National Child Rights Research Fellowships

In 2007, CRY - Child Rights and You, awarded the first CRY- National Child Rights Research Fellowships to six individuals. The idea was to provide an opportunity for Indians willing to invest time and creative energy to explore in some depth, the question what is in the best interest of children. In all, 10 fellowships were on offer.

There have been a number of applications from smaller towns and rural areas, many belonging to communities that CRY raises resources for: ethnic minorities, dalits, backward regions around the country with interesting and challenging proposals.

2007

Dripta Piplai, an M.Phil at the Department of Linguistics, University of Delhi, completed her study entitled Where Children Lose Their Language: The endangered Linguistic Identity of the Rajbanshi Children of North Bengal. View report

Falendra Kumar Sudan, Reader in Economics at the University of Jammu completed the study examining the Economic Implications of Armed Conflicts on Displaced Migrant Children: A Case Study of Purkhoo Camp in Jammu City. View Report

Haroon Mirani examined the situation of the Half Orphans of Kashmir waiting for the fuller life.  He is a journalist with an MA in Mass Communications. View report

Sachin Jain, a freelance development journalist, has completed his study on Exclusion and Violation of Children's Right to Nutrition, focusing especially on the situation of the Sahariya tribal children. View report

B. Rajeshwari is a PhD student at the Centre for Political Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University. In keeping with her area of specialization, Rajeshwari is working on Pedagogy and the Construction of Communal Identity in Children: The Case of Shishu Mandirs in Ahmedabad, for the Fellowship. She shared only a preliminary report at the sharing meeting.

Pratibha Menon and Aruna Kashyap are both advocates who work with India Centre for Human Rights and Law, Mumbai. Their research undertakes to Demystify the Best Interests Principle.

2008

Arpita Mitra is currently pursuing an M.Phil at the Department of History, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She is proposing to explore the present scenario of children's (approximately 3 to 10 years of age) story books in English and Hindi in the metropolis of Delhi.

Debolina Dutta and Oishnik Sircar are lawyer-researchers. Their study is titled "We are foot soldiers: the children of Sonagachi and their experience of resisting discrimination and stigma."

Digambar Narzary is presently in Nedan Foundation at Kokhrajar, Assam. He is proposing to understand the Child's development impact and coping strategies of children living in the 25 existing relief camps due to the ethnic conflict at Kokrajhar and Chirang districts of Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), Assam.

Jaideep Hardikar is a Journalist with Daily News and Analysis (DNA) in Nagpur. His study is on "The inheritors of debt, burden and distress: what's
happening with the kids in suicide-ravaged households in rural Vidarbha?"

V Pavan is a teacher in Manganoor village, Mahboobnagar, Andhra Pradesh. His study is on "the problems of Lambada tribe children- Challenges faced in granting the rights to these boys and girls - required solutions and role of the society."