BHEL supports endeavour to reform and rehabilitate juvenile delinquents
BHEL supports endeavour to reform and rehabilitate juvenile delinquents
New Delhi, July 15: Continuing its commitment and zeal to improve the lives of underprivileged people and communities, Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL) has ventured into another CSR support initiative which aims at reforming juvenile male children who have a history of substance abuse and various other psychological & behavioral disorders.
BHEL has joined hands with the Society for Promotion of Youth & Masses (SPYM), to support setting up of a self-sustainable state-of-the-art kitchen including its accessories that will be holistically utilized for training in food production, processing and distribution for the juvenile delinquent inmates at its De-addiction and Rehabilitation Centre in Delhi named ‘SAHYOG’. An agreement to this effect was signed between BHEL and SPYM at a function held here today.
The training, to be conducted by a team of experts capable of handling juvenile behavioral dysfunctions, will have a curriculum that will include cooking of various North Indian, South Indian and Chinese vegetarian & non-vegetarian cuisines. Special guidance will also be provided for maintenance of hygiene and professionalism of the highest order in cooking and serving food. The centre has more than 50 bed facility for adolescent males under the age of 18 years whose activities are in conflict with law and who have a history of substance abuse and current substance disorder along with various other psychological & behavioral dysfunctions.
Once trained, the adolescents who are found responding to the training and are on road to recovery will be provided with an opportunity to intern or act as an apprentice at the Sahyog for production, marketing and distribution of food in its vicinity. The trainees shall also get an opportunity to take an examination by ITI after which they could be certified for course completion as Assistant Cooks so as to create employment opportunities for them in various food production and marketing chains such as hotels, restaurants, etc. SPYM will also provide appropriate linkages and referrals to the trainees to establish their own fast-food centres with knowledge of preparing common dishes as well as organizing a delivery system of food in the surrounding areas.
There are around 9000 students staying in the vicinity of Sahyog, which is considered to be one of the capital’s most populous institutional hubs, who either opt to live as paying guests or look for appropriate locations where home delivery meals/tiffins are easily available. The centre is targeting 10% of these students with a very competitive/comfortable rate of Rs.25/- for a sumptuous meal consisting of 4 chapatis, salad, 2 vegetable dishes, dal and 50 gm of rice. With this rate, the centre has worked out a profit of Rs.5/- per meal which will help it to sustain the food cost as well as the cost incurred by them on training the juveniles.
Apart from creating employment opportunities for the recovered ones through ITI trade certifications, and alongside its effort to up-scale its food production and sale, the Sahyog will also finally review the impact of training on these adolescents and once sure about their not falling back to the remotest possibility of re-entering the arena of drugs and other criminal activities or are not vulnerable to relapse to their original dysfunctional state, they will be rehabilitated/restored back to their homes for a happy reunion with their families and for further pursuance of a dignified and fulfilling life for themselves. As per their present experience, SPYM has so far achieved a success rate of around 75% in this endeavour. The remaining 25% are retained at the centre to run the food production unit, in keeping with the statutory requirement that no adolescent under 18 years of age will be employed full-time.
