With a view to improve the condition of shelter homes in Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal ordered his officers to act upon a social audit report of all these homes within seven days. The report is prepared by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) Koshish.
The Delhi Government and the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) had partnered with the TISS Koshish in the social audit of the shelter homes in Delhi. The TISS Koshish is the same organisation which had unearthed the horrific tragedy of a Muzaffarpur shelter home in Bihar where cases of rape and murder of girls were reported. The tragedy raised concerns over the functioning of shelter homes across the country.
The Muzaffarngar tragedy prompted Kejriwal and his deputy, Manish Sisodia, to request the DCW to engage an independent external agency like TISS Koshish to conduct the audit.
A TISS team led by Md. Tarique had then visited 83 shelter homes run in the capital both by the government and the NGOs. The methodology of the team that involves both qualitative and quantitative measures in presentation of a fair image of the present scenario was approved by the DCW.
The report pointed out several severe shortcomings in the functioning of the homes. For instance, only 47% of the homes were running with proper licenses, while 25 percent have applied for the renewal of license and are yet to get it. Further, it was found that the staff strength of the shelter homes is very low with various positions lying vacant.
The report not only pointed out the shortcomings but also several good practices adopted by the shelter homes. According to the report, 85 percent of the shelter homes has recreation rooms for various activities.
The memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the DCW and the TISS Koshish clearly stated that the TISS would inform the commission of any severe wrongdoing in the shelter homes during the process of the audit so that it could take an action against them.
During an inspection, the TISS Koshish Team had informed the commission that a private home in Dwarka, CFI Dwarka, punished little children by putting red chilli powder in their private parts. The commission took action against the management of the the home on the night of the same day, December 27, 2018 and ensured that an FIR is registered against the shelter home. The commission also recommended shifting of the children from the shelter home.
Today, the team of the TISS Koshish presented the report to the chief minister, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Minister of Social Justice Rajendra Pal Gautam, Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar and DCW Chief Swati Maliwal along with the members of the commission. Senior officers from the concerned department were also present at the meeting.
After studying the report, DCW Chairperson Swati Maliwal stated, “I am happy that Muzaffarpur is not happening anywhere in Delhi. However, there is a lot of suffocation in the shelter homes and systemic reforms must be brought in.
She sought participation of people in the functioning of the shelter homes to make them more transparent.
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