urban poor pockets.
iii.
The urban local bodies and state governments should undertake greater
responsibilities for early child care and education, including ensuring minimum
quality of services. Especially in unrecognised urban poor pockets, child care is an
essential support service to release girls from the burden of sibling care to
participate in primary education and support women in their multiple roles,
including participation in civic and political processes.
iv.
/*
To extend the outreach in the areas which are not easily accessible, alternate child
care arrangements like mobile creches and day care facilities, should be made,
responding to the local needs and patterns of women’s work - including the women
in the unrecognised sector.
v.
The group strongly recommended following changes in the ICDS guidelines to:
(a) include unauthorised, unorganized settlements for full coverage and tagging
Unauthorised settlements for outreach services to neighbouring recognised AWCs.
(b) set up mini AWCs in the same and the outreach sessions for mother and child
protection for easy prevention of malnutrition and disability.
57
0
Q
•0
(c) prescribe per-child norm rather than schematic norm to ensure better coverage
3
of denser urban population.
3
(d) initiate new ICDS projects following the community mappings of unreached
children in Plan for Introduction of Services, through trained teams of frontline
0
workers and community volunteers.
3
-0
0
vi.
it was also felt that children living in illegal settlements should be given an identity.
was suggested that if the child has an immunisation card, he/she should be
allowed or entitled to avail all other child care services, particularly the ICDS,
health, UBSP, etc.
0
2.
Education
i.
All the unauthorised settlements should have access to pre-school and primary
education and other services,
ii.
Creches should be provided to look after the children of working mothers.
iii.
To link the unauthorised settlements with existing primary schools network
para-teachers may be provided.
iv.
Primary schools should be established in the illegal settlements preferably with
female teachers.
0
3.
Economic Empowerment
Finally, it was agreed that to create identity of the child, and ensuring child rights
O
the economic situation of the family must be improved.
G
resources, savings and credit arrangements should be ensured to families especially
0
Access to economic
to women.
1
58
0
3
8
3
fe-
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
I
involvement of local people in the improvement of these slums is limited and funds
provided under various developmental schemes for them are not efficiently and properly
used. People generally lack hygiene education in these areas. As for education of children,
despite having enrolment of an overwhelming number of children, their irregular
attendance and very high drop-out rate is a problem. In the case of Rajasthan, most of the
girl children in slums do not study beyond class II and HI. Co-education is also a factor in
discouraging’girl children from going to school. Moreover, when the living conditions in
the city as a whole are facing serious crisis in terms of the delivery of basic services, any
particular section like child or any particular .locality like slums cannot be seen in
isolation. It was also said that in the outlying areas of cities, slums are rapidly expanding,
and facilities like schools are not increasing in that proportion. As a result, slum children
are unable to get enrolled for formal education in these areas. It was highlighted that in
Mumbai, in contrast to Jaipur or other cities of Rajasthan, people in slums are having
water facilities, but sanitation facilities are inadequate. The slums located in the heart of
the cities are facing serious traffic hazard. As a result, some parents are hesitant to send
their children to the schools since they have to cross busy highways which expose them to
road accidents.
■
•b •
?■.
In view of the preceding discussion highlighting the serious problems of basic
services even in legal and authorised slums and keeping in view the sharp inter-city
differentials in the nature and magnitude of the problems, the group listed the following
critical issues through the VIPP technique, under the two broad areas identified earlier,
which need special focus in any policy planning. They are as follows:
i.
Sanitation and Water
c7
I?
Toilet facilities are extremely inadequate at community/ household level
Maintenance of community toilets is a serious problem
Water points, household drainage, garbage collection points are not available near
the home.
if:
Health and Nutrition
The present health infrastructure is inadequate to cater to the needs of the urban
poor children living in these scattered communities.
L
f
61
&
I
)
1
There is no proper information on the accessibility, affordability and utilisation of
)
)
health facilities by the poor.
Education
h'?
)
)
)
>
Physical access to schools is a problem in many places
Quality of education in municipal/government schools is poor
School timings/schedules are inflexible, affecting children who work and have other
responsibilities during the school timings.
Child Labour
)
Growing number of child labourers in unorganised sector,
restaurants,
>
>
particularly in
and other hazardous industries and as domestic help is of great
concern.
Child Ciime
Criminal tendencies among children like drug trafficking,
alchoholism are increasing in legal settlements as well.
drug abuse and
>
>
>
Recommendations
The specific recommendations forwarded by the group with regard to different issues are as
follows:
)
)
J
►
Implementation Strategy
The group was unanimous that a two-way mechanism should be adopted for improving the
J
living condition of children in the authorized slums. The government and municipal
J
authorities should build the initial physical and social infrastructure. But the maintenance
J
and ensuring proper utilization of the facilities should be the responsibility of community
development societies (CDS) or any other type of community organisation which represent
the community.
3
<
J
J
J
)
62
£
p
Process
Kerala’s experience of community development societies was appreciated by every group
member-.
There was an agreement that the municipalities should facilitate and ensure
the formation of community development societies in all legal slums and the programmatic
inputs should be pursued through them. This may be a gradual process.
First
neighbourhood committees may be formed which will gradually develop into CDS. In this
regard it was also mentioned that there are tremendous regional variations with regard to
availability of resources with the municipalities. In Rajasthan, the municipalities are not as
resourceful as the Bombay Municipal Corporation(BMC). This gap should be reduced with
various steps to improve the financial health of these urban local bodies.
The donor agencies, including UNICEF- should also provide funds only through
the CDS which should be
the
nodal body to decide the needs of the area with the
involvement and active participation of community. Participatory planning support to
programme interventions and monitoring of out-reach, use and quality of services available
are necessary.
I
Any national programme meant for the slums should reach through the
CDS.
Environmental Sanitation and Safe Water
With regard to access to safe water and sanitation, the group recommended the following:
i.
Toilets need to be provided in slums, especially in the households wherever feasible.
ii.
Household toilets would be maintained by the household; in those situations where
small community units are the only option, the CDS should work out appropriate
<7
maintenance systems (as youth groups etc.).
iii.
Drainage needs to be provided from water points and from households, and safe
disposal of waste water is needed.
vi.
Waste collection points should be located in or close to slums and periodical safecollection and disposal from these points by municipal authorities should be
ensured.
f
63
V.
Household collection of garbage and putting garbage in collection points are to be
monitored by CDS, and education for using the facility should be undertaken by the
CDS.
vi.
Road and street lights should be provided by municipalities and their maintenance
should be made the responsibility of CDS.
vii.
While the provision of water is an important issue, the quality of water at collection
points and user points should be monitored by CDS, and they should consistently
demand for safe water supply.
viii.
Education regarding household storage and proper use of water should be the
responsibility of the community groups.
si
Education
The group suggested the following for ensuring that the quality education services reach
the poor:
i.
The schools should be at an accessible location, near the community.
ii.
To ensure safety of the school going children from heavy traffic authorities should
consider various methods. Besides school zone traffic management, satellite
schooling may be promoted for increasing the outreach to serve the distant,
difficult-to-reach and small slums.
iii.
The early childhood education should become the responsibility of education sector.
Eor this purpose, the group suggested that an amendment to Article 45 (if
necessary) of the Constitution may be made to include the children of 3-5 years as
well.
iv.
The creche services in slums should be run by CDS with the support of Women
and Child Development Department.
v.
Promotion of child friendly study rooms and community libraries should be
undertaken in slums and these should be run by CDS.
64
:
•
■■
iF- t
i i
w
.-J'
3
••
3
3
r
3
vi.
Open/ part-time formal schools for working children over ten years are very
important to help them complete the school education.
3
3
Health and Nutrition
3
©
31
i.
I
'C;-
r
planning for RCH in urban slums to the extent the existing infrastructure can cater
(10,000 per worker) to the most needy population as envisaged in the RCH
programme should be promoted.
©
a-
ii.
Primary health care infrastructure should be expanded for urban poor.
iii.
Participatory planning of health and nutrition services, based on community need
assessment, and monitoring of quality of health and nutrition services by CDS
needs to be made a reality.
iv.
It is necessary to empower the community through education for the care of
children.
In this regard, family responsibility should be promoted through
participatory training methodology.
v.
Develop "affordable systems" for private sector participation in meeting health
needs of the urban poor.
vi.
Health clinics should have flexible timings which
are convenient to the
local
residents, particularly those who work at far off places so that these people may get
due health care and medical support from these clinics.
J J
&
i
Child Lqbour
i.
It was suggested that CDS should monitor child labour by ensuring that children up
to 10 years of age are in school.
ii.
iii.
For older working children, CDS may monitor working hours and conditions if
possible to ensure compliance with the new legislations.
Special schools with flexible timing should be set up for children over 10 years who
need to work for family considerations, and for girl child.
65
&
&
t
tJ
I
iv.
The group specifically recommended that the emphasis should be on formal
education for working children so that they become eligible for jobs in the formal
system.
L-ft
Mt
ft-
Crime among children
Crime, alcoholism and drugs lead to child abuse and are detrimental to the development
of the child. Therefore, the group felt that the community is to be empowered through
education to discourage the use of children for drug trafficking, child abuse and atrocities
against women. The CDS is to monitor the progress made in this connection.
-■
j
T
It
R
Community Empowerment
1.
Communities in the authorised slums should have sufficient powers to monitor
health and other services, with particular emphasis on ensuring their quality and
client satisfaction.
ii.
Different providers of services such as governments, NGOs and CBOs should be
sensitized to the needs of the community with a gender perspective by involving
them in planning of programmes and provision of services.
iii.
Networking between households and communities on different issues with wider
relevance for children is also very important.
iv.
Families are to be empowered through demonstration and training to keep a watch
on the health of their children, provide necessary initial care during illness and know
situations and when and where to seek care.
v.
Community agenda of urban child development should be linked with the global
agenda on the similar theme.
vi.
It is necessary to raise awareness among women about their different socioeconomic problems and empowering them to find their solutions. This would
ultimately be beneficial for their children.
66
ft
*!ft"f
3
3*
vii.
School premises may be used as community spaces after school hours for community
training of youths and women. Local governments/police/government officials
should also be involved in such training programmes.
Partnerships
•J
Partnership at all levels is necessary for successful implementation of any child
development project. Convergence of programmes and financial allocations for various
departments and organisations, both governmental and non-governmental, should be the
goal.
Role of UNICEF
The group identified the following areas where UNICEF can play an important role.
f
1.
UNICEF should play a lead role in advocacy of child rights at the national, regional
and local levels.
2.
It should provide training to
development and welfare.
3.
R should provide support for resource materials and necessary funds for the
activities of these organisations.
4.
It should monitor the child rights mentioned in the Convention on the Rights of the
Child adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations. In this regard, it was
emphasised that there is a need to create a network of voluntary ‘Ambassadors’ who
can help the UNICEF to attain the tasks identified in the charter. However, it was
also noted that the role of the ambassadors should not be confined to any
particular section of the people . Rather, those working at the grassroots and at the
community level should be asked to perform such type of responsibility.
NGOs
<5/
f
67
and CBOs working in the field of child
)
1
3
1
Working Group 3
3
'•
Reaching Children without Family Support, Urban Working Children
Topic:
J
and Children in Institutions.
J
Chairperson and
Facilitator:
3
Rapporteurs:
)
Mr. Satish Tripathi, Secretary to the Governor of Maharashtra
Mr Vivek Kaushik, ISS
Mr Gerry Pinto, UNICEF
Scope
>
>
1
>
3
)
The scope of the discussion included the children in streets (those without family support),
child prostitutes, other urban working children in the cities, children who are in institutions
(Juvenile offenders, undertrials, orphans/destitutes in non-family institutions) and other
special categories.
Issues
1
1
Major issues identified by the group in the VIPP session and in the long deliberations were
as follows:
3
3
J
How can the juvenile homes be improved ? The group expressed concern that the
conditions of juvenile homes are precarious. The children are not properly treated
there. The homes are lacking in basic amenities and educational facilities. Because
of slow and tardy legal procedures the juveniles have to stay in these homes for
indefinite period.
3
The street children, especially girls, are open to serious risks. How to reduce the
3
3
risks?
What are the alternatives for children to institutions ?
J
How to ensure health care facilities and protection to street children from abuse ?
3
3
J
68
J*
J
-
What are the processes for expediting long pending cases in District and other
courts ?
What should be the role of NGOs in sensitization - whether observation homes can
be managed by NGOs ?
How to rehabilitate the child prostitutes ?
What should be the approaches to challenge the sexual activities among street
children?
How to create awareness among child prostitutes ?
What should be the role of the city governments towards child labour ?
Whether children have legal rights and what are the problems in their enforcement?
How to tackle the issue of limited access to social sector services for the poor
disadvantaged children in these categories ?
>
>
What will be role of community and how to train the community ?
Recommendations
1.
Role of City Government:
The group deliberated on the above issues and came up with important
recommendations in different suggested activities for different actors, viz, local
governments, communities and also for children. The group unanimously agreed
that the city government has a major responsibility in protecting child rights. There
is need for ensuring the role of the muriicipalities/corporations in the following
MT
areas:
!>
i.
Prevention of child labour
i’
69
?•
)
This tendency of people to migrate from a village to the nearest town has resulted in
3
7
a big spurt in the number of small towns. Many of the smaller cities or towns have factories
around which slums etc. come up. In other words, these lead to the growth of what are
often ca-lled corporate settlements or fringe habitations. Thus, the group needs to focus its
1
attention on the problems of the children of these corporate settlements and the problem
of the working children, the problem of the security (physical) of the girl child who is often
7
)
left at home’when the parents are out for work.
7
Here it was pointed out that since the parents are constantly worried about the
physical safety of their daughters, there is a tendency among them to marry them at a very
young age, say 9 or 10. This, in turn, has its own implications as far as the physical health of
9
the girl child is concerned, although the parents after marrying her off may feel relaxed.
>
3
3
V.
Issues
The group observed that there are major obstacles in legal and social service delivery
system in reaching the children in these temporary settlements.
>
1.
*
Judicial and Legal set up:-
*
3
3
i.
The group observed that there are umpteen number of rules and regulations and
policy guidelines but there is not enough action. J he laws are violated by people
3
but no action is taken against them. For example, no creche facility is given to Ansal
construction sites in Bhopal even though providing creches for the children of
3
construction workers is mandatory in Madhya Pradesh.
9
J
J
3
ii.
3
3
Judiciary is not doing as much for protection of child labour as it is doing for
protection of environment.
iii.
Legal process is long and tedious and not child - friendly. There are number of
cases of physical and sexual abuse of working children where employer gets away
9
9
.3
*
because of his economic power and political influence.
iv.
There is lack of information and reporting on the cases of violation of child rights
and crimes against children.
82
9
S
9
*■
9-
f
f
•i
3
v.
Complaints of poor people are often not registered
insensitive to the poor people’s problems.
vi.
Legal awareness among these people is very poor.
2.
Basic Amenities
by the police,
They are
3
3
J
b
pb;.
The group highlighted serious inadequacies in the present education system and its
indifference to the special needs of the children in the difficult circumstances. Existing
school education system for poorer children is extremely inadequate. There is no emphasis
on compulsory primary education in order to solve the problems of urban poor children.
Quality of education in municipal schools is very poor and inadequate for a boy/girl to get
a suitable job. Children do not like to go to these schools. Instead/hey think it is better to
start work at an early age rather than get education in these schools and be unemployed.
2
Teachers are also not very cordial to these students. They resort to beating and scolding of
the children too frequently. Infrastructural facilities are also inadequate. As a result, in
sharp contrast to the rural areas, drop out rate is very high in urban poor communities.
A VIPP session was conducted in the group to delineate the issues for the
brainstorming against the above observations. The issues raised by the members of the
group were later put under five heads depending on whether they were related to policy,
organisation, physical services, social concerns or enforcement of laws, and economic
empowerment. Following is the list of the issues thrown up during the group discussions:
1.
Policy Issues
i.
There is always more emphasis on ‘schemes’ and population norms than on ‘per
child’ provision in government programmes. How to change this situation?
ii.
How to solve the problem of absence or lack of sound data base on children?
iii.
How to generate policy commitment?
iv.
How to ensure infrastructural facilities and services in small and medium towns?
v.
What are the ‘push’ factors for urban - urban Migration (Small town to Metro)?
br
•«
3
3
T
83
■<
1
I
3
:•
3
!:•
i?
3
vi.
How to arrest in-migration in Nagar Panchayats and small & medium towns?
vii.
How to ensure ‘quality’ services?
viii.
How to ensure sustainability of the services delivered?
ix.
How to ensure economic improvement within the families?
3
3
3
<■
3
2.
Organisational Issues
i.
There are many diverse local groups,
inter-group coordination?
□
3
3
9
but no coordination.
How to ensure
ii.
How to empower ULBS vis-a-vis state governments?
iii.
How to empower women’s groups, parents’ groups and CBOs?
iv.
How to promote community action within groups?
v.
How to tackle the resistance to community empowerment from politicians and
bureaucrats?
vi.
What are the ways for identification of suitable social animators?
vii.
How to maintain rural - urban continuum?
viii.
What is the role of media in public opinion formation?
ix.
How to create awareness among policymakers?
3
x.
How to establish network between CBOs, ' NGOs, educational institutions and
government?
3
xi.
How to introduce performance audit of NGOs?
••
9
3
J
3
*
3
•J:
3
3
3
84
i
3.
Physical Services
a
How to ensure in slums the followings:
>
i.
In-situ slum upgradation for better shelter
ii.
Adequate water availability
iii.
Pollution free environment and
iv.
Sanitation facilities
4.
Issues of social concern
h
F
i-
i.
How to ensure security of tenure and/or community ownership?
ii.
How to reduce vulnerability due to eviction and displacement?
iii.
How to protect children from abuse, exploitation and criminalisation?
iv.
What measures should be taken to prevent child labour in construction sites, road
side shops, etc.?
v.
How to provide compulsory primary education for all children including those
children who are employed and living
a) with families within city/town
b) migrated from other towns/state?
vi.
How to ensure daycare for children (0-5) of women who are working and of female
dependent families?
.it
85
k
3
O
9
5.
Enforcing laws and economic empowerment
i.
What measures should be taken to tackle the violation of the existing laws on child
rights?
ii.
What legal steps should be taken to protect children in construction sites, small
shops etc. (if they cannot be removed immediately), where there is no service
provision and environmental sanitation is poor?
iii.
How to monitor child rights violation, what are the methods and who should act as
watchdog?
iv.
How to identify children such as domestic servants,
providing/ensuring rights?
V.
The group strongly felt that for protecting child rights economic empowerment of
9
3
3
3
9
a
women is essential. But how to provide them access to skill, credit, enterpreneurship
and marketing?
3
3
3
a
■3
Mow to include them for
Recommendations
On the basis of the above discussion the group suggested following actions.
1.
Judicial System
i.
Judicial system should be made more child-friendly.
ii.
Judiciary should play a more constructive role in protecting the child’s rights. There
should be dramatic changes in the legal system if justice is to be given to the urban
disadvantaged child.
iii.
Special courts for disposal of the cases concerning violation of child rights, child
abuse, child labour exploitation etc. should be set up.
iv.
NGOs should work as watchdogs and file writ petitions as has been done in case of
the Ansal construction in Bhopal.
o
©
3
'S
3
86
r<
&
V.
I here should be more intensive monitoring and reporting of cases concerning crime
against children.
€
vi.
There is need for creating legal awareness among the people.
€
vii.
Police should be made more sensitive towards the poor people. NGOs can sensitise
them and help poor people in interacting with the police. One solution may be
taking more women in the police force.
2.
Educational Facilities
i.
Educational facilities need to be improved for all
ii.
Parents need to be given adequate employment if their children are to be sent to
school
iii.
Incentives should be given to children for retention and completion of school
a
a*
c
c
cR
education, not just for enrolment.
iv.
User-friendly access to educational facilities,
developing healthy child-to-child
interaction, child-friendly teachers, interesting lessons, are important.
(9
C
i
(9
v.
Attitudinal changes should be brought about among the administrators, teachers
and parents.
vi.
There is need for strengthening supply side of educational facilities.
vii.
There should be qualitative change in the municipal schools.
viii.
Increase in number of schools for promoting quality education to the children is
needed but, at the same time, damaging effect of so called "English medium schools"
which are mushrooming in the name of‘quality education’ should be checked.
<9
ix.
There is need for having more ‘adoption’ schools or ‘school partnership’. For
example, in Madras senior students from Vidya Mandir school go to municipal .
schools in the evening to teach the students there.
(9
C9
87
)
1
1
X.
7
Changes in teachers’ training curriculum are needed to make the teaching more
joyful.
3
7
xi.
Parents and community should be involved in the school management.
xii.
Focus'should be on flexible outreach programme to cater to the needs of girls
)
7
working as domestic servants.
5
3.
Community Empowerment
i.
There is need for some kind of a citizens’ council to be involved in all kinds of social
activities including education. But it should be seen that it is not monopolitised by
the politicians.
ii.
Ward Committees are to be made mere powerful and ward committee members
)
>
3
•>
should be involved in all social activities in the ward. If the wards are too big, small
"mohalla committees" or street committees (as in Bangalore) may be formed.
J
1
>
iii.
Some of the members of the group suggested UBSP strategies for involving
community in the entire developmental programme at the grassroots level.
iv.
There may be a social ‘Sheriff in Council’ or NGOs to bring to the notice of the
3
courts the violation of regulatory provisions in cases of the marginal groups, like the
domestic servants, boys at roadside dhabas, child newspaper vendors etc. In these
cases NGOs can be both investigating and implementing agencies.
)
1
v.
There is need for strengthening NGO-CBO (Community Based Organisations)
relationship. NGOs should work with CBOs and the municipal bodies.
3
J
3
3
vi.
There should be holistic approach, that is, integration of physical and social services
with skill upgradation, credit and employment opportunities through partnerships
with CBOs, ULBs, NGOs, with support of academic/research institutions, resource
persons, youth organisations and government departments.
3
3
3
3
88
4.
Financial Resources
i.
Mobilise funds from corporate sector for serving these disadvantaged children.
ii.
Individual donors may be motivated by associating his/her name in the particular
project eg. school, health care centre, etc.
iii.
State and City level Poverty Alleviation Fund(s), as constituted in Andhra Pradesh
and Kerala may be replicated in other states.
iv.
For improving the economic background of the families, nationalised banks and
financial institutions should give credit to community groups. For example, in
Kerala, NABARD is providing loans to individual families and using peer group
pressure through CDS for recovery of loans..
v.
NGOs can guarantee loan repayment for.which they can get a commission.
vi.
A certain percentage of municipal fund should be earmarked for the poor, for
example, Mahila Bal Kalyan Fund in Maharashtra, where 5 percent of the state’s
*-
■a
■t
•i
municipal fund is specially allocated for them.
vii.
Financial systems of NGOs need to be strengthened, NGOs also need to be
monitored and community should be the main determinant of performance audit of
NGOs.
5.
Policy level Intervention
i.
Adopt urbanisation policies which reduce migration and develop small towns.
Greater funding for urban development and IDSMT (Integrated Development of
Small and Medium Towns) programme is necessary.
ii.
Private sector should be involved in infrastructure development in urban areas.
89
'i
3
I
i-
iii.
There should be security of tenure of the housing units and there should be
community ownership so that when a beneficiary moves up the socio-economic
ladder - he\she sells the housing unit to the community group and not in the open
market.
iv.
Enforce laws whereby contractors are expected to provide creches, sanitation and
clean drinking water facilities for construction workers and their children.
v.
There should be EWS component in new housing projects, especially sites and
a
3
$
3
3
0
services and industrial estates should have labour colonies.
C)
Role of UNICEF
1.
UNICEF can play a mediator}' role in promoting partnership among wide range of
stakeholders.
9
S
2.
Selection
could be made according to the size of cities and towns with a holistic package.
4
1
It should work with specific cities and towns instead of just the states.
3.
It should adopt scaling strategy instead of pilot projects to solve urban problems.
4.
It can help in disaggregation of urban data through need-based community surveys
as part of Action Research Projects.
3
5.
It can support advocacy based on this action research
6.
UNICEF can support both mass media and interactive media to bring the issues of
O
children to the various levels. Emphasis should be laid on positive communication
0
especially at the grassroots levels.
o
0
©
©
7.
It is difficult to get data on child domestic servants,
collection of reliable data on them.
?■
a
90
&
&
UNICEF could help in
k:
I
s
)
u
• h
1
8.
.J-
It should support training activities and help in bringing about attitudinal changes
among functionaries at different levels. There should be inter-sectoral training with
vertical linkages. Training is needed for senior and field level functionaries,
community workers and representatives of the urban local bodies. There should be
a ‘Resource Coordinating’ team - a core team of experts who have a deep
association with the subject. After the 74th Constitution Amendment, the local
governments have new mandates and training has to be redesigned in terms of the
content of the Amendment.
I
I
>
■
JI
i!
a
•1'
v.
91
)
>
y
1
CHAPTER V
7
7
The Concluding Session
>
In the concluding session following the group presentations the chairperson invited the
views of the participants on issues raised by different groups.
Based on the floor
)
intervention the following points emerged:
1.
It was emphasised that the community has to be empowered and management of all
community based programmes has to be in the hands of the poor themselves.
>
2.
It was apprehended that once money goes to the Community Development Societies
there may arise conflict between the CDS and the newly constituted ward
committees. Systems of positive collaboration need to be evolved.
>
)
3.
Security of land tenure and housing needs to be emphasised in any such discussion.
4.
There should be flexible strategy instead of universal application of programmes
>
^nd schemes. Community should decide on the strategy and adoption of a specific
>
programme based on its needs.
5.
J
1
)
It was also suggested that rating of child-friendly cities can be introduced.
The
best-rated child-friendly city may be given an award each year.
6.
It was expressed that the UBSP is now a central sector programme. It needs to be
decentralised to the state level and implemented more as a strategy in all "urban
programmes" and not as an independent activity.
J
>
>
Ms. Krishna Singh, Chairperson of the session summarised the group observations and
recommendations. Later she responded to some of the questions and issues raised from
the floor. She highlighted the present controversy on the number of urban poor. She said
J
5
J
)
)
92
..
...... —
4H
8
that if the Lakdawala Committee estimate is to be taken as the basis, there will be a huge
K
increase in the target population which needs to be covered during the Ninth Five Year
I
Plan.
H
On the suggestion made by some of the participants for transferring all the poverty
S
alleviation programmes to states instead of concentrating them at the Centre, Ms. Krishna
Singh clarified that the question of centralisation cannot arise. In fact,
the central
government does not do much except collecting data on a three-monthly basis from the
states on these programmes and releasing the financial instalments periodically on the
basis of the information gathered. Basically, the states are implementing all the centrally
U
‘i-1
sponsored programmes. She emphasised that out of seven critical subjects emphasised by
the present government, the urban and rural poverty alleviation is extremely important
concern which the government may not shift to the states at one go.
%
%
%
s
' •
She pointed out that urbanisation is growing at a rapid pace without government
support and intervention. And after some time, it is realised that the infrastructure is not
equipped to cater to this growing population. There are also illegal and unauthorised
settlements. This makes the urban situation very complicated. She also raised the issue of
allocation and prioritisation towards urban sector in government planning. She said that if
one sector is not being looked after as well as it should be, it is the urban sector. The
allocations for the last Five Year Plans are certainly nowhere near needed to be
commensurate with the need of the urban area, be it sanitation, disposal of garbage, waste
I
I
i-
water or effluence, or pollution control.
%
■
Ms Krishna Singh said that the lack of coordination and knowledge about who is
<
doing what is responsible for the dilemma. She suggested to the audience whether it is
possible for the government,
%
r
r
non-government and donor agencies like UNDP and
UNICEF etc. to link with each other so that each side can know what the others are
planning for the next five years and thereby dovetail the efforts and resources a little better,
so that the convergence concept that is being talked about, can work.
Ms. Singh emphasised the need of convergence of all the programmes, not within
r
the urban sector alone but within the health, education and other social sectors as well.
She said that the Planning Commission has issued guidelines to the state governments that
f
all the programmes must be converged as the target group is the same. She also mentioned
(
that for the first time this country has, at the national level, talked of slums and allocated
r
T
r
93
*
z
!
I
Rs.250 crores for slums in the previous Budget. The amount by itself was not very high but
the idea was that with this allocation the states could take up the environmental
improvement of the urban slums, shelter upgradation, SUME, SUWE under the Nehru
Rojgar Yojana, low cost housing under the HUDCO, night shelter programmes, etc. The
ultimate intention is that people living in these pockets, which have become a part of the
city, may be given a sense of identify. Therefore the Slum Development Boards working in
Bangalore, Tamil Nadu, Calcutta etc., are extremely happy that for the first time funds
i
have directly flowed to them.
She said that its acceptance
has given a lot of respect and
right status to the people living in the place which we call slums.
-
Commenting upon the feeling of some of the participants that the women and child
have not been specifically mentioned and proper attention was not paid to them in the
Ninth Plan Approach paper, she said that intention of the government is to improve the
)
status of the family and of the women who look after the child better. This automatically
improves the situation of child.
Therefore, if not directly, child’s interest is mentioned
indirectly in the document.
Dr Richard H. Young, Chief, Community Development, UNICEF, New Delhi,noted that
the participants in the Consultation appeared to have agreed that the needs and rights of
the urban poor, especially children living in illegal settlements, on the streets of the cities,
)
in "legally classified" slums, and in other situations of poverty need greater attention. The
government’s commitments outlined in the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC)
and CEDAW and in the context of the forthcoming Ninth Five Year Plan provide a strong
)
basis for such action. The creative ideas suggested (in this workshop) and the commitment
)
of the participating NGOs, government agencies, and others provide optimism about
J
prospects for the future.
J
One of the objectives of the- Consultation was to provide ideas specifically to
J
UNICEF as it is working towards a new five-year country programme with GOI. This
)
consultation, however, has gone beyond this objective and recommended a wide range of
activities which require attention. The inter-sectoral and participatory strategies proposed
are relevant not only for UNICEF but for government, NGOs and others working towards
)
improving the quality of life in cities,
and especially amongst the urban poor.
The
J
importance of the principles embodied in the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act and the
J
role of the urban local bodies in meeting the needs of all citizens, residents and children
J
was emphasized. The need to involve communities through participatory' systerps such as
J
94
the UBSP or groups formed through NGOs or other programmes was equally emphasized
as critical for "Rights" realization. Decentralization, reflecting the wide variation found
)
among states, cities and even within cities, requiring flexible and adaptable strategies best
developed at the local level, was highlighted. Legal issues, improved data base and
monitoring systems which adequately reflect the status among the urban poor,
documentation of successes and other experiences, capacity development through training,
PLA Processes, and action research were other ideas offered.
Dr Young appreciated the participation of , the Secretary, DWCD, Mrs Sarala
Gopalan, who asked the Consultation to develop practical recommendations. The
A
participation of Mrs Krishna Singh, Advisor, Planning Commission, her perceptive and
succinct observations and comments on the group deliberations were particularly timely
and appreciated, in view of the final review process underway for the Ninth Five Year Plan.
It was expected that the results of the meeting would prove to be practical and useful to
the Planning Commission, DWCD, Ministry of Urban Affairs and Employment and other
ministries.
Dr Young highly commended the Institute of Social Sciences for organizing and
conducting the Consultation. Although time was a constraint, every moment was well used,
V
he said.
>
'I
I
95
/
ANNiiXUit^ - I
Multi Indicator Cluster Surveys in India 1995-96, Urban Slums
Draft tables
Multi Indicator Cluster Surveys in India 1995-96, Urban Slums
Introduction
.j'
In 1995-96 more than 110 Multi Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) were carried out in 12 states
through-out India. A handfull of these, notably in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat,
Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal had the urban slums as their specific
focus.
This reports summarises and presents the information collected by a number of research
institutitions in these states to capture the general condition for children and women in urban slums in
India.
The number of households surveyed were the following :
Assam
Gujarat
Maharashtra
Rajasthan
Tamil Nadu
West Bengal
1961
1898
4293
2425
2888
963
In an effort to put the results into a larger context, results from urban areas (general) from the
National Family Health Survey from 1992-93 are drawn in where available and comparable. Although
three years apart in their assessment of the situation, the comparison of these two studies is useful to
assess the general living conditions in poor urban areas in India and highlight the disparities where they
may occur.
In the analysis some doubts have arisen as to the validity of especially the data from the surveys
in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh1. Therefore, caution is raised in basing interpretations of the surveys
too heavily on these particular survey results.
Table 1: Immunization
State
Universe
Immunization
card available
Completely
immunized by
I st year
Measles
coverage
’The main problem has been that (he investigating teams in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh seemingly did not carry out
interviews in all households as the M1CS methodology requires to give reliable estimates for all indicator, but rather skipped the
households where there was not an child in the deciding agegroup (12-23+ months old) as the previously applied CES-methodology
stipulates. This mistake therefore can skew the results for the questions related to children outside the 12-23+ months age group (c.g.
education, diarrhoea).
>
>
I
3
3
J
3
Draft tables
Multi Indicator Cluster Surveys in India 1995-96, Urban Slums
Andhra Pradesh Vijayawada city
Andhra Pradesh Visakhapatnam
Total
Assam
Total
Gujarat
Mysore
Karnataka
Dharwad
Karnataka
Maharashtra
Total
Total
Rajasthan
Total
Tamil Nadu
_______________
West Bengal
Total
MICS
94.7
79.7
50.3
30.7
41.0
NFHS
35.8
35.8
70.0
38.0
32.7
32.7
54.5
36.3
56.3
61.6
35.2
30.3
31.6
57.0
n.a.
44.0
56.4
MICS
88.3
58.7
n.a.
33.0
87.7
NFHS
65.8
65.8
47.5
MICS
NFHS
58.3
58.3
n.a.
n.a.
53.7
39.7
40.0
57.0
57.6
57.6
61.4
96.2
61.2
64.6
61.2
45.9
55.9
52.2
56.7
73.3
64.3
42.4
44.1
48.8
67.4
56.9
75.3
47.1
96.2
64.6
NFHS source: Table 9.9, state reports
Note: NFHS-Figures for AP and Karnataka are state averages.
)
1
3
Table 2: Micronutrients
State
Universe
)
Children who
received
vitamin A
with measles
Using iodised salt
(test positive)
Consumption
of vitamin A
rich foods
MICS
Salt
commissioner
n.a.
17
17
98
88
I
>
>
1
3
J
.i
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Assam
Gujarat
Karnataka
Karnataka
Maharashtra
Rajasthan
Tamil Nadu
West Bengal
Vijayawada city
Visakhapatnam
Total
Total
Mysore
Dharwad
70.3
71.7
52.3
27.7
69.3
62.4
n.a.
n.a.
54.8
75.2
Total
58.1
56.8
88.7
n.a.
Total
35.9
Total
Total
53.0
18.0
62.3
84.2
34.0
75.7
5.2
67.0
70.1
18
40.0
18
59.3
70.4
35.7
97.4
82
31
22
n.a.
J
3
3
3
Table 3: Diarrhoea Management
Universe
Children
suffered for
diarrhoea
MICS NFHS
MICS
NFHS
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Vijayawada city
Visakhapatnam
14.2
12.1
82.3
69.2
7.0
12.1
83.6
69.2
3
3
3
3
r
Seeking
treatment
State
ORS advised
MICS
75.7
53.4
NFHS
34.6
34.6
9
9
Multi Indicator Cluster Surveys in India 1995-96, Urban Slums
Draft tables
Assam
Total
12.7
6.3
61.8
51.6
63.8
32.3
4.
Gujarat
Total
28.2
9.9
73.0
69.6
19.9
10.7
9
Karnataka
Mysore
1.1
8.1
n.a.
74.0
n.a.
18.0
Karnataka
Dharwad
1.1
8.1
81.6
74.0
n.a.
18.0
Maharashtra
Total
14.4
8.8
75.2
66.7
21.2
13.0
Rajasthan
Total
6.4
2.6
53.8
n.a.
45.3
n.a
Tamil Nadu
Total
11.8
12.2
n.a.
58.6
n.a.
10.0
3.1
15.6
Total
West Bengal______________________
NFHS source: Table 9.11,9.14, state reports
Note: NFHS-Figures for AP and Karnataka arc state averages.
50.6
82.1
68.7
45.3
Currently
attending
(6-10 years)
Distribution
of children
per grade
Drop
out
Reasons for
dropout
Househol
Wage
d work
labour
Table 4: Education
State
Universe
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Vijayawada city
Visakhapatnam
n.a.
MICS
95.7
NFHS
84.0
1
39.7
n.a.
88.9
84.0
Assam
Gujarat
Total
79.6
Total
53.3
69.5
78.0
87.3
n.a.
n.a
19.0
6.4
3.3
5.4
87.5
86.5
n.a.
n.a
2.7
95.0
86.5
87.1
74.5
n.a.
90.9
n.a.
24.9
n.a.
12.4
9.7
29.5
n.a.
8.8
n.a.
0.9
n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
7.0
e
9
f
Ever
enrolled
Karnataka
Mysore
74.9
89.9
1
Karnataka
f
Maharashtra
Dharwad
Total
n.a.
96.8
I
f
Total
72.5
Rajasthan
Total
95.3
Tamil Nadu
82.4
West Bengal
Total
68.3
NFHS source: Table 3.7, state reports
Note: NFHS-Figures for AP and Karnataka arc state averages.
78.3
94.5
80.5
5
9.6
n.a
n.a.
10.3
2.7
5.0
15.4
11.5
32.5
47.6
31.3
37.7
14.5
44.4
23.6
8.5
48.9
35.7
7.3
n.a.
2.5
n.a.
8.7
n.a.
13.0
5.8
J
Table 5: Water and sanitation
State
Andhra Prad* sh
'u.J
tiT
9
Andhra Prad. sh
Assam
Gujarat
Karnataka
Karnataka
Maharashtra
Rajasthan
Universe
Vijayawada city
Visakhapatnam
Total
Total
Mysore
Dharwad
Total
Total
Source of
drinking water
Safe (tap or tube
well)
Toilet facilities
Flush
»'pen field
Service
M1CS
93.3
80.0
75.1
98.8
80.0
100.0
83.4
NFHS
89.2
89.2
64.3
91.3
95.5
95.5
94.2
M1CS
44.9
57.5
36.8
44.6
16.3
10.6
12.4
NFHS
51.0
M1CS
21.1
NFHS
19.4
51.0
66.0
68.7
46.0
46.0
71.8
19.4
26.2
2.3
27.9
27.9
9.7
2‘ .3
4k.5
1.5
52.4
71.3
44.1
44.4
83.8
89.2
32.2
57.3
1.3
51.4
3.1
2.8
7.3
39.7
4.1
8.6
55.0
M.2S
NFHS
29.6
29.6
7.6
29.0
26.1
26.1
18.4
34.0
>
i.-
J
Multi Indicator Cluster Surveys in India 1995-96, Urban Slums
Draft tables
i-
Total
78.1
79.2
Tamil Nadu
West Bengal______ Total_______
65.6
90.8
NFHS source: Table 3.8 in state reports.
Note: NFHS-Figures for AP and Karnataka arc state averages.
43.5
58.8
n.a.
7.9
60.2
68.8
9.7
n.a.
30.9
14.9
30.0
16.2
7
I
V
Table 6: Age at first pregnancy, birth spacing and family planning
J
7
Age at first
pregnancy
3
State
)
7
1
1
3
3
1
1
Universe
< 18
MICS
<20
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Assam
Gujarat
Karnataka
Vijayawada city
Visakhapatnam
Total
Total
Mysore
n.a.
28.8
Karnataka
Maharashtra
Dharwad
Total
20.0
MICS
n.a.
68.6
35.3
57.1
76.9
65.4
20.4
66.7
Rajasthan
Tamil Nadu
Total
Total
53.4
9.0
21.7
23.5
Birth interval
between two
successive births
larger than 36
months
MICS
NFHS
44.4
42.5
NFHS
56.6
39.8
31.7
23.0
n.a.
n.a.
42.5
44.8
33.7
36.7
36.7
n.a.
24.1
34.8
14.9
n.a.
42.1
26.1
n.a.
.
Sterilisation
FPM
MICS
8.4
27.2
23.7
16.3
n.a.
n.a.
West Bengal__________________________________
Total
17.6
54.3
NFHS source: Table 5.9, 6.5 in state reports.
Note: NFHS-Figures for AP and Karnataka are state averages.
Family planning
Couples using
56.6
33.6
49.0
MICS
6.7
31.4
2.8
12.3
NFHS
51.3
51.3
22.7
38.1
49.1
n.a.
40.4
49.1
50.8
n.a.
40.4
17.2
12.1
39.5
45.6
41.2
31.2
46.8
n.a.
31.4
12.4
n.a.
6.7
38.3
34.7
38.8
44.5
36.5
25.4
Table 7: Antenatal and maternal care
1
3
3
J
J
1
3
3
Three or
more
antenatal
visits
MICS
100.0
96.8
48.4
TT immunised
IFA
supplements
received
MICS
90.3
55.5
65.4
MICS
Slate
Universe
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Assam
Gujarat
Vijayawada city
Visakhapatnam
Total
Total
Karnataka
Karnataka
Mysore
50.0 ■ 66.0
89.5
94.2
Dharwad
89.9
NFHS
84.9
84.9
66.2
76.7
78.2
NFHS
82.7
82.7
69.6
77.6
78.4
Institutional
delivery
Trained birth
attendant
NFIIS
69.6
69.6
50.1
62.1
MICS
92.0
70.1
45.0
50.4
NFHS
78.3
78.3
56.8
65.7
66.6
76.0
77.2
83.0
78.2
78.4
n.a.
83.5
66.6
Maharashtra
Total
60.6
52.3
79.8
64.8
72.2
61.1
73.3
Rajasthan
Total
35.6
62.4
46.3
52.7
44.0
32.7
35.0
Tamil Nadu
n.a.
Total
95.6
94.9
87.2
88.3
n.a.
89.8
West Bengal________________________________________________________________________
Total
57.6
73.3
78.1
68.1
63.4
64.8
66.0
NFHS source: Table 9.3, 9.4 and 9.5 in state reports.
Note: NFHS-Figures for AP and Karnataka arc state averages. Antenatal care visits (NFHS) cover 4 or more visits.
n.a.
77.2
77.8
45.2
91.8
66.5
95.8
93.7
n.a.
84.0
91.9
MICS
84.9
58.6
47.7
44.7
n.a.
I
79.9
50.2
97.4
68.6
J
J
Multi Indicator Cluster Surveys in India 1995-96, Urban Slums
Draft tables
Table 8: Breast-feeding practices
State
Universe
3
Initiation of
breastfeeding
within 1 hour
J
>
□
>
MICS
n.a.
n.a.
2.8
n.a.
15.1
10.3
6.5
NEUS
Vijayawada city
16.6
Andhra Pradesh
16.6
Andhra Pradesh
Visakhapatnam
13.7
Total
Assam
18.8
Gujarat
Total
Karnataka
Mysore
9.3
9.3
Karnataka
Dharwad
10.2
Maharashtra
Total
Total
14.4*)
15.2
Rajasthan
n.a.
26.6
Tamil Nadu
Total
9.4
Total
4.3
West Bengal_____________________________
NEWS source: Tabic 10.1 in state reports.
Note: NFHS-Figures for AP and Karnataka arc state averages.
•) within two hours
Exclusively
breastfed for
four months
or more
MICS
n.a.
n.a.
42.3
31.8
n.a.
n.a.
35.4
34.8
47.4
4.7
4-6 months old
receiving mushy
foods on a
regular basis
MICS
n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
30.9
26.5
32.0
32.4
n.a.
22.7
Technical note
V. '
8
^3
The Multi Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) carried out in the 12 states for which some of the
data is presented in this report comes from visits to more than 140,000 households comprising more
than 800,000 household members. The surveys were carried out in accordance with the selection
procedure suggested in the UNICEF Handbook "Monitoring Progress toward the goals of the World
Summit for Children - A Practical Handbook for Multiple-Indicator Surveys", namely using the Cluster
Survey Method. The reason for this is the following: Communities may vary considerably in
population. If simple random or systematic sampling is used, both large and small communities will
have the same probability of being included, which is incorrect. One way of compensating for these
differences is to choose clusters from the sampling frame with probability proportional to size (FPS).
One advantage of PPS is that, if properly used, each household in the sample will have an equal chance
of being selected. The sample is then said to be self-weighting, which will simplify the analysis.
Using a procedure developed for the purpose, 20 clusters for each universe (district, states, urban
area, slum area etc.) were selected for each individual survey. For sample size determination, measles
immunization was taken as the indicator least in occurrence, for which the target group is children in
the age-group 12-23+ months. Therefore, in each cluster all households and their family members in
the relevant age-groups were surveyed until the interviewers in the particular cluster had recorded 15
children in the age-group 12-23+ months. This method ensures a precision level of at least +/- 10% for
all the indicators.
N L i -January^lTTl 99 7
eA.WE5-l.\DOGS\UBMICS5VPD
Consultation on
Reaching the Urban Disadvantaged Child - Strategies for Action
UNDP Conference Hall, New Delhi
15 February’ 1997
List of Participants
■)
□
')
)
Dr. Ahmad, S. Sami
Institute of Social Sciences
B-7/18 Safdarjung Enclave
New Delhi - 110 029
Dr. Aggarwal, B.C.
Director
TALEEM Research Foundation
City Plaza
Ahmedabad-380 058
1
□
)
1
}
Dr. Alexander, Gordon
Deputy Director
United Nations Children’s Fund
73, Lodhi Estate
New Delhi 110 003
Dr. Anand, H.S.
Industrial Liaison Commissioner
Government of Haryana
41, Paschimi Marg
Opp. Vasant Vihar Club
Vasant Vihar
New Delhi 110 057
j
)
j
■j
i
i
f
Ms. Antony, T. Margaret
President :
CDS Federation
Vazhakoottathil House
Marassery
Mundemveli PO
Cochin 682 507
Dr. Atwood, S.J.
Chief
Health Section
UNICEF
73, Lodi Estate
New Delhi-3
Ms. Bahadur, Abha
Sulabh International
Sulabh Bhawan, Mahavir Enclave
Palam Dabri Road
New Delhi 110 045
I
)
Dr. Balaji, L.N.
United Nations Children’s Fund
73, Lodhi Estate
New Delhi 110 003
Mr. Banerjee Gautam
UNICEF
3, Sunny Park
Calcutta - 700 019
Mr. Banger, R.S.
Deptt. of Women & Child Development
Ministry of Human Resources Development
Govt, of India
Shastri Bhawan,
New Delhi 110 001
)
)
Ms. Bhalla, Sangeeta
Urban Sociologist
Society for Development Studies
New Delhi
Mr. Bordia, Anand
Jt. Secretary'
Ministry of Social Welfare
6th Floor, Room NO.603
Shastri Bhawan,
New Delhi 110 001
)
I
Mr. Bridle, Richard
United Nations Children’s Fund
Ravindra Mansion
Dinesha Vachha Road
Mumbai - 400 020
)
J
J
Ms. Chatterjee, Jyotsana
Senior Programme Coordinator
JWP, CISRS,14, Jungpura -B
New Delhi 110 014
u
■*«
y
1
5
J
%
1
Mr. Chavan, Madhav
KA
PRATHA^T
.. ;
Mumbai Education Initiative
4th Floor
Y.B. Chavan Centre
General J. Bhosla Marg
Nariman Point
Mumbai
Mr. K. Mohandas
Secretary
Department of Revenue
Trivandrum
"I
Ms. Ganguly, Sumita
UNICEF
2, Raj Bhavan Road
Jaipur - 302 006
Mr. George, Thomas
Project Officer
UNICEF
20, Chittaranjan RoadjZ
Chennai - 600 018
I
■?
.3
1
Ms. Ghosh, Archana
Coordinator
Urban Studies Department
Institute of Social Sciences
B-7/18 Safdarjung Enclave
New Delhi - 110 029
Ms. Gopalan, Sarla
Secretary
Deptt. of Women & Child Development
Ministry of Human Resources Development
Govt, of India
Shastri Bhawan,
New Delhi 110 001
Mr. Guha, S.K.
UNIFEM
c\o UNDP
55 Lodi Estate
New Delhi 110 003
3
I
A
1
3
3
?
1
1
1
)
3
3
3
1
1
J
3
3
•>
J
3
•3
3
3
a
a
.C:
Mr. Chavan, Madhav
PRATHAM
Mumbai Education Initiative
4th Floor
Y.B. Chavan Centre
General J. Bhosla Marg
Nariman Point
Mumbai
Mr. K. Mohandas
Secretary
Department of Revenue
Trivandrum
Ms. Ganguly, Sumita
UNICEF
2, Raj Bhavan Road
Jaipur - 302 006
Mr. George, Thomas
Project Officer
UNICEF
20, Chittaranjan Road]
Chennai - 600 018
Ms. Ghosh, Archana
Coordinator
Urban Studies Department
Institute of Social Sciences
B-7/18 Safdarjung Enclave
New Delhi - 110 029
Ms. Gopalan, Sarla
Secretary
Deptt. of Women & Child Development
I* linistry of Human Resources Development
(.ovt. of India
Shastri Bhawan,
New Delhi 110 001
Mr. Guha, S.K.
UNIFEM
c\o UNDP
55 Lodi Estate
New Delhi 110 003
■
■p--i
i
A
I
"I
Ms. Gupta, Shashi Prabha
Technical Adviser - Nutrition
Food & Nutrition Board
Deptt. of Women and Child Development,
Ministry of Human Resources Development
Govt, of India
Shastri Bhawan,
New Delhi 110 001
Dr. Gupta, Vijay Bahadur
Deputy Commissioner (PA)
Ministry of Health & Family Welfare
Govt, of India
Nirman Bhawan
New Delhi - 110 011
»
Dr. Halagi, P.N.
Additional Director
Strategic Planning Cell
Department of Health and Family Welfare
Govt, of Karnataka
Population Centre, II Cross
Malleshwaram
Bangalore
Dr. Harding, David
Chief
Education Section
United Nations Children’s Fund
73, Lodhi Estate
New Delhi 110 003
Dr. Jain, T.P.
Chairman
Institute of Rural Development
C - 80, Ram Das Marg
Tilak Nagar
Jaipur 302 004
Ms. Jani. Veena
ASAG - SARJAN
Dalal Building
Relief Road
Ahemedabad
Ms. Joseph, Prabha
Mayor of Kakinada Municipal Corporation
Kakinada
Andhra Pradesh
)
Dr. Kalliath Mani
Head of Community Health Department
Catholic Health Association of India
P.O. Box-2126
Secundarabad - 500003
3
. 5
Mr. Kaushik, Vivek
Institute of Social Sciences
B-7/18 Safdarjung Enclave
New Delhi - 110 029
A
7
□
Mr. Manohar, A
RO, Planning Commission
New Delhi
>
)
J
)
)
J
j
>
)
J
Mr. Kessler, Earl
Director
Regional Housing & Urban Development Office
C/o USAID
B-28, Institutional Area
New Mehrauli Road
Near Qutab Flotel
New Delhi 110 016
Ms. Khosla, Renu
Training Coordinator
National Institute of Urban Affairs
11, Nyaya Marg
Chanakyapuri
New Delhi 110 021
Ms. Kohli, Chetna
United Nations Children's Fund
73, Lodhi Estate
New Delhi 110 003
Dr. Kulkarni, M.N.
State Representative
UNICEF
E - 1/191, Arera Colony
Bhopal - 462 014
Dr. Lail, Vinay
Director
Society for Development Studies
DDA Slum Wing Multi-Purpose Community Complex
Opp. Pillanji Village
Sarojini Nagar
New Delhi - 110 023
O
©
Dr. Mathew, George
Director
Institute of Social Sciences
B-7/18 Safdarjung Enclave
New Delhi - 110 029
&
Ms. Mathew, Rosie
General Secretary
YWCA
New Delhi
3
Dr. Mehta, Meera
E - 3/4, Vasant Vihar
New Delhi 110 057
Ms. Mishra, S.
Freelance Consultant
E - 2, Income Tax Officers Flats
Patna -14
Dr. Mohanty, Bidyut
Institute of Social Sciences
B-7/18 Safdarjung Enclave
New Delhi - 110 029
I
Mr. Nalinakshan K.
Principal Secretary - Town Planning
Govt, of Maharashtra
Mantralaya
Mumbai
Mr. Nirmal, M.B.
Director
EXNORA International
42, Giriappa Road
Chennai 600 017
Dr. Padmini, R.
Flat 10, Sudha Sudan
41, 6th Main
Malleshwaram
Bangalore - 560 003
Ms. Pal, Parinita
CASP-PLAN Project (SPL Project)
9A, Pocket C, Gangotri Enclave
Alaknanda
New Delhi - 110 019
Q
3
1
1
Ms. Pandey, Harsharan
United Nations Children’s Fund
73, Lodhi Estate
New Delhi 110 003
3
Dr. Pappu, K.
Acting Director,
Child in Need Institute (CINI),
Post Box 16742,
Calcutta - 700027,
I
1
'3
3
3
3
3
3
>
1
3
3
?
Mr. Parikh, Himanshu Harshadray
2, Sukhshanti
Parnakunj
Near Ambawadi Circle
Ahmedabad - 380 006
Mr. Pimple, Minar
Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action
8, Ground floor, 33/L, Mhatre Building
Mughbhat Cross Lane
Mumbai 400 004
Mr. Pinto, G.J.
United Nations Children’s Fund
73, Lodhi Estate
New Delhi 110 003
Ms. Rajandran, Marty
Project Officer - Urban Development
United Nations Children’s Fund
73, Lodhi Estate
New Delhi 110 003
?)
J
Ms. Rajkumar, Rekha
Save the Children
New Delhi
5
3
Ms. Rozga, Dorothy
State Representative
UNICEF
3, Sunny Park
Calcutta-19
3
■3
Mr. Satwalekar, Vikas
Executive Director
National Institute of Design
Opp. Samskar Kendra Paldi
Ahmedabad- 380007
i
i
Ms. Sharma, Shalini
Institute of Social Sciences
B-7/18 Safdarjung Enclave
New Delhi - 110 029
Mr. Singh, A.P.
Deputy Secretary
Ministry of Health &. Family Welfare
Govt, of India
Nirman Bhawan
New Delhi - 110 011
Mr Sinha, Sanat Kumar
National Forum for Street and Working Kids
Bal Sakha
Janta Rest House, Jamal Road
Patna 800 001
J
Ms. Singh, Krishna
Adviser
Planning Commission
Yojana Bhawan
New Delhi 110 001
Prof. Singhi, N.K.
Senior Visiting Fellow
J
Institute of Development Studies
Jaipur
Ms. Srivastava, Dipika
United Nations Children’s Fund
73, Lodhi Estate
New Delhi 110 003
J ■
J
Dr. Suresh, K.
United Nations Children's Fund
73, Lodhi Estate
New Delhi 110 003
I
Ms. Swaminathan, Mina
M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation
3rd Cross Street
Taramani Institutional Area
Chennai - 600 112
)
*
Mr. Rupert Talbot
Chief, WES Section
UNICEF
23, Lodi Estate
New Delhi - 110 003
Mr. Tripathy, Satish
Secretary to the Governor
Govt, of Maharashtra
Mumbai
)
■)
7
?
>
J
)
i
j
I
)
>
)
>
J
)
}
4
Dr. Udipi, S.A.
SNDT Women’s University
Deptt. of Postgraduate Studies &
Research in Home Science
Sir Vithaldas Vidyavihar
Juhu Road, Santacruz (West)
Bombay- 400 049
Ms. Yambi, Olivia
Chief
Child Development and Nutrition Section
United Nations Children’s Fund
73, Lodhi Estate
New Delhi 110 003
Dr. Young, Richard
Chief
Community Development Section
United Nations Children’s Fund
73, Lodhi Estate
New Delhi 110 003
- Media
16588.pdf
Position: 3806 (2 views)