n January 2004, the Government of announced its plan of Ideveloping Pushta, a strip of land on the banks of the Jamuna, Dreams Die First for Girls into a riverside promenade with parks and fountains which would be Fallouts of Eviction Operation in marketed as a major tourist attraction. At the time this plan was unveiled, Yamuna Pushta Pushta was home to over 30,000 working-class families. The  Jagori Research Team development scheme thus involved ‘relocating’ 75,000 people who had been occupying this land for over mercilessly beaten and chased away 1990 and before 1998 were eligible for three decades and, in the almost total by the police. Women and children a plot of 12.5 square metres. absence of public services, had were not spared and many were A survey conducted by the Delhi invested considerable resources in seriously injured. The ruined colony Development Authority (DDA) before making the colony livable. was then set on fire as residents tried the evictions recorded only 16,000 Despite determined efforts by the to save their belongings. The violence ‘genuine claimants’ for plots, while residents, campaigns by NGOs and continued long after the demolitions, newspapers reported around 35,000 community groups and appeals to the with police attacks on people as they families in residence, indicating that courts, the so-called Voluntary tried to retrieve their belongings or less than 50 per cent of the people Relocation Scheme went ahead. In scavenge for building materials in the living in Pushta were considered February and April 2004, homes and ruins of their homes. There were at eligible for relocation. community buildings along the banks least five deaths. Many people had lost their of the Yamuna were razed to the Resettlement plots were assigned documents in the fires that regularly ground in round-the-clock operations. only to those who could provide proof broke out in Pushta in the period The courts, which had refused to of residence in the form of a ration immediately before the eviction, some recognise the rights of the residents, card or a voter identity card. Those of which were deliberately caused in turned a blind eye to the violence that who had documentary proof that they attempts to force people to move out. followed. had been living in Pushta before 1990 Those who wanted to try and get The claim that families had were eligible for an 18 square metre duplicate documents did not get volunteered to relocate is not borne plot in the resettlement area, while enough time to do so. Kaleemun out by the facts. Residents, many of those who had been living there since Nisha, now living in Sherpur, told whom could not believe that a forced eviction could take place in the face of such widespread public protests, were taken unawares. They had not even removed their belongings and possessions from their homes when the demolition started. In many cases, children and old people were still inside when the houses were demolished. Fatima, now living in the Bawana Resettlement Colony, told us how her one-year-old child was sleeping in her house when it was being demolished. Fatima nearly lost her life in trying to save her child. The police cordoned off the area and men who rushed back from work when they heard that the demolitions had started were not allowed in to save their The evictions destroyed people’s lives families. Those who resisted were

12 MANUSHI researchers that her ration card had been burned in an earlier fire. Her new ration card was dated 1999 and made her ineligible for resettlement. Based on census, DDA, newspaper, and anecdotal figures, the Hazards Centre estimates that 27,000 families (1,35,000 people) were evicted, of which only 6000 families were resettled. The rest—over 1 lakh people—were left to fend for themselves.1 Plots allotted through the so- called Voluntary Relocation Scheme were priced at Rs.5,000-7,000 in Bawana, Holambi Kalan, Madanpur Khadar, and other resettlement colonies in Delhi. These rates were beyond the capacity of many old-time The board of the school stuck in an empty field after the demolition campaign residents of Pushta who were thus left out of the resettlement scheme. stay back in Delhi to save on attendants who have broken off the Many others were excluded on the transport, sleeping on pavements and latches on the cubicle doors and barge grounds of being Bangladeshis who coming back only on weekends. in when women are bathing, had managed to get false documents. What they earn is barely enough for ostensibly to check if they are Rafiya, who now lives in Bawana survival—saving is impossible. washing clothes on the sly. There are Resettlement Colony, was charged There has been a visible occasional reports of girls being with being a Bangladeshi and was deterioration in their standard of sexually abused by the toilet denied a plot. Ironically, her mother living. Those who owned pakka attendants. was allotted a plot in Bawana where houses in Pushta are now living in Health is another area of concern. Rafiya stays with her husband and shacks of mud and matting. Even There are some health centres run by children. basic requirements like water cannot NGOs but these only dispense The evictions and forced be taken for granted, since the medicines for common illnesses. There relocations destroyed people’s lives provision is much less than the need. are no doctors in the colony—health by removing them from their areas of There are only ten municipal water needs are met by the numerous work, cutting off their social networks points in the whole colony of nearly unregistered practitioners who deal and destroying the housing and 8,000 families and water supply is with emergencies as best they can. infrastructure they had invested their limited to less than an hour each day, Mobile Health Vans from the life’s savings in. that too in short bursts. There are six Directorate of Health Services make rare The impact on livelihoods is the public lavatory complexes visits and are equipped to treat only most visible outcome of the evictions. constructed by the MCD and run by minor diseases. For serious conditions The Bawana Industrial area has no contractors. These have a water and emergencies, people either go to industries to speak of. Most people supply, but are ill-maintained and the Maharishi Valmiki Hospital in travel to Delhi in search of uncertain unaffordable for many. Each visit to Bawana village (approximately 3 work opportunities as casual daily the toilet costs a rupee, while a bath kilometres from the colony or to wagers. What they earn is barely costs twice as much. If clothes are Loknayak Jai Prakash Hospital which sufficient for a meal and their travel washed in the bathroom, the is 35 kilometres from Bawana). to and from Bawana, which is about contractor charges Rs.5/-. The average Rationale for Our Study 75 kilometres from their earlier family that uses the facility would It was in May-June 2004 that we location in Pushta. Many of the men thus spend Rs.10/- to 15/- a day on first came to Bawana in search of the 1‘The Yamuna Pushta Evictions. What visits to the toilet complex. Apart from women whom we had met in Pushta happened to those who were not as- the expense, women are reluctant to during the campaign against signed plots?’ Hazards Centre, Decem- visit the public lavatory because of evictions, and who had been part of ber 2004 harassment and misbehaviour by the our research study on the condition

No.152 13 of migrant women workers in Delhi. Our first sight of Bawana was horrifying. The hundreds of people sitting on the bare ground amidst whatever possessions they had been able to salvage seemed too stunned to even grasp the extent of their dispossession. We ourselves were still dazed by the failure of the campaign to stop or even delay the evictions, and by the insensitivity of the Supreme Court to the rights of the residents of Pushta. As the months passed and people’s innate resilience began to assert itself, we began to hold small meetings with women and girls. One of the first things we were told at these meetings was that 300 children from Resettlement colony in Bawana the resettlement colony had been ongoing struggle of this and many 10-12 year group are still in school, thrown out of the Government other communities against forced while 50 per cent of girls in the 13-15 secondary school in Bawana village evictions, apart from its impact on the year group and 80 of all the girls in because they had failed their lives of these girls. the 16-18 year group have dropped examinations. There was a demand Our study sample included 35 out following the eviction. that we do something to help. girls in the age groups of 10-18 years The 16-year-old Nasreen says: We knew that the education of from the five blocks of the Bawana “Yahan padhai chhor kar ghar children in Bawana had been seriously Resettlement Colony. The girls baith gaye hain, ab jaise jaise bade affected by the evictions. Demolitions included in the study were at different honge to parivaarwale jaldi shaadi in Pushta were in full swing in March- levels of education (Primary kar denge. Padhte rehte to shayed April 2004 when children were Complete, Primary Ongoing, duswin tak padh lete aur jaldi shaadi preparing to appear for their annual Secondary Complete, Secondary nahi hoti. Isse to hamari puri zindagi exams. Over 500 children sat in a Incomplete, Senior Secondary par farq padh gaya.” (Now that we dharna before Rashtrapati Bhavan, Incomplete, Graduation Ongoing). have left school and are sitting at pleading for the President to Only girls who were earlier going to home, the family will try and get us intervene and stop the demolitions school in Yamuna Pushta were married off as soon as possible. If we until after their exams, but to no avail. included. Taking into consideration Even those children who managed to had stayed in school, there was a the fact that many responses could write the exams in the chaos had to chance that we could have studied drop out for a year, as there were no not be quantified, our questionnaire up to Class 10. The eviction has schools in the resettlement colony. As had an ethnographic section in changed my whole life.) things settled down and patterns addition to the demographic part. We The age factor also came up started emerging, it became obvious have also drawn on our informal repatedly in our interviews with the that there were a large number of out- conversations with girls and their girls, who are very aware that dropping of-school girls in the colony. parents, discussions at community out of school means an increased We decided to conduct a quick meetings and our own observations chance of an early marriage. study to expose the reality of the during our frequent visits to the Nazra, a 16-year-old girl, expressed situation concerning education in community. her predicament thus:“School bahut Bawana. Our motivation to do this Life Out of School door hain, aur school ki kitaben, study also came from our own We found that 15 out of our study dress aadi swayam lene padhte hain conviction that the way in which the sample of 35 girls have dropped out aur school ki fees bhi zyada hain. community addressed this issue was of school after coming to Bawana. It Lekin mere teen bhai padhte hain. something that could have a was the older girls who have been Gharwalon ki bhi majboori hain aur profound effect on the future of the most affected—all eleven girls in the woh hum nahi samjhenge to kaun

14 MANUSHI samjhega.” (The school is very far off and the fees are high. Books and uniforms are expensive too. My three brothers all go to school. My parents have their compulsions—if I don’t show understanding for them, who will?) Only one of the girls said that she was not interested in continuing her studies—all the others spoke wistfully of their desire to go back to school. Yet, most of the older girls we spoke to attempted to justify their parents’ decision to withdraw them. In a cruel irony, some were even proud of the fact that they had sacrificed their future for the sake of the family. There were other reasons too for discontinuation. As expected, the The primary school in Bawana inability to meet expenses and the need for girls to work to supplement bhi karte hain. Yahan par ladkiyan Older girls pay the price. Meena, the family income were most often akeli kahin nahin ja sakti hain.” 16 years old, states: “Mere Papa izzat mentioned. However, some children ( They keep staring at girls and making ke bhuke hain.” (My father is hungry specifically mentioned abuse and obscene remarks. Girls can’t go out for honour!”) humiliation from teachers and fellow alone in this place.) Nazra, 16, reports: “Ma ko dar tha students as reasons for dropping out. At the best of times, patriarchal ki koi ched na de kyunki izzat badi Older girls also contribute to their notions of women being the mushkil se banti hain.” (My mother parents’ economic activity by taking repositories of the “izzat” (honour) was afraid that someone would on the unpaid work within the house. of the family is used as justification harass me—it is very difficult to Pinky (age 14) says she had to drop for restricting the mobility of girls and safeguard one’s reputation.) out because there is no money at preventing them from straying into The fact that safeguarding the home. Both her brothers go to ‘unsuitable’ relationships. In a reputations of their daughters school—one has failed his exams this situation such as the Bawana impedes their education is of little year but has not been pulled out of community finds itself in, where all the concern to parents. school and continues to study. Both certainties of life have been The fifteen girls who have her parents go out to work. So, Pinky overturned, izzat is seen as the only dropped out face a bleak future, and is responsible for running the asset that remains and must be seem doomed to repeat the cycle of household. guarded at all costs. This has usually poverty and exclusion that has Jahana (age 13) is in the same been found to be the case in the destroyed their parents. Only nine out situation as Pinky. She feels that aftermath of other crisis situations of all the girls are in paid work. One there is pressure on girls to learn such as wars, communal conflicts, girl, who belongs to the Dholakwala housework because it is considered displacements and natural disasters. community of traditional entertainers, a virtue that makes it easier for girls When survival is at stake, has joined her family in performing and to acquire a good husband. communities react by curtailing and begging on the streets. Another girl Parents’ reluctance in continuing constraining the rights, privileges and has an occasional job as an assistant their daughter’s education has much entitlements of women and girls. The for the Polio Eradication Campaign. deeper roots. Parents who spoke to patriarchal urge to protect values and Five girls say they can do sewing and us said that Bawana is not like traditions from being swept away in embroidery but are not able to find Pushta—the mahol (environment) the turmoil is reinforced and justified any work. The nine girls who have here is unsafe and bad for girls. Girls by the changed economic found work make cheap bead jewellery too speak of the hostile atmosphere circumstances that make women’s at piece rates for local contractors. they face in the colony. labour a valuable commodity, None of them has ever been taught Julie, 17, remarks:“Ladkiyon ko exploitation, which is necessary for any special skills. The work is poorly dekhte rehte hain, aur gandi baatein survival. paid and insecure—an average day’s

No.152 15 work fetches barely Rs.10/- and even that is hard to come by since so many women compete for the same orders. Life for Girls in School Parveen, age 12, experienced humiliations by her teachers:“Khana dete hain to Madam bolti hain, dekho bhikhari jaise lagte hain, jaise kabhi khana nahin dekha.” (When they give us food, the teacher mocks us and says that we are like beggars who have never seen food before.) Shehnaaz, 11years old, reports similar happenings:“Yadi kabhi late ho jate hain to teacher humse ground ki safai karati hain. J.J.Colony ke bacche kehkar hamari beizzati karte hain.” (If we are late to school, the teacher makes us sweep the grounds. They humiliate us by Children of Bawana calling us slum children. are not very open in discussing such The evictee community is itself Classmates of Shabina, whose issues—they are subjected to not homogenous—caste biases and parents work as cleaners in the school beatings and physical violence by communal prejudices colour their where she studies, become quite male teachers. One child told us of an perceptions of their neighbours. The mean at times:“Tere Mummy-Daddy incident where a teacher hit a girl on community-specific clusters of to bhangi hain.” (Your parents are the chest. It is quite likely that girls Yamuna Pushta have been broken up low-caste sweepers.) who are keen on continuing their and previously isolated communities The twenty girls who are still in education would prefer not to speak live uneasily in close proximity in school are aged from 10 to 15. All of openly on the issue of sexual Bawana. them go to school in Bawana village, harassment in school, since it would The Mother of Rizwana puts the some in the MCD primary school and give their parents a reason for pulling blame on lower-caste children: the others in one or the other of the them out. “Dholakwalon ka gand phir se two private schools. Our Chanchal, 13, says:“Bus mein yahan pe daal diya hai. Inki conversations with them were gaon ke log hoten hain,woh chhed- ladkiyaan bahut kharab hain. Yeh punctuated with bouts of nostalgia chhad karte hain, kabhi hanste, Gujjar ladko ko kharab kar dete for the schools they had left behind kabhi ishare karte hain.” (The bus hain aur inke ladke baki dusre in Pushta. Given that the schools in is full of people from the village—they ladkiyon ko chedte hain.”(They Pushta no longer exist, we could not harass us by laughing and making have put these filthy Dholakwalas confirm their assertions that facilities rude gestures.) here again. Their girls are bad. They in the Bawana schools fell short of Shehnaaz, 11 years old, spoil the sons of the Gujjars and their what they were used to earlier. reports:“Conductor badtamizi karte sons tease our daughters.) However, our interviews revealed hain aur kaee baar hamare bache It is depressing to see that even one undoubted fact—children from hua paisa bhi wapas nahin karte in a situation where all communities the resettlement colony routinely …tuu-tadak kar ke baat karte hain.” are experiencing the same levels of face humiliation, abuse and ill (Conductors are rude and often deprivation and loss, it is girls and treatment not only from their do not even give us our change back. women who are blamed for creating classmates but also from their They speak to us with contempt.) insecurity and vitiating the teachers. While it certainly also Children, particularly girls, are atmosphere. The Dholakwalas, a reflects caste prejudice, most of the also targeted by people from Bawana community of Muslim traditional time it is contempt for their poverty village. Children are afraid to take the entertainers, are particular targets as that inspires this abuse. The violence bus to school because of harassment they are seen as living by a different is not only verbal—although the girls from passengers and conductors. set of rules. Girls from this community

16 MANUSHI are accused by others of being “immoral” and “spoiling” the local boys. The 14-year-old Meenu makes it clear:“Yahan par bahar jaane ka man nahi karta.” (I don’t feel like going out here.) Nasreen, whos age is not known, says:“School door parta tha. Bus mein bhi bheer hoti thi. Buswale bus stop par bus nahi rokte the. Aur bus mein Jat log aate the. Unka vyavahar theek nahi laga. Isliye school chhorna pada.” (The school was far away and the bus was crowded and did not stop for us. The Jats in the bus would misbehave with us. So I had to leave school.) Whatever the cause, there is no disputing the fact that the A small girl picks rags for family’s livelihood. environment in Bawana is unsafe for girls. The few older girls who continue legitimate suspicions of foul play in daughters at least 10 years of to go to school feel insecure and the minds of the children and their education. However, after coming to vulnerable. These are girls who have parents. In fact, most of the girls Bawana, this commitment has fought to stay in school—but after a covered in this study reported that definitely become much weaker. year of living in Bawana, facing they used to get good marks in their Rather, it would appear to be the harassment on the way to school and earlier school. The few report cards Government of , the Supreme humiliation in school, they are losing that have survived the eviction bear Court, the Municipal Corporation of their energy and motivation and are out this statement. Delhi and the privileged section of falling in line with their parents’ Will Dreams Survive? citizens that are reluctant to allow notions of ‘protection’. The Government of India is these girls to lead a life that is Some “supply-side factors” may proudly announcing at international different from that of their parents. also be involved. Enquiries about local meetings that it is very close to the How else can one explain the schools and interactions with parents goal of universalisation of education. prioritising of a tourist promenade revealed that there is a very real Our study exposes the hollowness over housing for legitimate citizens? resentment against children from How else can one justify the of this claim. The fact that they are Bawana in local schools. Apart from quashing of the petition by Yamuna not so visible after being pushed to social prejudices, teachers also said Pushta residents praying for a stay the margins of the City does not that the sudden influx of children from of eviction until their children could change the reality that the girls in the resettlement colony had placed complete their final examinations? this study are as much the the already limited infrastructure How else can one justify the fact under strain. responsibility of the Government of that the Municipal Corporation of Capacity limitations of local India as children living in a posh Delhi knew that these children are schools in Bawana may also be behind colony of South Delhi. being relocated to Bawana, and yet the high failure rate of children from Neither is it true that poor did not make a move to set up the resettlement colony in the last parents do not want to send their schools in the resettlement colony examination. The report cards of the girls to school—this may have been or increase the capacity of existing children who have failed appear to true ten years ago, but it is not the local schools? The prejudice and have been filled in very carelessly— case now. The families covered in aggression of the local residents of in many cases, marks for individual this study are convinced of the Bawana village is matched by the subjects have not been recorded, and benefits of educating girls. While in silence and unconcern of those the word “Failed” has been scrawled Pushta, they were confident that living in the distant colonies of roughly across the report card, raising they would be able to give their Delhi—for both, the children of the

No.152 17 resettlement colony are not worth sath khelte nahin hain. Woh that girls who have dropped out are their concern. hamare sath baithna bhi pasand doing. All the girls we spoke to had nahi karte hain.” (I don’t have any These girls are only a drop in the dreams of a different life – but after friends in my new school. They ocean—they represent the millions of one year in Bawana, these are discriminate against us because we children who have lost the dying. The evictions have had a are from the JJ colony – they don’t opportunity for education as a result major impact on the girls’ self-image play with us or even sit next to us.) of eviction and displacement. It is a and self-esteem. The loss of Given the economic pressures, tragic irony that their right to economic status and the the insecure environment, the risks education has been violated by the humiliation attached to living in a of violence and the need for girls’ same State that is charged with resettlement colony rather than in a labour, it is very likely that not all protecting and ensuring that right.  ‘decent’ locality like Pushta is the girls at present attending school keenly felt. They no longer have the in Bawana will complete twelve JAGORI is a Delhi-based women’s confidence that they can make years of schooling. Even if they do, resource centre, which has been anything of their lives. this education will not increase their working for more than two decades Khushboo, age 12, employability or chances of earning on issues of women’s rights. This article remarks:“Mere school mein naye a higher income. The available work is based on a study carried out dost nahin bane hain kyunki woh opportunities are all in low-paid, by the JAGORI Research Team. For JJ colony ke bacchhon ke sath insecure and unskilled or semi- the full report in , contact bhed-bhav karte hain,woh hamare skilled sectors. These are the jobs

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