2011: The Year of Children

One of the famous Japanese proverbs states that ‘it is a beggar's pride that he is not a
thief.’

In the 1990s, a group of friends could easily roam the streets of Dhaka in a bicycle but
today, this thought would shiver many parents and scare many children who bear witness
to the long traffic congestion in the mid-day. Ofcourse, the tradition of roaming and
hanging around near the lakes or shopping malls is still prominent, but only the mode of
mobility has altered.

Many things have changed in the last twenty years.

Among them, surely a major change has been in the organisational structure and how we
communicate in society. Not to put any numbers but one would not refute that there are
more beggars, especially small children, ‘working’ in the Capital’s streets than in the
1980s and 1990s.

In Bangladesh and many parts of the world, begging remains the only source to
livelihood and an alternative to starvation. Leaving aside the different problems in
economics related to market failure, an individual can never accurately predict when they
might have to ask strangers for help - whether been mugged in a foreign land and need
money to return home; or life deals a particularly harsh hand of cards (like abuse,
disability, illness, war, natural disaster); or, due to the structural injustice in the market
structure which causes dissatisfaction and begging appears to carry low opportunity costs.

Recent media reports in Bangladesh have identified one of the main culprits perpetuating
the societal form of structural injustice – creators of panhandlers. It is alarming that as
shown by the Oscar winning movie ‘Slumdog Millionaire,’ the reality is not very
different from fiction in case of Bangladesh.

The alienation of beggars (irrespective of their age) from the society and the harsh
treatment of life that the children in particular have to endure in their daily life, are
compelling them to learn about society and harmonic coexistence in a very cruel way.

One loses heart when it is observed that such exclusion is gradually and silently derailing
the moral fabric of our society.

We are the citizens who are equally to be blamed alongside the government for the
exclusion of a segment of our own people from mainstream socio-economic activities. It
is, nevertheless, very encouraging that the High Court on 02 January 2011 ordered the
government and the police to implement the relevant provision under Dhaka
Metropolitan Police Ordinance 1972 on street begging. The provision in paragraph 81
(pp. 24-25) stipulates that ‘whoever in any street or public place begs…shall be
punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one month.’
A further positive move by the judiciary has been the issuance of a suo motu rule asking
the government to explain why a directive to stop forced panhandling through mutilation
should not be issued. Also, on December 31 last year, the government declared that it will
form a 19-member National Child Welfare Board to monitor the children's rights, risky
child labour, and ensure education and health services. Under the proposed act, separate
Shishu Kalyan Boards are envisaged to be formed at district and upazila levels which will
subsequently assist the national board for the overall development of children.

Slum children and for that matter, all beggars have little idea about state or inter-party
politics but they have a direct influence on how democracy is functioning today in the
country. Over their life-span, these children become public goods since there cannot be
any rivalry in their utilization, whether as cadres or mere bystanders who are rented out
by politicians to beef up their visual support during public meetings.

Thus, collective action remains the best alternative for organising the poor and enabling
the group members to deter such manipulations.

Organising the destitute

• The point of departure for organising the beggars for, lets say, constructing a
house would need to apriori ensure that the collective remains the chosen
institution to both manage the estate after construction, and to build a community
rather than to just manage a property.

• Building a neighbourhood means constructing and sustaining a community of

those excluded from the mainstream socioeconomic activities (such as education,
health and employment). The groups of excluded would need to build, staff and
manage schools, provide health services and security, establish common spaces
and playgrounds, ensure access to public utilities and municipal services.

• Where appropriate and acceptable to its members, the collective may even invest
in some businesses such as retail stores, laundry and other home services, public
transport, etc. These collective facilities should serve to build a collective identity
for the community through construction of social capital, managed through a
collective process rather than a disaggregated community of individualised
households.

Hope for 2011

If those working in the outskirts and streets cannot be organised, then the social
transformation of the children will substantially impinge on the country’s socio-economic
development process in the very near future. Street and slum children can be said to be
similar to the Climacoceras (i.e., giraffe) who were deprived of their right to livelihood
and then evolved to become the tallest animal species. In philosophical terms,
Climacoceras physical evolution represented the survival of the fittest notion, i.e., over
time, their physical structure evolved to cope with their needs and gradually, their necks
stretched up to ease the process of reaching their source of livelihood, i.e., tree leaves.

To conclude, for those of us who have had the rare opportunity to visit the current Prime
Minister either at her office or at Gonobhaban, will be taken aback by the deep and
sincere love that she holds for all children. This is also reflected in her recent statements
in view of protecting children’s welfare (e.g. playgrounds).

However, to what extent Sheikh Hasina will be to make a real positive impact on the
children’s lives will depend on those entrusted with the responsibility to diligently and
honestly carry out the premier’s instructions.

Word Count: 996

Hasanuzzaman is a Senior Researcher at CPD. The author is solely responsible for the
views expressed in this article.