Helpline: Voluntary Model Since 2007

Alana and her core team members at NESCH. IMAGE

North East Support Centre & Helpline (NESCH), established in 2007, has handled well above 600 cases of crimes against the underprivileged minorities from India's Northeast. The cases include harassments at workplace, physical attacks, and rape.

Alana Golmei, PhD in political science, came to Delhi in search of job. Her Rongmei community is a constituent of the larger Zeliangrong, which again is a constituent of the Naga community. She hailed from Tamenglong district, Manipur. Unable to speak Hindi, Alana faced untold miseries, pain and racial discrimination when she first landed in India's capital, Delhi, 12 years ago. She's now 42.

In the beginning, at a critical juncture of life, she began with a project that involved rehabilitating foreign women refugees (Burmese women refugees). The experience has fostered a community-like relationship between northeast Indians and the Burmese, in Delhi and beyond. A couple of years later, she came into contact with underprivileged youngsters from northeast India, who were in search of justice in Delhi. They include students and employees in retail, the BPO sectors and others. Their problems include unexpected, racially motivated attacks, unpaid wages, rape cases, etc.

For Alana, setting up the helpline in 2007 was particularly challenging as she did not have the resources. They did not have the technical support to run 24X7, so somebody had to stay awake the whole night. If they got a call, they rushed to the spot. Dealing with the police, who weren't sensitised yet towards the urban crimes against the northeast folk, was a whole another battle. They were mocked by the police at the police stations for their poor grip of the Hindi language.

Today, after a decade of crying and sweating, they began to be talked about for their selfless sacrifices. Currently, for their Delhi office, they use a space given by an NGO and 10-15 volunteers are working in Gurugram without an office.

According to Bezbaruah committee, 86 percent of Northeasterners in Delhi have faced some form of racial discrimination. The committee was set up by the government in the aftermath of the murder of Nido Tania, a 19-year-old student from Arunachal Pradesh, in January 2014.

North-east helpline in Delhi police. IMAGE

REFERENCES
Hello. Who’s this? Alana Golmei and her helpline to fight discrimination against people from the Northeast