Abstract
Dillip Kumar Mallik
The discourse on rights is evolving with time. The rights of the Rag Pickers as part of the broad rights discourse have assumed significance in contemporary times. My Ph.D research is located within the rights framework. Rag Pickers are those children we can find out them in railway station, municipality areas, bus stand, industries areas, garbage and household areas with having a heavy gunny bags and collected and sorted: plastic, paper, bottles, bones and metals. Diferent plans outlined by Government Agencies have rolled out government has taken lot of initiative for empowering the childhood. For example, policies like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the free mid-day meal programme and many others have been there for a long tyime. But the question is if they are successful, then why there is early drop out of students and more significantly, why children belonging to poor sections in urban areas have turned into rag pickers. The metro cities have the largest number of rag pickers in the country. It would be difficult to ascribe any particular caste or any other form of identities to these children. The central question of this research is whether Government policies are inadequate to respond the needs and requirements of this group of children. Along with this central question the study also looks at other related questions. Whether the rag pickers belong to marginalised groups? Do these rag pickers constitute a majority of school drop outs? The research revolves round these questions.
Some of the key objectives of the research are 1) to study and understand the socio-economic condition of the rag pickers, Second is To know the impact of the rag pickers on the society, Third, to provide proper education as well as health awareness for the children. Fourth, to make assessment the changing behavioural pattern of the children