Zeitschrift für Alkoholismus und Drogenabhängigkeit
Offener Zugang

Abstrakt

Problem and Situation of Girl Ragpickers in National Capital Territory of Delhi

Preeti Soni

This research was an endeavor to closely study the situation of rag picker girls. An effort was made to understand their work conditions, impact of the present occupation on these girls and the problems faced by them. In other words, this study provides an overview of their lives in totality. The researcher looked at the situations these girls faced in everyday life and understood that everyday was a struggle for them and they had to survive in such unfavorable environment for livelihood of themselves and their families.

Objective: The study was conducted to understand the socio-economic background of girls engaged in rag picking, highlight the factors forcing them to get into this work, and analyze the implications arising out of this work on the development of these girls.

Technique and Method: The data was collected in the year of 2005-2006 at the central area of Delhi. The present study has used exploratory research design.

Setting: Total of 100 girl rag pickers were interviewed from the central Delhi. The high density of rag pickers was found due in the central area of Delhi due to industries and market. Therefore the data was collected form Chandni chowk, Old Delhi railway station, Lajpat Rai market, I.S.B.T, Red fort and Petti market.

Statistical Analysis: Statistical analysis was done with help of SPSS.

Result: The findings highlighted that most of the rag picker girls belong to the age group of 10-12 years. Majority of the children {98 per cent} fell under the category of ‘on the street’, in which 7 per cent of the girls had single parents. Majority of the children were illiterate, and the level of literacy was found very low in those cases who had attended school. Early involvement in the economic activity and apathy towards girl’s education by the parents were the main reasons of high dropout and illiteracy among girls.

Conclusion: It is a harsh reality that children start working as rag pickers very early and are subjected to all kinds of negative environment because of which their mental, physical and emotional development is at stake.