February 16, 1998

Education helps children orphaned by communal violence to overcome biases.

By Rohit Parihar

Even if Asiya Bano, a young bride in Malpura town in Rajasthan's Tonk district, had overcome the shock of losing her parents in the violence that followed in the wake of the Babri Masjid's demolition in 1992, she would probably have spent her life worrying about how to bring up her four orphaned, school-going sisters. But 25 years old now, she sees brighter days ahead. The Malpura Welfare Society, formed by the regretful people of the town after the rioting, helped her to invest the Rs 4.4 lakh compensation she got from the government, gave her money to build a house and aided her in completing formalities to get each of her sister a monthly Rs 375 education assistance from the National Foundation for Communal Harmony. "We do feel sad about what happened," she says, "but my husband and I look forward to educating my sisters before they are married."

The riots, which claimed 26 lives in the town, stunned the normally peaceful Malpura, which has a population of 24,000, a third of them Muslims. So, once the frenzy died out, some people -- government employees, businessmen and politicians -- sat down to discuss how best to help the orphans. Thus was born the Malpura Welfare Society. Some patrons cautioned that mere one-time rehabilitation was not going to serve the purpose. Recalls Mohammad Zakir Naqvi, an accountant in the government treasury who has been the society's secretary since its establishment in 1993: "The elders advised us to promote literacy because it was illiteracy that made people lose their senses and take recourse to violence." With its objective thus spelt out, the society began its job quietly, first ensuring that the kin of the dead got the government compensation and then investing it in the best possible way in order to benefit the children. The society also solicited donations, from which the poorest among the affected -- such as Asiya Bano -- were provided assistance for building houses. All the while, the members of the association had regular interaction with the victims in which they explained how neither community was to be blamed in isolation for their trauma.

The Malpura Welfare Society again played a vital role when the local administration sought its help in identifying victims for the scholarship scheme of the National Foundation for Communal Harmony. By contacting the affected children immediately, the society ensured that in most of the cases there was no discontinuation in their schooling. Today, Abdul Khalique Qadri, who had just started going to school when his electrician father was killed, is in Class IV. "I want to be a teacher," he says shyly. Salma, then 19, lost her husband Jamaluddin, a peanut seller, to a stray bullet and was left with a three-year-old son Ansar Ahmed and 10-month-old daughter Aneesha. She found it difficult to find the money to send them to a good school until the society got their education assistance, even arrears, cleared. Says a happy Salma: "I know now my children will shine in the world."

Now, with the children growing up, the society is fighting to make sure the government fulfils its commitment of providing jobs to them. It has, for example, taken up the case of Satya Narain, who lost both his parents in the riots. Shakil Mohammad, 18, has passed Class XII and is no longer eligible for scholarship; his candidature is also being promoted. Besides, the society is running a free dispensary and, significantly, has on call 200 young people to donate blood during emergencies since Malpura does not have a blood bank.

Such activities are well appreciated and the municipal committee and local administration try to extend as much help as they can. Says Harji Lal Atal, sub-divisional magistrate, Malpura: "The Malpura Welfare Society is doing a commendable job in not only rehabilitating riot victims but also in fostering communal harmony." If only there were more such associations in the country today.

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