The Deprived Childhood
When I was working with an NGO for a flood linked project I came through different suffering sections of the society. Both rich and poor were equally affected. While most of the rich, more or less steadily came out of the distress, but for poor it was challenging to come out of this trauma. What I experienced was a class of our society who were the most affected amongst the all -, orphans. Disaster doesn’t matter for them as they are suffering from adversity in every second of their life.
Orphans are everywhere in the world, but what is distinctive about this class in Kashmir is the increasing number orphans, as this is an acknowledged conflict zone. In this connection I approached a number of books in order to study the roots of this problem; one such book comes from Kashmir, by Rao Farman Ali.
Rao Farman Ali hails from South Kashmir’s District Anantnag. He is having 12 years of experience in social entrepreneurship, presented more than two dozen papers in national and international seminars on various themes and has authored two books on Kashmir conflict, Kashmir Under The Shadow of Gun and Jammu Kashmir: Resolution Through Reconciliation for Peace and Dignity , besides some of his studies on education, child protection and child labour and conflict resolutions are widely available. He is an active social worker.
Kashmir Orphans, nurture and challenges is a book which opens with the introduction of Kashmir to the whole world. Its geographical location, its famous personalities, its unique attributes, its tourist attractions, and its historical significance, are presented briefly and in a beautiful way. Every part of the introduction is arranged in a chronological order which makes it easy to remember. Each part of the book is supported by profuse references.
The author has nicely penned down the Kashmir’s Resistance Struggle back from 16 th century which is then linked with another main topic of Armed Conflict and its Impact. On page number 75 the author says, “ Most alarming aspect of the conflict is that the prominent victims of violence during the last two decades were the youth. They at once become the targets, perpetrators- cum- collaborators [ sic et non] as well as survivors of conflict. The death of a family member created a challenge to the family as a whole, socially and economically as well. While their childhood was lost in the incidents of armed conflict, they could not be socialized in known cultural and religious ethos of Kashmir. Most families of Kashmir fall within the middle class, the primary breadwinner being particularly the professional or skilled labour and it becomes difficult for a family to run livelihood options, if their happens any infirmity to bread earner. Most of the adults including youth were abused, dishonored and brutally treated. After children, the women suffered the most. In most families here, especially among the middle class, the husband was the skilled professional or labourer, therefore, the breadwinner for the family. If he became unemployed or lost work hours, his wife was to take on a menial job to help and get the family through the difficult period. However, if he lost his life or disappeared in the conflict, his wife and children certainly became destitute and orphans”. In Jammu and Kashmir, the past 26 years of armed conflict resulted in an alarming increase in the number of orphans. A survey conducted by Kashmir based voluntary organization puts the figure at 0.015 million in the category of armed conflict, other sources put the figure approximately 0.10 million The orphans and the problems they face have been underlined in a very perfect mode. Then the author touches upon the topic of Non State Partisans, who have been associated with the Kashmir conflict.
Herein he mainly touches the things like the role of civil societies and NGOs with specific introspective measures for these organizations.
Subsequently the author moves to an important topic ‘ Orphans, State and Community’. The word orphan is defined from international, national as well as from the perspective of Kashmir. The alarming rate of orphans is being explained by its linkage with the long drawn Kashmir conflict. International laws with respect to the rehabilitation of orphans are explained, with the Indian laws in this context; views of different religions like Islam and Christianity have also been highlighted.
Next, the author moves to emotional topic touching upon the heart of the problem: ‘ The Deprived Childhood’. After this, the author moves forward, what I can regard as one of the most important topics of the book, ‘ The Orphans, NGOs, Perspectives and Challenges.’ Herein the author describes the challenges faced by orphans of Kashmir, and the challenges to NGOs in Kashmir in this context are also discussed. Being an expert in this area the author devotes a separate topic to the ‘ Recommendations’ section. A vast set of suggestions and a model is put forth by the author.
However there was a possibility of adding more to this book. A separate chapter on practical case studies of orphans from different parts of Kashmir could have added value to the text.
In a nutshell, the everyone, particularly Kashmiri people, the NGOs and the concerned government institutions cannot afford to ignore this book.
No comments:
Post a Comment