e Kaveri Education Society inMadiwala possesses fake recordsof two minors who were kept incaptivity as bonded laborers.

On June 26, 2013 two minor girlsaged twelve years and ten yearswere rescued from a paying guesthouse located at Koramangala. erescue operation was carried out byan NGO called the Bachpan-BachaoAndolan, the Koramangalapolice and the Labour Department.e Kaveri Education Society lo-cated in Madiwala possessesrecords which state that the two sis-ters were enrolled as students of theschool on the 18th of June, eightdays before the rescue operationwas carried out.

According to Vani Kantli of theBachpanBachaoAndolan who waspresent at the time of the raid onthe apartment, the girls who camefrom Anabala village of Saklesh-pura taluk in Karnataka, werebrought to Bangalore a year back towork as domestic laborers. Sheadded that the girls had studied tillthe fih standard in their village.

ree months ago, the girls werebought as domestic laborers by awoman called Jyoti who owns thePG apartment in Koramangala.eir parents were paid a sum of Rs5000 in advance.

Aer the raid, when Jyoti wasquestioned about the incident, sheclaimed that the girls were broughtto the city for educational purposesand were students at the Kaveri Ed-

ucation Society located in Madi-wala.

However, according to the state-ment recorded by the Bachpan-BachaoAndolan, the two sisterswere subjected to a daily regime ofdomestic work in the paying guestapartment which began at five oclock in the morning and ended atten o clock at night. Kantli also saidthat when the raid was carried outin the apartment, the two girls werehiding on the staircase of the sec-ond floor as they had been threat-ened by the owner that if they triedto contact their parents or any otherresident of the apartment theywould be handed over to the police.

e Kaveri Convent Higher Pri-mary School located at aillamHosur Road Cross in Madiwala is apart of the Kaveri Education Society. According to admission application forms numbered 783and 784, the two sisters were admit-ted into the fih standard of theKaveri Convent Higher PrimarySchool on the 18th of June this year.e date and standard of admissionhave been further confirmed in awritten statement bearing the sealof the headmistress. Despite pos-sessing admission records of thegirls, the school authorities hadnever actually met the two girls.Nor did they have any photo-graphic identity records of the sisters.

According to one of the schooladministrators Fatima, the admis-sion fees were paid by an individual

called Mohan. At the time whenthe girls were admitted into theschool, Fatima was the acting-headmistress as the actual head-mistress was unwell.

Subsequently, the Kaveri Educa-

tion Society was served with a sum-mons notice by the Child WelfareCommittee 2 of the Bangalore Dis-trict (case number 225) dated 30thof July 2013 under section 33 of the

Juvenile (Care and Protection ofChildren) Act 2000.

Kantli and her colleague Lavan-nya say that there are numeroussuch instances of children beingtrafficked and used as bonded la-borers within Karnataka. Accord-ing to them, the principal difficultywith finding a solution to the prob-lem is “official indifference and afailure of the governmental system.”

Kantli also emphasizes the diffi-culties associated with the rehabili-tation of trafficked children andhow very oen, rescued childrenfall prey to vicious cycle of traffick-ing again.

Bhaskar Dutta

The weekly

VOL 1 ISSUE 1 ursday, AUGUST, 29 2013

Observer

No help from Policehelpline numbers

e police helpline num-ber 100 either is conti-nously busy or notanswered by anyone.

Page - 2

Mandatory fire safeymeasures not followed

No fire safety measuresare followed in theBESCOM office even aerhaving 20 fire breakouts inthe last seven months

Page- 3

Cattle roam, vendorsmoan

Cattle in KR market eatup vegetables for sale andalso add to traffic.

Page 6

Nivedita and Kanaka(names changed) who were used asbonded laboures and rescued from a paying guest apart-ment at Koramangala on June 26,2013

CWC has issued a summonsnotice to the Kaveri EducationSociety regarding its possessionof fake admission records oftwo minor girls recued on June26, 2013.

School faked recordsof trafficked minors

e Weekly Observer 27 August 2013 2

No help from police helpline

Police emergency number 100 ei-ther remains continuously busy oris not answered.

C.R. Udayashankar, Assistant Su-perintendent of Police (ASP), PoliceControl Room, said, “We have 15lines but only seven telephone op-erators and three wireless opera-tors. Since we are understaffed the

lines may be busy sometimes.” Hefurther added, when one calls 100,it is directed to the police controlroom. If the number is busy, arecorded message is supposed togive alternate numbers 2294, 3100,3200, 3300 and 10928 to the callers.

e ASP informed, the calls workaccording to the ‘hunting method’;they hunt for a free operator andconnect to the available line. e

Bangalore Control Room can han-dle only 15 calls at a time instead of30, which is the prescribed numberfor any emergency helpline. eother 15 calls go unanswered.

Udayashankar, who also broughtthe current system in practice,added, “In a city like Bangalore,where population is around a crore,it is difficult to handle each andevery complaint but we are tryingour level best.”

Ajay Gopalkrishnan, 25, a resi-dent of Yelahanka, said, “I triedcalling the police when I was beingharassed by drunken men at Yela-hanka junction but the call re-mained unanswered.”

In addition to the problem, adver-tisement boards put up around thecity claim that 108 is a helplinenumber for medical, fire as well aspolice emergencies but when dialedit oen responds that it’s a numberexclusively for ambulance services.

Vidula Gopal, a resident of WhiteField, said, “I called 108 as I hadseen a board nearby hoping forhelp. ey bluntly told me this isonly an ambulance helpline num-ber and no other service would beprovided.”

e only numbers that respondinstantaneously are, womenhelpline - 1091, child helpline -1098and senior citizen helpline -1090.

Other emergency numberslike101- fire emergency, 103 - trafficpolice, 1062 - poison control centre,1072 - train accident informationand 1097 - the AIDS hotline, re-main beyond network coveragearea or go unanswered.

Apurva Venkat

Actual system

If one calls the emergency num-ber, their complaint is registered.A flying squad called ‘Chitha’ issent to the spot. e controlroom then calls back and findsout if Chitha has reached andprovides any further assistanceneeded. If the number is busy, arecorded message gives the alter-nate numbers 2294, 3100, 3200,3300 and 10928 to the callers.is message is continuously re-peated until the caller ends thecall.

Illegal PGs lead to security problemsA rise in illegally run paying guesthouses in Bangalore is leading toincreasing security problems.

e upscale localities, Koraman-gala and Indiranagar, house presti-gious institutions and companies.Due to this boom in business, manyresidential properties have con-verted into PGs without goingthrough the required formality ofregistering themselves for commer-cial use. Out of the 75 PGs in Kora-mangala, only one is registered.

eKoramangala police has fourcases of the registered till August,2013. Expensive itmes like laptops,gold jewellery and cash worth tj-housands of ruppees was stolen.According to Prashant Babu, In-spector, Koramangala, only 20-30%of PG the cases are solved becauseof mobile tracking technology.

65 notices have been issued to PGowners, asking them to installCCTV cameras which have been

made compulsory from August 3,for round the clock surveillance.

Bhagyalakshmi, Deputy HealthOfficer, Koramangala said most ofthe PGs do not obtain a license asthey are unable to acquire a No Ob-jection Certificates from theirneighbors. e owners do not putup a paying guest board to avoidany checking that might take place.

Harish, an MBA student of Christcollege said, “e door is not lockedproperly; anyone can sneak in atnight.” Nitin who works at HDFC ,informs that the landlord asks thetenants to say it is a rented flat oth-erwise they’d be thrown out withina week.

Another student, Nivya, said thatthe receipt of the water and electric-ity billsis not given. e security de-posit is also very high.

Mr. C. Ghose, the owner of aladies PG and the only one in Ko-ramangala with a trade licence saidthat a lot of landlords in own more

than one building and illegally earnclose to three lakhs per month.ey have very unclear rules andemploy no measures for the safetyof the tenants. He admitted thatearlier he did not have CCTV cam-eras but a guard was always there.He also has the identity and photoproofs of all the students in hisapartment.

Another landlord, Waseem, con-fessed that in a the case in his PG,the amount of 40,000 was dividedinto three parts among him, thevictim and the police and the mat-ter was settled. Similarly, by bribingthe people who come to collectwater and electricity bills, he issaved from a lot of hassle.

e BBMP say that they are un-able to regulate authority. Area wiselists are being made and notices arebeing sent to the owners regardingthe compulsory installation ofCCTV cameras, the results ofwhich are yet to be seen.

Illegal paying guest houses at Indiranagar.

Bhavika Bhuwalka

We only have one caretaker who

leaves in the evening. The door is

also not locked properly, which can

allow anyone to sneak in during

the night.”

- Harish, an MBA student

e Weekly Observer August 29, 2013 3

Signif icant r ise incrime against women

ere has been a considerable in-crease in crimes against womenin the last six months in Kar-nataka.

According to the KarnatakaCrime Record Branch, 6196 casesof crime against women have beenreported till June 2013. 1669 caseshave been reportered under the‘Cruelty by husband or relatives ofhusband’ category.

452 cases had been reportedunder this section in 2011, whilein 2012 it was 524. Significantly,cases have risen by 1145 in 2013.

e statistics represents the pos-sibility of crimes against womenincreasing in the state.

*Seema, 33, a victim of domesticviolence, complains that she hadfiled cases against her husband fordowry harassment in two policestations and both the stations ac-cepted bribe from her husband.Even her lawyer was bribed andwas asked not to present any proofagainst her husband in the court.She further added, “e police donot take immediate action againstthe accused which gives themconfidence. Many domestic vio-

lence cases go unreported. Most ofthe women do not file a case eitherdue to family pressure or for thesake of their children.”

Another victim, *Jyoti, 36, a gov-ernment employee in Bangalorewas being physically abused by herhusband for over a year. Now theyare divorced but she has never reg-istered a police complaint againsthim. She said: “ere are timeswhen I have thought of registeringa complaint but I couldn’t becausehe threatened to kill himself andour kids. I was forced to keepquiet.”

Mr. Mahesh M, Legal Counsella-tor and Advocate, Bangalore CivilCourt, said, “I get around 20 to 30domestic violence and dowry ha-rassment cases per day. ere issomething called a Private Com-plaint Register under Section 200which helps women get justicequickly.” He also said that if thepolice officials take immediate ac-

tion against the criminals, suchcrimes would decrease.

Ms Donna Fernandes, founderof Vimochana, a woman’s organi-zation said: “On an average we get50 cases per month. We handlecases at the community level. Wetry to work outside the legalframework because the system iscaught up in technical procedures.We try to work out the issue andengage both the parties.”

She added: “We try to look at thelogical aspects as well as the emo-tional aspects of it. e society ischanging rapidly and human val-ues are being sidelined. is iswhy domestic violence will notend anytime in the near future.”

*Name changed

Mayuri Ravi

e difference between the num-ber of accident cases registeredwith the Traffic Police and theBMTC has been noted as 74 thisyear.

According to the statistics withthe Bangalore Metropolitan Trans-port Corporation (BMTC), thenumber of accident cases regis-tered this year is 249 and accord-ing to the Traffic Police, thenumber of accidents cases regis-tered against BMTC is 166.

e difference between the num-ber of accident cases registeredwith the BMTC and the Traffic Po-lice last year differed by 108. etotal number of accident cases

registered with the BMTC was 428and the number of cases with theTraffic Department against theBMTC was 320.

e action taken by the BMTCauthority against their drivers inthe accident cases depends on thebackground record of the driver.Prakash.G,Chief Manager of Traf-fic ,BMTC, commenting on themeasures taken by them about theaccidents said, “ We put the driv-ers in the training course. Eachdepot head addresses the driversin the morning before they starttheir duty on safe-driving. In caseof fatal accidents committed bythe drivers, a suspension letter isgiven to them within 24 hours.”

Records row between policeand city bus department

Anagha Sawant

Accident records of the BMTC and the traffic policedepartment show different figures

A building housing governmentoffices is flouting fire safety regu-lations.

Four government offices includ-ing the state electricity companyrun offices from within MaharshiArAvinda Bhavan but it has no firesafety equipment.

Exposed wires sprout from circuitboxes.

Indian law states that there shouldbe a fire safety equipment at the exitof a building and a seperate fire exit.

BESCOM, Karnataka State Com-

mission and Karnataka State Com-mission of Schedule Caste andSchedule Tribe work from thebuilding.

Although there have been no re-ported fires at the Bhavan, 20 fireshave been reported around it in thelast seven-and-a-half months.

“No one has ever complainedabout the poor fire safety measuresin this building,” Shaghidhara.G,Junior Engineer at BESCOM, said.

“Twenty incidents of fire were re-ported in the past seven and a halfmonths near KR Circle," a fire man

at the CFO’s office said.“ere were no deaths or injuries

in these incidents,” DevarahosahalliRaghu, fire man at the Office of theChief Fire Officer (CFO) BangaloreWest, added.

According to documents pro-vided by the Office of the CFO,these 20 incidents have causedlosses of property amounting to Rs9,26,400.

“e main reasons behind firebreak outs in the area are short cir-cuits in buildings and car batteries,”Raghu said.

e building also fails to complywith the minimum standards of fireprecaution as it has neither a fireexit and nor a single fire extin-guisher.

“It is mandatory for every build-ing to have fire exit signs which leadoutside the building. Fire alarms atevery floor are also a must have ingovernment and private offices,”another fire man at the same officesaid.

“Fire alarms should also be pres-ent in government and private of-fices,” he added.

Government of f i ces pose f i re r i sk

“I get around 20 to 30 domesticviolence and dowry harassmentcases per day”

- Mr. Mahesh M, LegalCounsellator and Advocate

Ishan Bhattacharya

Exposed wires inside the Ma-harshi Aravinda Bhavan

e Weekly Observer August 29, 2013 4

Five buildings collapse in one month: Lives of laborers risked due to negli-

Sixty-five daily wage laborershave been physically injured andnine killed in the last month dueto building collapses.

ere were five building col-lapses in five different places inBangalore in the last month. ebuilding collapse on July 21st atDwarkanagar injured four laborerswho were treated at the Yelahankagovernment hospital. Muniappa, aresident of the area of the buildingcollapse, said: “e Bruhat Banga-lore Mahanagar Palike (BBMP)has stalled all activities at the site.”

e collapse of a wall of a threestoreyed building in Bharathina-gar on July 24th was because of anexcavation at the construction sitebeside it. Subha, 29 and Narang,33, who are tenants in the buildingsaid: “e foundation of thisbuilding is not enough for a threestorey building to sustain for long.e vibration generated by theearth mover in the neighboringarea pulled down the wall of ourbuilding.”

e roof of a wedding hall,

under construction by the BandeMutt collapsed in Kengeri SatelliteTown on August 4th leading todeath of three laborers and leav-ing16 others injured. N. Nagaraj,the contractor, who has recentlybeen released on bail, said that anerror in aligning the center in onestraight line for it to bear the load,led to the collapse of the building.

An apartment under construc-tion in the BTM Layout fell onAugust 11th because of the col-lapse in the centering of the sec-ond floor, injuring five laborers inthe process. B S C Rao, Chairmanof Association of Consulting CivilEngineers (ACCE), said, “Im-

proper placing of poles, not brac-ing the supporting poles, or tryingto save on poles by reducing thenumbers of poles needed, aresome of the reasons that lead tothe collapse of the building.”

e latest of such incidents wasthe collapse of an eight storeyedbuilding in Someshwara Nagar onAugust 19th. According to B S CRao, the collapse occurred as thedesign of the foundation was suit-able for only two floors and theyended up building six more floors.is was done without any per-mission and hence, was illegal.

Rao added that this is called a‘punching failure,’ where the load

comes through and punches theground leading to collapse of acolumn and then pulling down theentire building. e collapse led tothe death of six laborers and 35others being injured.

According to Koteshwara, thecontractor appointed by BBMP toclean up these sites, there has beena violation of law as the construc-tions in Kengeri Satellite Townand BTM Layout commencedwithout prior permission of theBBMP. Also, the buildings con-structed at Bharatinagar andSomeshwara Nagar do not have

permission for more than twostoreys to be built.

B S C Rao explained: “Modernconstruction is being done veryrapidly and therefore the turn-around time between one floorand another, which has to be 28days, has been reduced to sevendays. In order to balance the loadevery floor needs to be centeredfor which proper analysis is cru-cial. Very oen to save cost andsave material the owners as well asthe contractors do not center allthe floors. Such negligence leadsto cascading failure.”

Renovation plans for Kempam-budhi lake have remained stag-nant for years due to the inactionby the municipal corporation.

e lake has been closed downin the name of renovation for over10 years now by the Bruhat Ban-galore Mahanagar Palike (BBMP).It was announced by the BBMPlast year in May that the lakewould be converted into a touristspot, complete with boating facili-ties. But on visiting the lake, one isgreeted by locked gates and guardsasking you to leave.

e lake is one of the oldest inthe city and was constructed byKempe Gowda, the founder ofBangalore. It served as a catch-

ment area and also supplieddrinking water to the locality.

Chandrappa, 64, who has beenworking as a security guard thereever since the lake closed down forrenovation and restoration, saidthat he is the only constant factorthroughout the process as the pri-vate companies assigned to thetask by the BBMP keep leavingdue to disputes with the corpora-tion. At present, only a park lo-cated just beside the lake has beencompleted but requires labor forproper maintenance.

Mahesh, 28, a local, said that thelake has been reduced to a sewer-age that emits foul odor andbreeds mosquitoes, causing prob-lems to the locals. K. Chan-drashekhar, Coporator of the

Basavanagudi constituency, wherethe lake is located, was unavailablefor comment.

e Chief Engineer, Chickpet of-fice, said that at present, a pro-posal for the desiltation,restoration and maintenance of

the lake is in the process of formu-lation, the budget of which willsoon be submitted for approval.

A Sewerage Treatment Plant(STP) run by the Bangalore WaterSupply and Sewerage Board(BWSSB) treats the waste water of

the lake. According to the Chief Engineer,

the new proposal includes thetreated water from the STP to bediverted back into the lake. Hesaid that the BWSSB is ready togive the water but have laid downa condition for the BBMP. econdition is that the BBMP willlay down the pipeline, incurring acost of 30-50 lacs. is will be ap-proved only aer the budget ses-sion.

He added that a proposal for themaintenance of the park involving6 laborers per day has been sub-mitted a month back to theBBMP chief engineer for the southzone, meaning which, the fate ofthe lake still remained uncertain.

Aurosmita Acharya

Kempambudhi lake’s fate left in the lurch as BBMP fails to take action

e accumulated garbage, still waiting to be cleaned, clog the lake

Anannya Sarkar

e ruins of an eight storey building in Someshwara Nagar, whichcollapsed on August 19

e debris of the Bande Mutt building collapse being cleared

e Weekly Observer August 29, 2013 5

Cattle roam, vendors moan in vegetable market

In one of thebusiest markets and roads of Ban-galore, cattle compete with peoplefor survival, with poor people sell-ing vegetables and hungry cattlefeeding on them.

e Kalasipalyam Wholesale Veg-etable Market and City Market,along with the adjoining roads,have become a second home forcattle. Estimates about the numberof animals feeding on the fresh aswell as waste vegetables in the mar-ket varied between 20, according tothe local police, to 800, accordingto the vendors.

A casual visit to the venue made iteasily apparent that the problem ispersistent and the numbers are noless than 300 on any given day. esight of cattle feeding on fresh veg-etables, cows becoming hindrancefor all sort of vehicles on the middleof the road, are obvious.

e dispute is not only about thenumber of cattle but also aboutwho owns them. e Station HouseOfficers of both the Kalasipalyamand K.R. Market (under whose ju-risdiction comes the City Market)claim that the animals come fromsmall-time cattle owners. One theother hand, more than a dozen ven-dors claim that a few goons are theowners and they leave their cattle inthe market to feed early in the

morning and take them back onlyat the night .e Vendors’ version isalso supported by the S.H.O. ofJayangar police station, who wasalso posted in Kailashi Palyam Po-lice Station earlier. He dubbed thesecattle owners as the “Cow Mafia”.

e vendors were not forthcom-ing in giving names because of frus-tration. “Even earlier many peoplehave come asking about the issuebut nothing has changed. So whyshould I tell you the name?” askeda female vendor based in City Mar-ket.

e sellers have also alleged thatthese goons bribe the RegulatoryMarket Committee officials, whoare responsible for looking into thecomplaint of vegetable sellers, to“manage things”. On the otherhand, RMC officials put the entireblame on Bruhut Bangalore Ma-hanagara Palike for not doing itsjob properly.

When asked about their respon-sibility towards protecting the veg-etable sellers from goons, the SHOof Kailashi Palyam market, V.Narayanswamy, denied the exis-tence of any rowdy elements andsays that even if there are any anti-social elements, the people willhave to file F.I.R. in order to takeany action. At the same time hespoke about a request-cum-complaint letter sent to the BBMP

in December 2012, which men-

tioned all the trouble caused by thecattle to the general public and re-quested municipal body to takecare of it. “But BBMP has not takenany measures to address these is-sues,” said the SHO.

e BBMP cited non-availabilityof funds, functionaries and technol-ogy as the reason behind inaction.e Joint Director Animal Hus-bandry, BBMP, Dr Parviz AhmedPiran, said that more personnel andnew equipment like a hydraulic sys-tem to ease the liing and drop-ping of the cattle in the vehicle, isnecessary.

He further said that the pre-

scribed penalty to the owners ofimpounded cows and calves is Rs100 and 50 for each day respec-tively, which doesn’t have any deter-rence value, and the cattle ownersfind the risk to be worth it. He ad-vocated a higher fine as a solutionfor this problem, though he didn’trule out other ideas. He cited thestatistics of the previous year tobuttress his point- “In the year2012-13 only 1438 animals (with anaverage of four animals a day) wereimpounded and consequently onlyRs 92165 could be collected.

Dr. Piran was more sympatheticto the cause of cattle and cited un-

availability of fodder in Bangaloreas the reason behind cattle beingle on their own to fend for them-selves.

He also highlighted the oen neg-lected issue of sufferings by cattledue to indifference of police, andshowed a complaint filed by BBMPto the K.P. Police Station last year,according to which the police de-partment was asked to invoke thePrevention of Cruelty to Animalsact, against people hurting the cat-tle. “e police are yet to addressthe issue,” he said.

Gaurav Kumar

City market w itness cows eating up fresh and waste vegatbles that are for sa le. A cow passes by a TATA Sumo, causing inconvenience for

A young boy comes running to chase away a cow trying to eat vegetables at market.

6e Weekly Observer August 29, 2013

Underage children struggling on the streets Poverty steals innocence as children are forced to beg and work on the streets for money

An NGO in Bangalore has beenfighting against child labor for thelast 18 years.

Mafeeda Begam, president of theAGA foundation, has run her or-ganization for the last 18 years. In arescue operation in 2010, four chil-drenbegging on a railway stationplatform along with their mother,were rescued by the foundation.

She recently rescued 18 childrenfrom the streets of Ramnagar. eyhave been admitted to a govern-ment school and are being providedwith clothes, shelter, books andfood.

Another 12 children, of which fiveare girls and seven are boys, arecurrently working on the streets ofVijayanagar as vendors and beg-gars.

Pooja, 12, (name changed) said, “I

came from Madhya Pradesh withmy family four years ago. Sincethen, we are selling balloons andearning roughly Rs.200 per day. Inthe evening our ‘Sir’ comes and col-lects the money. We sell balloons all

day and sleep on the street at night.”e children were reluctant to re-veal the identity of the person re-ferred to as ‘Sir’.

Rahul, 14, (name changed) saidthat he is working as a seller of fast

food on the street in order to aid hisfamily. His daily earnings amountto Rs 500 a day.

Mrs. Begam takes full responsiblyof the children rescued by her or-ganization but the problem she

faces with these underage childrenis that they are not approachable asthey keep shiing their place andare difficult to track.

Nibedita Mohanta

Minor found working in incense stick factory; rescuedA 12-year-old girl was rescued bya well-known NGO from an in-cense stick factory, aer workingthere for more than a year.

Aditi (name changed), a 12-year-old girl from Anandapuram inBangalore, worked at HamsaAgarbatti Works, an incense stickfactory in her area. APSA, anNGO based in the city, got a tip offabout her job and she was rescuedfrom there six months ago.

Aditi said that she recalls hertime at the factory vividly. Shesaid: “My mother forced me to goand work there. She also insistedthat I take my sister, who was atoddler, along with me to workand take care of her all day.”

SICHREM, an NGO dealingwith human rights violations,spotted her and let APSA knowabout it. Aer her rescue, she wasduly rehabilitated into a schoolrun by APSA called NammaMane.

Padmaja, the principal of theschool said that Aditi has made re-markable progress in her timethere. She said: “She went to a gov-ernment school before beingpulled out and forced to work inthe factory. at is why she’s famil-

iar with English and knows how toread and write.”

Padmaja said that organizationslike incense stick factories hirechildren like Ashwini because theskill required is usually foundwithin the delicate hands of chil-dren below the age of 15. She alsogave numerous other examples ofsuch cases that she had encoun-tered in the past.

In Namma Mane, Aditi is cur-rently learning subjects like mathand general science along withparticipating in extra-curricularactivities like sports and playingmusical instruments. According toPadmaja, she will be rehabilitatedto a regular school by next year di-rectly into the 7th grade at a gov-

ernment run school.While on the topic, Padmaja said

that people should me moreproactive about the issue of childlabor and child rights violationsand that they should take the ini-tiative of calling the child helplinewhenever they see a child beingmade to work.

She added that children in suchcases are being paid somethinglike Rs. 200 for a week’s work,which was less than half of whatadults got paid- around Rs. 1000.“Only recently has this awakeningtaken place among the public andchildren that they are supposed toreceive proper education and notearn a living at such a tender age,”said Padmaja.

Pranay Lakshminarasimhan

At an age when they should play with balloons, these children are forced to sell them on the roads

Raju sells food to make a living

Rescued girl and her classmate with the principal of Namma Mane

Observer TeamEditor - Gaurav Kumar

Chief Sub Editor – ApurvaVenkat

Sub Editors – Anannya Sarkar,

Ishaan Bhattacharya, Nibedita Mohanta, Pranay Lakshmi-narasimhan.

News Editors –

Aurosmita Acharya,BhaskarDutta, Karishma Ravindran.

Graphic Design - Anand JainPhoto Editor - Mayuri RaviLayout Design – Anagha

Sawant, Nikita NarvekarProof Reader – BhavikaBhuwalka

Special Correspondent - Chitarth M, Neha Singh.

Email – editor@iijnm.org

An IIJNM Publication (For private circulation)