Jul 155 min read

Migrant Children and Substantive Citizenship: How a Children's Collective in Mumbai, India, Is Working to Bridge the Gap

In the fifth installment of our blog series on 'Childhood and Migration,' Roshni Nuggehalli, Siddharth KJ, and Prakash Bhaware (Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action, India) discuss work trying to facilitate the participation and leadership of children affected by forced evictions and displacement in Mumbai, India.

July 15 2024

Citizenship can be understood as formal legal status as well in its broad substantive form, including a bundle of rights and entitlements (civil, political, social, economic, and cultural). It is also a source of identity and belonging. In the case of the latter, citizenship is no longer a settled state of being vis-à-vis the state, but a contested terrain defined by evolving forms of governance. Formal citizenship may not guarantee substantive citizenship and some form of citizenship may still be exercised in the absence of formal legal status. The gaping distance between formal and substantive citizenship in India is particularly stark for families migrating to cities from rural/peri-urban areas. Cities are primary sites where citizenship rights are negotiated, through claim-making of the poor and marginalised. The ‘right to the city’ is a defining feature of the substantive dimension of citizenship, “a critical valve en route to the appropriation and practice of urban citizenship”.

One of these claims is the right to adequate housing, most often missing for urban poor migrants who live as ‘outsiders’ in informal settlements. In India’s post-emergency phase of the 1970s, the Supreme Court of the country ‘sought to expand the ambit of fundamental rights, especially the right to life (Article 21) to include socio-economic rights like the right to basic necessities, such as nutrition, clothing, shelter’. For migrant families struggling to claim substantive citizenship, the question of adequate and secure housing is key.

Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA), a non-profit in urban India has been working over the past four decades on habitat rights. The challenges their work affronts mirror experiences of forced evictions happening globally. Forced evictions constitute a particularly egregious form of denial of citizenship rights of migrant families, especially for children. Whether accompanied by resettlement or not, the impacts of these violations are far-reaching. Exercising substantive citizenship towards adequate habitat is particularly challenging in the face of forced evictions. Due to weak local government decentralisation in cities there is limited space for participatory democracy claims by adults and children.

Impact of Displacement on Children

It was in this context that YUVA co-created an online campaign, ‘Uprooted Childhoods’ with the child rights focused non-profit, Leher, to foreground the voices and experiences of children affected by forced evictions and displacement. For example, during forced evictions, the loss of children’s books, study materials and school uniforms has been found to impede their access to school for several months. If children permanently dropped-out, they often ended up engaged in child labour, including rag-picking. The financial loss from evictions is undeniable. Parents are unable to afford school fees, given that they must reinvest in settling their family in a new place, rebuilding their lives. Children from informal settlements are also stigmatised by teachers and peers too. During forced evictions, authorities often cut off the power and/or water supply to force residents out. Evictions during monsoons, before/during school examinations are particularly devastating, and if no resettlement is provided or access to one is delayed, residents are forced to live in places with no basic amenities. Children are most vulnerable in these cases.

Even in cases where displacement from informal housing is followed by state supported resettlement, the impact on children is huge. YUVA’s study of the impact of resettlement on children in Mumbai, found that the housing provided to resettled families ignored the needs of children, including disrupted education, lack of play spaces, weak protection systems and limited public amenities like healthcare and transport. One among many striking examples of increased vulnerability post displacement and resettlement is that nearly 25 percent of children had their education disrupted for between six months to one year.

Claiming Citizenship: Bal Adhikar Sangharsh Sangathan

In the spirit of Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and in the context of cities where participation in local government is limited for all citizens, and there is no space for children’s voices, YUVA invested in processes to facilitate children’s participation and leadership for change.

The non-profit initiated the children’s collective Bal Adhikar Sangharsh Sangathan (BASS) in Mumbai, India, in 2002, as a space for children to develop and take leadership on issues that mattered to them and their communities. BASS is a child-led collective with membership consisting of children between the age of 8-17 years and with chapters across different informal settlements of the city. BASS groups follow a democratic process for agenda setting and action, with YUVA as facilitators supporting children through training on city governance, advocacy and leadership development.

BASS has worked to restore children’s access to different facets of substantive citizenship over the years. In a resettled area in Mumbai, for example, the children took up safety issues, such as the harassment of girls after sundown and the high risk of accidents, which children faced when crossing a railway track to reach their school. The children approached the police first, and when their problem remained unresolved they met an official in the Chief Minister’s office, who directed the local police to undertake regular patrolling. The children also collected signatures and submitted a list of recommendations to a Member of Parliament regarding the railway track problems. With their advocacy and that of associated groups, an alternative bridge was constructed in the area. This children’s collective has also successfully campaigned for the active functioning of ward-level Child Protection Committees in their area, they have reclaimed open spaces in their localities for learning and recreation, and continue to engage with local leaders and stakeholders to keep presenting their needs to authorities.

BASS reclaims disused community space for play and learning activities. Photo credit: YUVA

BASS members have campaigned for safety, playgrounds, inclusive development plans and basic amenities, drawing attention to their specific needs and rights.

Processes of participatory governance are significant for children bearing the brunt of widespread evictions in the city, yet having no forum of their own for their support and development. For these children and those facing other forms of marginalisation, BASS provides a platform for changing their lived realities and experiencing participatory democracy. Through their collective efforts, children with varying migration histories and cultural backgrounds have been able to exercise their agency and stake claim to their substantive citizenship rights. With their rallying cry, ‘Baal shakti aayi hai, nayi roshni laayi hai’, loosely translating to ‘children’s power has arrived, bringing new light’, the BASS children are marching ahead in their change journeys.