The Other Railway Children, Chapter 11 (extract) "Increasing police co-operation"

Uttar Pradesh (UP) is the most populous state in India and also scores low on human development indices. From a study undertaken by Railway Children in 2005, it was established that, 43% of the total children interacted with at Delhi were from Uttar Pradesh. ‘Ehsaas’, in UP, was a relatively young organisation, registered in the year 2002 with the distinct goal to work towards integrating street children into mainstream society so that they can lead a respectable life with no stigmas attached. In fact, Ehsaas was the first organization in Lucknow to establish a home for the street and working children in the city. They identified nearly 4000 children in a first ever city level survey of street and working children. Photo identity cards of 2000 children were prepared and mapping of high probability areas has been done on a city map. After undertaking a needs assessment in 2007 at Lucknow, Kanpur and Varanasi, Railway Children decided to work at Lucknow and Kanpur by partnering with Ehsaas.

With the financial support of Railway Children, Ehsaas started to work at the Lucknow station from October 2007. In this short span of time, our partner established an excellent network of interested parties in the city. The organisation was also successful in gaining permission to have a child assistance booth at the railway station. Strong lobbying has resulted in the formation of the “Railway Task Force” (formed by the Northern Railway authorities of Lucknow, the railway police forces and the NGO Ehsaas). This special task force has formally announced that by 2011 Lucknow station would be made India’s first ‘child friendly’ station. This is a major step towards protecting and rehabilitating all those children who live alone and are in need of care and protection in and around Lucknow railway station. From June 2008 to May 2009, 485 children came in contact with Ehsaas and accessed various services like outreach, nutrition, health and other referral services. Of these, 93 children were reunified with their families.

Another major partner we established in northern India was an organisation founded by a social worker, Sanat Sinha, in Bihar’s capital city and large railway junction, Patna, called Bal Sakha. It has been working in the area of child rights protection since 1993. It aims at promoting community based, non-institutional care systems for the children to ensure child protection at various levels. The relationship between Bal Sakha and Railway Children has been a learning and evolving partnership. Bal Sakha slowly but steadily strengthened its intervention efforts and strategies. Railway Children’s constructive and continuous feedback and input played a vital role.

The organisation has addressed the issues of children at risk, comprehensively and effectively, at Patna railway station. It has also been able to make bold and innovative intervention efforts, such as a drug de-addiction treatment for children in conjunction with a local specialist organisation. Approximately 200 children can be found at Patna station on any given day. Bal Sakha runs a day care centre and night shelter for the platform and street children. From June 2008 to May 2009, Bal Sakha contacted 398 children in and around Patna station. 78 children were reunified with their families and 74 were referred to other appropriate organisations.

I visited Patna in July 2009 and saw the work at the station at first hand and travelled with Bal Sakha’s Director to meet the Eastern Railway’s Acting General Manager, whom I discovered had spent a few months in the UK undertaking senior management training at BR’s staff college. He promised co-operation and indicated that the RPF in particular might be able to authorise accommodation on the platforms for the outreach work to the street children.

My initial introduction to Patna, however, was at a meeting Sanat Sinha had called of people appointed to the Child Welfare Committees (CWCs) and Juvenile Justice Boards to form a ‘federation’ of such officials in the state of Bihar. Many were new appointments, some political appointees, others recommended to the state authorities by Mr. Sinha with his long experience of social work in the state. Although such CWCs and JJ Boards are required throughout India under the Integrated Child Protection System developed nationally, their implementation is very erratic with many states still needing to make appointments. It was good to see the enthusiasm of over 70 members present at the Patna meeting, for the state of Bihar needs a comprehensive child protection system probably more urgently than any other Indian state.

A third partner NGO we engaged, because of their engagement with the government system and their work in children’s homes as well as stations, was an organisation called Praajak. Established in 1997, as a social development agency, Praajak works with marginalized children and adolescents in the state of West Bengal. Their ultimate aim is to create an environment of care and protection around these children, so that they grow up as more responsible, productive and law-abiding citizens. Most of its programmes are on education, health and social rehabilitation.

Praajak works mainly with boys and the youth, because it sees crime, violence, sexual abuse, gambling and substance abuse as determined by their concept of masculinity. Using a range of awareness-raising methods, like art and theatre workshops, Praajak seeks to restore self-esteem, social responsibility and creativity in children in order to empower them. The focus is on the active participation of the children as well as the various institutions that make up their surroundings. Children on railway platforms, children in institutions, children in conflict with the law, children (boys) in prostitution and entertainment industry and other working children are their main target group.

Praajak in association with the Railway Protection Force had already established a successful model called 'Muktangan' (which means ‘open courtyard’) at Malda station in West Bengal. The Muktangan model is unique since it is an NGO- RPF collaboration in totality. All the Muktangan shelters are operational in spaces provided by the RPF. In most of the locations RPF is also involved in the daily functioning of the shelters in terms of referring children, following up on the referred cases, participating in activities and supporting the team during family reunification. Praajak has a special training initiative with RPF recruits at the Kharagpur police training institute.

The Muktangan shelters provide for nutrition, clothing and recreational activities. Praajak also focuses on livelihood training and empowering young boys through the concept of group homes and cooperatives. Currently Praajak works at 5 railway stations. These shelters are based around the railway route that extends northwards from Calcutta and project into North Bengal where another of Railway Children’s partners has been established for several years - at New Jalpaiguri, twin town with Siliguri at the southern end of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. New Jalpaiguri is a strategic location because it is the exit point which connects Darjeeling to the neighbouring countries like Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan and the extreme north east of the country, Assam and beyond.

This started as another police initiative - the idea of a local police chief and his wife, who were concerned at the number of children they saw destitute and desperate on New Jalpaiguri station. They sought space for a drop-in centre on the station and quickly obtained the support of the railway police when - only four months after starting the project - the police reported a 75% drop in reported petty crime. The children, when questioned, also no longer saw the police as enemy, and the relationship between police and railway children became positive. The NGO in its initial days provided minimum basic services like food, shelter and medical support to children. The mode of intervention was charity based and children would be provided with these resources to lead healthy lives. Over the years the organisation has developed into a professionally run charity and focuses on providing a holistic model of intervention and services which is based on an ideology of empowerment and child rights.