Swachchakar Dignity

A blog to give you first hand reports on the conditions of Swachchkar community, their issues and concerns. A campaign for complete abolition of scavenging practices and brigning forth the growing voices of change with in the community.

My Photo
Name:
Location: India

Enjoy my freedom to express my views. Respect diversity of views. Cant take personal attacks. Would only speak of issues and not individuals.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Hands destined to hold broom instead of pen..

It is not destiny but our failure. In our aim to make the headline looks more sensitive we misuse the terminology. It is the failure of India as a nation that young children are still in the sanitation. As one of my friends wrote long back that to call it a profession is an insult to work. It is slavery. India must show its spine to eliminate this slavery.

VB



Hands destined to hold broom instead of pen
TNN, Aug 21, 2010, 10.53pm IST


Tags:varanasi nagar nigam|safai karamchari

VARANASI: For Priya (name changed), a nine-year-old girl who studies in one of government primary schools in Durgakund, sweeping roads and removing garbage in the morning hours has taken precedence over regular attendance in school. What is shocking is that it is her 'Nani' (maternal grandmother) who has pushed the little girl into work, putting broom in a hand that should be holding pencils and books.

The grandmother of the poor girl is a safai karamchari (sanitary worker) of Varanasi Nagar Nigam (VNN) and the girl is doing work allotted to her grandmother. She is not alone. There are a number of other young children in the vicinity, one of the slum areas behind the famous Durga Temple, who are engaged in all sorts of work, including rag picking, working in garage and shops. They are all already enrolled in different schools with some of them even admitted to a special school run by NGO for them.

When team TOI spoke to Madhuri, the safai worker and grandmother of the girl, she at first tried to deny that the young girl was involved in such work. Later, she claimed the girl was destined for the work and educating her would not help in earning bread and butter for the family.

It may be mentioned here that there are over 3,000 safai workers in VNN, out of which more than 1,200 are permanent employees deployed in five different wards of the city.

According to nagar health officer SK Singh, stringent monitoring of cleanliness and sanitation work is being maintained in the city, especially during the Shrawan month. He also said if the safai workers were found absent from duties, strict action would be taken against them, which would include suspension and termination.

Recently two safai workers were removed from service after the death of a woman from diarrhoea in Bazardiha. Meanwhile, basic shiksha adhikari Pradeep Pandey maintained that retention of young children and their regular attendance in government schools would be ensured in the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan.

Times of India, August 21st, 2010

Read more: Hands destined to hold broom instead of pen - Varanasi - City - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/varanasi/Hands-destined-to-hold-broom-instead-of-pen/articleshow/6388871.cms#ixzz0xJSAXBnB

Labels: , , ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home