Introduction:

　　　　The first two parts of this article dealt with the nature and scope of the problems of the street children, the response of the Indian society to those problems and the resulting growth and development of NGO activities in the form of different services offered to the children in need. We have briefly touched upon the role played by the Indian Government and the UNICEF in nurturing and supporting the NGO activities in this field. In this part, we will have a look at some of the NGO activities in relation to street children in India. Before we go to those details we will briefly recapitulate the contents of the last two articles.

Summary of the last two parts

　　　　In the first part we saw that defining 'street children' is a rather difficult task. The current definition divides street children into two categories viz.' children on the streets' and 'children of the streets'. The basis of this division is children's contact with their family. 'Children on the streets' stay with their families. It is only due to the poverty of the family and related problem that these children do not have proper residence and hence are found to be spending most their time on the streets. Children of the streets' on the other hand, have very little or no contact with their families. They do not only spend most of their time on the streets but they also live alone, independently.

　　　　We are concerned mainly with the second category of the children. We know that their number is much smaller than the number of children who are in the first category of the street children. However, their problems are more severe and wide ranged. Estimates vary greatly about their number but most estimates agree that India has the largest congregation of the street children in the world.

　　　　Although, some of the NGOs have been working in this field for a long time the major growth in NGO activity is noticed after the year 1979 ( International Year of The Child). Since the street children is an urban phenomenon we find a size able number of NGOs working for the cause in all major cities of India. The range of NGO activities can broadly be divided into three areas, direct services such as residential care, etc.; activities leading to networking and enpowerment of the groups of children, and research and documentation.

NGOs In India

　　　　We shall now turn towards the NGOs' activities in India. In order to get a clear picture of the NGO activities in India, it will be useful to look at the profile of some of the NGOs in the country. ( Note: The organisations presented here are just a few examples of their kind. I happened to select them because I am more familiar with their work).

SNEHSADAN
(meaning “House of love and affection”)

　　　　Snehsadan is one of the major institutions with long experience and a wide range of services. Snehsadan is primarily a residential institution with its own unique way of dealing with children. It offers residential facility to children which they are free to take or leave at their will. Snehsadan staff is in constant contact with children while they are on the streets. The staff regularly visits their haunts, befriends them and introduces the idea of moving to Snehsadan 'home' if they are tired of living on the streets. Children are free to leave the house if they find it inconvenient or restrictive in some way. The child still can keep contact with the staff, thus the relationship continues and reentry is also permitted. With this flexible approach, Snehsadan finds that it is able to rehabilitate many children. Rehabilitation plans are discussed with the children and they make the choice and subsequent plan of action. Rehabilitation can be done in two ways; by helping the child to return to his family or by teaching him a vocation of his choice.

　　　　The residential facility is like a group home. There is a system of house parents, a couple, managing each home. The couple stays in the house along with their natural children and the children who are joined the home. The number of children in each house does not exceed 6 or 7. The daily activities are carried out as near to the home situation as possible.

　　　　Snehsadan has also opened a new service facility on the V. T. (Victoria Terminus) railway station, which is one of the two main railway terminals in Bombay. This facility is called 'Amchi Kholi' ( 'Our Room' in Marathi, Bombay's regional language ). This room is attended by a social worker throughout the day. Children are provided free access to the room. The room is equipped with bathing, recreational and reading facilities. Counselling and referral services are also available. Children can buy tea and snack if they like.

　　　　This facility has been extended to some other railway stations also. It is useful as an important contact point and more so because children enter the city through railway stations. This way we can get in touch with them before they fall into the hands of any anti-social elements. There are some other NGOs in Bombay who have also started this kind of quasi-institutional programme.

VATSALYA
(“mother's love”)

　　　　This organisation started its works as a non-institutional programme for the street children. Initially, recreational activities were conducted for the group of rag-pickers, who were on the streets. With constant interaction with the group, awareness of their practical problems and related needs came and this led the organisation to start new services including a night-shelter which is managed by a committee of children along with the institution. Here children pay a minimal charge for their lodging and boarding. Recreational and counselling facilities are available here also. Another innovative programme of VATSALYA is out station camp of the children for two or three days at a time. The camp provides an opportunity for the children and the staff to stay together, interact closely, and thus gain better understanding of one another. Also, since the camp activities are structured, it gives opportunity for the staff to demonstrate the importance of following simple hygienic rules in daily life. This is particularly important from the point of view of street children since they tend to overreact to any rules. The experience shows that these children many times lack orientation to normal daily practices such as brushing one's teeth regularly. Thus, VATSALYA also runs non-residential as well as semi-residential services for the children. They also aim at rehabilitation of the children either by helping them to go back their families or by helping them find a suitable vocation or job.

YUVA
(Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action)

　　　　Work with street children is one of the activities of YUVA. Its main focus of work is on organising different groups around the issues concerning them, and street children is one such group they are working with. The locale of their activity is just where the children are, that is in the streets on the pavement. The basic objective of their programme is to teach simple reading writing and arithmetic to children and give them survival education. By 'survival education' YUVA means the development of social understanding of ones immediate environmental situation. In order to develop such understanding forthrightly meetings to discuss the problem faced by the people are organised, and issues such as municipal harassment, harassment by police or issues concerning children's education and related problems are discussed.

SUPPORT

　　　　Support was established in the year 1985 with drug prevention activity as a major focus of its work. Initially it worked with school children and college youth but in 1989 it changed its focus of work from middle class youth to more vulnerable children and youth on the street. It has a 6 point programme strategy which includes education on drugs, first aid, counselling and work with the community. It has a night shelter, recreational centre and after care center for the drug addicts who need support and supervision in the initial stages of recovery from addiction. In addition it organises training programmes for volunteers who would support social action for the prevention of drug abuse.

BUTTERFLIES

The government of India
　　　　　Scheme for the Street Children

　　　　The government of India has launched a national scheme in the year 1993 specially for the street children. In the initial stage it was to cover eleven major cities in India. (Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta, Madras, Banglore, Ahmedabad,Hyderabad, Pune, Nagpur, Lucknow and Surat). These cities have been chosen in the descending order of population. The main focus of the scheme is to help the NGOs working for the street children to partially cover the cost of the programme through its Grant in Aid programme. This is a major step towards gaining recognition to the problem. Also, the local governments help the NGOs in running their programmes such as night shelters, short-stay centers, etc., by providing accommodation on nominal charges or even free of charge. This in fact gives a great boost to NGO activities in urban areas where space is both scarce and expensive commodity.



　　　　In this and the last two parts I have tried to give a general idea of the situation of street children in India. I would like to add one more comment before I close. The problem of street children in India is attracting considerable attention on NGO level. Efforts of the NGOs are bringing some results as we have seen from the response of the Governments both at the local and national level. However, the scope of services offered and the number of children covered falls much short of the requirements. Many children still grow into the adulthood without any kind of adult support and guidance and face exploitation and hardship in many different ways.



　　　　In the next article we shall talk about the other group of street children viz. the children on the street and their problems.

Profesor
School of Social Work
Shikoku Gakuin University