Child Labour - An Emotional Issue

As I write this, I feel ashamed of being sure that within a radius of fifty meters there are many children working. Not just working, they are working under harsh conditions, for extremely low wages and for prolonged durations. This is not exactly an issue of child labor alone; it includes child abuse as well. It is not about crushing millions of innocent dreams and brighter possibilities; it is also about how they suffer every single day. During my research on child labor, I came across several relevant articles on the internet. What disturbed me the most is the monotonous tone of every article, as if the whole article was not written by a human being but was generated through a machine, and corrupted by numerous statistical charts and tables. The sufferings and harassments are measured in percentages. Isn’t it disturbing to present child labor as another business issue?  Where are the strong feelings and emotions? After all what can motivate a man better, than the underlying emotions.

I do not want to talk about the reforms needed to diminish or eradicate child labor, because this is a step we have not even reached. Before even thinking about reforms, I believe it is extremely necessary for the people to feel the sufferings of the children, strongly relate to the families these children come from. It is just about being human again. The day we would start feeling the pain, half of the battle would be won. Because these strong feelings would work as fuel to the burning motivation. And nothing can stop a society which is dedicated and motivated to work against it.

There are several reforms on both national and international level, which are being employed, but what all these reforms lack is that there is no one to ensure that these reforms are carried out in the best possible way, that it should be done in exactly the way it was supposed to be. I find not a gap but a valley between the battleground and the soldiers. You cannot win a war if you are scared of getting your hands dirty. The need of the hour is extensive work at the grass root level. Reforms need to be checked periodically, and the system should be properly aligned, if it is ambitious enough to win the battle.

The issue of child labor cannot be resolved in a matter of days; creating the awareness among one billion people itself is a magnanimous task. Instilling the culture of discouraging child labor and child abuse would need perseverance and dedicated hours of the people who actually want to see the change, not just talk about it.

This brings me to another question which needs to be answered if we want to cover an inch of this long journey. Who are the people working for this cause and who should actually be working for it? Should it be the government, or NGOs or certain individuals? I would not completely reject the roles of any of the parties involved in the reforms. I believe that involvement of all the parties is very important. Government is nothing but a mirror of a society. Till the time we would not take up this issue seriously, the government would never be serious about it either. As a matter of fact none of the parties involved would ever be able to contribute if we the general people who constitute the society would become serious about it. It is easy to say the government should make policies and rules and regulations to curb child labor down, how many of us have made any effort to force the government to make these policies and run them effectively. How many of us have expressed our dissatisfaction, and demanded a better performance by the government. It can be done in several ways like filing for RTIs, forcing the ministers to make the child labor part of their election manifestos during general and state elections.

For a country with a population over a billion the numbers of NGOs working for this cause are very less. NGOs need to be encouraged to fight for this cause, and that encouragement has to come from us, the society, and the government. If government makes the policies then NGOs can be appointed to supervise the execution of these policies and reforms. A little more strengthening of the authority of NGOs and little monetary help can yield unexpected results. Responsibility without authority would never work; it is almost as if the soldiers in a battleground without guns.

The society itself will have to play an important role if child labor has to be eradicated. The sensitivity towards child labor has to be increased. The attitude of not tolerating even a single case of child labor has to be instigated in the society. If we billion people cannot work for the future of our country, then who would work for this cause, the children itself? They are too young and innocent; their voice is too frail to break the sleep hibernating society and the government; their still growing body is too weak to bear the burden of reforms and policies. If we can use the children for our selfish purposes then there is no difference between us and the animals living in the woods.

Now it is our choice what do we want to be, animals or humans. Being human takes some effort and differentiating ourselves from the animals would take the continual untiring work of the society. The purpose of this article is not to tell you what child labor is, nor is it to give you the statistical figures and classification of child labor. As I said I would not even talk about them, internet is full of such articles, and I do not wish to write just another article. The purpose of this article is to ignite that small spark which would one day spread like fire and would burn this issue of child labor by its roots.

One day shall come when not even a single child has to wake up in the morning and get ready to work. This is my dream, and it is the dream of millions of children who are living by this hope that someday this dream would come true. Their eyes are full of expectations, and they are looking at us to save them from their misery. Its your time to act, its your time to decide. The ball is in your court. Play well.