Borstol Schools In India – Is This A Need Of The Hour?

Borstol Schools was an initiative taken under the British Governance in India for the welfare of youth as part of reformation and uplifting the moral and social status of adolescent girls in specific. As part of this various Acts of Reformation were framed which includes U. P. Naik Girls Protection Act, 1929, Bombay Devadasi Protection Act, 1934 and Madras Devadasi Act, 1947. At this instance for the welfare of adolescent offenders the Borstal Schools Act was also instituted in various states, which resulted in the establishment of the first Madras Borstal Schools Act, 1926.

Objective: The main goal of establishing Borstal Schools is to provide care, welfare and rehabilitation to young offenders failing not to provide education, training and enhancing a conducive environment for offending adolescents and kids. This is the place where they are confined away from the regular prison treatment and acts as a reformation center and as an early identification and correction center for prevention of budding criminals. Besides these young offenders are given industrial training to teach them to earn a living through honest ways.

Borstal Schools, in this context, though governed by the Inspector General of Prisons is under the observation of Probationary Officers: Probation Officers are persons appointed under the Tamil Nadu Probation of Offenders Act, 1936 or 1958. Besides, every school has a Visiting Committee with members appointed by the State Government. Not withstanding the Government of India has recently extended the Borstal School Act to Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2000 and established Observation Homes for observing suspected and unconvicted prisoners who are young; however, the Ministry of Women and Child Development is yet to detail on the purpose and activities of these Observation Homes for public awareness. Juvenile Justice Act, 2000 was in fact implemented to extend detention of adults offending and abusing innocent children using various means like physical and mental/ emotional harassment, which is one part of the Act, while the other part of the Act “defines those children involved in conflict with law”. Probationary Officers are assigned various duties of which one of the major responsibilities is Rehabilitation of the prisoners which is the backbone of the System of Probation and the objective of Borstal Schools. They aid in securing education, survival aids, securing shelter and homes for destitute children, settling family problems, arranging medical aid and upliftment of wards and family members of the young offenders, if any on case-by-case basis.

Statistics:

As per 2011 NCRB statistics, there are 21 Borstal Schools in India with a total capacity of 2, 218 students. The schools are located in the following states – Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu with the highest capacity of 667 inmates while the states of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh are the only places where they have facility to lodge female inmates in 3 of their Borstal Schools.

Juveniles Justice Act, 2000: The problem with this Act is how far is this law is being implemented. Any Act or law be the end as is seen there is always room for improvement; however, when an Act of this kind is being implemented, this is done after years of research and experience. The need of the hour is to distinguish, understand, identify and differentiate the two groups of juveniles and group them for lodging in these centers accordingly.

While the Juvenile Justice Act (2000) and the Borstal Act has been instituted, how far are they being implemented in reality is a question of concern for many. In this day of technology children are exposed to two threats: falling prey to cyber bullying, physical (corporal) and mental (emotional) harassment and sexual abuse - rather is better to word as children being "used" and "abused"; and on the other hand, the number of increasing crimes in which children knowingly or unknowingly are becoming a part of getting involved in the conflict of law which are going unnoticed are: bullying and bossing, cyber crimes involving misuse of technology in forms of sms, videos, photos and websites, besides the regular crimes that are usually noticed like petty theft, stealing, robbery and sometimes physical assault.

On the other hand while implementing these laws, what people actively involved in these issues notice are the lack of awareness to distinguish, discern and discriminate children involved in conflict of law and those who are in need of care and home.

Borstol Schools and Observation Homes are the step towards culminating young and budding criminal offenders to make a better society for tomorrow !

Join My Venture In Eco-Anti-Cracker Campaign – Less Noise!

When do we burst fire crackers? There are many occasions when we burst crackers with the main festival being the “Festival of Lights” called “Diwali” or “Deepavali”, other ceremonies like weddings, new year, political processions and processions for social cause besides other sad occasions to wade of evil spirits and for the soul to rest in peace. Most of the crackers that are burst in India is at the time of festival of Diwali. Diwali is also celebrated by lighting lamps and decorating houses with lights, besides other customs like sharing sweets and buying new dresses. Diwali is the festival celebrating the triumph of good over evil. Lighting of lamps also signifies the welcoming of Goddess Lakshmi.

However, with the changing trend in lifestyle this has become a monotonous custom that Diwali has becomes an indiscriminating celebration of bursting crackers from dawn to dusk. Hardly do people understand that they being involved in encouraging child labour in those companies located in areas of Sivakasi and Virudhunagar of TamilNadu, India where majority of the crackers are being manufactured.

But the locus of discussion over here is resting on the argument of overuse of crackers being bursted resulting in increased noise pollution to the environment.

The first part of the discussion will circle around the ill-effects of bursting crackers in perspective of noise pollution:

1. When you burst too much crackers continuously and that too those causing lot of noise this is going to disturb your neighbours who are babies, toddlers, small children, elderly, sick specifically heart patients, those who have psychological disturbances and sensitive ears.

2. The next affected are those lovely little ones at your home – pet animals: birds, dogs and cats are the most affected ones as they sense bursting cracker as a signal of danger and something abnormal to their regular life – leave alone those at your home – they will know that no harm is going to come and you can always let them know with your love and care – but think of those stray animals who do not have a home to hide and someone to show them there is nothing to be terrified of.

3. Besides if your house is located near hospitals, asylums and homes for the elderly, mentally challenged and animals; then you need to care.

4. The greatest challenge of noise pollution is not only disturbance and annoyance, but could also lead to “hearing loss”.

The second part of the discussion on the various laws amended and regulated to :

With the regulations in India is concerned the laws implementing the restriction on the use of crackers and blasting crackers will under two categories – those limiting the noise pollution and the other limiting the air pollution.

A classical example of taking stance on the enforcement of the amended law by Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) and district administration led to the implementation of the audible limits restricting the use of crackers accordingly. Crackers causing loud noises have already been abandoned numbering to 93 different items. As per the order from Collector’s office the decibel limit for bursting crackers were implemented as outlined: http://www.tnpcb.gov.in/tnbcbambient.html . Furthermore, people violating the rules were warned of immediate custody and spot fine of Rs. 1, 000/. Time limit for bursting crackers has been confined between 6 : 00 AM to 10 : 00 PM. As an additional measure from the local administration side, people have also been informed to avoid bursting or take appropriate measures while bursting crackers in congested streets, near slums or animal sheds. I still remember the days of childhood when I got a rocket right at the bottom of my leg in the living room of our house in Chennai.

One of the other major problem that has to removed from the minds of those mischievous little kids who are not taught to learn to live with the environment is to avoid bursting crackers by tying them to the tails of dogs, cats, birds, insects like dragonfly and sometime calves.

However, drafting laws, words of enforcement and spreading information via campaign like media advertisements, sms and posters/ pamphlets will not do enough good in combating the changing trend of bursting crackers as the only way to celebrate Diwali. What is needed more is the follow up on the law enforced, in other words, real implementation and reporting of incidences in the media officially as a holistic data.

In the end, I am affirming on my point of view that there is nothing wrong in bursting crackers but the motto of joining this campaign is on “wise use on bursting crackers”. There is no cost involved in joining the Campaign!

“Bursting Crackers = Money Spent” maybe a status symbol today – but if you join here after having a thoughtful contemplation – this will become a “taboo” tomorrow; and you will have many ways to spend the amount saved and enjoy the Festival of Lights or any other occasion.

Let’s learn to keep the Earth Safe for our future generation and Save their Ears! 

Join Eco-Anti-Cracker Campaign!