[Reader-list] [mcrc_jamia_alumni] A failed child-labour rescue and other dilemmas of Jamia Nagar

Thu Nov 11 13:03:47 IST 2010

Dear friends,

This essay may help in the discussions.

Nieuwenhuys, Olga. (1998). Global childhood and the politics of  
contempt, Alternatives, 23,. 267–89. ...CSDS, Delhi

warmly
jeebesh

On 05-Nov-10, at 9:33 PM, Adilmatin wrote:

> Dear yousuf, I appreciate your concern but my information is that  
> these children are local residents and their parents are zari  
> workers. I know this because I stay in the locality next to the  
> batla house area. This is just a preconceived notion that because  
> some Muslim leaders have done something like this in the past,  
> therefore, they are always wrong. Specially When we compare such  
> local politicians with the 'word' NGO. You must be aware about the  
> scams and the scandals associated with the 'word' NGO, but we can  
> not generalise all of them.
>
>
> Adil Matin
> Vice President
> Information TV-Indianews Channel
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On 04-Nov-2010, at 8:23 AM, Yousuf <ysaeed7 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Dear all
> Below is a very unfortunate news from Jamia Nagar, New Delhi. On 1st  
> November a team of activists from the NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan  
> along with police officials tried to rescue about 60 children  
> working in the sweatshops of zari industry in Batla House. They had  
> almost secured these children and were taking them away, but their  
> operation failed because a mob led by local leaders gathered around  
> them and snatched all the children back. They spread the rumour that  
> the activists were “conspiring against Muslims” and forcefully  
> taking away “their” children. The police obviously watched the whole  
> drama without taking any action. They were afraid that the event may  
> take a turn of communal violence. (http://www.bba.org.in/news/011110.php 
> )
>
> This is a very sad state of affairs, not only for the presence of  
> rampant child labour in this area, the defiance of the local goons,  
> and the silence of the police. But it is more unfortunate because of  
> the inaction and silence of the entire intellectual class  
> originating from Jamia. The neighbourhood of Jamia Nagar is spread  
> around a central university whose many staff, teachers and students  
> reside here. Jamia has well known departments and centres for the  
> study and training in Social Work, Peace Studies, Minority Studies,  
> media studies, Childhood development centre, Gandhian studies and  
> host of others (see http://www.jmi.ac.in/centres.htm). But right  
> under the lamp there seems darkness.
>
> This is not the first time that the local people used the “Muslim”  
> card to thwart any outside attempt to improve their lot. Of course  
> there has been a lot of insecurity due to the recent incidents of  
> “terrorist encounter” and so on. And the people’s hostility and  
> anger towards the police and “non-Muslims” can be understood in the  
> light of the generalisations made by the media and the police about  
> the people of this area. But this can also have a different sort of  
> advantage. Pretending the fear of local backlash, the authorities  
> have decided in the recent months to turn a blind eye to the mass- 
> scale illegal construction of apartment buildings in the already  
> narrow and cramped lanes, allowing the neighbourhood to become  
> utterly inhuman to live. This construction activity and the zari  
> factories are all part of the growing monster that this area has  
> become. And the religious identity is a good excuse to allow the  
> monstrosity to grow larger. Of
> course, one shouldn’t even mention that Delhi’s aspirations of  
> becoming a world class city during the recent CW games didn’t touch  
> this area in any way.
>
> I don’t know what can be done about it. But I am writing here hoping  
> that at least some discussion or debate could ensue in some place to  
> make sense of what is going on. But more than a closed-door  
> discussion, this neighbourhood needs a street-level debate on how  
> not to use the religious identity for petty issues, and how real are  
> these “conspiracies against Muslims”.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Yousuf Saeed
>
> ----
>
> Child Labour Rescue Operation failed due to inefficient attitude of  
> administration
>
> On 1st of November 2010, Bachpan Bachao Andolan alongwith the labour  
> department, Task Force and Delhi Police conducted a raid and rescue  
> operation in their effort to eradicate Child Labour in Jamia Nagar,  
> New Delhi. After rigorous effort by the activists of BBA more than  
> 200 child labourers in zari industry were identified. On this  
> context BBA filed a complaint to the District Task Force, D.C South  
> on 19th October 2010. After two planning meetings with all  
> stakeholders of District Task Force, the raid and rescue date was  
> finalised on 1st November 2010. As such the team gathered at Kalkaji  
> Police Station at 9:30 a.m to move for identified spot headed by  
> SDM, Defence Colony, Mr. P.N. Jha and moved towards Batla House and  
> hence started the rescue operation. Children in this area were  
> involved in the zari works in miserable condition. They were between  
> 6 years to 13 years of age.
>
> The whole process of rescue was done peacefully and the teams were  
> successful in rescuing around sixty children and they were being  
> taken to the vehicle, but suddenly out of nowhere two person named  
> Amanatulla and Samiulla, who introduced themselves as some members  
> of a political organization, along with the owners of the industry  
> came and interrupted the process of rescue operation. These two  
> person propagated a communal flavour during conversation with our  
> team members and motivated the people by saying that these people  
> are against Muslims.
>
> As a result of their interruption the local people started gathering  
> and asking questions. The Police Officials and the people from the  
> labour department remained standing as mere spectators and most of  
> them disappeared from the spot. The activists of Bachpan Bachao  
> Andolan were treated indecently by the owners and the two so called  
> local leaders namely Amanautulla and Samiulla. They went to that  
> extent of obstructing the whole process and started to threaten the  
> children and forcefully snatched the rescued children away.
>
> In spite of this, the Police and the Labour Department did not take  
> any action and at last we had to return back empty handed. Shri R.S  
> Chaurasia, Chairperson of BBA, said in this context “This happened  
> because of the inefficient attitude of the administration but our  
> activists will continue this movement against those who are  
> responsible for creating this kind of inhuman situation unless all  
> rescued children are rescued in that area
> Now we are going to file complain to the appropriate authority to  
> take proper action against who interrupted the official work by  
> sustaining the rescue operation and forcibly taking away the freed  
> children and thus registering cases for kidnapping/ abduction for  
> purpose of slavery (Sec.367 IPC), obtaining possession of a minor  
> for an illegal/immoral purpose of child labour (Sec. 373 IPC),  
> Criminal Assault, obstructing and assaulting a public servant from  
> doing his/her duty (Sec. 186, 189 IPC), Criminal Intimidation and  
> threat of grievous hurt or death (Sec. 506), Criminal Conspiracy etc.
>
> http://www.bba.org.in/news/011110.php
>
> Also see: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Mob-forces-rescued-kids-to-return/articleshow/6861743.cms
>
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