The Weekly
Observer Volume 14 | Issue 6
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
At least 11 women are molested in Bangalore every week.
Bureaucratic games keep villagers without ration cards
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Stolen bikes cause Namma Metro scheme to hit the skids
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Runaway children caged, abused and abandoned Shruti Suresh Children who ran away from a government home were being locked up every day by staff. At least 20 children at the govt home developed a skin allergy which wasn’t cured despite taking medicines. Aslam, 12, said, “I have the infection for past one month. The doctor here gave some pills but it didn’t help.” According to Rahim, 10, “The infection has spread to the entire body of two other children.” Mohit, 12, said: “We are not happy with the food. We are given insufficient rice and sambhar is watery.” At least eight children worked in the kitchen and swept the courtyard. Prem, 14, said: “The kitchen staff used to come and cook only breakfast. Nowadays, they don’t come.” Prem added: “We are supposed to speak to our parents every Saturday, but they don't allow us to call them. Even if our parents call us, they won’t let us attend the call.” Weekly Observer reporters visited the home just days before the children ran away.
They revealed incidents like the children being locked up after lunch till 4 PM, to reduce responsibility of the staff. Mani, 15, an inmate for the past four months, said: “This happens so that we won't run around in the courtyard as it becomes difficult for them to handle us.” Mani said: “After the incident in August when a 13year-old rescued child was mercilessly beaten up using rods by the caretaker for not washing toilets, the staff is very careful since that caretaker was arrested.” A parent said: “One more child had tried escaping on Sunday night but injured himself after getting caught in the fence. The child said that they were living without proper food, drinking water and toilets. The children are made to clean toilets and are mistreated when they don’t comply.” On contacting Shakeela, mother of one of the kids, she said: “Raju left home to work, about two years back. He used to call us from where he was working. But for the past four months we had not heard from him.” According to the Wilson Garden Police, efforts to
Children at Government Shelter Home for Boys search for the runaways were on-going but none of the 18 children could be traced since they ran away on Sunday.
According to Gurumurthy, 50, who is working as an aid to provide foreign education to the students at the shelter home: “There
are six security guards assigned during the night. But instead of doing their duty, they go to their quarters.”
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Deadline extended for CCTV installation in schools Samreen Tungekar Schools have been given an extended deadline of two months to install CCTV cameras. In the recent meeting held with the Commissioner for Public Instruction, schools requested the deadline be extended to the next academic year as they are falling short of funds. Mohammad Mohsin, Commissioner for Public Instruction, said, “In the meeting, we have told schools to implement the other guidelines in 15 days, but for installing CCTV cameras we have extended it to two months.” He said: “If we keep extending deadlines, there will be no seriousness left. This is a grave matter, and the Vibgyor High rape case is not the only reason behind it. There have been incidents after that as well like the Anekal rape case, the HSR layout case where a 10-year-old girl was raped. “I had a meeting with the group of schools that have gone to the High Court and told them that they have to do it not only
for the safety of children, but also for the management. At least it will be easier to find out who is responsible for a certain incident if there is a CCTV camera,” he added. Mr. Nagesh, a CCTV camera dealer in Bangalore, said that the cost of installing approximately 50 cameras in a school would cost about 5 lakhs. “We pay an annual fee of about 1.2 lakhs. There should be cameras installed in schools,” said Rohan Daniel, brother of Rahool Daniel, who studies in Amaatra Academy. Veena Murthy, mother of Ninad Murthy who studies in the 10th standard of National Hill View Public School, said that his annual fee is 1.3 lakhs. “The amount needed to install cameras is equivalent to the fees of a couple of students. It is a one-time investment, schools should do it,” she added. Ninad said that the school has 2-3 cameras. According to the State Crime Records Bureau, 111 cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual
Mohammad Mohsin, Commissioner, Public Instruction Offences (POCSO) Act have been registered this year till August, out of which 33 cases have been registered in the month of August itself, like the rape case of the 9-year-old blind girl in a government school and the 65-year old shop owner raping a 10-year-old differently-able girl. S.R.S. Nadhan, Senior Assistant Director and Private Secretary of Commissioner for Public Instruction, said:"In the meeting held on Sept 3 with
the Commissioner for Public Instruction and the departments, schools put forth the problem of financial constraints and said that they need some time to install CCTV cameras. They want the deadline to be extended to the next academic year." He said: “Maybe they want to do this in order to include the expenditure in their fee structure. We cannot allow such an extension, and so we have given them two months’ time for the
same.” Most of the schools like St. Joseph’s Indian High School and Sophia High School have adhered to having the Five Member Safety Committee set up, as asked by the government. V. Ramesh, Block Education Officer, North Block, said: “We have 508 schools in our block, and almost all of them have formed the committee. “They have to give us follow-up reports once in 15 days.”
At least 11 women molested in Bangalore every seven days Saheli Sen Gupta Bangalore’s City Crime Records Bureau (CCRB) records show that 372 molestation cases were registered between January and August 2014. Even with two allwomen police stations and increased police patrolling, crime rates in the city seem surprisingly unaffected. Barnali Moitra, a 29-yearold IT professional living
in Electronic City, said: “The presence of women police makes no difference to these men. They still keep cat-calling. They take advantage of the fact that most of us migrant women do not know Kannada.” It was only last month when a 34-year-old mother lodged a complaint about being molested by four drunkards in front of her 12-year-old child on a well-
lit road in Rajajinagar. In 2013, there were 578 instances reported while in 2012, there were 321. The records also revealed that 41 cases of sexual harassment against women were reported this year while 77 were registered in 2013 and 53 in 2012. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime), Abhishek Goyal, said, “The numbers recorded by
CCRB cannot be considered as set in stone as cases involving women are not always reported,” indicating that more such incidents might be taking place. The city authorities seem to have turned a blind eye. Only last month, the Namma Metro refused to implement exclusive coaches for women despite two molestation incidents taking place inside the
metro. Earlier this month, a
traffic sub-inspector was suspended after allegedly misbehaving with two female motorists. N. K. Narasimha Iyengar, the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Vijaynagar
Sub-Division office, said that it is difficult to trace such offenders because most of the victims are left in a state of shock.
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Bureaucratic games leave villagers without ration cards Tushar Kaushik The residents of villages in rural Bangalore have to face huge delays and cancellations of their ration cards. Ration cards are used by the poor to buy food and fuel at subsidized prices and are also an important identity proof for them. Bhagya, a resident of Devagere village, said she had to wait about a year to get her card. Sajid, another resident of Devagere, said he had to wait for four months to get his card. He said, “When we ask the officials the reasons for the delays, they give random reasons which do not make sense.”
Baby Fatima, a resident of Thagachaguppe village, had submitted the required documents and information to a panchayat member of
(Continued from page 1) Shruti Suresh When asked about the children who ran away, a member of the Child Welfare Committee declined to comment on the runaways and said, “The children ran away because of an emotional issue, there is no problem with food and water. The food has im-
the village over six months back. She, along with many other families of the village, is still waiting for her ration card. “Kitty Anna took all our details long back, but still the card hasn’t come,” she said. Kitty Anna alias Krishnamurthy, a member of the village panchayat, said: “We collect the documents and information from the villagers and submit them to the authorities. Many applications are rejected without specifying the reason, while even the accepted ones arrive only after huge delays.” He showed a document which had details of 109 villagers who are still waiting for their cards. Krishnamurthy also described another incident last year, in which the validity of the ration cards of about 150 villagers were cancelled
proved over time and children are treated properly.” A week before the juveniles ran away, superintendent Lakshmi Narsihmayya said: “The building can hold only 200, but we can manage up to 300 children. We face a shortage of staff. It is easy for staff to quit their jobs; it takes time to appoint new members.” “An enquiry is going on
Krishnamurthy, Panchayat member of Gollahalli after they had used them for a few months. The authorities did not provide reasons for this. Villagers had re-
no reasons whatsoever. He talked about another problem that stems from this issue. Bhagyalakshmi
ceived their cards and had even used them for a few months, when suddenly authorities revoked the va-
Yojana is a government scheme that is applicable to villagers with infants. The scheme requires the infant to be below a year
lidity of the cards, providing
about the same. We are working on the case. The Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) project director has visited the home and a report will be submitted to us by today evening by Deputy Diectors,” said Amita Prasad, the Principal Secretary, Women & Child Development. (Names have been
changed to protect children.)
Children at the shelter home suffering from skin infection
old, and also requires her to have a ration card. Due to the delay in issuing the card, these families lose out on nearly Rs. 1 lakh. He said, “ The authorities only accept the ration card and no other identity proof.” Somashekhar, a leader of the Janata Dal Party in the same village, said, “When poor people have to manage without ration card for even one or two months, it is a tough ordeal for their families.” When Mr. Purshottam, the office manager at the Food and Civil Supplies Ministry at Kandaya Bhavan, was asked about these issues, he said that all the applications were rejected for valid reasons. He said,
“These could either be insufficient information, or mismatching of the thumbprint.”
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Schools provide free education to mentally challenged children Sreemoyee Chatterjee Schools in Bangalore give a new ray of hope to 150 autistic and mentally challenged kids by providing them with free education. Sushma , an 8-year-old autistic student, said: “I know to count one to 100. I know that roses are red and the sky is blue.” Her mother, Jayamma, 32, said: “One year ago, I never expected my daughter to learn numbers and compare colors. Doctors could do nothing other than leaving my husband and me in despair.” Rachna, 12, had been mentally unstable since a car accident which injured her brain severely six years ago. Despite her life being saved, she eventually lost her mental and emotional balance.
Bharadwaj Menon, 46, her father, said, “My daughter became too ferocious and at times she would get out of control. She would break things and hurt others till she was admitted to Spurthi Residential School. We are extremely grateful to the teachers who have given my child a new life.” According to Mental Health Care Survey Report, 2013, Karnataka has 26,36,695 moderately mentally disabled children out of 5,27,33,958 total children in the state. Spurthi Residential School provides free education and proper medication to 75 moderately mentally disabled children at Mandur in East Bangalore. Another 75 of them are catered to in residential schools set up at Hassan District and Yelahanka.
Ramesh, the General Secretary of Vidyaranya said: “We receive 80 -100 applications every year. We admit them on the basis of medical camps conducted to test their IQ with the help of local municipal bodies and children helpline units.” We train these children on daily living skills and provide them with pre-primary, primary and vocational trainings.” Rachikana, the expert dealing with this project said, “Our school has ten trained teachers, five nurses and one security guard. They are specially trained to handle these children. In addition to this, we have a part time doctor, a part time psychologist and a yoga teacher. She said: “The education that these kids receive is completely free of cost. As normal children of 4 to 16
The mentally challenged children in the school years have got the Right to Education (RTE) under Indian Constitution, how can we deny the same right to these children just because they are mentally challenged?” The school is recognized by the Department of Empowerment of Differently Abled and Welfare of the Senior Citizens, Bangalore, and Government of Karnataka. Dr. Satish Babu said,
“For normal growth and development, nutritional needs of a child at his/her particular age should be considered first and then required modifications in the diet chart should be made as per the illness or handicapping conditions.” Rachikana said, “We provide all of these children with proper nutrition, based on doctor prescribed diet chart for each one of them.”
Stolen bikes cause Namma Metro scheme to hit the skids Shalini Raja
overnight on September 6, which caused damages of over Rs. 10 lakhs. The miscreants used a crowbar to jack the lock holes, but were unsuccessful. Thankfully, the bikes did not get stolen but the device had to bear the brunt”, said Sathiya, an ATCAG technician. The bicycle stand in MG Rd is the one most commonly used. Rakesh, a daily bike user, said, “I use the bikes frequently, however, people have a habit of not parking them back properly in time that makes this facility inaccessible a lot of times.” Srinidhi, the manager of ATCAG, said: “Users and their statistics are tracked.
So, in case they park it in malls or nearby areas and try locking it themselves, we get to know. Dock stations have alarms that set off if anyone tries to take them without swiping a card. Even if the bikes are stolen, we have theft insurance. And before issuing cards we take the customers’ details. I do not believe the 5 cycles are stolen, but we will find them soon.” “The bike commuters from Byappanahalli are usually cycling enthusiasts who go for a ride in the morning or evening. So these guards do not know exactly what happens with the bikes, so they think they are always locked”, Sathiya said.
A bike scheme costing 1.5 crores is not being used and bikes have been stolen, vandalized and lost. There are 70 bikes in the ATCAG scheme that are accessible via swipe cards outside metro stations, but, they are not in usable condition in the Byappanahalli, Bicylces parked at S.V. Road Metro Station Swami Vivekananda and InGreen Assets, collaborated the metro commuters use diranagar stations. with Namma Metro in 2012. bikes. The bicycle stand in Two bikes have been misThe bicycle stand at SwaByappanahalli, one of the placed after they started with mi Vivekananda stop had terminals of Namma Metro, the service,” said Shashi, a five bicycles missing. Sunil had all the cycles locked at security guard at the Byap- Kumar, a guard, said that 4 p.m. panahalli metro station. they had been missing for “The bikes have never Cheejish, a customer care over eight days now. “The been used ever since superintendent of Namma stand in Indiranagar was ATCAG, or the Automated vandalized Metro, said that none of completely Tracking and Control of OBSERVER Team: Editor - Soumya Chatterjee, Chief Sub Editor - Shruti Suresh, News Editor - Ridhi Agrawal, News Desk - Sharangee Dutta, Sub Editors -Samreen Tungekar, Sameer Deshpande, Shalini Raja, Design Head -Tushar Kaushik, Design Desk - Sreemoyee Chatterjee, Raya Ghosh, Suharika Rachavelpula, Picture Editor - Vignesh S.G. Reporters -Subhas Arvind, Proofreaders - Saheli Sen Gupta, C.L. Ramakrishnan.