NEW DELHI:
Thirty six years after suffering horrible communal violence in 1984, the survivors of the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi are struggling to make ends meet, afford education for their children and lead a decent life, a survey by the Delhi Minorities commission has found.
A majority of respondents—57 percent of them-- said that government assistance given to them was ineffective. While 39 percent rated the support as moderately effective, the share of those who found government support effective was only 3 percent.
According to the survey, 95 percent respondents said that their income is not sufficient for monthly family expenditure and only 4 percent families said they earned sufficient income.
53 percent of the respondents surveyed by the commission were found to be illiterate, while 28 percent had studied up to the primary level and 15 percent were educated up to secondary level. Only 3 percent of those surveyed had studied up to the higher secondary level and the share of graduates was just 1 percent. “In other words, most of the literate respondents have studied only up to secondary level,” the panel said.
22 percent families had children who never went to school while 78 percent of those surveyed had children who dropped out from schools.
96 percent of the surveyed families have availed specific assistance from the government, while 3.5 percent families are in the category of non-receivers.
The report titled, ‘Socio-Economic & Educational Status of Survivors of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi, which was released by the panel on Thursday, sampled 3668 families from eight locations in Delhi. Those areas are-- Tilak Vihar (Widows Colony), Raja Garden,
Punjabi Bagh, Chander Vihar, Hari Nagar, Rohini, Khayala and Vishnu Garden.
The panel said that Thursday’s report was not a final study of riot survivors in Delhi as they could not meet survivor families that have moved out of Delhi, and also there are some who are untraceable due to substantial lapse of time.
In its report, the panel said that the perpetrators of the riots, political, police personnel and members of the rented mob, are yet to be punished even as the violence has left a life-long scar on the psyche of the riots-affected families.
Children of most victims could not continue their education and ended up as low-paid and daily-wage earners, unqualified women were forced to find odd jobs to feed their families and these circumstances placed riot-affected families behind others and it will take many generations for these families to reclaim their position which they enjoyed before the cruel riots, the report stated.
The anti-Sikh riots had broken out in several parts of the country after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984 by her two bodyguards. According to the Ahuja Committee, cited by the minorities panel, 2733 Sikhs were killed in Delhi alone.
Justice evades victims of subsequent riots like Hashimpura and Maliana massacres in May 1987, Gujarat riots of 2002, and the planned violence in Delhi’s north-east district towards the end of February 2020, the report added, seeking timely punishment for perpetrators of communal offence.
Even survivors who were offered jobs could not achieve the pre-riots economic status of their families, as jobs were given according to their qualifications and not according to their past economic status and experience of the families, the report prepared by the minorities panel stated.
The study highlighted three major challenges faced by these families—55 percent of them had a meagre family income, 36 percent of the respondents were struggling with the issue of unemployment and 14 percent of them did not have the ability to receive quality education.
Other socio-economic and educational challenges include low social status, feeling of isolation due to Sikh identity, mental trauma, housing, failure to groom children properly, drug addiction, delay in education, discrimination by government officers, and re-establishment of business.
“Riots adversely affected education of children in terms of quality and continuity. While children of 28 percent families could not receive quality education, 24 percent families discontinued their studies due to fear, children in 15 percent families were forced to discontinue studies and take up jobs after riots as earning money took precedence over education due to loss of the family income,” according to the report.
The study also revealed that children of 10 percent families could not be suitably educated due to lack of family income and 9 percent families could not manage continuation of their children’s education as they lived in relief camps.
In the context of living conditions of the families, the survey found that 40 percent families were living in low-income residential areas, and the share of those in middle income and high income group areas were 35 percent and 19 percent respectively.
While monthly incomes of little over half of the families are in the range of Rs. 10000-20000, little over one-fourths of the surveyed families earn Rs. 10000 or less. The commission also found that riot affected families have very little access to insurance.
Only 13 percent of families have some kind of access to life insurance. While all family members of only 4 percent families have access to life insurance, 6 percent families have access for only some of their members.
The access of riot-affected families to health insurance was also found to be extremely poor.
92 percent of families did not have any health insurance. Of the 8 percent families who had access to the facility, only 2 percent families had all its members covered.
Three-fourths of the total families surveyed by the panel were living in houses which are not reasonably spacious for all their family members and the houses of 42 percent are in dilapidated condition.
The survivors are mostly females in the age group of 46 years and above. Their families are moderately big with over half of them having more than five members. Over four-fifths families have up to three living survivors, and very few have four or more survivors. All families were relocated to their current locations between 1985 and 1990. The families are mostly living in either low or middle income group localities, and some of these areas have large numbers of youth addicted to drugs, alcohol and gambling.
The study also found about access to welfare schemes and found that 92 percent families did not avail any entitlements under government schemes and only about 8 percent families were beneficiaries of different welfare schemes and programmes of the government like benefitting from the Public Distribution System and free education in government schools.