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 F RO M
E X P L O I TAT I O N
TO
EM P OWERMENT

A Socio-Legal Model of Rehabilitation and

Reintegration of Intellectually Disabled Children

Asha Bajpai
 From Exploitation to Empowerment

“I would like to congratulate Ms. Bajpai for writing this book on a very impor-
tant topic namely empowerment of intellectually disabled orphan children.
This book should help students, teachers, lawyers and social workers and the
Government in understanding the problems of children in need of care and pro-
tection and the solution to end their concerns. Ms. Bajpai was appointed to help
the court as ‘Amicus Curiae’ and to assist the court on several important issues.
It was only because of her help I could pass several orders to help these children.
I wish her all the best in her new endeavour of putting on record her arduous but
immensely successful journey of bringing hope and light in life of these children.”
—Kanade V. M. Justice, Retd. Mumbai High Court

“Project Chunauti was created to secure justice to the mentally challenged

orphan children who were abused and exploited by individuals in whose care
they were placed, Chunauti adapted a child rights based and multi-stakeholder
approach involving the Hon. Bombay High Court, Government of Maharashtra,
Maharashtra’s Child Welfare Committee, Tata Institute of Social Sciences and
Mankhurd Children’s Home. In order to get Justice for the Children and ena-
ble them move from “Exploited to Empowered” involved negotiating the legal,
administrative and governance systems. It was a great teamwork and the team
worked hard in a very difficult and challenging social and political environment.
With financial support from Mazagaon Docks Ltd and National Stock Exchange,
Professor Asha Bajpai put together a professional team to motivate and counsel
the children, and put them through schooling and vocational education and keep
the Hon. High Court informed of the progress being made by the initiative at
regular intervals. Through this process, a highly innovative, replicable and adapt-
able model of de-institutionalization, rehabilitation and social-reintegration of
mentally challenged children in State care has been demonstrated. This model that
is described in this book can support all children in State care in Government and
Non-Government run institutions to de-instutionalise and reintegrate with the
society as productive individuals. I am proud to have been associated with the ini-
tiative as the Director of Tata Institute of Social Sciences to facilitate the team to
accomplish a very difficult and nationally important mission.”
—S. Parasuraman, Former Director of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences
(August 2004 to February 2018); currently Senior Fellow, Fudan
University, Shanghai, China; Adjunct Professor, National Institute
of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Hyderabad; Director, Banyan
Academy of Leadership in Mental Health (BALM), Chennai, India
“Chunauti (“challenge”), a Field Action Project of the Tata Institute of Social
Sciences, emerged from public interest litigation initiated by the Mumbai High
Court after five intellectually disabled orphan children died in a state-aided insti-
tution in Maharashtra, India. The project aimed to reform state care systems
to provide intellectually disabled children with the education, care, and dignity
guaranteed by law. This book details the court directions, media coverage, fac-
tual findings, state agency responses, and legal foundation for development of
this rehabilitation model to integrate intellectually disabled children into society
and ready them for independent living.
Policymakers, lawyers, child and disability rights advocates, students, and
other readers who seek models of collaboration to bring about systemic change
will find this book a gripping and provocative read.”
—Prof. Jane Ellen Schukoske, Advisor, S M Sehgal Foundation, India

“On 24 August, 2010, Mumbai Mirror reported the death of 5 intellectually

disabled orphan children in a government-recognized and aided home in Thane
district, Maharashtra. The deaths were a result of the malnutrition, neglect,
and abuse they endured. Further investigation also revealed a history of physi-
cal abuse and sexual assault. Following this disclosure, Asha Bajpai, Professor of
Law at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, was appointed amicus curiae by the
Bombay High Court. This book traces the journey of the children who were res-
cued and rehabilitated through Project Chunnauti.
This book is an important resource for all those who wish to undertake a sim-
ilar journey to empower children with intellectual disabilities so that they can be
protected and empowered.”
—Enakshii Ganguly, Co-Founder-HAQ: Centre for Child Rights,
New Delhi, India
 Asha Bajpai

From Exploitation
to Empowerment
A Socio-Legal Model of Rehabilitation and
Reintegration of Intellectually Disabled Children
Asha Bajpai
Tata Institute of Social Sciences
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

ISBN 978-981-13-1717-0 ISBN 978-981-13-1718-7 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1718-7

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018950492

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights
of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction
on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and
retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and
information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication.
Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied,
with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have
been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published
maps and institutional affiliations.

Cover image: Tim Gainey/Alamy Stock Photo

Cover design by Akihiro Nakayama

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Singapore Pte Ltd.
The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore
189721, Singapore
 Foreword

I feel very privileged to write this foreword to this multifaceted and

poignantly magnificent narrative of law and disability for many reasons.
It offers the finest tradition of partnership between investigative jour-
nalism, social action litigation (SAL) process (unfortunately still mis-
called public interest litigation), the judiciary, and the intrepid social
science-based social movement in India. Professor Asha Bajpai is a
­
veteran and versatile specialist in the rights of the child and this work
additionally shows why social sciences knowledges are integral to the
production of social change.
A series of radical contingencies led to the emergence of social action
depicted in this book. But for responsive and response-able initiation of
suo motu proceedings by Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Dhananjay
Chadrachud on the report in Mumbai Mirror on the horrifying condi-
tions of custodial institution (homes) for intellectually disabled children,
these chronic situations of misfortune would never have been trans-
formed into situations of injustice.1 Nor would the willing conscrip-
tion in activist adjudication process of Professor Asha Bajpai of the Tata
Institute of Social Science as amicus curiae. Nor, further, a new social
organization and movement named Chunauti would have been born
and achieved so much, and in such a short time the way it did. Most
importantly, the rescue and painstaking of over 100 children would not

1I owe this distinction, which I have used variously in my writings, to Judith N. Shklar,

The Faces of Injustice (New Haven, Conn., Yale University Press).

v
vi    Foreword

have ever occurred, with astonishing impact of replication attempt now

under way for all ‘homes’ in Maharashtra, and eventually also proposed
in other parts of India. This is indeed a singular service to a bulk of
neglected tiny citizens of India.
There are multiple messages in this monograph: The chief among them
is that state institutions can be taught to care for people living with disa-
bility. It was this ethic of care that SAL built into social action and adju-
dication. That combinatory ethic makes room for a new linkage between
care, rights, responsibility, and justice. And for the care givers, it creates a
duty and responsivity toward concrete others (as Selya Benhabib used to
characterize otherness)2 for whom we assume responsibility: Most impor-
tant is the fact the ethics of care ‘respects rather than removes itself from
the claims of particular others with whom we share actual relationships’3;
impartiality is not achieved through distance and hierarchy but by constant
engagement and acts of empathy in transactions of learning and unlearning.
This valuable monograph illustrates this truth elegantly and lucidly
through an account of the sustained action program of Chunauti, a
prime example of translating into action the rights promised by law. The
larger message is that normative law may not be a gigantic hoax or a bag
of constitutional tricks (I often contrast constitutions and ‘contricks’—
tricks of constitutional governance with constitutional law—‘Conlaw’).
Partnership among learned professions very often succeeds in erasing the
boundaries between ‘conlaw’ and ‘contrick’. Professor Bajpai here pro-
vides a detailed and an anxious narrative of such partnership.
This work also makes visible the plight of the tormented and right-
less children who are intellectually disabled. ‘Dearth of awareness of their
condition’, the social ‘apathy’ in general toward people living with disa-
bility, lack of ‘social integration’, and the sheer fact of abandonment to
custodial institutions without any redress for lifelong incarceration, tyr-
anny, and torture confront any student of intellectually disabled children.
These constitute nearly 6% of disabilities in India and 57:7% of them are
dependent on others.

2Seyla Benhabib, ‘The Generalized and the Concrete Other: The Kohlberg Gilligan

Controversy and Feminist Theory’, in Situating the Self: Gender, Community, and
Postmodernism in Contemporary Ethics 148–77 (New York: Routledge, 1992).
3Virginia Held, The Ethics of Care: Personal, Political, Global, at 10–13 (Oxford

University Press, 2006). See also, Nel Noddings, Caring, A Feminine Approach to Ethics &
Moral Education, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984.)
 Foreword    vii

Dr. Bajpai appeals us to consider two ways out of apathy to empow-

erment. One is ‘changing the world’, and second is changing of our
‘mindsets’. Both these exits are interlinked but distinct and pose enor-
mous challenges. But much can be attained by small steps than meta-nar-
ratives of human rights and global social change rhetoric. What is needed
is a modicum of respect for fellow-citizens who are born with, or have
acquired, disability. Such respect is also owed to a fair implementation
of the normative enunciations of human rights in the Convention of the
Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD.)
The term ‘respect’ also implies sincerity in amelioration the suffering
of ‘blossoms in the dust’4 and the obligation of both promotion and pro-
tection of human rights. Dr. Bajpai suggests a joint reading of Articles 19
and 12 of the CRPD: the latter stating that persons with disabilities are
subjects of rights and the former entailing the right to reasonable accom-
modation of one’s own choosing. These rights to dignity and autonomy
have been interpreted consistently in favor of people with disabilities
in many parts of the world and also upheld in Indian appellate courts.5

4I am here referring to an American award-winning movie by the same title on life in

an orphanage (1941) as well as the great general treatise on Indian development by
Kusum Nair, Blossoms in the Dust: The Human Factor in Indian Development (New York,
Duckworth, 1962).
5For example, on a very recent 2018 decision, Justices S Murlidhar and I Mehta

quashed the detention in the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS)
of 71-year-old Ram Kumar who was ‘unbeknownst to his family, taken away to IHBAS
for observation for two days’ and his ‘unlawful detention’ was continued by orders issued
on November 5 and 20, 2017, by the Metropolitan Magistrate at Rohini. While this case
concerned a senior citizen, Dr. Bajpai speaks of intimidating and adverse conditions of
adults housed in children’s home and children who spent the entire life in the ‘home’. Ram
Kumar’s only fault was to express anger by shouting and even creating a ‘ruckus’ at law’s
delays (he was a petitioner in person). He was kept under ‘observation’ at IHBAS, though
he was not found to be maniac depressive or in any way mentally unsound. While the Delhi
High Court reproached him for suffering a ‘litigation neurosis’, it did not concede any
mental illness. It ordered his release on November 25, 2017, but on April 26, 2018, gave
a seven-part detailed constitutional judgment. The decision is notable for its impassioned
plea for the ‘complete dismantling of the penal custodial model of health care’ and the alert
for everyone to view the mental health law as ‘essentially concerning the right to treatment
and care of persons’ consistent with their rights to ‘liberty and dignity and need for auton-
omy’ (italics added). It is also notable for the issuance of a collective judicial apology to the
petitioner and directions for adequate compensation.
viii    Foreword

While we await the signs of the birth of caring state institutions, all of us
in Indian society must come to regard the people living with disabilities
as co-citizens, and subjects rather than objects of social development.
I place this slender but significant volume in your hands with a hope
that an India-wide Chunauti—a challenge to confront injustices meted
out to people living with disabilities—acquires a summoning urgency
because we all are bound by the Fundamental Duties of Citizens under
Part IV-A of the Constitution of India.

Delhi, India Upendra Baxi

June 2018 Emeritus Professor of Law
University of Warwick and Delhi
 Preface

This is the story of a journey of exploitation and empowerment—

of abuse and inclusion- of hope and healing- of the most vulnera-
ble group of children- the intellectually disabled, orphan children in a
State-aided institution. It all began when a disturbing report appeared
in the Mumbai Mirror on August 24, 2010. Mumbai Mirror reported
the death of 5 intellectually disabled children due to malnutrition at a
government-recognized and aided home near Mumbai; 18 children (13
boys, 5 girls) were subjected to severe malnutrition and unhygienic living
conditions, all cramped in a dingy room at the children’s home. Many
were starving and more would have died if they had not been shifted
because of the report. The report disclosed the unsanitary conditions
in which the children had been housed and the lack of basic facilities.
It noted that the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) of the District and
the District Women and Child Development Department (DWCD)
officer had failed to do their mandatory duty of proper inspections and
take adequate remedial steps. The news report raised fundamental ques-
tions about the denial of human rights to intellectually disabled, orphan
children. It also questioned the apathy and neglect of those running
the institution and of public functionaries vested with statutory powers
under the prevalent Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2000
(amended 2006) (JJAct). 1

1The JJ Act 2000 has now been replaced by JJ Act 2015.

ix
x    Preface

The Division Bench headed by the then Chief Justice of Mumbai

High Court, Hon. Justice Mohit Shah and Hon. Justice D. Y.
Chandrachud, took suo motu cognizance of the news report and a Public
Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in the Mumbai High Court. The con-
cerned District Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and the Department of
Women and Child Development (DWCD), Government of Maharashtra,
were made respondents in the case (PIL 182 of 2010)2. Later, the
Division Benches headed by Hon. Justice Dr. D. Y. Chandrachud, Hon.
Justice V. M. Kanade, and Hon. Justice A. S. Oka continued the PIL.
This was a gross failure of the juvenile justice system. It was later
found that many of the children who were rescued were physically and
sexually abused as well. Children with intellectual and other developmen-
tal disabilities in institutions are perfect targets for neglect, sexual abuse,
and assault. A sexual assault is a severe, heinous breach of trust and faith
for the intellectually disabled victim children. The Court stated ‘the case
highlights the plight of children desperately in need of care and protec-
tion. Their needs have been ignored in years of neglect. Their right to
life under the Constitution has been brazenly infringed. The solemn cov-
enants of the Convention on the Rights of the Child have remained an
unachieved illusion. The Court has had to act suo motu because the men-
tally challenged are unable to secure the protection of their human rights
or access to justice. The Court is constrained to intervene to ensure
that those who are under a public duty to act in accordance with law.
Development without freedom is meaningless. A society, which bears her
children, to die of starvation has unanswered questions, which cannot be
answered. Neither constitutional freedom nor growth in a global soci-
ety can be achieved when the young die without a morsel of food and
clean water. We write in great anguish over the deprivations faced by our
young and the disabled but in the determined hope that judicial review
can activate a democratic deficit of governance’.
The Hon. Court appointed me as the Amicus Curiae (friend of the
Court) in the matter. There was also an urgent and immediate need
to ensure that the children were given medical, psychiatric, and nutri-
tional support. In its order of September 9, 2011, the Hon. Court asked
the District CWC and the DWCD to respond to the Media article. In

2In Re Articles in Mumbai Mirror 2017 SCC Online Bom 418, Para 27 available at

http://bombayhighcourt.nic.in/ accessed on May 2, 2018.

 Preface    xi

response, the DWCD confirmed the accuracy of the facts as reported in

the newspaper. A FIR was filed in police station by the CWC. At the
request of the Court, I visited the children along with a counselor, Dr.
Naina Athale. When I went to meet the children, they were all sitting in
a room in pin drop, gloomy silence. None of them spoke. They appeared
malnourished and scared. I did not ask them what happened to you. I
knew by then they had answered this to the superintendent, the pro-
bation officer, secretary, minister, police, and so on … Instead, I intro-
duced both of us and told them we have been sent by the Court, to meet
them. Blank sheets and crayons were handed to them. Some of them did
not even know how to hold them. They mostly used black, mainly drew
those houses, which we used to draw when we were in school—a tri-
angle on top and rectangle below with a door and windows. Many of
them placed themselves outside their house. Their drawings spoke vol-
umes about them. Later, some of them on their own started speaking
and ­confided about what had happened to them.
It was then decided that if this was the situation in a Mentally
Deficient Children’s (MDC)3 Home in Mumbai, we need to look at
other homes in Maharashtra. So expert committees in the State and
regions were formed. A study was done in all the other 23 homes in the
State. Another case of gross sexual abuse and exploitation of 19 girls
came to light during the visit of the members of one of the regional
committees that included Naina Athale, Pramod Nigudkar, and Deepali
Bhattacharya. Horrifying tales of abuse were heard and bruises observed
on their body parts. Another disturbing fact that emerged in the study
was that throughout Maharashtra, there was zero-percent awareness,
relating to disability and child sexual abuse of the staff in MDC Homes.
The status report was submitted to the High Court.
All the 35 children who were rescued from the two Homes were
brought together, in a fully aided Government Home in Mumbai. The
rescued children had experienced gross neglect, malnutrition, and abuse
allegedly at the hands of the very people, who were supposed to care for
them. The Chunauti team members, the counsellors under the guidance
of the mental health expert, Dr. Harish Shetty, worked very hard to give
psychological and psychiatric help to these traumatized children. For the

3MDC homes in Maharashtra are where intellectually disabled children are housed in

State care.
xii    Preface

first time, a group of such children faced the criminal justice system and
gave evidence in Court against the perpetrators and also got conviction.
One of them gave evidence through the sign language. This was a land-
mark event setting a precedent for children with intellectual disabilities
and hearing and speech impairment, children in institutional care, to give
evidence in courts. Special Public Prosecutor admitted that the main evi-
dence in the case was the testimony of children with mental disabilities,
who despite their trauma came forward and testified. He said that it was
their bravery, which helped to prove the case, and led to conviction of
the accused.
After their rescue, the question of their rehabilitation remained. The
common perception about children with intellectual disabilities under
institutional care is that that these children just need food, clothes, shel-
ter, medicines, and protection or safety. This often leads to not provid-
ing them with opportunities to help them develop and improve their
life condition to live with dignity and respect. The trauma and confu-
sion in the minds of these children were immense. They also needed
other developmental and therapeutic inputs to help them become more
independent. Hence, funds were collected and the Project Chunauti, a
field action Project of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), was
initiated to provide the children with a chance for a better life. Project
Chunauti is a partnership project between several stakeholders. Each
stakeholder has a vital role to play in ensuring the rehabilitation.
The current mindset is that people with intellectual disabilities can
never do anything and must remain in the institutions for the rest of
their lives, with no training, no education, no skills, waiting for death to
come. They generally do not go to school. There is no structured curric-
ulum. Many of them go to activity classes for a short time doing art and
craft. So, you see 50, 60, and 70 years old in these institutions, as they
have no options. In most countries, preconceived notions and a predom-
inantly medical view of disability contribute to negative attitudes toward
people with disabilities. Often, they are portrayed as sick, defective, and
deviant persons, as objects of professional intervention, as a burden to
themselves and their families and dependent on another people’s charity.
These deep-rooted views have consequences for their opportunities in
getting education and work or raising families of their own. Everywhere,
persons with disabilities make up a large portion of the poor, vulnerable,
and marginalized. These children being orphans were doubly disadvan-
taged. It was this mindset that the Project Chunauti wanted to change.
 Preface    xiii

The Project Chunauti operates from the core belief in children’s

capacities to develop to their full potential. We believe that children with
intellectual disabilities have the same set of rights—right to survival,
development, protection, and participation—like other children and all
these rights are equally important. We have a vision for these children
and a belief that these children are also capable of learning developing
to their potential, living independently with dignity and forming an inte-
gral part of society. All our interventions were planned based on this core
belief in children’s potential to learn and develop. These interventions
included—needs assessment, case management, preparing individual
care plans, and developing linkages with various stakeholders for quality
services for children for their development. It further included provid-
ing education and physical and mental health interventions, counseling,
life skills, special education, inclusive education in regular schools, ther-
apeutic interventions through occupational therapy, therapeutic toys,
games, dance, and gardening and Mehendi (Henna Designing), regular
monitoring and reporting, capacity building of staff and development of
child protection policy and protocols relating to licensing and inspection,
training, dealing with malnutrition and abuse, and code of conduct for
the staff. This led to several advocacy and policy reforms.
After facing years of neglect, abuse, and exploitation, it was hearten-
ing that these children were rediscovering joys in their lives. The children
started dreaming of a future full of hopes. Some wanted to be beautician;
others do housekeeping and hospitality; and some nursing, baking, and so
on. After education and training and employment, finally three children
got placements and job offers. An orientation, on money management
and work behavior and ethics, was given to them as they had abso-
lutely no concept of money. They are now out of the institution toward
independent living after getting release orders from the Child Welfare
Committee (CWC). More have now been motivated to follow. Everybody
now wants to go out and work and earn money. It was a proud moment
for all of us when 3 girls from Project Chunauti successfully completed
their training and took up jobs—a step forward toward deinstitutionali-
zation, independent living, and social reintegration. As of now, they are
doing well and this has motivated others to work hard toward fulfilling
their own dreams and aspirations. Some more will be moving out.
This is a ‘victory’ for the Chunauti team, the Court, the Media, and
all those who worked hard, faced several challenges and roadblocks, and
xiv    Preface

played a significant role. A replicable, adaptable rehabilitation and rein-

tegration model has emerged for the most vulnerable group of children
in institutions. At the direction of the Hon. High Court, the model of
rehabilitation and social reintegration is being replicated in other MDC
Homes in Maharashtra. There is a possibility it may be replicated in
other States as well. The Court also directed the State to give compensa-
tion to the 35 children—both boys and girls.
There is a shortage of residential homes for children with intellectual
disabilities. Currently, adults and children stay together. In fact, majority
in these homes are adults. The High Court’s direction on providing a
separate scheme by the government for adult inmates is still to be com-
plied with by the State. There is also lack of options for training and
acquiring skills for orphan children with intellectual disability, as they
need accommodation during training. There are no sheltered workshops
or vocational training institutes attached to MDC Homes. Many chil-
dren in these Homes need lifelong support and care. Some need equip-
ment to help them. But there are those mild and moderate cases who can
be trained or educated. They need experiential learning. Vocational units
to teach marketable skills must be started within institutions. After they
start working, they need hostels and subsides housing.
India ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities (CRPD) in 2007 and in consonance with it enacted the
Rights of the Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. There is also the
National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy,
Mental retardation and Multiple Disabilities. But the awareness and
applicability of these laws to orphan children in institutions are poor. The
institutions are not aware of these laws and government schemes and
if aware, the process and the application formats are not suited to such
vulnerable orphan, children; hence, these schemes generally remain on
paper. The laws need to be reviewed with a rights-based approach. The
Constitution of India must specifically include prohibition of discrimina-
tion on grounds of disability.
We need laws recognizing legal capacity and independent living to
these persons as per the CRPD. Since, aftercare institutions are a com-
plete failure, there is a need for the State to step in to provide housing
and employment for adult persons coming out of institutions for inde-
pendent living to feel included, recognized, and loved. We need super-
vised group homes where they can live independently and safely. Once
out of institutions and released from the juvenile justice system, they
 Preface    xv

must be allowed to return, if they are unable to adjust and adapt. Laws
that are implementable and that support them to help them learn to take
more initiative and control over their lives are needed. There must be
accountability built in laws for those who violate the provisions.
India has around 430 million children (0–18), the largest population
of children in the world. There is a need to ensure that ALL children
grow up healthy, in terms of both physical health and mental health, and
have sufficient opportunities to contribute to the growth of the coun-
try. It is estimated that many children are destitute and orphans or with-
out parental support in the country. Many of them have been placed in
institutional care under the juvenile justice system. Children, by virtue
of their age, often need special care and protection that adults do not
but children with disabilities have a complex set of needs and encounter
a myriad of social and physical and above all attitudinal barriers. Barriers
which put them into heightened risk of their rights being violated. We
need a policy for deinstitutionalization and independent living. State
must provide housing and jobs for such children and support their inde-
pendent living.
Chunauti was a long and difficult journey. This empowerment of
intellectually disabled children requires huge resources. It requires
intense specialized inputs. Each child has different needs and requires
different support system. The results are gradual, slow with various set-
backs at different stages. Funders that count their achievements in num-
bers and figures do not fund such projects. We had earlier funders but
it was the National Stock Exchange (NSE) that understood their needs
and went beyond counting the number of beneficiaries but instead
looked at the quality and intensity of services to the most marginalized
and vulnerable section of the society. No wonder they were awarded
with the Award for Best CSR Project in the Innovation Category by the
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).4
We are grateful to Mr. Huzan Mistry (Strategic Business Head, New
Products and CSR); Ms. Rema Mohan, CEO, NSE Foundation; and Ms.
Nivya Nair and Mr. Vijay Zarekar of NSE. I would like to make a spe-
cial mention of Ms. Rema Mohan, who was extremely sensitive toward
the special needs of these children. This journey would not have been

4The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) is an associa-

tion of business organisations in India. See more: http://ficci.in/.

xvi    Preface

possible without the financial support of NSE. We need more such cor-
porate houses going beyond the ‘number game’ and providing resources
and funds for the cause of persons with intellectual disabilities.
This project really went through hard times. Without the directions
form the Courts, this process would not have been possible. The courts
were a great support in this journey. Their directions made the State and
its agencies take action. The Court direction also provided compensation
from the State to 35 children, both boys and girls.
I am honored that Prof. Upendra Baxi, the world-renowned legal
scholar, distinguished jurist, and eminent legal academic, agreed to write
the foreword, for this book. My sincere thanks to him.
This journey was a great team effort. I am extremely grateful to
my colleague Ms. Sarita Shankaran for standing beside me like a rock
for the cause of the children, throughout the entire journey. A trained
social worker, her inputs relating to social work practices and processes
enhanced the rehabilitation and reintegration of children. Her inputs,
especially in Chapter 3 of this book which include social work interven-
tions, were very significant.
I would like to express my deepest appreciation to the dedicated
Chunauti team. Together the team faced many challenges. Every dis-
appointment, every pain, and hurt served to make the Chunauti team
stronger and move toward its goal. Archana Walanjkar, the project coor-
dinator, worked hard and tirelessly in the field in spite of all odds. She
built remarkable rapport with each and every child and monitored their
progress. Prerna Gautam helped us in the tedious but vital task of docu-
mentation of this entire journey. She constantly updated the documents
to keep current with the Court orders, Media reports, and developments
in the project. Giselle Lawrence dealt with the children with utmost
patience, diligence, and most importantly, with love and kindness. She
has been with the children, as a counsellor, right from the beginning.
Geeta Sakat, a highly skilled special educator, worked extremely hard
with the children who had never been to school. She devised innova-
tive methods to make them learn and understand. Parimala Sanagani,
the administrative assistant, was instrumental in ensuring that the finan-
cial and personnel processes were taken care of. The caretakers—Neelam
Bhoir, Sangita Magar, and Pranita Patil—made it a point that the chil-
dren reach and return from the school safely. The gardener, Bhalchandra
Ture, provided the much-needed therapeutic inputs through plants
and trees. There were others who had to leave us midway but their
 Preface    xvii

contribution cannot be forgotten—Anjali Gokarn, Anchal Verma,

Mildred Rodrigues, Vinita Khedkar, Ranjana Sambhare, Prajakta,
Baliram, Shubhangi Mitkar, PrajaktaValame, Ashwini Jadhav, Susan,
Pratima Zore, Manisha Esave, Suraj Rameshan, Rohan Waghmare, Dilip
Joshi, Dr., Ranjana Sambhare, Sulakhsana Tambe, Dr. Jaiee Kolwankar,
Lalit Satam, Sarika Mane, Asmita Khambe, Daksha, and Balu. I would
also like to specially thank some of the experts associated with the pro-
ject—Dr. (Ms.) Malayakandy Usha Ajithkumar, Ms. Sarita Ganesh, Ms.
Rumya Natraj, Dr. Dilip Khurani, Ms Mohini Shenoy, and Dr. Radhika
Prabhu.
I would like to acknowledge the meticulous legal research done by
Sharanya Shivaraman and the editorial assistance by Aishwarya Chandran
for this publication. Much appreciation from the staff and children of
Chunauti, for the voluntary work done by Dr. Lavina Desai, for provid-
ing the much-needed motivation and encouragement to the children.
Children were happy after her visits.
Thanks to the members of the High Court-appointed State
Coordination Committee—Dr. Harish Shetty, Sarita Shankaran, Pramod
Nigudkar, Chitrakala Acharya, Naina Athale, and Deepali Bhattacharya.
In spite of their hectic work schedules as busy professionals, they spared
time for this project. I appreciate the sincerity and dedication of mem-
bers of the regional committees who did excellent survey of the MDC
Homes in other districts in Maharashtra. The members of the Utilization
Committee—Commissioner, Social Justice, and Commissioner, DWCD,
U.K. Shukla (National Trust), Sarosh Batliwalla, Rubina Lal, Shirish
Poojari, Yogendra Shetty, Mihir Desai, and Sarita Shankaran—with their
rich expertise relating to the rights of intellectually disabled children, law,
and finance gave very valuable inputs. The Utilization Committee was
of the view that the compensation money of Rs. 3 lakhs each that was
given all the 35 children, at the direction of the Court, was the money
that belonged exclusively to the children and the Utilization Committee
helped in determining from each child who was capable of doing so, as
to what they would like to do with it. We respected the right to partici-
pation of the children by considering their say, views, and dreams in the
management of their money.
We appreciate the sincere efforts put in by Pratham and the PACE
team in training and placement of the three girls and the hospitality
organizations which took the bold initiative of giving the three girls an
opportunity to prove themselves.
xviii    Preface

I would like to thank the Departments of Social Justice and Women

and Child Development, the Health Directorate, the Legal Services
Authority, Mumbai Police, and the current Superintendent of the MDC
Home Mr. Rahul Kanthikar and his staff for their cooperation. It is
hoped that after Chunauti team withdraws, the Department of Social
Justice and the staff of MDC Homes continue the model of rehabilita-
tion and reintegration.
I would like to express my gratitude to the Mumbai High Court for
appointing me as the amicus curiae as it was an honor and a great learn-
ing experience for me.
The Media has been a great support especially Sunil Baghel from
Mumbai Mirror. Sunil has persistently followed up the initial report
and the Court hearings. Yogesh Sadhwani and Bapu Deedwania from
Mumbai Mirror were the ones who initially first broke the story.
I would like to express my appreciation to Prof. Parasuraman, the
former Director of TISS, for his valuable and constructive suggestions
during the planning and development of this project and following with
encouragement when it seemed too difficult to be completed. Prof.
Surendra Jaiswal, Deputy Director (Research), was very helpful in pro-
viding partial support for the research. The Staff of TISS Finance and
Accounts and Personnel cooperated with us in achieving this goal. The
TISS CSR Hub team was a great support to us.
I would like to thank the endorsers of this book—Justice V. M.
Kanade, Prof. Parasuraman, Prof. Jane Schukoske, and Enakshi Ganguly.
Thanks to my family for having the patience with me for having taking
yet another challenge, which decreases the amount of time, I can spend
with them: my mother especially, who has taken a big part of the sacri-
fice, and also my sisters and nieces, who always gave me encouragement.
My father, who rests in peace, shares credit on every goal I achieve.
Above all, thanks to the children in Project Chunauti, who gave their
full support, encouragement, and cooperation throughout this journey.
Their enthusiasm and hard work and their dreams were a motivating fac-
tor which kept us going in spite of several hurdles and challenges.
Last but not least, thanks to Ms Sagarika Ghosh, Ms Sandeep Kaur,
and their team at Springer for publishing this initiative. Our only objec-
tive of publishing the process of rehabilitation and reintegration of these
children is to share the experiences, challenges, and processes and steps
that we had to take to during this journey. They may not be the per-
fect procedures and practices and there may be better initiatives but
 Preface    xix

the process and practices can be always adapted and improved. Hope
this publication will motivate the government, the policy makers, the
law reformers, the institutions, the civil society, the corporate funders,
the scholars, and the community to work toward rehabilitation, deinsti-
tutionalization, independent living, and social reintegration of the most
vulnerable section of the society—the intellectually disabled, orphan chil-
dren who have clearly shown that—YES, THEY ALSO CAN.

Mumbai, India Dr. Asha Bajpai Ph.D. (Law)

June 2018 Director Project Chunauti, Chairperson State
Coordination Committee on Child Protection
Member of Utilization Committee, Amicus curiae
PIL 182/2010 of Mumbai High Court
Professor of Law, Center for Law and Society
Founder Dean, School of Law, Rights
and Constitutional Governance
Another random document with
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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Birds and their
nests
 This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
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eBook.

Title: Birds and their nests

Author: Mary Howitt

Illustrator: Harrison Weir

Release date: June 28, 2022 [eBook #68416]

Language: English

Original publication: United States: George Routledge and

Sons, 1871

Credits: Fiona Holmes and the Online Distributed Proofreading

Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced
from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRDS AND

THEIR NESTS ***
 Transcriber’s Notes
Hyphenation has been standardised.
For the CONTENTS on Page v, Chapter IX—Peewits 51 was missed from print in the
original, and has been added.
The layout of the Contents continuation page on Page vi, has been changed to replicate
the layout of the previous Contents page.
Page 41—changed cemetries to cemeteries.
Page 55—changed artifical to artificial.

BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

ROBIN AND NEST.
 BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS,
BY
MARY HOWITT.

With Twenty-three Full-page Illustrations by Harrison

Weir.

NEW YORK:
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, 416, BROOME STREET.
London: S. W. Partridge & Co., 9, Paternoster Row.
All rights reserved.
WATSON AND HAZELL,
Printers,
London and Aylesbury.
 CONTENTS.
PAGE
Introductory
Chapter 1
chapter I. —the wren 8
” II. —the goldfinch 15
” III. —the song thrush 20
” IV. —the blackbird 26
” V. —the dipper, or water-ousel 33
” VI. —the nightingale 37
” VII. —the skylark 42
” VIII. —the linnet 47
” IX. —the peewit 51
” X. —house-martins, or window-
swallows, and nests 56
” XI. —chiff-chaffs, or oven-builders,
and nest 66
” XII. —golden-crested wrens and
nest 70
” XIII. —wagtail and nest 76
” XIV. —jackdaw and nestlings 82
” XV. —spotted fly-catchers and nest 86
” XVI. —wood-pigeons and nest 92
” XVII. —white-throat and nest 98
” XVIII. —bull-finch and nestlings 102
” XIX. —missel-thrushes and nest 106
” XX. —yellow-hammer, or yellow-
head, and nest 112
” XXI. —magpie and nest 116
” XXII. —nuthatch and nest 120
Birds and their Nests.
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
The birds in these pictures of ours have all nests, which is as it
should be; for how could the bird rear its young without its little home
and soft little bed, any more than children could be comfortably
brought up without either a bed to lie upon, or a home in which to be
happy.
Birds-nests, though you may find them in every bush, are wonderful
things. Let us talk about them. They are all alike in the purpose for
which they are intended, but no two families of birds build exactly
alike; all the wrens, for instance, have their kind of nest; the thrushes
have theirs; so has the swallow tribe; so has the sparrow, or the
rook. They do not imitate one another, but each adheres to its own
plan, as God, the great builder and artist, as well as Creator, taught
them from the very beginning. The first nightingale, that sang its
hymn of joyful thanksgiving in the Garden of Paradise, built its nest
just the same as the bird you listened to last year in the coppice. The
materials were there, and the bird knew how to make use of them;
and that is perhaps the most wonderful part of it, for she has no
implements to work with: no needle and thread, no scissors, no
hammer and nails; nothing but her own little feet and bill, and her
round little breast, upon which to mould it; for it is generally the
mother-bird which is the chief builder.
No sooner is the nest wanted for the eggs which she is about to lay,
than the hitherto slumbering faculty of constructiveness is awakened,
and she selects the angle of the branch, or the hollow in the bank or
in the wall, or the tangle of reeds, or the platform of twigs on the tree-
top, exactly the right place for her, the selection being always the
same according to her tribe, and true to the instinct which was
implanted in her at the first.
So the building begins: dry grass or leaves, little twigs and root-
fibres, hair or down, whether of feather or winged seed, spangled
outside with silvery lichen, or embroidered with green mosses, less
for beauty, perhaps—though it is so beautiful—than for the birds’
safety, because it so exactly imitates the bank or the tree-trunk in
which it is built. Or it may be that her tenement is clay-built, like that
of the swallow; or lath and plaster, so to speak, like an old country
house, as is the fashion of the magpie; or a platform of rude sticks,
like the first rudiment of a basket up in the tree-branches, as that of
the wood-pigeon: she may be a carpenter like the woodpecker, a
tunneller like the sand-martin; or she may knead and glue together
the materials of her nest, till they resemble thick felt; but in all this
she is exactly what the great Creator made her at first, equally
perfect in skill, and equally undeviating year after year. This is very
wonderful, so that we may be quite sure that the sparrow’s nest,
which David remarked in the house of God, was exactly the same as
the sparrow built in the days of the blessed Saviour, when He,
pointing to that bird, made it a proof to man that God’s Providence
ever watches over him.
Nevertheless, with this unaltered and unalterable
working after one pattern, in every species of bird, Jules Michelet on
there is a choice or an adaptation of material Birds.
allowed: thus the bird will, within certain limits, select that which is
fittest for its purpose, producing, however, in the end, precisely the
same effect. I will tell you what Jules Michelet, a French writer, who
loves birds as we do, writes on this subject:—“The bird in building its
nest,” he says, “makes it of that beautiful cup-like or cradle form by
pressing it down, kneading it and shaping it upon her own breast.”
He says, as I have just told you, that the mother-bird builds, and that
the he-bird is her purveyor. He fetches in the materials: grasses,
mosses, roots, or twigs, singing many a song between whiles; and
she arranges all with loving reference; first, to the delicate egg which
must be bedded in soft material; then to the little one which, coming
from the egg naked, must not only be cradled in soft comfort, but
kept alive by her warmth. So the he-bird, supposing it to be a linnet,
brings her some horse-hair: it is stiff and hard; nevertheless, it is
proper for the purpose, and serves as a lower stratum of the nest—a
sort of elastic mattress: he brings her hemp; it is cold, but it serves
for the same purpose. Then comes the covering and the lining; and
for this nothing but the soft silky fibre of certain plants, wool or
cotton, or, better still, the down from her own breast, will satisfy her.
It is interesting, he says, to watch the he-bird’s skilful and furtive
search for materials; he is afraid if he see you watching, that you
may discover the track to his nest; and, in order to mislead you, he
takes a different road back to it. You may see him following the
sheep to get a little lock of wool, or alighting in the poultry yard on
the search for dropped feathers. If the farmer’s wife chance to leave
her wheel, whilst spinning in the porch, he steals in for a morsel of
flax from the distaff. He knows what is the right kind of thing; and let
him be in whatever country he may, he selects that which answers
the purpose; and the nest which is built is that of the linnet all the
world over.
Again he tells us, that there are other birds which, instead of
building, bring up their young underground, in little earth cradles
which they have prepared for them. Of building-birds, he thinks the
queerest must be the flamingo, which lays her eggs on a pile of mud
which she has raised above the flooded earth, and, standing erect all
the time, hatches them under her long legs. It does seem a queer,
uncomfortable way; but if it answer its end, we need not object to it.
Of carpenter-birds, he thinks the thrush is the most remarkable;
other writers say the woodpecker. The shore-birds plait their nests,
not very skilfully it is true, but sufficiently well for their purpose. They
are clothed by nature with such an oily, impermeable coat of
plumage, that they have little need to care about climate; they have
enough to do to look after their fishing, and to feed themselves and
their young; for all these sea-side families have immense appetites.
Herons and storks build in a sort of basket-making
fashion; so do the jays and the mocking birds, only How various Birds
in a much better way; but as they have all large Build.
families they are obliged to do so. They lay down, in the first place, a
sort of rude platform, upon which they erect a basket-like nest of
more or less elegant design, a web of roots and dry twigs strongly
woven together. The little golden-crested wren hangs her purse-like
nest to a bough, and, as in the nursery song, “When the wind blows
the cradle rocks.” An Australian bird, a kind of fly-catcher, called
there the razor-grinder, from its note resembling the sound of a
razor-grinder at work, builds her nest on the slightest twig hanging
over the water, in order to protect it from snakes which climb after
them. She chooses for her purpose a twig so slender that it would
not bear the weight of the snake, and thus she is perfectly safe from
her enemy. The same, probably, is the cause why in tropical
countries, where snakes and monkeys, and such bird-enemies
abound, nests are so frequently suspended by threads or little cords
from slender boughs.
The canary, the goldfinch, and chaffinch, are skilful cloth-weavers or
felt makers; the latter, restless and suspicious, speckles the outside
of her nest with a quantity of white lichen, so that it exactly imitates
the tree branch on which it is placed, and can hardly be detected by
the most accustomed eye. Glueing and felting play an important part
in the work of the bird-weavers. The humming-bird, for instance,
consolidates her little house with the gum of trees. The American
starling sews the leaves together with her bill; other birds use not
only their bills, but their feet. Having woven a cord, they fix it as a
web with their feet, and insert the weft, as the weaver would throw
his shuttle, with their bill. These are genuine weavers. In fine, their
skill never fails them. The truth is, that the great Creator never gives
any creature work to do without giving him at the same time an
inclination to do it—which, in the animal, is instinct—and tools
sufficient for the work, though they may be only the delicate feet and
bill of the bird.
And now, in conclusion, let me describe to you the nest of the little
English long-tailed titmouse as I saw it many years ago, and which I
give from “Sketches of Natural History”:—
There, where those boughs of blackthorn
cross, The Titmouse’s
Behold that oval ball of moss; Nest.
Observe it near, all knit together,
Moss, willow-down, and many a feather,
And filled within, as you may see,
As full of feathers as can be;
Whence it is called by country folk,
A fitting name, the feather-poke;
But learned people, I have heard,
Parus caudatus call the bird.
Yes, here’s a nest! a nest indeed,
That doth all other nests exceed,
Propped with the blackthorn twigs beneath,
And festooned with a woodbine wreath!
Look at it close, all knit together,
Moss, willow-down, and many a feather;
So soft, so light, so wrought with grace,
So suited to this green-wood place,
And spangled o’er, as with the intent
Of giving fitting ornament,
With silvery flakes of lichen bright,
That shine like opals, dazzling white.
Think only of the creature small,
That wrought this soft and silvery ball,
Without a tool to aid her skill,
Nought but her little feet and bill—
Without a pattern whence to trace
This little roofed-in dwelling place—
And does not in your bosom spring
Love for this skilful little thing?
See, there’s a window in the wall;
Peep in, the house is not so small,
But snug and cosy you shall see
A very numerous family!
Now count them: one, two, three, four, five—
Nay, sixteen merry things alive—
Sixteen young, chirping things all sit,
Where you, your wee hand, could not get!
I’m glad you’ve seen it, for you never
Saw ought before so soft and clever.
 CHAPTER I.
THE WREN.
Truly the little Wren, so beautifully depicted by Mr. Harrison Weir,
with her tiny body, her pretty, lively, and conceited ways, her short,
little turned-up tail, and delicate plumage, is worthy of our tender
regard and love.
The colouring of the wren is soft and subdued—a reddish-brown
colour; the breast of a light greyish-brown; and all the hinder parts,
both above and below, marked with wavy lines of dusky-brown, with
two bands of white dots across the wings.
Its habits are remarkably lively and attractive. “I know no pleasanter
object,” says the agreeable author of “British Birds,” “than the wren; it
is always so smart and cheerful. In gloomy weather other birds often
seem melancholy, and in rain the sparrows and finches stand silent
on the twigs, with drooping wings and disarranged plumage; but to
the merry little wren all weathers are alike. The big drops of the
thunder-shower no more wet it than the drizzle of a Scotch mist; and
as it peeps from beneath the bramble, or glances from a hole in the
wall, it seems as snug as a kitten frisking on the parlour rug.”