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.
