[It is mostly observed that these street children are the ones who have fled home because of poverty, family troubles, hunger or insecurity. They are coaxed into sniffing glue by their peers and once addicted; they find it difficult to ‘survive’ without sniffing it for a single day. They enjoy this practice as in this way they can handle hunger and cold in a better fashion. But what is the effect of this prolonged inhalation? Statistics reads that of all the street children who sniff glue, 95% suffer from critical diseases which manifest only in the form of chest pain, headaches and sickness, due to which they fail to understand the intensity of the disease.]
By Amritapa Basu
Glue, which they popularly call ‘Dendrite’, is a hot favourite among these children. Homeless as they are, they rummage through the garbage, pick up rags, run menial errands and at the end of the day, whatever little money they collect goes into buying Dendrite. Dendrite tubes are easily available at any hardware shops for that matter and sniffing it from a plastic bag is a treat for these children. Sniffing glue is a form of addiction and their effect as good as that of drugs. The glue contains toluene, sweet-smelling and intoxicating hydrocarbon. The solvent dissolves the membrane of the brain cells and causes hallucinations. It releases the person from pangs of hunger and they do not feel cold under its influence.
It is mostly observed that these street children are the ones who have fled home because of poverty, family troubles, hunger or insecurity. They are coaxed into sniffing glue by their peers and once addicted; they find it difficult to ‘survive’ without sniffing it for a single day. They enjoy this practice as in this way they can handle hunger and cold in a better fashion. But what is the effect of this prolonged inhalation? Statistics reads that of all the street children who sniff glue, 95% suffer from critical diseases which manifest only in the form of chest pain, headaches and sickness, due to which they fail to understand the intensity of the disease.
The immediate negative effects of Dendrite can be nausea, sneezing, coughing, bleeding noses, exhaustion, bad breath and loss of appetite. However, deep breathing of the dendrite or using a lot over a short period of time may result in losing touch with one’s surroundings, violent behavior, and loss of self-control, unconsciousness or even death in extreme cases. “The dependence on the smell of adhesive becomes very strong and becomes hard for the children to resist. Prolonged inhalation of toxic fumes of the solvent affects blood, heart, kidney and lungs. The adhesive contains heavy metals like lead, iron and aluminium, which reduces the oxygen carrying capacity in the blood”, said Sayeed Akhtar, Chief Medical Officer, Central Institute of Psychiatry – (The Telegraph). These children sniff more glue in winters to cope up with the cold and as a result their health conditions worsen. Some children may use as many as 15 Dendrite tubes a day and one tube can be used four-five times. In absence of proper square meals for the day, many use dendrite as a substitute for regular meals.
\
This menace is very difficult to tackle as one cannot prevent the hardware stores from selling the glue. Police officers often harass shopkeepers when youngsters are held with Dendrites. However, some shopkeepers being aware of this addictive use of Dendrites either increase the cost or do not sell them to minors but yet it is difficult to curb. The next difficult step is to convince youngsters not to use Dendrites.
Several rehabilitation centers exist to support the cause of street children but they do not want to go there as they are forced to give up this addiction. Many prefer returning to the street life after being released from the centers. A street urchin on Park Street, Kolkata after much pestering complacently confessed that he had run away from a rehabilitation center as they had asked him to quit sniffing glue. With a wink he said, “Yeh mushkil hi nahi, namumkin hai” (it is not difficult, it is impossible). He said that apart from the glue-addiction, he was also addicted to the freedom that this stray life allowed him. “Main khush hoon” (I am happy).
Much more public awareness, personal counselling and proper and effective rehabilitation is what is required to curb this wide-spread menace. So the next time you see street children huddling around with a plastic bag, take a small step forward to stop them , it might not be of much help but each step does count.
[In China, besides the forceful ban on more than one child per couple, the government has adopted methods to promote people to willingly stick only to one child. People with a single child are offered benefits ranging from priority for housing, healthcare and education to higher pensions on retirement. This promotes certain percentage of the educated class to stick to the one child policy. In India, on the other hand, people with more kids are given grants for their education and ‘welfare’. This encourages the people to have more kids and enjoy the benefits of social securities. Again, an excellent example of the government push in the direction opposite to the required one.]
By Srishti Chauhan
Like all resources- ranging from your income to water availability- the resources that a nation possess are also extremely limited. With this binding limitation, what must a country do to ensure that resources are not exploited to the extent that they are exhausted? The first and the most effective idea is to control population. Lesser the number of people vying for a particular service, lesser is the scarcity. This idea has apparently been recognized by the government as the need of the hour. That probably is the reason why we see numerous advertisements in Delhi metro and DTC buses that claim that a small family is a happy family.
However, the government seems to be preaching something different from what it is practicing. In rural, semi-rural and minimally urbanized areas, the government has adopted a system of healthcare that is working in just the opposite direction. For each cesarean section that a woman undergoes in a government hospital, she is paid Rs. 1500 (amount various slightly from state to state) and for each delivery she is paid Rs. 800-1000. What is this if not an incentive to increase the family size?
Instead of mandatory sterilization of women post 2 children, the state seems to be focused on gentle persuasion- which obviously doesn’t seem to be working. Free availability of contraceptives costs the government fortunes every year. Should a government already buried beneath massive debts not care about where it spends its money?
The government has created Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) in small towns and villages. These are government employees who are paid to bring pregnant women to government hospitals for delivery. What is meant to be its purpose is hardly ever implemented in practice. The same applies to these officers. These women, in practice, promote the expansion of family. Moreover, they take the patients to privately owned hospitals where they are paid a commission of Rs. 700-1000 per delivery. This practice, meant to increase awareness about healthcare and sanitation, has actually been a propellant to the population explosion that India faces.
In China, besides the forceful ban on more than one child per couple, the government has adopted methods to promote people to willingly stick only to one child. People with a single child are offered benefits ranging from priority for housing, healthcare and education to higher pensions on retirement. This promotes certain percentage of the educated class to stick to the one child policy. In India, on the other hand, people with more kids are given grants for their education and ‘welfare’. This encourages the people to have more kids and enjoy the benefits of social securities. Again, an excellent example of the government push in the direction opposite to the required one.
In India, what the government needs to realize is that the number of children in a family is greatly dependent upon the religion, the region and the extent of education. A uniform approach to control the number of children for all 3 will not work efficiently. In the rustic regions of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, people are often goaded to produce more children in the name of religion. They are threatened with the idea that their future generations will end up being dominated by the other religions if they are not in majority. Similarly, there are religions where it is considered that aborting a child is a sinful practice. A child is considered to be God’s gift- an event that cannot be controlled naturally.
What the government needs to focus is on changing the mind-set of the rigid religious fanatics and make them realize how having a big family need not be the best idea. Most families in extreme states of poverty are driven to produce more kids because of the thinking that more kids mean more earning members in the family. The point that needs to be ingrained in the minds of these people is that more kids does ALSO mean more mouths to feed.
The government is lacking diversity in its strategy. Any attempt by the government to enlighten the people about the benefits of a small family is overshadowed by regional, communal and societal pressure. The need of the hour is to change the strategy from persuasive to binding. It is high time the government takes concrete steps to bridge the gap between the preaching and the practicing.
[Thus, every news is highly volatile; it just remains in liquid state for a short while before being vapourised into nothingness. Our memories are short, our priorities and interests change rapidly. This behavior does help us to get on with things, to carry on even after disaster strikes us or death leaves us lonely. We move on with time, forgetting the pains and joys, struggling in the present and hoping for a better future. The world carries itself forward whatever it might be because ‘No matter what, the show has to go on.’]
By Gitanjali Maria
People other than those directly involved with the news or actions forget or tend to forget about these news/activities within two to three days and carry on with their day to day activities. Other ‘news’ come up and people try to catch up with them leaving the older ones behind. So now no one bothers much about how the Japanese may be recouping or how the Egyptians may be still trying to come up to terms with their newly acquired ‘freedom’ and how to go about with it.
We no longer even remember the grand figures of the 2-G scam that we once talked about and gaped at in disbelief and anger. No one wonders what A. Raja must be doing now in his solitary cell or what Kasab must be feeling after having been awarded the death sentence. At present we are not worried about the cash-for-vote scam or scam in MNREGA scheme, our major concern now is whether Sachin will make the century of the centuries and whether India will reach finals.
Thus, every news is highly volatile; it just remains in liquid state for a short while before being vapourised into nothingness. Our memories are short, our priorities and interests change rapidly. This behavior does help us to get on with things, to carry on even after disaster strikes us or death leaves us lonely. We move on with time, forgetting the pains and joys, struggling in the present and hoping for a better future. The world carries itself forward whatever it might be because ‘No matter what, the show has to go on.’
But amidst this fast-moving world the survivors and victims’ grapple to continue living. Forgotten and forsaken by the rest of the world they are left to themselves to find their own way out of the labyrinth of worries they are lost in. That is what happens with the victims of rape cases or accidents and terrorist strikes or natural calamities; sympathies are poured on them and monetary compensations promised but all forgotten in two days’ time and victims run from pillar to post for help. Often we see this happening with our athletes and sportspersons who have made the country proud. It is also disheartening to note that the same happening even with our brave martyrs and soldiers and their families.
The poor memory of public and our governance institutions also lets offenders and corrupt politicians evade the law and escape. The time gap for delivery of justice also rubs off the graveness of the memory of any incident. And many people often try to twist or re-write public memory for their own goals and selfish interests.
64 years past our independence our younger generation is hardly familiar with our struggle for independence or the glorious eras we had before colonization. Will we one day become so short-sighted that our children and grand-children will barely care about our yesteryears’ struggles?
But time has to move on, and so have we too. Past, Present, Future – are all yours, it’s for ours to choose. The right combination of the three helps you the best to move along well.
@ Youth Ki Awaaz
@ Youth Ki Awaaz
