Attitude is everything!

Md. Soni is an ordinary boy of Tangra Muslim Camp. He was one of the most unfortunate children like many others who had never been to school. 

It was nothing but the peer pressure made him to join as ‘youth group member’, initial days he used to sit back quietly, after attending few youth meetings, he started speaking and asking questions. He was also learning alphabets to write his name for the senior members. He was developing speaking, listening skills after attending an input session on ‘Developing communication Skills.

Gradually he became leader of the group and stated taking sessions, making plans for the groups, his true leadership qualities were improving day by day. In the month of April 2010, he attended an interview with some of the literate youths from the community for a prestigious ‘retail shop’. In spite of his illiteracy, he was selected and started work there. Now he gives training for the fresher and many youths from the community are working with him for the company.

He often meets with the youth group members, motivates them and helping them to built the ‘Attitude’. As he says “SKC programs helped me to build up my attitude towards life.”

                                                                 

                                                                         Md. Sony says “Attitude is everything”

A Slum called Hollywood

In these days of discord, disharmony, conflict and competition, finding affinity between two entities that are geographically far apart and no match to each other in socio-economic or cultural terms, is impossibility. But that is what this photo series did, and it went on to discover the impossible - A small slum area in the heart of the posh new city of Ahmedabad called HOLLYWOOD. The actual name of the area is Gulbhaitekra, but it has been popularly known as HOLLYWOOD for the last 4 decades for the reason that the women living here have a rustic beauty and glamour which is found to resemble that of Hollywood stars. Photographer KANNAGI KHANNA shares her images as she meets the enchanting women of Hollywood.

   Fresh look at poverty line planned

7^th April 2012: After facing a barrage of criticism on the issue of poverty line during the last few months, the Planning Commission has decided to appoint a technical committee to look into the whole issue afresh.

Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said here on Saturday that the committee of experts would be appointed in a couple of weeks. The terms of reference were being worked out and the commission would notify it once the exercise was completed.

Task for experts

Speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of the launch of the Prime Minister's Rural Development Fellowship programme here, Mr. Ahluwalia said he never meant to arbitrarily bring down the figures of the poor in the country. The Planning Commission would never arrive at a decision on the status of poverty on its own. The estimates would be done by expert panels engaged by it, he explained.

The Suresh Tendulkar Committee had put the people below poverty line (BPL) at slightly lesser than 30 per cent (360 million) in 2009-10, down from 37.2 per cent in 2004-05. The strategy of inclusive growth during the United Progressive Alliance rule had brought down poverty by 1.5 percentage points every year after 2004-05, while it had come down only by 0.74 percentage points during 1993-94 and 2004-05, Mr. Ahluwalia stated.

Debated figures

On the much debated figures of Rs. 32 per capita income per day in urban areas and Rs. 26 per capita income per day in rural areas to decide the status of poverty, the Plan panel deputy chief said the numbers were arrived at by social activists and not by the Planning Commission.

“What we told the Supreme Court was that Rs. 4,800 income per family per month in urban areas and Rs. 3,900 in rural areas is the line of poverty,” he said.

The 20 per cent of people above the poverty line were also poor but they were slightly better off than those below the line. But for the drought conditions in 2009, the poverty would have come down further. The 2011-12 National Sample Survey Organization study results to be released in early 2013 would definitely bring down poverty further, he said.

However, Mr. Ahluwalia said the poverty line was not linked to the implementation of programmes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Right to Education Act and Food Security Act (FSA). “It is the Planning Commission which recommended coverage of 46 per cent population under the FSA,” he reminded. It was not true that decline in BPL people would take away benefits from them.

Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh said they were delinking the total sanitation scheme and the National Rural Livelihoods Mission from the poverty line. He termed the debate on poverty line completely ill-informed and hysterically trivialised.

PTI adds:

Mr. Ramesh on Saturday took a dig at MPs who criticised the methodology adopted by the Tendulkar Committee for redefining the term 'poor', saying members raising the issue were probably only aware of Sachin Tendulkar, not Suresh Tendulkar.

“Those Members of Parliament may probably have thought it is Sachin Tendulkar. They did not know it was Suresh Tendulkar,” Mr. Ramesh told reporters, when asked about several MPs criticising the methodology adopted by the Tendulkar Committee set up in the year 2005 by the Planning Commission to suggest criteria for determining poverty line and poverty estimation.

Coming to the rescue of the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, who was the target of attack both inside and outside Parliament after the panel put out the poverty numbers, Mr. Ramesh claimed the rate of poverty reduction after 2004 has been double the rate of poverty reduction in previous 10 years.

Sourece: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3290811.ece

Glimpses of National Workshop on Urban poverty ( 22nd-23rd March 2012)

Centre needs 2.3L cr to fund RTE initiative!

New Delhi: With the Supreme Court bringing all recognized schools under the Right to Education (RTE) Act,the government will have to boost spending on its flagship programme to meet the estimated Rs 2.3 lakh crore needed to fund the initiative over 2010-2014.

RTE has been plagued with fund shortfalls with budgetary provision in the last two years being only half of what was estimated.The HRD ministry received Rs 21,000 crore in 2011-12 instead of Rs 43,903 crore.The allocation has gone up only marginally to Rs 25,000 crore in the current 2012-13 budget.

The estimated Rs 2.3 lakh crore,to be shared between Centre and states according to a 65:35 ratio,is also expected to go up as it does not include subsidy the government is to pay private schools to implement a 25% quota for economically disadvantaged students.

RTE incorporates the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the ministry had estimated it would need an allocation of Rs 48,000 crore in the current fiscal.Initially,the government had calculated it would need Rs 40,500 crore in the first year of implementation.

According to educationist Vinod Raina,a key member of the RTE team,RTE in general suffers from a financial crunch and there has also been a problem of states not being able to spend the funds allocated.There have also been constraints of teacher shortages.

The RTE rollout has been hampered by a resource crunch and infrastructure bottlenecks,for which the government has not always been to blame.

MEGA ROLLOUT

RTE spending budgeted over 2010-2014 Total RTE bill put at 2.31 lakh cr;share of Centre and states in ratio of 65:35 Total RTE bill almost 5 times Indias allocation for school education ( 48,781cr) in Budget 2012-13 It is more than Indias total annual subsidies of 1.9 lakh crore It is also larger than Indias estimated income tax receipts of 1.96 lakh cr in 2012-13

Source:http://lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/getpage.aspxpageid=3&pagesize=&edid=&edlabel=CAP&mydateHid=14-04-2012&pubname=&edname=&publabel=TOI 

Insight into the situation prevailing in cities of intervention!

A National Workshop on Urban Poverty: Whittling or Withstanding  has been organized in the National Capital from 22nd-23rd March 2012 as a part of the Golden Jubilee celebration of Caritas India. The two day workshop has accentuated on various aspects of urban poverty and priortising Urban poverty as key concern to addressed by concerned government institutions, NGOs, activists and individuals.

Taking the follow-up of the “National Workshop on Urban poverty” Caritas India team along with the IGSSS-Delhi team has developed a document ( questionnaire) to analyse slum situation where intervention is needed. We request you all to go through the document and could use the same to analyse slum situation in your respective districts/areas. Hope this document would give you all an idea about moving foreword to take urban poverty situation as on priority basis.

1. Identifying slum situation

·         No. of poverty pockets (PP - slums) and the CityMakers (Urban workers in poverty pockets, Homeless Residents)

·         What are the major issues affecting the people  (CityMakers) and PP? Studies (govt.;  CSOs; Academic researches)

·         Any schemes that reach them? Any policies / High court orders/ judgements – positive / negative? Are people aware  of these?

·         Evictions – faced or facing

2. Migration-employment & unemployment

·         What all are the existing employment and unemployment situation in slums?

·         Average income of families living in slums?

·         Places from where they have migrated to the particular slum?

·         Average staying period in slums?

3. Government programmes

·         Programmes been implemented by government in the particular slum

·         Average % of the CityMakers getting the benefits of the government programmes?

·         Basic hurdles and facilities in availing government schemes benefits?

3. Role of CSOs and Media in mitigation urban poverty

·         How many CSOs are working with the CityMakers ? Is there any network that looks into this?

·         Does media engage with  this issue regularly?

·         Role of civil society, students (schools, colleges, Universities), volunteers, middle class, retired persons (bureaucrats, media, academics,… ), home makers, professional groups, corporates (chambers of commerce – CII, FICCI, PHDCC, ASOCHAM,), academics, …

4. Any other issue?

Why burden us, ask private schools?

New Delhi, April 12 2012: Today's Supreme Court judgment saying all private schools other than unaided minority schools must reserve one in four seats for poor children has provoked dismay in private schools.

Principals of leading private schools in Delhi said the 25 per cent reservation would impose a severe financial burden on them.

"The government should take care of education for the poor. Why cannot the government open new schools? Why are they pushing the 25 per cent burden onto us?" said Madhulika Sen, principal of Tagore International School, one of several institutions that had petitioned the apex court seeking relief from the 25 per cent rule.

However, the government says the judgment has brought clarity to the implementation of the Right to Education Act, which mandates free and compulsory education for every Indian child.

"The private schools do not get any aid from the government, but we give government pay scale to our teachers," Sen said. "We pay electricity, water and property tax at commercial rates. The pressure on us to implement the reservation would affect quality."

The government will reimburse the private schools at a rate equivalent to what it spends on a child's education at its own schools: between Rs 6,000 and Rs 17,000 a year. This is far lower than what the leading private schools charge in cities: Rs 50,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh per student per year.

"We have to provide textbooks and uniforms to the children too," Sen said, adding that at her school, the textbooks and uniforms cost around Rs 5,000 a year per child. "The government's reimbursement rate in Delhi is Rs 1,190 per child per month, which comes to around Rs 14,000 a year. After spending on textbook and uniform, only Rs 9,000 will be left. How can you manage with this?"

Sen said schools cannot offset the cost by raising the fees for the remaining 75 per cent students since the Delhi's regulations bar schools from increasing fees by more than 10 per cent per year. Another option is to increase the student intake. "But schools are not-for-profit institutions; we do not have the money to expand the facilities," Sen said. government

The Forum for Quality Education, a body of private institutions that had moved the apex court, has not decided what it will do next. "We will meet soon to decide our (course of) action," Sen said.

Usha Ram, principal of Laxman Public School, said: "The government should compensate (private schools) in a proper manner. The compensation should be the same as what the private schools charge students on an average," she said.

The government will issue separate guidelines for private residential schools since the present reimbursement rate would be too low for them, considering the costs of board and lodging.

A key part of the judgment is the exemption given to unaided minority institutions, who are granted this status by the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) or state governments. However, certain communities that are minorities at the national level are majorities in some states.

"Schools run by Christians in Mizoram, Meghalaya and Nagaland and those run by Sikhs in Punjab may not get the exemption from the reservation," former NCMEI member J.C. Kurian said.

HRD minister Kapil Sibal said: "We are grateful to the Supreme Court for providing clarity.

Courtsey: http://in.news.yahoo.com/why-burden-us-ask-private-schools-221017641.html 

Homeless find cold comfort in dump, cops say clear out

Unable to bear the cold and haunted by a death in the group, 25 homeless people cleared a garbage dump in south Delhi and pitched two tents for shelter at night. Three days later, they are again staring at cold nights, out in the open.

With no place available in the packed

Lodhi Road

night shelter, they turned to an NGO, which has an office in the area, for help.

"These people have been sleeping on the footpaths for the past few months. As it grew cold in the last few days, we decided to clear the garbage dump and put up a temporary shelter,” said Indu Prakash Singh, technical adviser to Indo-Global Social Service Society that set up the makeshift shelter.

On January 6 when the city shivered in winter rain, the group moved into the shelter.

"One person died of cold. Now, at least we have a roof over our heads," said Raj Kumar, a rickshaw puller who stays in the shelter.

Though temporary, the arrangement was guarding them against cold, said Singh. "Had the government constructed adequate number of permanent shelters, we wouldn't been forced to take such a step."

As soon as the tarpaulins were in place, police officials came for an inspection. "They asked us to remove the sheets as we didn't have the permission, but we refused to comply," said Singh.

Police officials said they wanted to check if the group had encroached land. "We just wanted to make sure that it wasn't illegal," said a senior official on condition of anonymity.

The city has 132 night shelters -- 54 short of the 186 ordered by the high court -- that can accommodate 12,400 people. Estimates put the number of homeless in the Capital at 1.5 lakh.

Recently, the Supreme Court took states, including Delhi, to task for failing to comply with its 2009 order on night shelters. States have been asked to file detailed response by January 14.

courtsey:

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Homeless-find-cold-comfort-in-dump-cops-say-clear-out/Article1-794404.aspx

Tears of joy...

By:  Mr.Indu prakash singh

(indu@igsss.net, i2weness@gmail.com, www.induprakashsingh.com, Mobile:  9911362925)

Indo-Global Social Service Society {IGSSS} (10^th Jan., 2012, 01:22 am)

Tears of joy welled my eyes, to see the CityMakers (homeless citizens) families: children, youth, women , men, elderly ... being elated to sleep peacefully  in a shelter. A shelter that we created / crafted , by involving the CityMakers (CMs) themselves.  A roof and walls – all of canvas, and it became a home.  We had for a long been toying with the idea of creating this shelter, in front of our office, open  space, owned by the Government -- we the people of India.

Just in few hours, the shelter was up and running from 6^th Jan., 2012. A night when it rained heavily, the CMs, around 20 of them had a place  to protect themselves.

It also came up due to:

1.      Our total acceptance of CMs, as one of us, deserving all the rights and entitlements

2.      Our over more than 12 long years of engagement with the CMs

3.      A deep faith in ourselves, humanity, love, care and concern for the ones who have missed crossing the threshold of prosperity, joy, happiness .... To be consigned to the dustbins of development.  Doormated, dispelled, dehabilitated,   doomed, destituted,  devastated ....

4.      An outrage at the ill treatment meted out by police (inhuman beatings and torture) and government agencies

5.      RWAs and Plot Holders Associations having closed their heart to the CMs and the Constitution of India

6.      High costs of putting up shelters (thin tin cold storages – Trishankus {neither on firm stable ground, nor in the sky, closer to Moon, as one builder, Supertech advertised})

7.      Government opening shelters at places where the CMs never are, or never can reach or never can access

I’ve never been so happy (in the last more than a decade) as today, to see this structure, called home. Though tenuous, yet  remarkably  comforting; at no cost, but saving lives;  with no amenities, yet welcome;  no managers, still running or rather self – managed ....

Is it too much to dream, the same dream, that our freedom fighters dreamt of, while throwing out the British colonialists? That our very own Constitution of India, proclaims -“WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into  a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic  and to secure to all its citizens: JUSTICE, social, economic and political; LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation.”

Can government give up the stratagems that it’s wont to play? : 

1.      First not doing its task of preparing  a long term plan and  opening permanent shelter, as asked by both the Apex court of the country (on 20^th Jan 2010, The Supreme Court of India ordered “ Direct the Government of Delhi, the Muncipal Corporation of Delhi, the New Delhi Municipal Corporation and Cantonment Board to set up at least 140 permanent shelters for people living on the streets by December, 2010.”) and the High Court of Delhi (13.1.2010 & 22.1.2010), way back in January 2010.

2.      Then calling the NGOs corrupt (stated in Minutes prepared by MNGO of the meeting on 3^rd Sept., 2011: “On 30^th August Dr Amod met the new CEO, DUSIB, Mr. Ashwani. He explained that the DUSIB is willing to run the shelters as per the court’s decision but it will not make any payment to the NGOs after the month of April. He expressed his deep unhappiness about the role of the NGOs in the entire matter and considered many of the NGOs to be corrupt.”)

3.       Using MNGO (St. Stephen’s Hospital ) to battle with NGOs on behalf of the government,   and refusing to pay for over nine months (until the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi intervened {six times in the past from 6^th July, 2011 onwards } and noted on 13.12.2011 finally, that DUSIB will pay the NGOs on 14^th Dec., 2011) and,

4.      Ultimately giving the shelters (permanent (62), temporary{40 tin, 9 tents, 11 BVKs – basti vikas kendras}) to NGOs to run.

We are committed to creating shelters spaces all over Delhi, and permanent one at that. We are grateful to the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India and the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi for  taking up the cause of the CityMakers (homeless citizens), bereft of any care and concern of the Government.  Had it not been for the Courts, many CityMakers wouldn’t have survived to see 2012. We need to save lives, very precious indeed! We all need to join hands, in making Delhi and other cities of India and the world, a home for all!

Time to create more such homes, in our hearts, then  with hearths,  and a song full of hope that will craft homes for all, health for all, food for all, education  for all, livelihood for all adults....  All in all!

 

Urban India Reality

•         Currently, 286 million Indians live in urban areas which constitute 28% population. 

•         As per the latest National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) survey reports there are over 80 million poor people living in cities and towns of India who are mainly migrants.

•         The Slum population has also been increasing and as per TCPO estimates 2001, over 61.80 million people live in slums.

•         Mumbai and Delhi are among the top six  cities as world’s largest urban agglomerations. In 2005, Mumbai had a population of 18,196,000 while Delhi was inhabited by 15,048,000 people. 

•         Currently, there is a shortage of 27.71 mn (As per govt figures at the end of 10th Five Year Plan)+1.82mn (during the 11th plan end, 2012)  = 26.53 million housing shortage.  99.9 per cent of the shortage effects the EWS and LIG (This is a classic case of skewed prioritisation of govt. E.g. DDA caters to HIG, MIG and housing is unaffordable for LIG and very poor. This forces people to live in precarious conditions - on streets, slums, etc. Govt. Driving people into illegalities through eviction drives.)

Characteristics of slum

Slums are usually characterized by urban blight and by high rates of poverty and unemployment. They tend to be breeding centers for many social problems such as crime, drug addiction, alcoholism, prostitution, high rates of mental illness and suicide, and despair. In many poor countries they exhibit high rates of disease due to unsanitary conditions, malnutrition, and lack of basic health care. In many slums, especially in poor countries, many live in very narrow alleys that do not allow vehicles (like ambulances and fire trucks) to pass. The lack of services such as routine garbage collection allows rubbish to accumulate in huge quantities. The lack of infrastructure is caused by the informal nature of settlement and no planning for the poor by government officials. Additionally, informal settlements often face the brunt of natural and man-made disasters, such as landslides, as well as earthquakes and tropical storms. Many slum dwellers employ themselves in the informal economy. This can include street vending, drug dealing, domestic work, and prostitution. In some slums people even recycle trash of different kinds (from household garbage to electronics) for a living - selling either the odd usable goods or stripping broken goods for parts or raw materials. Slums may be called by various names, Favelas, Kampungs, Tugurios, yet share the same miserable living conditions.

Slums do not have:

·         Basic municipal services - water, sanitation, waste collection, storm drainage, street lighting, paved footpaths, roads for emergency access.

·         Schools and clinics within reach, safe areas for children to play.

·         Places for the community to meet and socialize.

Slums are worsening:

·         As the average age of people in cities is increasing, the average age of slum dwellers is decreasing, so the youth suffer most from unhealthful conditions.

·         Visible disparities between slums and better-off neighbourhoods increase the social tensions in poorer areas.

·          Unplanned growth of settlements makes conventional service provision complicated.

About 2.6 million people live in slum designated areas across Delhi^. Slum is basically a dense populated area of substandard housing, usually in a city, characterized by unsanitary conditions and social disorganization.

ROZGAR DHABA-center for making rural youths employable

Introduction

Like water, air and food we can not survive in this world in the same we can not survive without employment. It doesn’t matter that in what type of livelihood opportunity it is?  A person has to perform many roles in his life the most crucial of which is that of an earning member. It is crucial not because a man spends approximately one-third of his life time performing this role but because it determines both his livelihood and status. It also enables an individual to fulfil the needs of his family members and support them in vulnerable situation. Earning make an individual to achieve power in the society as well as in his/her family. If a person with a capacity and potential to work refuses to work or fails to obtain work then he will be not only deprived of status in the society but also comes to suffer from several emotional and social problems. His/her plight affect his/herself and as well as his/her family and society too, and this condition in a layman language is known as unemployment-no wonder! Unemployment has been described the most significant sociological problem in the society and it is one of the major concern in India. Opportunity employment then becomes imperative in all such cultures which claim to be in democracies. Equal employment opportunity is the prerequisite for equal accessibility to achieved status. Attempt to deal with unemployment have hitherto been two-pronged: one, to alleviate the status of unemployed, and two, to abolish unemployment itself. After independence, though the government –both central and state have taken the problem into their hands, but they have remained ineffective in tacking this problem and in providing assistance to persons unable to support themselves. Livelihood opportunities in terms of Employment and unemployment in India are viewed as an economic rather than social phenomenon. Although in rural context initiation of MGNREGA, PDS, Bamboo mission (of forest department) has come out as vital tool to mitigate the livelihood opportunities and food security but still people are unware about availing the schemes at its 100%.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

New concept for poor people

As most of us know about several employments providing websites as:

• www.monsterjob.com
• www.timesjob.com
• www.naukari.com

but all these sites are basically working for the high profile job as for executives, managers, CEO, MD’s etc. but no one is working for the poor community or the poor people. But Rozgar Dhaba will only work for the poor people and jobs related with the poor people such as peon, waiter in a hotel/restaurant, security guard, gardener, helper, field workers, salesman, teachers, tuitions, bell boy, construction worker, mechanic, washer man, home-maid, painter, tailor, typist, cook, shoe-maker, cleaner, and sweeper. So in this way Rozgar Dhaba w work for the poor people in terms of providing employment according to their eligibility and their need.

Objective of Rozgar Dhaba

• Securing livelihood of the rural poor and marginalised youths through strengthening the channel of information dissemination on employment availability and other livelihood sources.
• Increased livelihood opportunities for the underprivileged youth with a focus on more entrepreneurs.

Rozgar Dhaba would be a livelihood promotion center being established in rural context. It focuses on farmers, school dropout and illiterate youth in the concerned villages to secure theirlivelihood by building skills through vocational training, generating awareness on government schemes and programmes through IEC material and personal interaction, establishing and strengthening linkages with PRI and other local institutions for the growth and development of the community. Rozgar Dhaba would empower the community by building skills in various trades to help them build livelihood on their own. Rozgar Dhaba thus is making a movement in the country through the associating/implementing partners to reach out to the un-reached and vulnerable sections to tap the hidden potential of youth who are branded as redundant, waste, useless and how best it can recycle them into productive human capital as opportunities galore in the globalized economy

Think once……from where to where….?

Manoj Kumar Sinha (name changed), 34 is a ricksaw puller in Karpuri Thakur Jan Jvan Camp, Srinivas Puri on Ring Road leading to Noida in New Delhi. He has been in New Delhi for last 6 months with one of his relative. He is alone here (his own family member is not here). He said that he has to arrive Delhi in a drastic condition. Actually his coming to Delhi reveals lots of reasons why one comes to Delhi or any other place. Manoj is a lean and thin youth but he does not seem to be youth rather looking like 45 year old man. He is basically from Bhagalpur, Bihar. He shared a lot to us because he felt he would feel friendly to us. Reason was that we were also from Bihar. He told “I am from Kalyanpur, Bhagalpur and I was working in a factory as a supervisor for 6 years before that I was helper. But due to certain reason I have to leave my job. Now I am here in Delhi for ricksaw pulling and I also wasted my more than 2 years time at my home”. He is a graduate in political science. He is married and he has 8 members (3 daughters of 8, 12 and 15 years of age, wife, one youngest son and his parents) in his family. He is the only earning member in his family. All children are at home and they are not able to take proper education. The eldest girl is only 5th class pass. He was not willing to tell his story but when we explained our all concepts regarding the Rozgar Dhaba then he became easy to tell the story to us. He told that he was not poor. He was working with a factory in Kolkata as a supervisor. Continued… Life initiated as….. He initiated his life after doing 12th from his village. He went to town (Kolkata) for further study. At that time he has two daughters. He left and visited Kolkata. There along with study he also did work. He was helper in the company. After getting the experience he became supervisor. How life turned from supervisor to ricksaw puller is really thinkable. Some times he has to compromise his food and other basic necessity to send money to the family. But anyhow he did all the work and fulfilled the desire of his family. Although, he is not from a poor background even though, he has to go to Kolkata for work. This shows there was something which was became causal factor to migrate from one place to another in search of study and finally livelihood. As a supervisor he was getting Rs. 9000. Family back ground He has 15 acre land. From that only 7 acres was cultivable land. His father was taking care of all those property and he has distributed his land to other villagers for agriculture on share basis. He has a good house with normal facilities. He has some assets like cows and buffalos. Problem started:  As soon as he became the supervisor of the factory people started paying an eye on the lands of Manoj. His close relatives and other villagers started disturbing his father for land. Some people with the support of the local political party has encroached his lands. And this is the event which happened just 3 years back. So, he returned from his job to look in to the problem. He reported these things to the police but nothing happened. Again he knocked police but this time it also went waste. He now approached court and filed a case on other villagers and near relative for the encroachment and criminal activity created by the people. His all leave went waste. He applied for other leave but this time he did not get leave but a notice to join the factory in 15 days other wise he would be suspended. Same thing happened he lost his job and stayed on home for more than 2 years. Presently the case is in court and he is waiting for justice. Continued… From Kolkata to Bhagalpur and from Bhagalpur to New Delhi Due to make his family safe he has to leave his job. Manoj thought that since how many days he will be like this so he thought to earn because family condition was not good. ·          Children were not going to school. ·          He has to sell all jewels. ·          He spent all his savings. ·          Some land was not enough to take care of all kinds of needs. ·          At the time of illness it becomes very had to visit doctors. ·          He also started thinking that after 3-4 year he has to marry his daughter. What he will do that time? ·          Others... He left his home because one of the close relative from New Delhi has called him for the supervisor job. He visited Delhi. He couldn’t find the job. He has once found the job but he could not get leave to visit his home because he has to see his house as it is disturbed. Thinking on this entire thing he has now started pulling ricksaw. He is also looking some other job but the problem is same. He is not able to earn a sound income because he is uncertain about his life. He is also under employed. Thus this describes some political, social and also factory rules regulations which are obstacle of job. Lastly nothing is coming out from the court. In one line ‘justice delayed is justice denied.’

By Vinod Pandey & Subodh Kumar ( developed in 2008, during study on employment & unemployment situation in KTJJC slum, New Delhi)