Maitri Dore aka dormai is an architect-cum-illustrator, based in Mumbai. This 27 year old uses her simple, child-like illustrations to evoke a sense of responsibility amongst adults, by showcasing the pale reality affecting children’s lives today. Works of this young artist offer a provocative message on age old issues plaguing their lives, weaved into contemporary stories that make news headlines today. Be it casteism, gender inequality, child labour or juvenile justice, Maitri never fails to react to these issues with her drawings. You can follow her @thedrawingroom @doremai
ALL WORK AND NO PLAY, MAKES JIGNESH A DULL BOY
- Every 11th child is working in India (5-18 years) (CRY recent analysis of the Census 2011)
- Urban Child labour has grown by more than 50% (CRY recent analysis of the Census 2011)
- 20.7 % of working adolescents (aged 15 to 17) were employed in hazardous work (2007-13). This makes up 62.8 % of all child workers in India, which is one of the highest in the world (World Report on Child Labour: Paving the way for decent young people 2015)
CHRONICLES OF NOT SO PRIVLEDGED
- 47,064 cases of crimes against Dalits were registered in 2014, up from 39,408 in 2013 and 33,655 in 2012 (National Crime Records Bureau data)
- Dalits were prevented from entering the police station in 27.6% of villages (National Human Rights Commission Report on the Prevention and Atrocities against Scheduled Castes)
ADVENTURES IN ANOTHERLAND
- More than 86.7 million children under the age of seven have spent their entire lives in conflict zones, putting their brain development at risk, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
- By the end of 2014, 59.5 million individuals were forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict, generalized violence, or human rights violations (World at War, UNHCR, Global trends, Forced displacement in 2014)
- Children constitute about 41 percent world’s forcibly displaced people and many spend their entire childhood far from home(World at War, UNHCR, Global trends, Forced displacement in 2014)
BURDENED LITTLE
- About 16 million women 15–19 years old give birth each year, about 11% of all births worldwide (WHO)
- India and Bangladesh remain among the countries where a girl is extremely likely to be married before she is 18, and have a child while still a teenager a result (United Nations)
- Every year, over 7 million girls below the age of 18, including 2 million girls under the age of 14, give birth in the developing world. The overwhelming majority of these births – 90% – occur within marriage. At this rate, the number of adolescent mothers under the age of 15 could rise to 3 million a year in 2030 (UNFPA report The report – entitled ‘Motherhood in Childhood: the Challenges of Teenage Pregnancy’)
NOT SO SUPERDADS?
- Sexual orientation of parents has no bearing on children’s emotional, behavioural or psychosocial adjustment, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
- The myth of poor mental health by children of same sex parents has been debunked by an Australian study conducted at the University of Melborne and published in the journal BMC Public Health. Researchers found that children with LGBT parents had the same amount of self-esteem and spent as much family time with their parents compared to children of heterosexual parents. In fact, investigators found that children of gay and lesbian couples to be healthier and have a stronger family unit.
DESERTED BEAUTY
- The overall sex ratio in India is 940 females per 1000 males (Census 2011)
- Things get worse when we delve into statistics concerning infants and children. The child sex ratio (0-6 years) is 914 girls per 1000 boys, an alarming decline from 927 in 2001 (and 945 in 1991, and 962 in 1981) – the lowest recorded since Independence. States like Punjab and Haryana have child sex ration as low as 846 and 830, respectively (Satyameva Jayate, a TV show that discusses and provides possible solutions to address social issues in India)
EDUCATION AND THE DIVIDED FACTORY
- India recorded nearly 20.14 crore people belonging to Dalit castes (Census 2011)
- 45 percent of Dalits do not know read and write in India
- In 37.8% of villages in India, Dalit students are made to sit separately in government schools (National Confederation of Dalit Organisations (NACDOR))
- Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh are amongst the bottom five states in terms of literacy of Dalits (Oxfam)
- The literacy rate of female Dalits in Bihar is 38.5% in 2011. It is far behind India’s progress trend. It is still 30 years behind the India’s national literacy Rate which was 43.7 in 1981(Oxfam)
THE PRISON BOOK
- In 2013, children constituted 1.1% (38756) of all persons arrested under IPC crimes (35,23,577) (NCRB 2013)
- In 2013, children constituted 3.09% (3304) of all persons arrested for rape and murder (1069282) (NCRB 2013)
- In 2013, 0.1% (3304) of all arrests made under IPC crimes (3523577) were children arrested for rape and murder