Visakhapatnam :
Most Vizag denizens and tourists frequenting R K Beach may have come across ‘Little Gandhis’ coated in silver paint holding aloft begging bowls and pestering visitors for alms. But over the past few days, these little beggars are missing in action.
The reason? They have found shelter in government and private children’s homes in Vizag and Vijayawada, where books have replaced the begging bowls in their hands. All thanks to NGO Generation Yuvaa (GY).
At a time when government is gearing up to celebrate Children’s Day by organising competitions and seminars on child rights, here is a group of youngsters, some of whom quit lucrative jobs to form an NGO for the welfare of youth and children.
Meet engineering graduates B Naresh Kumar, Solomon George, Rakesh Reddy of NGO Generation Yuvaa, that works for the welfare of children, especially street children, orphans and child beggars who are deprived of basic rights such as primary education and health.
Starting with 30 students six years ago, GY has grown to 6,000 members and 200 active members in the city. GY consists of professionals and students aged 26-28 years. While some have completed their graduation and post graduation in various streams, some are pursuing their studies.
The NGO focusses on eradication of child begging by enrolling the kids in schools and counselling them, providing employment to youth and motivating city youngsters to take up social causes. Their efforts have been successful in drastically reducing the number of child beggars and now several government departments, including the women and child welfare, labour and police are collaborating with them in the rescue and rehabilitation of children.
“The aim of Generation Yuvaa is to work on the holistic development of children to create a society where every child has complete access to basic child rights so that he or she can become a better citizen,” said GY founder president B Naresh Kumar, a B Tech graduate.
The NGO’s secretary K Rakesh Reddy is a BTech and MBA, who quit his job with an MNC to plunge into this fulltime and currently spearheads the NGO’s rescue and rehabilitation programmes and blood camps. Treasurer C Solomon George chucked a lucrative job in a software company in Bangalore and today looks after outreach activities of the NGO, including campaigns and rallies.
Talking about GY’s activities, Rakesh said, “We started a children’s home to provide shelter to street children, orphans and beggars aged 5 to15, at Birla Junction. It currently houses 43 children. We also started ‘Green House’ to provide employment opportunities to people with disabilities and elderly beggars. They are usually employed in a crafts showroom or plant nursery while the younger ones are sent for schooling to Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. We also organise blood camps under our Suraktha wing, motivate youngsters to take up social work, counsel parents and families on the importance of education for children, sponsor higher education of needy, meritorious students and enroll urban slum children in schools and so on.”
Pointing to the dangerous consequences of child begging, Solomon said, “As they often mingle with criminal gangs, many of these child beggars get into substance abuse or develop anti-social personalities and commit crimes. They are also exposed to the risk of sexual abuse.”
These children are either from BPL families and pushed into begging by families, have run away from home or are bought or rented for begging by organised gangs. “Around six years ago, we had almost 1,000 child beggars in the city and its outskirts, while the number now has come down to around 250. We have counselled more than 1,200 families against begging and want to uproot this social menace by finding a permanent solution through education, counseling and employment opportunities,” concluded Naresh.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Visakhapatnam> Street Children / by Sulogna Mehta, TNN / November 12th, 2013