The issues faced by children all over the world are the same. Child abuse, early marriage, child trafficking and many other issues. Here is an innovative way organized by street children of Delhi to raise their voice against such issues.
A newspaper called Balaknama is the way.
The thing that made them publish the paper is that they feel that they are treated as garbage in the society.
This monthly newspaper has 60 reporters between the ages of 12 to 20; they are all street children living in the streets of Delhi and the neighboring states.
The newspaper is written in Hindi and then translated to English.
The token price of the news paper is Rs. 2. The monthly publication you won’t believe is 8,000 copies.
The newspaper editor has the guts not to spare the police even. They reported how the police use children to retrieve decomposed bodies of those killed on railway tracks. This report made the National Committee For Protection of Child Rights to step in and take steps.
Isn’t it an incredible success?
Their success stories are many as a report by 12 year old Rustam regarding child marriage led to the intervention by police and eventually stopping it.
This sentiment strengthening is the thing that Balaknama needs to cultivate among road kids. It does this by highlighting the troubles they confront, as well as stories of trust.
The recent focus of Balaknama is the implication of changes in Juvenile act of India.
Balaknama is determined to change the attitude of society towards street children by enabling street children to tell their own stories, in their own words.
