A pocket of India’s street children are becoming empowered to tell their stories through Delhi-based youth-run newspaper, Balaknama (Children’s Voice). The Hindi newspaper records harrowingly honest case studies of police brutality, child marriage and illegal child labor, with all staff members, writers and editors alike, ranging from 8 to 18 years of age.
The broadcast, sponsored by Delhi-based NGO Childhood Enhancement Through Training and Action (CHETNA), was founded in 2003 and gives a voice to the country’s overwhelming number of underprivileged and marginalized children. The federation of street and working children who contribute to the journal spans across four northern Indian states.
According to Save the Children India, about 50,000 children live on the streets of the country’s capital, with an estimate of 20 million total children and only 40% of these children registered at birth, making India the home of the largest amount of street children in the world. The children struggle to survive though whatever means necessary – street performances, joining gangs, begging, selling items. Over 50% of these children are said to have suffered verbal, physical or sexual abuse, and are sometimes victims of police brutality.
14 year old Govind of Delhi wandered the streets of the city before he was introduced to the newspaper’s journalistic arts at 9 years old. “When I joined Balaknama, my friends used to make fun of me. But now when they read my articles and see me grow in my life – they wish they too had done so,“ he said. Today his articles discuss the daily lives of the city’s most impoverished people with issues ranging from domestic abuse to healthcare.
Sanjay Gupta, director of CHETNA, explains that the newspaper has become a form of empowerment for many children, saying “children associated with Balaknama are much more aware about their rights than the average school-going child. They’re also shown how to deal with some of the emergencies that may come their way.”
Chief reporter of Balaknama, Vijay Kumar, considers himself to be a street child and explains that “street children are like ghosts… no-one notices and no-one cares. Our newspaper, Balaknama, means Children’s Voice… that’s what it gives us. People need to listen.”
Creative Commons Love: Zuhair A. Al-Traifi on Flickr.com
Written by Rachel Pozivenec