But many were not eligible since they had families. The initial idea was to admit them into government and NGO-run homes. On secluded railway bridges and in dark godowns, many of them continued to suffer the abuse in silence. While Moitrayee was confident that the kids were in good hands during the day, she often worried if the sexual abuse, exploitation and substance abuse continued at night. Many kids were later enrolled in government-run schools in the locality where they also got uniforms and books. They also used interactive technology like tablets to teach them moral values and raise awareness against vices. Moitrayee started conducting day classes for them with another teacher, teaching them basic reading, writing, art and craft. The small treats did nothing to fill their stomachs, just made them hungry again and forced them to sniff dendrite. “The kids told us how one trip on the train only earned Rs 10-20, which they use to buy biscuits and small slices of cakes. When they first realised that the kids lacked resources even to eat meals, they spoke to a restaurant nearby and arranged for them to be fed at least once a day for free. The visit to Sheoraphuli with Subhadip shook Moitrayee. And Maha Jiban was incredibly supportive in helping me touch lives.” I wanted to do it out of goodwill and the satisfaction it brought. While the organisation had been registered for the past six years, the team lacked people to handle its operations on the ground. The response from people around her and the happiness of the street kids motivated Moitrayee.įour years ago, her work caught the attention of Subhadip Mukherjee, the founder of NGO Maha Jiban. At some point, I got so many things that there was no space at home to store them.” The smiles on the faces of the kids gained an overwhelming response from my family and friends. And when I gave them to the kids, I would click a picture and post it on the group. I would often go door-to-door and collect all old yet useful things like clothes, bags, shoes, and blankets. My resources were limited, so I created a WhatsApp group for family and friends. It ached me to see their conditions, and so I decided to help them. They begged, ate, and whiled their time away. “On my travels to the market, I saw several street kids. Looking to set up a mushroom farming business? Unable to afford higher studies, Odisha's Santosh Mishra set up an award-winning mushroom farm that earns Rs 10 lakh annually. Started With Just Rs 36, Odisha Man's Mushroom Farm Now Earns Lakhs Apart from pimps from nearby brothels, their family members make them work as sex slaves for sums of Rs 200-300. And once they are addicted, they find it difficult to ‘survive’ without sniffing it.Īs night draws in, the outskirts of the station turn into a red light area. More often than not, younger kids are coaxed into sniffing this glue by their older peers. Apart from causing hallucinations, it prevents the consumer from feeling hungry or cold. It is a hot favourite among kids who beg on trains and pick rags to scrape a living.ĭendrite contains toluene, a sweet-smelling and intoxicating hydrocarbon. Readily available in plastic tubes at any hardware shop, dendrite is an industrial glue used in the carpet industry. Even those living with their families are severely neglected. In contrast to the city of joy, the kids who live at the railway station don’t smile. The Sheoraphuli railway junction is 30 km away from Kolkata. Dendrite is much cheaper than three meals a day, which we cannot afford with the money we get from begging, Didi.” When we are sleepy, our stomachs don’t rumble. One of them answers, “It doesn’t make us feel hungry or cold. In a bid to grow something unique, he soon became one of the first farmers to start organic date cultivation in Karnataka. ISRO Scientist Returns to His Village to Grow Organic Dates, Earns Rs 15 Lakh/YearĪfter working as a project scientist in ISRO, Professor Divakar Channappa left city life in Bengaluru and turned to farming.
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