@ahmedabad.india Chhara Criminals Become Humane

V Shantaram in his epochal film, Do Aankhein Barah Haath

had dreamt of reforming criminals who had been lodged in the jail where he was a

warden, so that they could live a decent life after completing their term. Sneh

Prayas, an NGO, working among the denotified tribe Chharas, near Ahmedabad in

Gujarat seems to be taking the dream of Shantaram to another extreme by

providing training to the children of this tribal community.

Chharas, a denotified nomadic tribe (DNT) settled around

Sardarnagar Police Station of Ahmedabad has got the tag of criminal tribe as an

appendage. And the reason is clear. While the men folk of the community have

mainly been indulging in petty property offences,  the women folk  have

been engaged in bootlegging.

Unortunately, while there are several of their clan who

have moved on to become judges, advocates, doctors, journalists teachers and

even policemen, majority in the community have not been able to shrug of the

legacy of crime attached to name for generations. The stigma has so far forced

most of them to continue with their age old practice of criminal activities for

livelihood.

A Little History Mughal times -Community confined to jungles Survived through criminal activities 1871 - Criminal Tribes Act passed Tribes like Chharas, Sansis, Daffers, Kaikadi etc., included in the Act 1932 - British herded Chharas of Ahmedabad in Kubernagar Were kept under watch and roll-call taken daily 1950 - Shifted to residential locality named 'Free Colony' 31st August, 1952 -Declared as Denotified Tribes The Chharas Today 1952 - Present Chharanagar of Ahmedabad established The approximate population-20,000 in 3 Sq. Km. Among Chharas - Advocates, Judges, Doctors, Journalists, Teachers and Policemen

The Crime Factor



Living on the margins and caught in the vicious circle of crime, an average

Chhara member would be having not less than a dozen criminal cases registered

against him. The problem is further aggravated by the fact that higher the

number of crime commited by a member, the higher is his possibility of getting a

good bride. This makes most of the Chhara youth

inclined towards crime.

To exorcise the stigma of criminal tribes, as also to wean

away the youth and the children of this community from the vocation, Sneh Prayas,

the Gujarat chapter of the national NGO Prayas initiated several programs,

including community policing,  education

and computer training, police training and theatre. The idea was to build a

bridge between the community and the police and motivate them them take up

better career options, thereby bringing them back to the mainstream of the

society.

That the project has caught the fancy of the children and

the youth  can be judged from the

fact that the center set up by Sneh Prayas is now frequented by nearly 150

children. Besides the non-formal education, the participants also get snacks

once in a week for their interest in the project.

The Intervention



Exposure to the world of information, communication, and technology was

provided to these children for the first time in 2004, when a second hand

computer was bought into the center.  The response to computer was infectious and it caught the

fancy of all the students coming to the centre. In course of time, a second new

computer was donated to the center. Since then, it has been the progress forward

on the path of development by adopting ICT to attain education of the times, and

there has not been any looking back.

The project got a filip on January 14, 2006, when Sneh

Prayas in association with Hole-in-the-Wall Education (HiWEL), set up the first

learning station. The hole-in-the-wall project envisaged running educational

program for class one till 12 through a specially developed kiosk.

The kiosk enabled a child to log on anytime between 9 am to

11 pm and browse through the sites associated with his subject and areas of

interest. The approach was clear-learning through minimally invasive

education.

The computers in the kiosk are connected through the

Internet and Web-cam to the remote monitoring system (RMS) of the central

control room at HiWEL centre in Delhi.

 What this

means is that, as soon as a child logs on to the computer, his image is captured

and from then onwards a profile of the child starts getting built up at the

Center for Cognitive Research at NIIT. The progress of each child is monitored

through the profile. Each child is also provided with a personal email ID and is

expected to interact with the HiWEL centre through e-mails.

While this is the first Internet enabled computer learning

centre set up in a Ahmedabad slum, it is also one of the only kind in the state

of Gujarat.

The Impact



The initiative is a combination of community policing and computer literacy

for crime prevention in an area infested with crime and criminals. It has also

facilitated in laying the foundation for a government-NGO (GO-NGO) partnership.

Such has been the impact of the project that Tata

Consultancy Services has also pitched in with 12 computers for settining up a

computer lab for the Chharas. Corporate support from State Bank of India, Airtel,

Blue Dart, HSBC and Crossword has also follewd in. Encouraged by the support the

NGO also aims to empower the children and the youth economically by setting up

Sneh Prayas Institute of Economic Empowerment soon.

Interestingly, while it has just been a little over three

months since the project with HiWEL has been launched, the feedback gathered by

the NGO has thrown up some interesting facts. One of the biggest benefits of the

projects has been that the students have been able to shed the stigma attached

with their clan. Most in the Chhara community now look up to education as the

key to economic and social success.

The study conducted by the NGO also suggest that majority

of the students have the aspiration to become professionals, which for 36% of

them is synonymous with being a doctor.  Of

the others, 23% of the children want to become police officer

and serve the nation; most of them looking up to Keshav Kumar, the DIG

Gujarat Police as an inspiration.

Elder children teaching their younger lot in the library; truly seting their mind free from the stigma

This is also indicative that the project has been able to

deconstruct the minds of the children and the youth and they have gained the

confidence to try to weed out the areas with which there community has been

notoriously associated. Among other career choices, teacher, pilot, advocate,

soldier, musician, engineer, cricketer, and nurse have emerged as the top

choice.

Besides, the exposure to computers has also meant that the

children are now fully aware of the benefits that accrue from the technology.

Exposure and learning the usage of a computer is perceived by the children as a

tool that would facilitate them to get the jobs, help them in getting the

education desired, and play games as well.

The Shantaram Dream



The ICT intervention of Gujarat Police is not only another step forward

towards the Shantaram dream, it is yet another proof that given a chance

technology can lead to new learning experiences; the lack of formal education

not withstanding.

Today the children from Chharanagar have become proficient

in usage of Microsoft based program and are able to search through Google. To

quote 14 year old Rishi Kumar: “Internet sey America baat type karkey bhej

saktey hain (one can send typed conversation to Amercia using Internet).”

However, there is still a lot to be achieved before the Do

Aankhein Barah Haath experiment can be called successful. As of now 34% of the

Chharanagar students are still not aware about the usage of computer and benefit

that can accrue for them from a computer.

For the parents, computer education to the children has

been a welcome step forward towards integration into the society. However, there

is still an apprehension about its outreach, as the community does not allow the

girls to learn. As one of the parents said “bacchiyon ko zyada nahin padhatey-8th,

9th tak padha liya to bohut ho gaya (we do not send girls for higher education.

It's enough for them to get education til class 8th or 9th).”

Nevertheless, a small, but definite beginning has been

already been made through the ICT intervention. Also, thanks to the emphasis of

education among the youth through this project, there has been an increase in

the participation from 24 Panchayat in the area. This has been made possible as

the children and the youth are now encouraging the parents to actively

participate in the program and also creating a pull by explaining the

possibilities of what all can be achieved through IT and education.

The message that Shantaram wished to give through the movie

that once a criminal always a criminal should not be the maxim of the society,

seems to be finding its echo through implementation of this project, and is also

indicative about the fact that given a chance a criminal can contribute in a

same manner for building of the nation, but the chance has to be provided by the

society. The reduction of criminal activities in the village is a definite

indicator of this.

Osama Manzar



The author is director,



Digital Empowerment Foundation