Slum kids neglected while parents at work: survey
to 50% of children below six years of age, living in slums in the city, lack childcare support when their parents go out for work, a survey has found.
The survey was conducted by Neenv Delhi Forces, an informal network of 40 organisations, with the support of the Delhi School of Social Work Society. The survey, conducted in 1,200 households with children under the age of six in eleven districts of the city, found that 47.5% children face neglect because parents go out for work leaving their children alone.
“It shows that 18% children are left with grandparents, 13.7% with elder siblings, 6.9% with neighbours and 8.7% are left alone,” the survey said. Chirashree from Neenv Delhi Forces said, “Often elder siblings are taken out from school to take care of younger siblings. Lack of child care support leads to young kids left alone and therefore exposed to all kinds of abuse.”
The survey found that 38% children in the areas surveyed were born underweight and 47% of the children are underweight . “72% families do not have access to potable water while 40% of them do not have ration card to access public distribution system,” the survey said.
“Most of the children go missing in Delhi basti’s as the Anganwadi centres (AWC) are able to cater to only 61% of children living in Basti’s. There are only 25 creches to serve a population of 10 lakh and this makes the situation more vulnerable,” said Reena Banerjee from Alliance For People’s Rights (APR).
The survey also found that 50% women in slums do not get post natal care and 82.3% have worked till the time of their delivery. “57.8% workers joined work within one month of delivery,” the survey said.
Chirashree said there is a need to universalise crèches to support working parents from low income settlements. “As much as 90% of brain development happens in this age bracket.This is when a child’s mental, physical, socio-emotional and language development takes place so it is important that the government focuses on providing assistance to these kids,” she said.
The study was conducted in Shahbad Dairy (North West), Janta Mazdoor Colony (North East), Holambikalan (North), Kirbi place (New Delhi), Nardan Camp(South delhi), Sunder Nagari (Shahdra), Shiv VIhar (West), Tehkhand (South East), Rangpuri (South West), Annad Vihar (East) and Meer Dard Jhuggi (Central).
Tariq Ahmed Dar, who was convicted in the 2005 Diwali-eve serial blasts here that claimed 67 lives, moved the Delhi High Court on Friday, seeking to quash a money laundering case against him. Justice S P Garg issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and asked it to file a response on Dar’s plea, who was recently granted bail by the trial court in the same case.
The trial court had allowed Dar’s bail plea noting that he was in custody in the money laundering case for over five years which was 70 per cent of the maximum sentence of seven years.
The convict has urged the court that unless he is found to have committed scheduled offence, he cannot be prosecuted. Dar was sentenced to a 10-year jail term by the trial court on February 16 in the 2005 serial blasts case for being a member of banned terror outfit Lashkar-eTaiba . The trial court acquitted two others -- Mohd Rafiq Shah and Mohd Hussain Fazili -- of all charges, saying the Special Cell of Delhi Police had “miserably failed” to prove the charges against them.
Dar is facing trial in the related money laundering case lodged by ED for allegedly possessing proceeds of crime, punishable under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). PTI
FACTS