The New Nation - Internet Edition

Shakila Sultana

Rahima Ahmed often goes out allowing her two boys to play games on computer. One day, on her return home, she saw her younger son Mahim, 6, had hit her elder son Fahim, 12, with a toy pistol. The youngster's action resulted in a cut on Fahim's head.

When Rahima was scolding Mahim for his violent action, he said, "No one yells at when someone shoots at someone in the games. Why are you scolding me?"

Rahima of Dhaka Citys Shantinagar area finds her kids uncontrollable and she blames video games for this. Such behaviour is quite common among kids who play video games.

Video games hit the world market in 1952. They arrived in Bangladesh at the end of the 1980s. Video games became very popular in the 1990s. Since then, video games shops began to spring up in lanes and by-lanes of towns, and even in villages. In these shops, children, adolescents and unemployed play games in return for money. Literally, it has turned into an industry. But, these games are having negative impacts on children.

Kids belonging to higher class and higher-middle class families play games on their personal computers, while those of lower and lower-middle class families in an unhealthy environment of video games shops. Numerous shops can be found in Mirpur, Jatrabari, Old Dhaka, Kachukhet, Nayatola and Bashabo areas.

"Playing video games is an addiction" says Kamrun Nahar Ria, a guardian. "Like drug addicts, those are addicted to video games gradually increase the time of playing. This addiction is very harmful to children."

Dr Tamanna Begum, a child specialist and associate professor of Begum Khaleda Zia Medical College, says, "In developed countries, there are separate games for separate age groups. But, in our country, there is nothing like that. Here, everybody is playing every game. If a child plays games hours after hours he or she gets addicted. As a result, children's education is being affected."

She says, "There arise some physical problems too. If children play video games for a long time, their fingers get swollen and they face problems in their muscles. These may lead to serious physical problems in the future."

Psychologically, Dr Tamanna says, the consequence is even worse. Due to these games, children get attracted to violence and sex.

The children who play at shops have to lie or steal money. Twelve-year-old Topu was playing at a shop in Mohammadpur. "I play because I feel great with it," he says with an innocent smile. Topu is a madrasah student. He comes here to play games telling his parents that he is going to mosque for prayers. "I save my pocket money to play games. If I want my parents to give me money, they won't."

These day children and adolescents increasingly buy CDs of games. Apart from some storylines, there is nothing written on the covers of CDs and DVDs. So, guardians cannot understand what they are buying. Simply, they are being forced to buy kids all types of games, as they are unable to select good and bad ones. Children are playing all types of games, as it's not written as to which game will be played by which age group.

Many games are mentally harmful to children. In support of this statement, Mehzabin Haque, associate professor of Psychology department at Dhaka University, says, "Any addiction is bad. When children keep on playing games, they cannot control themselves. That means it's a kind of addiction. As there are many pictures, colours and speed in games, electric waves of brains get changed. So, children can't be attentive to any other things. And this harms children's education most.

Mehzabin goes on: "For playing too much of games, children can't be attentive to their studies. So, they perform poorly in their exams and become disobedient. Besides, as he or she is playing alone, social interaction is gets lesser, which may later cause frustration.''

Mehzabin also says having seen violence in many games children are getting familiar with the world of crimes. There are many games from where children watch murders and fighting. Subconsciously, children are learning crimes. These games are destroying children's sympathy for others.

She further says, "The idea among children that fighting is bad is being damaged. Children are getting encouraged in fighting. They are not learning to see a wrong thing as wrong. The condition of those playing in shops is even worse. They are playing in an unhealthy environment. And, they have to pay for this. They are learning to deal with money at an early age. In order to collect the money, they are learning many wrong things like stealing. They are also behaving violently.''

Some psychologists say it is true that nowadays children cannot have outdoor activities that much as there is virtually no playground. So, they need to be encouraged to read books.

Of course, they say, "Children will play video games. But, the time and type of games have to be fixed by their parents. The parents will also have to spend more time with their children. And they will have to be like friends so that their children can easily express their feelings to them.

Shuriah Niazi

Rehana, 42, of Tarana village in Ujjain district, was married at the age of 14. Like other girls she too had dreamt of a happy life after marriage. But on moving into her marital home, the young bride found that she was considered amongst the lowest of the low in the community and was even excluded from public activities and social festivities. By marrying Arshad, Rehana had become a Haila - the traditional carrier of night soil.

Much to her disgust, Rehana was forced by her mother-in-law and husband to take up the occupation. Every morning she had to visit the allotted homes to clean up dry latrines with the help of a broom and tin plate and carry away the night soil on a wicker basket placed on her head.

She would then dispose the waste at a specified area some distance away. Her payment from each house was one 'roti' (flat bread) a day and some money.

"I did not like all this. People did not treat us on equal terms and didn't talk to us with respect. But we were forced to do this work in order to make both ends meet."

Owing to the rigid caste-based social structure, the Muslim Haila community in Madhya Pradesh (M.P.) is treated like 'untouchables', subjected to inhuman treatment and exclusion from public participation. Officially, they belong to the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) category. They are also deprived of access to most public resources and live like outcastes.

The Haila community continues to suffer these indignities despite the fact that the degrading practice of cleaning dry latrines and transporting human excreta manually has been officially banned since 1993. The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993, makes the employment of scavengers or the construction of dry latrines that are not connected to a drainage system a punishable offence.

Yet, in several parts of M.P., the practice continues to this day and, unfortunately, over 90 per cent of those who work as night soil carriers are women. The men either work as sanitation workers with the Nagar Panchayat or as labourers. Most of the women are illiterate. According to Asif, who works among the Haila community, the literacy rate within the community would be around five per cent to 10 per cent. The women earn anywhere between Rs 5 to Rs 7 per house a day, along with the one 'roti'.

There are around 1,200 Haila families in the state, mostly in Ujjain, Dharm Shahdole, Dewas and Khandwa.

Although there is no caste system in Islam, the Haila Muslims are victims of caste-based discrimination common to other communities of the area. But it is the Haila women who suffer the most. Doubly discriminated because of their gender and low social status, they sometimes even have to face sexual harassment.

But change is in the air. These women are beginning to protest, revealing in the process a determination and courage that lay hidden during all these years of repression.

Rehana was the first to raise her voice against the offensive occupation and made up her mind to give it up. "My daughter would always tell me to quit this work.

Although people did not approve of my decision, my daughter kept encouraging me and I decided to walk out of my mother-in-law's home," she says.

In the beginning, she had to face the wrath of her community. But Rehana remained steadfast. Eventually the critics came around and even her husband, Arhshad, joined his wife in her new home. Today, Rehana earns a living by sewing clothes.

Defying social pressure and an age-old social practice was not easy, admits a victorious Rehana today. But it has all been worth it. Life has changed completely, and she does not now face the humiliation and discrimination that was once her lot. "My daughter got married recently. A large number of people attended the marriage ceremony. Hardly anyone would have come to my home had I continued with the old work."

Rehana now encourages other women of her community to seek better sources of livelihood. "The honour of a person is most important. You gain nothing in this work. It is better to give it up," reasons this torchbearer.

Taslim, of Kaytha village, who is around 40, understands the tribulations that Rehana has endured. A prisoner of societal and familial pressure, Taslim was forced to continue being a manual scavenger. Her family threatened to throw her out of the house if she dared desist. "If you do any other work you will have to work in the company of men.

Women of our community carry night soil and stay at home. We shall leave you if you refuse. Don't play with our honour," threatened her family members.

But Taslim found support in Garima Abhiyan, a social organisation working with people who carry night soil. Members of Garima Abhiyan first tried to persuade her family to opt for another profession. When their counselling efforts fell on deaf ears, they explained to Taslim that no one could force her to do this work if she didn't want to do it.

A determined Taslim then turned her back on the family occupation and gradually her relatives learnt to appreciate her decision. "We feel that life is much better than before. We can live freely with respect," says Taslim, now the district convenor of the Garima Abhiyan in Ujjain.

Ali Hussain, 29, who hails from a practising Haila family, explains, "It is not an easy task to persuade the women to give up this custom. There is so much social pressure on them."

But women like Rehana and Taslim have scripted a new story, and have courageously fought for their social and economic empowerment. Encouraging them to raise their voice against discrimination are people like Bhopal Nayab (Additional) Qazi Amirullah Khan. He says, "In Islam there is no place for discrimination on the basis of caste or work. There is need for the local 'maulvis' (clerics) to come forward and teach people correctly about the basic principles of Islam."

Of course, there are some initiatives by the government as well. There's The Self-Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers that was launched last year. Its object is to assist scavengers and rehabilitate them in alternative occupations/ trades in a time bound manner by March 2009.

Recently, Union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Meira Kumar urged Union Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and Minister of State for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja to ensure that all dry latrines in rural areas are converted into water seal latrines by March 2009.

The elimination of dry latrines is central to ending manual scavenging but the courage and initiative of women like Rehana and Taslim also goes a long way.

(Courtesy: Women's Feature Service)