Surokhit Shaishav

(Promoting Safe Childhood in West Bengal )

Project Period :-  

1st October 2019 – 31st December 2022

Target Areas :-  

District  –              Murshidabad

Block :- 

1.   Farakka
2.   Suti- II

G.P.     :-   

1.   Arjunpur
2.   Mahesali- II
3.   Beniagram

Villages   :-  

Arjunpur, Bhabanipur, Sibnagar, Bamuha, Basantapur, Bhairabpur, Hazipur, Khidirpur, Kisorpur, Lokaipur, Parulia, Parsadpur Andhua, Hosenpur, Baikunthapur.

Background:-

Murshidabad : Bidi rolling is what young girls do in Murshidabad, the joys of childhood snuffed out in a bid to help their families earn a living . Report suggests that 3 lac to four lacs workers in Murshidabad, when in 90% are women and children working at home. Mothers teach daughters to roll bidi from the age of five before they attain puberty they master the work

Parent admits children to school, but majority of the girls drop out after primary school to supplement their family meager income. With constant exposure to tobacco, girls contract tuberculosis and asthma. The bidi industry perpetuates the vicious cycle of poverty by encouraging cheap labour through engagement of children, avoiding the overhead expenditure of employing adult labourers guided by trade unions. Women and children lack the freedom to fight for their rights in the absence of proper education.

Collective responsibility from trade unions, government departments, and other NGOs to make the employers accountable for perpetuating child labour.

Over Goal / Impact :-

Effective Child Protection and Development systems to prevent and respond to violence, exploitation and abuse against underprivileged children and adolescents by promotion of their rights through interaction of state and non-state actors at all levels, in the state of West Bengal.

Overall Objective :-

Abolition of child labour in all forms with effective child protection mechanisms to enable the realization of children’s right to education and participatory development.

Implementation strategy :-

The program will employ the five -fold strategy of

• facilitating the children’s movement building;
• functionalizing legal systems on child protection and development;
• alliance building and convergence;
• networking dialoguing cooperation with the law enforcement official and decision makers; and
• Children and Young People’s Journalism.