Once again Devender has proven his dynamic leadership towards the cause of Delhi 's Rag Pickers

Devendra and his organisation Bal Vikas Dhara (Child Development Stream) have launched a foot-march along with 50 marchers across the capital of India demanding rights and dignity to the rag pickers. It is for the first time when this one of the most deprived and marginalised section of Indian society decided to go on marching for 2 weeks. Hundreds of children, women and men joined the start of the march which was flagged off by the eminent child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi. Mr. Satyarthi in his remarks alleged that the people who must be accredited and honoured for the hard work and dedication in making the city safe and clean are denied the basic human rights and dignity. Their children are the worst sufferers as in most cases they are not enrolled in public schools because the poor parents, most of them are migrated and even trafficked; don't have any statutory document of identity. He demanded immediate state intervention to end their exploitation and miseries.

Moreover, despite the fact that rag picking by children is banned in Indian law, almost nothing is being done to prevent the same from happening.

Devender's efforts are even more noteworthy as he has truly lived along the principle of empowering the victims to lead the fight against the exploitation perpetrated upon them. The founder & Director of Bal Vikas Dhara (BVD) as well as the initiator of Delhi rag picking workers union, Devender hails from a backward village in Orissa, a poor eastern state of India . His parent belongs to very low socio-economic-strata of Indian society, but the boy was born with a fire. He has rejected the vises circle of illiteracy and exploitation. He went to primary & middle school and later shown an ambition to earn more and make a better fortune for himself and his family. The parents were convinced to mortgage their small piece of land and borrowed some more money to satisfy the demand of an overseas placement agent who offered Devender a construction workers job in Dubai . The money was paid and Devender was brought to Delhi for passport, work permit and other formalities. This happened in 1981, Devender and other 2 dozen young men were put on hold in Delhi for several months on the pretext of their training and the said 'delay' in documentation.

They were forced to work as bonded labour without any remuneration in building a five star hotel in south Delhi for more than a year. This came to knowledge of Kailash Satyarthi and other human rights activists. After gathering full information, they initiated a legal battle and a public campaign on this issue. Courageous young man Devender came forward to challenge the fraud, cheating and exploitation. Others followed him. After a long battle, finally they got the justice. Some of them were sent to work for a construction company in Dubai while others were returned their money with interest and some compensation.

Devender decided to expose such incidence and to organise construction workers for their rights. He has been trained by Bachpan Bachao Andolan as an activist. Later he joined as a full time worker and gradually elevated as the first manager of Mukti Ashram, the rehabilitation cum training centre open by BBA in 1990. He served the organisation in this position for 3 years. But Devender journey for social change and upliftment of down trodden did not end there. He expressed his willingness to form an organisation dedicated only for rag pickers, slum dwellers and street children. He was encouraged by Kailash Satyarthi and BBA. The day has come in 1993 when Devender and a young medical professional Dr. Bharat Singh jointly launched BVD in 1993. The initial days were full of struggle for survival and support. But gradually the determination and hard work was rewarded.

Today BVD's outreach is spread among 200 thousands slum dwellers and unorganised workers. The organisation runs several slum schools to educate over 1200 children. He employs 26 full time teachers and social workers besides supported by dozens of volunteers. Devender said today, 'Foot March will be over in 2 weeks, but we will carry on our march till all the rag pickers children are free from exploitation and enjoy good quality education. My training and strength lies in BBA's mission.'