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In pictures: India’s displaced children

Children have borne the brunt of separatist and ethnic conflicts in country’s remote and underdeveloped northeast.

India(***)s northeast has been the hub of ethnic conflicts and separatist movements.
By Bijoyeta Das
Published On 28 Oct 2013

The seven states in the northeastern part of India (also known as the Seven Sisters) have been plagued with years of separatist and ethnic conflict, insurgency, heavy military presence and underdevelopment. Several armed groups operate in the area – some call for complete independence, while others fight for regional autonomy.  

In the provinces of Assam and Manipur, for example, sepratists recruit children as young as twelve to fight against the government.

According to the International Displacement Monitoring Centre, more than a million people were forced to flee from their homes in the past 20 years. 

However, the turbulence in Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram, is often neglected in mainstream discourse.

Children – society’s most vulnerable – often bear the brunt of the conflct’s effects. Many have been displaced and are being raised in shelter homes. 

Years of conflict have resulted in chronic underdevelopment, heavy presence of military, high rates of unemployment and lack of private investment and growth.
According to UNICEF, children in conflict ridden areas suffer from lasting psychological damage as a result of the constant exposure to violence.
Children from insurgency hit areas of northeastern India are being rehabilitated in different shelter homes across India.
A girl plays dress up at a shelter home in New Delhi.
Many of these children receive long term counselling.
Counsellors at shelter homes say children from violence affected areas tend to be more aggressive and eager to pick a fight.
A woman giving art lessons to a child.
For some the shelter homes provide an opportunity for healing, while many more continue to live in the shadows of conflict.
A child playing at a shelter home in New Delhi.