POVERTY THREATENS SOMBARI OF HER THIRD CHILD
NUAPADA: Penury and poverty had snatched Sambari and her husband Nabin Patel of their two child and they had pinned their hope on the only surviving child now suffering from problem with his excretory system. While the first child of the couple had died one month after birth of some unknown disease, the second offspring died barely five days after birth. And now the third child, a son, lovingly named as Gyanadas by his parents is struggling for survival as the couple are making a valiant attempt to keep him alive to ensure that the legacy lives on.
A marginal farmer of village Birunpadar in Konabera Gram Panchayat of Komna Block of this backward district under KBK region, Nabin depends on rain for cultivation. Already grieving at the loss of their two earlier children, they had little to rejoice when Gyandas was born as two days after his birth they found his stomach bloated and no discharge of excreta. And with it began their numerous trips to hospitals from the CHC at the Block Headquarters to District Headquarter Hospital at Nuapada to a private hospital in Raipur in Chattisgarh since the place is located 125 kms from Nuapada.
At Raipur, the doctors diagnosed the problem of Gyandas and performed an operation three months after his birth which cost the couple Rs. 25,000. But their ordeal did not end there as the doctors advised for one more surgery to set things right completely which would cost the couple another Rs. 50,000. With no more money to carry on with the treatment, both Sambari and Nabin are back at their village leaving the fate of their child unto God.
Although Komna Block Chairman Bhaktaram Sabar and Block Development Officer Biswaranjan Nayak visited the village, they only assured them of aid about which they are not sure. And while the couple await help, the child wreathes in pain every time he excretes into an attachment fitted to his stomach.

“RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY…LITTLE JOHNY WANTS TO READ”
SONEPUR: “Rain, rain go away, Come again another day, Little Johny wants to play, Rain, rain go to Spain, Never Show your face again”. This may be popular nursery rhyme and continues to be shrouded in controversy with line of the rhyme changing and reflecting the bitterness between England and Spain. But for the students of Saradhapali Upper Primay School, the rhyme holds true excepting that Little Johny wants to study rather than play in.
Today the 200 odd students enrolled in the school today learn in open after the roof of their school got blown up in the summer storm. And this then the school is also entwined in problem with the DRDA and SSA putting the onus on each other for the repair of the school even as it the education which has taken a backseat.
Located barely seven kilometers from here, both the students and the teachers reach school in time but instead of class room they sit outside the school with their bags marking the beginning of the school. The school had six rooms with asbestos roof and five out it does not have roof today after being blown up by the summer storm. The only room which has a roof has official documents and other materials which cannot be stored in open. And this forced the students to pursue education under the shade of the Mango tree outside the classrooms and little rain forces the teachers to suspend the class for the day.
Although much is being said about Universalisation of Education and construction of additional classroom under SSA, the fate of the school remain unchanged. Villagers said that even though they have apprised the district administration about the school and requested for construction of classrooms, no action has yet been taken. While District Project Co-ordinator, SSA, Sarat Chandra Mohanty said that replacing the roof is the responsibility of the DRDA, Project Director DRDA, Shyam Sundar Nayak said that the district administration is aware of the problem and Block Development Office has been asked to submit the estimate for repair of the school. Moreover, he said that SSA has been asked to provide new class rooms for the students.

EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS A FAR CRY
SAMBALPUR : SSA ensures that every child with special needs, irrespective of the kind, category and degree of disability, is provided meaningful and quality education. Thus, SSA has adopted a zero rejection policy. This means that no child having special needs should be deprived of the right to education and taught in an environment, which is best suited to a child’s learning needs. These include special schools, EGS, AIE of even home-based education.
Sambalpur district had 3842 physically challenged below the age of 18 years and 344 among them have been provided with aids and appliances in the year 2007-08.
Sources in the District Project Office of Sarva Sikhya Abhiyan (SSA) said that diabled children under SSA are provided with aids and appliances as per provision in the Integrated Education for Disabled (IED). From among the 3678 disabled aged between 6-14 years 3266 are being provided with education. However, out of the 3266 disabled, 57 have been handed over tricycle, 76 distributed with wheel chair, 53 have been given Crutches, 158 provided with hearing aid. Yet a lot of physically challenged children continue to deprieved of aids and appliances making coping with life difficult for them leave aside pursing education.
Those who can manage to spare time carry their children to schools but things are different for the hearing impaired children who hardly end up learning anything withouth hearing aids. These problems coupled with indifferent attitude of the Project officials has left as many as 412 children with special needs (CWSN) out of school.
But the adoption of a zero rejection policy of SSA has been defeated with the denial of CWSN in to the formal elementary schooling And till such time the multi-model of educating CWSN is not implemented, the Universalisation of Elementary Education (UEE) under SSA remains a far cry.

GIRLS SCHOOL OPERATING SINCE LAST 39 YEARS SANS BUILDING
SAMBALPUR: Ever heard of a mobile school which gas to change premises even after 39 years since it came into existence. Even as Chief Minister declared sops for teachers on Teachers’ Day, education continues to suffer in absence of infrastructure. Although the much-hyped SSA promises a lot, visit to Balibandha Girls’ High School (BGHS) presents a dismal picture.
Situated in the premises of Parsuram Mishra Institute of Advanced Studies (PMIAS) in Sambalpur town, the 39 years old school lacks own building besides no adequate classrooms for the students. Surprisingly, due to lack of classroom the teachers are forced to take classes under trees in the PMIAS premises. The PMIAS authorities have provided only two rooms for functioning of the school. Add more to the woes, Class IX and Class X are running in a single room with plywood partition in the middle. And students and teachers as well have to face difficult times as noise erupted from both the classes create disturbances in study.
Of the total 332 students in BGHS, 84 students are studying in Class X, 112 girls are pursuing their study in Class IX whereas there are 136 students in Class VIII. Interestingly, Class VIII has been divided into three sections while two sections each have been created in Class IX and Class X in pen and paper. Actually, there is no section in any classes of BGHS due to lack of classrooms. However, the students have to face problems a lot during the periods of optional subjects due to inadequate classrooms. The helpless teachers are forced to take optional classes under the trees to carry on the timely completion of courses.
It all began when the school was started in 1968 Bijepur now in Bargarh district. But in absence of much of students, it was shifted to Sambalpur in 1968 and the classes were held in the morning in the Lady Lewis Girls’ School (LLGS) to ensure that the curriculum of the host school is not disturbed. It was named Balibandha Girls’ High School (BGHS) till LLGS had problems as classes are held early in the morning during summer and BGHS was shifted to Patnagarh Palace. After operating here for sometime the building was found tobe unsafe and the school was again shifted to rented premises in Mudipada. At long last it was resettled in the PMIAS in 1992 and since then it has been operating here. However, now the PMIAS has expressed its desire to use the two rooms it had handed over to the school, the school is on look out for a new premise.
And while the school remains on its toes, the school authorities have suspended the classes of Class VII and IX keeping an eye on the Pre-test examination of Class X, which started on Thursday.
Contacted Headmistress Surekha Mishra of the BGHS said we have suspended the classes unwillingly due to shortage of classrooms for conducting the examination. She said that it was difficult to teach students under tree, yet they have no other way out. Repeated efforts to contact CI of School Prakash Joshi provided futile as his mobile phone no. 9437963176 remained switched off all the time.

INDUSTRIALISATION TAKES TOLL ON EDUCATION
Khinda (SAMBALPUR): It has all the signs of being a school. Children sitting on a pencil and written bodly is Sarva Sikhya Abhijan (SSA). The classrooms are also aptly named Mahatma Gandhi Kakhya, Gopabandhu Kakhya and Veer Surendra Sai while the fourth room is meant for the Principal of the school.
But as you enter the Matlu Camp Upper Primary School at Matlu Camp housing displaced families of Talabira Coal Mines – 1 of Hindalco in one room tenements in village Khinda you are welcomed by lines of under garments and socks kept for drying in the sun while lines of shoes adorn the verandah. And as you enter the classrooms you are greeted not by students but by security guards of Hindalco, 45 of whom have made the school their barrack and mess since January 18, 2006. All the 51 students of the school have been shifted to Munda Pada EGS School nearby where 31 more students, from about 30 dalit families, of the EGS Centre jostle for space. But that is not the end of the whole universalisation of education programme of the state. The EGS centre neither has drinking water nor sanitation facility and students from class 1 to 5 of both the schools sit in the same hall where the teacher of EGS Centre Daitari Rout and Headmaster in-charge of the UP School Rudrani Padhi find it a tough job to reach out to the students. The two teachers are assisted by two girls who have been rendering their services free of cost at the instance of the Village Education Committee to pacify the students while the teachers teach a particular class.
While both Rout and Padhi admitted that they face a tough time teaching students of a class with other students creating disturbance having to sit idle, Rout said that when they were displaced from the school they were assured that it was a temporary arrangement and that they would be provided with a bigger school building. Refusing to disclose the name of the officials who had assured them, he said that there was little he could do to improve the situation.
But with the land on which the school existed having been acquired by major aluminium maker HINDALCO there is little the children can do. And with the villagers claiming that no site selection has yet been done for the proposed new school building before the lengthy process begins, the school has become permanent barrack for the security guards while the students will continue to be herded like cattle in their bid to become literate.

CHILDREN ATTEND SCHOOL AT THE COST OF THEIR LIVES !

SAMBALPUR: Ever day after her child leaves for school Pushpalata Mishra of Sambalpur town spends the entire anxiously till her child is back home safely. And she is not worried about her child getting kidnapped or her inability to complete her homework, but thevan in which she travels. The van in which Pushapalata sends her child to school is run on LPG and she is apprehensive about the impending danger. But with no other alternative, she had little options about the transportation of her only child to school.And the tense moments Pushpalata spends at home till her child is back home is not a solitary case. There are numerous parents who seem to have been caught between the deep sea and the devil. With the schools not having transportation arrangement of their own, the parents are forced to fall back on private transportation arrangement who have been using LPG cylinders to run vehicles, mostly van, crammed with children. To add to the woes, the roads are uneven with potholes dominating the arterial roads and there is every possibility of the van and the auto rickshaws which on these arterial roads meeting with some kind of accidents or the other.Carrying school children in vans fitted with domestic LPG cylinders has become a lucrative business for the vehicle owners of the town. As use of LPG cylinder is heavily subsidized it is cost effective for the vehicle owners who prefer it against normal fuel to earn easy bucks. These used vehicles mostly unfit which are procured from New Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh and Raipur are put in such business offering fast money at the cost of children who travel in these vans. Even they cut down their expenditure on driver and keep inexperienced drivers, who are not only harsh to the children but drive speedily. And coupled with open use of domestic LPG Cylinders by hotels and restaurants, it is the common men who have to shell out Rs. 500 for each LPG cylinder with the dealers also running out of stock of LPG giving them an equal opportunity to make quick money.Contacted Regional Transport Officer, Ramesh Chandra Sai said that he had undertaken a drive and had fined four vehicles for using LPG cylinder. Informing that even vehicles with private registration are being used to ferry students, he lamented that it was the parents who opposed the action on the plea that their children were late in reaching school. He however, assured that once the ongoing school examination is over, he would heavily penalize those running school vans and deploy squads in school to nab vehicles once the children are dropped at school.

SCHOOLS REOPEN, BUT NO SIGHT OF TEXT BOOKS
SAMBALPUR: Although the schools have reopened after prolonged summer vacation, it has failed to enthuse the students back to their schools with no sight of text books which would evoked interest in them. This has led to widespread resentment among the students, their parents and school teachers even though 53 per cent of the required books from Class I to Class VII has been received while no text books for Class VIII has reached. While text books from Class I to Class VII is distributed free of cost to all students by the State Government, in Class VIII, students belonging to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes besides all girl students are provided with free books while general caste have to make payment for the text books. Ironically, the books are available in open market and on sale by book sellers selling Oriya books along the road side in the town.
Sources said that at least 6,41,863 text books is required from Class I to Class VII in the district. However, till now 3,40,121 including stock of 19,071 books has been distributed among the students. In Dhankauda Block, which also includes Sambalpur Municipal limits, of the required 1,68,520 text books, 81,300 books has been distributed, in Rengali Block against a requirement of 58,078 text books, 37,260 books has been disbursed, in Maneswar Block against 56,206 text books only 34,426 despatched to various schools. Similarly in naxal infested block of Jujumura, Rairakhol, Naktideul, Jamankira and Kuchinda Blocks of the district, against requirement of 2,83,014 text books, only 1,47,501 text books has been distributed. Likewise in Bamra Block of the required 76,228 text books, only 34,906 has been despatched to various schools in the Block.
Contacted District Project Director, SSA, Premanidhi Seth said that the Director of Text Book Production and Marketing, Cuttack has communicated that steps were being taken to deliver the balance required books at Block Resource Centres (BRCs) of the district. No sooner we receive it we will distribute it, he added. However, he was unsure about when the books would reach the BRCs.

NEONATAL DEATHS IN ORISSA HIGHER THAN NATIONAL AVERAGE
SAMBALPUR: Even as poor healthcare, lack of infrastructure and superstitious beliefs put the lives of 1.2 million infants at risk, every year, the World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) is being observed from August 1 to 7. The theme of this year WBW is "Breastfeeding in the 1st hour, early initiation and exclusive breast-feeding can save more than one million babies”. The WBW is celebrated to provide opportunity to inform people of the benefits that early and exclusive breastfeeding provides to both families and nations.
Recently there has been some good news on rates of breastfeeding. A recent study has shown that if all women began breastfeeding within the 1st hour it would save one million of the 4 million newborn deaths.
In India, 2,50,000 neonates can be saved from death annually by just this one act. Initiation of breastfeeding within the first hour of birth is thus, the first and most vital step towards reducing infant and under-five mortality. India has a present rate of 43 neonatal deaths per 1,000 live births, a slight improvement since 1996 when the rate was 47 deaths per 1,000 children.
Among all the Indian states, Kerala comes closest to the world standard with neonatal deaths standing at 10 per 1,000 live births. States such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra are showing a declining trend. However, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, continue to show a high trend by maintaining a rate above the national average.
Every newborn, when placed on the mother’s abdomen, soon after birth, has the ability to find its mother’s breast all on its own and to decide when to take the first breastfeed. This is called the ‘Breast Crawl’. It is nature’s miraculous way of initiating breastfeeding.
But changing role of women as contributor to the family income both in urban and rural areas are forcing women to deprieve the child of its right of being breast feed. This apart superstitions in rural areas that the initial milk contains germs and hence the new born should not be breastfed, and ignorance of the mother who feel that breast would lactate on its own and the child need not suckle continues to act as impediments. The challenge we face is to find creative and convincing ways at the community level to encourage breastfeeding and to provide them with solid evidence of the advantages of breastfeeding.

HOPING AGAINST HOPE UTSARGA SHOWS THE WAY
SAMBALPUR : She had grew up in an orphanage and had never in her dream ever imagined that she would land up in a respectable job in the society. But today Nilima Jhankar is a role model and inspiration for numerous inmates of the orphanages as she is working as nursery teachers in a Public School here.
Having grown up in an district's orphanages which offers only Rs 7 a day to meet food expenses of every child, Nilima and many like her breathed a fresh whiff of air when an initiative called 'Special Attention Programme on Health and Education' was conceived in the year 2005. "We wanted to give them a dream - a new life," says Sudhir Pujari of Utsarga, who now heads this initiative. Supported by New Delhi based SMILE foundation, the project works to improve the health and education standards in the four Sambalpur orphanages - Dhankauda Balashram, Dhankauda Kanyashram, Rukmini Devi Bal Niketan and Dr Issac Santra Bal Niketan.
The project came into existence when Utsarga in a study found that the condition of the orphanages were in deplorable conditions. While 25 children shared 11 beds in a single asbestos roofed room on Dhankuada, the situation of other orphanages were no better. The children inmates were plagued with malnutrition, underweight, anemia and looked diseased and rickety. "It was a horrifying and inhuman sight” recalls Sudhir. He informed that the children read in nearby schools and going to school was a daily chore as none in the orphanages were educated enough to guide the children.
And with the schools remaining closed in absence of teachers for about six months in a year in Dhankauda and Chachanpali, it was difficult for the students to pass even as they dropped out gradually. But with the launching of the project things looked up. It began with health camps and organizing tuition for the children, said Utsarga Co-ordinator, Rudra Narayan Mishra. The prescription and advice of the doctors were followed strictly and in the first three months itself, there were visible change.
The tuitions also saw drop out children resume their education prompting Utsarga to extend their intervention with Smile Foundation extending its support. A strategic action plan was worked out to boost their personalities besides health and education. Elaborating on their experience Mishra and Sudhir said that as the children were undisciplined and rude, they developed rapport with them and tried to understand their problem. Regular interaction revealed that the children had potential but had resigned to their fate. Although it was an uphill task Utsarga Volunteers achieves the desired goal step by step bringing back 161 children back to books.
Bishhnupriya Kunar of the Dhankauda Kanyashram had stopped pursuing education after failing to clear matriculation examination. Five years later she is preparing for her examination again and is hopeful this time. Similarly, Parvati Dhala and Nilima Sahu had failed Class 12 examination till Utsarga changed their lives forever as they scored more than 50 percent.
And with Utsarag also managing to rope in people's participation, the wretched places has been replaced as fun-schools with drawing, singing, debates, essay-writing, personality building workshops, laughter sessions being organized about which the children had never heard about.
examinations," she adds. She got a moral boost from the Utsarga volunteers to start studying. Four years ago Nilima wanted to end her life, today she is economically independent and dares to dream. Her success in life has opened up new vistas and avenues as Utsarga volunteers work overtime to identify hidden talent and groom the child accordingly to ensure that he is rid of helplessness. Take for instance the case of Debatos Sahu. He had an interest in electrical works and was hence sent to an electrical contractor in Keonjhar, who had promised a salary of Rs 2,000 a month. But, soon his love for the place brought him back. Finally, Debatos was sent to driving school and it ended with the institute offering him a post of instructor not out of mercy but sheer talent. And Sudhir is right in his observation when he said “its just the beginning”.

First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink,

then the drink takes you. ~ Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald

LIQUOR SPELL DOOM FOR SLUMDOG PAUPERS OF BOLANGIR TOWN
The first thing in the human personality that dissolves in alcohol is dignity. And it becomes evident as every morning the streets of Bolangir town are taken over by children of Chamarpara in Bolangir’s Shudhpara slum area who move around with bags to shine shoes of people. The bags are the one they once took books to schools but carry brush and polish today. The very fact that no Chamar children of the Bolangir town have crossed high school level of education speaks volumes about they way life is for these children.
Chamars or the cobblers, is a dalit community, and one of the prominent constituents of beneficiaries in all the high profile development projects that come to this much popular KBK region. Trapped inside abject poverty and penury with hopes of its receeding a distant dream, the Chamars of Bolangir town, are suffering not because they are not earning but because they are illiterate and addicted to country liquor. A visit to the Chamarpada and you are welcomed by the smell of country liquor which fills the air besides pouring from each mouth one talks to.
Today, there condition can be rightly summed up as Danny McGoorty has said “I realized that what I had turned out to be was a lousy, two-bit pool hustler and drunk, I wasn't depressed at all. I was glad to have a profession”. “We cannot manage without drinking because our occupation is such”, said Dingra Meher who is finding it hard to shift to other occupation after having carried on with the trade through generation. Education has never been a priority to them which squeezes the opportunity for shifting trade for the Chamar children further.
But there is along story behind the children not going to school which finds its antecedent to tension between two communities. And surprisingly, it continues till date and no steps have yet been initiated to improve the situation. Recalling about the incident some 13 years back Bhima Meher said that he was regularly beaten by his teacher regularly after children of harijan community complained that he was freely mingling with them in the class. And Bhima’s effort to pursue education ended then and there. At that time he was studying class two and the simmering tension and difference between the two communities haunts them till date. Bhima has now taken to his family occupation of ‘shoe polish’ and earns about 30 to 40 rupees a day.
But it is not just the discrimination which has kept the children away from school. A closer look at the entire scenario holds the liquor shop located between Bolangir’s Chamarpara and Shudhpara Primary School responsible for the blockade of futureof the children. With parents said to be the first teachers of a child, the children take to drinking quite early in their lives and try to be macho back in their slum.
Admitting the fact, Nabaghana Meher, (25), the highest educated boy of the Chamarpara trying to reform things, said that since children those who go to school also work before and after their school and earn half the amount of their parent, access to money is easier for them. Pointing out that big size of family also force this children to contribute to family income, he said that the children too get addicted to liquor easily. Moreover, even if they save it is snatched by their father to drink.
While attempts to shift the liquor shop that exists in between Chamar children and their school have ended in a naught, there is need for the state government to decide whether its decision to promote liquor in such sensitive areas, all in the name of earning revenue is justified or not.

LET THEM BE HEARD
Sambalpur : Twelve year old Sanjukta (name changed) was a intelligent students and a good singer. But a tour with his uncle changed her life and now she is recuperating from behavioural disorder. Children across the nation seem to be at the cross road. From submissive little chaps to being aggressive and demanding, children have finally caught the attention of society and Behaviourists through out the globe. Haunted by paedophilia, lack of socialization, impact of television and modernization, they have turned been displaying behavioural change which needs to be contained to ensure that they do not end up as aggressive and destructive adults.
Child sexual abuse occurs in three ways typically: incestuous abuse (i.e. by family members of victims), sexual abuse by strangers, and child prostitution. But families often chooses to 'resolve' the issue privately even as the incident might leave a traumatic experience resulting in long-term psychological effects. The victim develops an inner sense of guilt and depression, which may have long-lasting effects on her personality development. To add to the woes the laws dealing with sexual offences do not specifically address child sexual abuse.
Apart from this lack of socialization opportunity and failure of parents to spend time with their children and understand them has led modern day children react badly to situations and parents. What causes aggression? It can be biological or could be triggered by environmental factors. Like verbal or physical abuse of children by a parent, teacher, or peer and the exposure of children to violence. It's the way the world is going: increased consumerism, the breakdown of family, the unbearable pressure of competition and the impact of the media.
Moreover, with parents imposing upon their views upon the children and refusing to hear them hurting their self-esteem children end up getting aggressive and it is carried till their adulthood, said Dr. Chapala Mishra, Headof Department of Psychology, G M College here. The whole world of children -- from toddlers to teens -- can go off its axis with the tiniest of nudges, she added. Dr. Mishra also stressed on gender role and said that children whether it is a girl child or a boy child should be allowed to grow freely and behaviour should not be typified for girl child. Citing recent studies by Behaviourists, she informed that encouragment and reward has been found to be more effective than punishment among children.
Another disturbing trend has been sexualisation of children’s attire which is making them grow up before time. Decades back fashion entered life around the same time as pimples. But today pink dress and navy blue pants have been replaced by Spaghetti straps, mini skirts and in its process has taken the innocence out of kids’ clothing. Study conducted by VIMHANS suggest that children between age group of 10-13 are in overdrive and by the age 14 or 15 this generation has already started experimenting with sex or at least has clear idea about sexuality.
Today there's less parenting and more pampering. Earlier, there was less pressure on parents to talk and explain things Children now are becoming inquisitive and parents need to give them more time. It becomes worse when progressive parents want to be "friends" with their children but suddenly revert to being parents when they find their authority is in question. So next time you interact with your child let them be heard. To quote the Chilean Poet, Gabriel Mistral: " We are guilty of many errors and many faults but our worst crime is abandoning our children, neglecting the fountain of life. Many of the things we need can wait. The child cannot."

NAXALS GROOMING BAL MILITIA
Sambalpur : The presence of 10 to 12 children with a group of about 60 naxalite in the villages of of Kishinda, Pithouguda, Dhalapur, Luisingh and few other village under Kishinda Police Station late on Thursday night has confirmed the grooming of military wing of children called ‘Bal Militia’ and holding of ‘Bal Sangham’ to indoctrinate children and train them in handling arms. The children in school uniform are then used by the ultras to target unsuspecting policemen as the children in uniform do not arouse suspicion. Although reports of increasing use of child soldiers have been reported from neighbouring Chhatisgarh, it is for the first time that the disturbing fact has been acknowledged in the region. Besides fighting alongside their grown up comrades, many are indirectly involved and are used as decoys, or to spot movement of security forces, transport ammunition, for money laundering and cooking.
In fact in Jagdalpur district of Chhatisgarh, Police had tracked two girls aged about 14 to 15 years who were found hiding after an encounter with naxals in village Dhanora. The girls were not well trained and started crying thinking they would be shot by the police. Investigation revealed that they had been picked up by the naxals from the school and forced to join the cadres. Even back home Sundargarh district, one Birsa Munda had surrendered to the police on May 27, 2005 and is now under the care of the police after he apprehended of being kidnapped back by the naxals operating from the Saranda forest. And barely a couple of months after this 15-year-old boy surrendered, another girl Kanduri Lohar alias Madhuri surrendered to Sundargarh Police on August 8, 2005. Madhuri was forcibly picked up from Sagjodi bazaar and has since been married off to one Arjun Mahato of Bondamunda near Rourkela with effort of the then Sundargarh SP Y K Jethwa.
While the police continue to underplay and deny the growing tentacles of the naxals in villages and use of children, there is no denying of the fact that their number has been growing not only in the state but across the globe. UNICEF estimates that globally 2,50,000 children have been recruited as soldiers in various capacities. Similarly a report of the International Committee of the Red Cross mentions that speaks about the armed children and the threat they pose to themselves and others after they are plied with alcohol and drugs to incite them to violence and fearlessness.
Admitting the growing use of children by the naxals, Dr. Rajat Kujur, who has to his credit of producing the only Doctoral thesis on growing naxalism in India with special focus on Orissa, said that there are two reasons – socio-economic and strategy - for induction of children into the ranks and files of the naxals. He said that curiosity, poverty, lack of education and opportunities, livelihood insecurity push children into joining the ultras. This apart, he said that he found that naxalite draw heavily from the LTTE. Since use of children has been tested successfully by the Tamil Tigers in their strategy, the naxals are also banking upon children heavily. Besides consuming less, they are obedient and lashed with drugs and alchohol are also fearless.
And while even the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has been accepting the growing naxals menace as a socio-economic problem and not law and order as is being envisaged by the police, the closing down of EGS centers in naxal infested areas has come as boon for the naxalites active in the region. District Project Co-ordinator Manoj Kumar Mohanty informed that 234 EGS Centre have been closed in the district and more are likely to be closed. Even the naxal infested areas have not been spared and while in Jujomura Block 20 EGS Centre has been closed down, 22 have been shut down in Rairakhol, 16 in Naktideul Block, 23 each in Jamankira and Kuchinda Block and 3 in Maneswar Block.
Simiarly in naxal infested Deogarh district 219 out of 276 EGS Centre have been closed down. While 73 has been closed down in Barkote Block, 69 and 72 have been shut down in Reamal and Teliebani Block respectively.
And with more opportunities, education and recreation being mooted by Child Right activists across the country to check children getting drifted towards insurgency, it is time the government should sit up and work out strategies to stop this alarming trend.