An Interview with Shrimati Shalini Mishra, Director of Woman Development and Child Welfare
Atrocities against the weaker sections of the society is an age-old phenomenon. Women and children together comprise an vulnerable unit in this respect. So much so that the abandonment of women sometimes leads to consequent abandonment of children. So when one talks to the Director of Woman Development and Child Welfare department Shalini Mishra, especially in the wake of the ugly episode of child sale in the city by Precious Stone, a city-based NGO, the thing that strikes most is the grave concern the incident has given rise to, especially in the official circles.
Although there has been no instance of popular resentment against this nefarious practice of child sale in the name of adoption, the issue has still hogged the limelight for the last few days. In an exclusive chat with Khojhyderabad.com, the 1988 batch lady IAS officer, known for her penchant of hard course actions under compelling situations, reveals how raids by her department brought to light the illegitimate acts on the part of some city-based NGOs. In the context, she also discusses the very concept of woman and child welfare.
Excerpts from the Interview :
Q. How did you stumble upon this racket of inter-country child traffic?
A. We had been monitoring the activities of some NGOs in the city who run child care homes and orphanages. It made us sure that something was fishy. After obtaining the enforcement power on April 18, we raided some of the child care houses and to our horror found that most of them flouted rules like FERA regulations and important provisions of Indian Adoption Act.Though these NGOs are permitted to receive money from outside sources but ideally they have to show the amounts on record. But they do not show it as donations even. Usually it is siphoned off.
Q. Why these NGOs indulge in such grave financial irregularities?
A Some of them approach the whole issue of child care as a business. They procure babies and sell them under the pretext of running orphanages and child care houses. Actually very few of them follow the rules. Our inspection revealed that one Radha Krishna Home, a 50-year-old orphanage, functions quite informally. Its present secretary admitted total lack of awareness about most crucial legal aspects of adoption.
Q. Have you been able to curb the menace, at least up to some extent?
A. After enforcement power was made available to us, we swooped down on houses that kept abandoned children in illegal custody. On April 21, we rescued 60 children from John Abraham Memorial Bethany House. Now they are in Sishu Vihar, the government-run child care house whose current strength has gone up to 185 that mostly includes girls.
Q. Why woman and child development is conceived in one package?
A. Yes, woman and child go as one unit. Development of child is dependent on the mother. They go together.Both mother and child need legal protection. Just recently, we found a baby daughter under a tree. After her birth, the mother just abandoned her. Now she is with us.
Q. How come most of the abandoned children you have taken charge of turn out be girl children?
A. Because usually girl children are abandoned in our society. They are considered an additional burden. But there are cases where children are abandoned when they are born outside the wedlock. In such cases, we sometimes get boys. But that's not a very regular occurrence.
Q. What are your future plans regarding this abandoned children?
A. Well we would like to restore them to their parents. Actually the adoption rules provide for different stages. In the first stage, the rules provide that the prospective parents should be Indians. The second stage is for Indians who stay abroad. The third stage is where at least one of the parents is Indian. Only after all these possibilities are exhausted then the case of foreign parents taking over the child comes up. But the NGOs are skipping all these preliminary stages and directly going for the fourth stage mainly because of the lure of the money. These houses show deliberately such children to the prospective Indian parents so that that they get rejected. On the basis of this rejection certificate, they skip the earlier stages and jumps straightway to inter-country adoption for the big buck.
Q. From the government's point of view, what are your department's basic functions?
A We run a total of 81 orphanages and children home all over the state. We also have 6 collegiate homes meant for all those who have passed their 10th grade. That apart, we run 27 working women hostels in the state. Then we have some service/state homes where we take care of rape victims, adult orphan girls and other destitute women. Here the idea is to impart some skill upgradation training to these women so that they can get on with their life in a self-sufficient manner. We also grant small loans to some of them to start off.
Q. Do many of them manage to survive in the outside world once there are out of the protective confines of orphanages?
A. Yes definitely. One of my orphan child has become a doctor. There are many who have landed jobs like telephone operators and teachers. Another thing which is quite encouraging is that boys from good families are coming forward to tie the knot with our girls. Before the marriage, we do some regular verifications like checking the police record and blood test to make sure the candidate is not HIV positive.
Q. In a world of increasing globalization and liberalization, where does government-sponsored welfare stand?
A. Liberalization or no liberalization, the concept of social welfare is very much intact as far as government is concerned. Slowly private groups are entering into this field like NGOs but the government cannot afford to give up its regulatory role yet, particularly when the style of functioning of these NGOs do not create much confidence. And these kind of problems are likely to occur again and again
Q. What exactly is women empowerment according to your opinion?
A. Well it is a million dollar question. Some people think if you give Rs 10,000 to a woman then she gets empowered. Look - I earn Rs 15,000 as salary but I am not yet completely empowered. The real meaning of empowerment is delegation of decision making authority. The women at least should decide small domestic issues like which schools to send their children. Yet many them hardly get to exercise that choice even. The issue of women liberation is also very ambiguous. Liberation from what? From the role of wife, mother or daughter ? The idea of women emancipation is fine but the feminist movement should treat women as human beings not anything otherwise. Then only their personality would develop properly.
Q. What are the steps you are going to take to regulate the activities of NGOs working in the child care sector?
A One has to enforce some discipline into the functioning of these NGOs. Another way of overcoming this shady problem is to bring in good NGOs to work in the child care sector. There should be transparency in their dealings. Now we are planning to give a registration number to each child to keep a tab on the things. The need of the hour is to spread awareness over the issue. Our people are also working in the tribal hamlets to create awareness about child care and family planning.
Q. What was the political fallout following the recent controversy over child sale?
A. There was hardly any buzz in the political circles. The politicians readily admitted that this kind of problem was a total novelty to them. There were no popular rally or protest march over the issue either. The elite section is accusing us of bureaucratic harassment whereas the lower class is happy that the government is coming to their rescue.
Q. How has been the response of the media to the issue?
A. Well, the media has been very appreciative of our acts. Apart from some minor sensationalism by some of them, by and large it has played quite a positive role.
Q. What is the motto of your department?
A. The name itself is the motto (laughs)
