DELHI
The Capital city of India is also a place stark contrast when it comes to its demography. Ideally, as a seat of sovereign power, there should not have been a reason for intervention from outside, but such is not the case. In the slum areas of Delhi, there is a huge population that has been left to fend for itself, without much support. Surrounded by wealth and development, these islands of poverty and deprivation are a reminder that there is an immediate need to intervene.
The problem of slum dwellers is different from that of the village. They include high density of housing, poor quality housing structure and material, lack of internal household infrastructure, poor road infrastructure, access to safe water and water infrastructure, uncovered and unimproved drains, low coverage of private toilet facilities, high incidence of trash piles and frequent cohabitation with animals
PARAS India is thus working with the slum dwellers to come up with unique solutions to address their problems and to aware and empower them on various health, education and livelihood issues.
One of the reasons why people are migrating and there are slums is the unsettlement in the region where they are coming from. They come with hope that a metropolis will provide new opportunities, but the kind of living condition that these people have is many times worse off than the original place. Though many of them end up finding work, in reality, the price they pay for a menial job in a big city is too huge. The Government schemes on Urban Slum Dwellers are a reason to cheer up but the sheer scale of the task makes it difficult to reach every slum.
Therefore, the role of civil society comes handy and useful for welfare in these communities. PARAS India is working in the following districts of Delhi:-
North Delhi- Our community center in North Delhi lies in Nand Lal Slum of Gopalpur village. We have been working in Nand Lal Slum since 2007 with an objective of uplifting the lesser privileged and bringing them to the mainstream. Our projects like Pahal is based on education, E-shishya is based on online English learning and USHA Silai school and Saksham is based on women empowerment. We conduct community meeting which is called “Lok Samvaad” where the difficulties of community people are heard. Also, meetings of women and adolescent girls called “Mahila meetings” and “Kishori meetings” are taken every month where sessions on different women related issues are delivered and their queries are heard.
East- PARAS India has a community center in Rajiv Camp Slum of Dilshad Garden Metro area. We inaugurated this community centre in October 2015 with the aim of providing education to the slum children and liaison a message of a better future. We named it to project “Prerna” wherein we started an education centre, a community library, and a computer centre. In September 2017, we initiated Silai schools in collaboration with USHA International Limited which provided women residing in the slums with employment, thus strengthening a family unit. The staff working in East Delhi comprises 90% of women.
West- We are working in Tihar Central jail of West Delhi since November 2017. Project “Nav Jeevan” is based on providing education, legal and psychological counselling to the female inmates.
Apart from the above mentioned districts our programs on Gender awareness, Livelihood, Counseling, Awareness and Education are also conducted in the Central district, North-West district, South district, South-East district and New Delhi district of the Union Territory of Delhi and the NCR region.