From begging on a train about 20 years ago to working as a counsellor in a government hospital in Hassan district, Girija (name changed) has come a long way in life.
Her past exposes the inhuman and harsh world children face when forced into labour early in life. Steeped in poverty, Ms. Girija’s father left her with a doctor’s family in Bengaluru to do household chores. But when she fell and fractured her leg, Ms. Girija’s employer abandoned her in a railway station, assuring the seven-year-old suffering from the pain of a broken bone that her parents would come and take her home.
When Ms. Girija’s parents never came, she boarded a train and slept under vacant seats. From the next morning, she began begging to feed herself and was soon controlled by the begging mafia in trains and railway stations.
Fortunately for her, she was rescued by social workers sometime later and taken to Odanadi Seva Samsthe, an NGO working for the rehabilitation of destitute and sexually exploited women, in Mysuru.
Ms. Girija, now 30 years old, has not only completed her Master’s in Social Work from the University of Mysore — a qualification that helped her get a job as counsellor — but was also reunited with her parents, who are now searching for a groom for her.
She is one of the 32 beneficiaries of the reservation to victims of trafficking, prostitution and other destitute pioneered by the university from the 2011-12 academic year.
The beneficiaries include not only child labourers, but also trafficked and sexually exploited girls and children of women who have been sexually abused. They are all sheltered by Odanadi Seva Samsthe.
The university, during the tenure of former Vice-Chancellor V.G. Talwar, not only approved the quota for students having a tragic past, but also gave them a 50% waiver in fee.
A trailblazer
The university Syndicate’s decision taken eight years ago has now formed the basis for the Higher Education Department’s direction to all State-run universities to provide 1% reservation to girl children of sexually exploited women and former Devadasis from 2019-20.
All 32 beneficiaries of the reservation, who had taken shelter in Odanadi, are doing well in their chosen fields, said Kavitha, coordinator at the organisation.
Kumari (name changed) , who took the benefit of reservation to complete her graduation in commerce at Maharani’s College in Mysuru, is teaching martial arts to girl children in Hassan schools. “I want to start my own martial arts academy to empower girl children,” said Ms. Kumari, who is now married to a businessman.
The reservation has helped orphaned children such as Radha (name changed) , who works with a leading Kannada daily.
For boys too
Even male children born to sexually exploited women have benefited from the reservation, she said. “There are five or six boys, who have either finished their education or have enrolled in institutes of higher learning through the quota,” she added.
As part of its campaign to secure reservation for exploited women, Odanadi founders Stanley and Parashu had formed the Network Against Trafficking-Karnataka, under whose banner various awareness programmes were held.
