The Hindu : Helping a `lost community' join the mainstream

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 10, 2003

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Helping a `lost community' join the mainstream

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI MARCH 9. When the stone quarries in the Capital's Lal Kuan area adjoining the neighboring State of Haryana closed down in 1994, it left behind largescale unemployment in its wake as the workers were rendered jobless at one stroke. While a case for compensation is still pending in the Courts, they truly became a "lost community''.

Many have moved out from their present premises and have found jobs elsewhere while many others have continued to stay there. And while no service-provider or non-government organisation is aware of their existence, a former Air Force officer reached out to them three years ago.

It all began when R.B.Prashant, who was running a computer literacy programme for slum children in the Madangir area, got a letter from the Gram Vikas Samiti of Lal Kuan asking him to start a rehabilitation programme for women and children living in this border area of Delhi. And when he visited there, he realised a bitter truth: Many of the former stone quarry workers were living with an inheritance that they received while in their old jobs -- tuberculosis -- and hence could not move out.

Thus was born "Kalyanam'', a non-government organisation which is now functioning from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi's abandoned Basti Vikas Kendra in the area. Besides providing education to non-school going children, it also provides open basic education to the school going kids. Its Child Development Programme has helped children get admission in the nearby government school.

``Basically, no one is interested in coming to far-flung areas like this,'' says Prashant, pointing to a non-formal education centre by a leading South Delhi NGO which remains closed most of the time. "We have a women's empowerment programme through which we impart training in various craft work to enhance the earning potential of women,'' he points out.

Over the past three years, women have been trained in making dry flowers, glass painting, garment stitching and beauty culture. While awareness camps have been held for them from time to time, they also participate in exhibitions and fairs like the ongoing women's health mela by the Delhi Social Welfare Advisory Board.

Sustaining their efforts through meagre funds, Kalyanam plans to reach out to more women and children in the future. "There is an urgent need for a total rehabilitation programme here with emphasis on health and education,'' says Mr. Prashant, adding that he has approached various agencies in this regard.

While a lot of children are still out of school in the Lal Kuan area, Kalyanam's efforts is helping a lost community to join the mainstream. Recently, the NGO conducted a survey of the adult disabled population in the area and plans to streamline facilities and services for them in the near future.

Kalyanam's efforts have not gone totally unrecognised. Though it still has a long way to go, the work done by the NGO so far has attracted the attention of volunteers from the U.S.-based Latter Day Saint Charities, which have promised financial as well as infrastructural report. "Children of stone-quarry workers here deserve a better deal,'' said Ray S. Cavanaugh who visited the area recently.

Today, the women and children of the area look to Kalyanam with great hope as in the hustle and bustle of city life, no one pays attention to them except this small group of dedicated volunteers. And after nearly a decade of being in oblivion, the "lost community'' is in the process of re-establishing its rightful place in society.

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