Right to life

"Mein station pe Kabadi chunta hoon" says Rafique, 18, sniffing a cloth in his hand. Rafique's an artist. He displays his art-work beneath a bridge at the Old Delhi Railway station. He has a whole book of his paintings which he never gives or sells to anyone. "Sirf apne liye karta hoon." But Rafique wants to be a performer. "To dance and act and make people laugh." One doesn't need to ask him if he's on drugs. You can smell it three feet away.

Out of the four crore 40 lakh children on India's streets, five lakh reside in Delhi where there's just one free-of-charge de-addiction centre. Sharan, an NGO working toward the de-addiction of street children, has a total capacity of 30 beds, and "a success rate of three percent," says Adlin from Sharan, "This is because the drop-out rate is so high."

"We cannot force them into our centre. They have to come of their own free will, or they'll just run away." Coaxing these children to come is another tricky issue. As Tanveer Afaque from Aman Biradari, an NGO working for street children, explains: "On the streets they are free. And a parental attitude will only shoo them off. They would actually run away from me because I would ask them about their drug habits and act like a concerned parent."

Stress, peer pressure, environment, family, education, their financial status and escapism are a few factors that lead a child into drugs, says Zaved Rahman from Butterflies. The organization has conducted a 30-child survey of street children near New Delhi railway station, Connaught Place and Nizamuddin Dargah and found that 100 percent of the children sampled were into inhaling of erasing fluid, commonly called "Solution", while 27 percent were alcoholics, and 20 percentsmoked ganja (marijuana leaves).

To tackle the issue, police commit atrocities in the belief that they are actually solving a problem that they are only worsening. Proof of such allegations came on January 24, 2006, as just one incident of the many when "Constable Rajendra Singh, along with two home guards caught hold of several street children and trashed them with their sticks," says Rajesh Chandra, area co-ordinator of Hanuman Mandir area from Aman Biradari, "One of the children, Jamaal, aged 11, received several blows on the head, and received stitches for it." The other children, namely Bharat, Mehboob, Gudiya, Firoja, Jamann and other pavementdwellers also suffered serious injuries. The incident was followed by a similar one on January 12, when "Constable Om Prakash began beating 17 children around Hanuman Mandir with a stick while they were waiting to receive food from devotees of the mandir. He then started kicking and beating a girl child called Muskan, aged 14 years. Then dragged her to the road outside the mandir and began sexually assaulting her. She lost mental consciousness for the next few days," says eye-witness and area co-ordinator Chandra.

The District commissioner of Police, North Branch, Sunil Garg, assures the NGO that the involved constables have been transferred. He feels both the police and the children are caught in a helpless position as the addicts create trouble due to their habits. "It is not when the child is on the drug that he creates trouble, it's when he can't get this drug, when they start to get restless for it. That's when they get edgy and fidgety. Otherwise they are angels," says Sandhya Bhalla,founder of Sharan, Delhi's only detox center for street children.

"Even shop owners need to be sensitized not to sell these products to street children. But this really is an obligation for the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The government should reach out. Why should it be the sole responsibility of the NGOs?" asks Rahman, outraged at the lack of involvement from the government level.

"Our focus cannot be on just drug de-addiction of street children," says Jaideep Singh Kochher, Director, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, unable to find one study, one reports or one situation analysis of the percentage of street children doing drugs. "In the year of 2006, we have kept aside a total of around 27 crores for de-addiction programmes, under which street children are covered," But that seems difficult to believe when the only accessible de-addiction center for street children is not provided any financial support from the ministry. "In Delhi a lot of problem is being affiliated with whiteners," he informs me.

So if the government knows this then what are they doing about it, "We don't need to do anything," he laughs, "now with computerization, the use of whiteners in offices is being cut down rapidly therefore making it difficult for the beggars to access it." But majority of the whiteners are bought, and not one-a-day, but five to six double-set bottles every day.

"Arrey yeh to roz Rs 100 ka paanch double kharidta tha," Sanjay, a bottle collector at New Delhi station says about his friend, Habib, who went into Sharan for detox one month ago. "Now I only do one bottle a day," Habib says. They're waiting to go see their friend, Subhash alias Babblu admitted at LNJP hospital, a smack addict for three years now, for vomiting blood four times that day. Babblustarted through an older friend, "Woh mar gaya," he tells me, "Nasha ke cchakkar mein. Woh train ke samne khudke mar gaya. Pase nahi the nasha ke liye." You can see he's scared. "Everyday we earn about Rs 150-200 on bottles," Sanjay tells me. Sanjay is preparing for his open GRPs from Salaam Baalak Trust (12th standard examinations). He used to work at an Ice factory in Amritsar doing the "hisab kitabh" before collecting bottles at New Delhi Sataion, he wants to become a software manufacturer. He's still undecided on what to call the software company. He speaks English.

The study also found that of those surveyed, 90 percent of their friends were also using drugs, while the remaining 10 percent were either into other habits like card gambling or staying with their families, preventing them from drug usage.

The report stated that on being asked 67 percent said they want to stop having drugs. "Even if the children decide to come clean, Delhi lacks the infrastructure to help them. Government hospitals should have provisions for free children's detox centers," says Monodeep from Butterflies, "But the center has to be linked with a vocational training to ensure that the child does not fall back into what they came from, creating a cycle. "It's a question of the right to life."