India is a huge country with over one billion population. So, it is natural that India should hold a lot of world records. However, it is not the case. Take the matter of sports. India is not the best in any sports. Indian economy is still far behind than many Asian countries. I saw the Reuters report about banning of child labor in India in which it was stated:
"Government data shows there are more than 11 million child labourers under 14, but Satyarthi said this was a gross underestimate and the figure was closer to 60 million.
Unless the government is honest about the magnitude of the problem, how can we solve it?"
So, I felt that at last, I have found a world record for India. How many countries in the world have even 60 million people? I don’t know why Indian government wants to hide this reality! Indian media is not too keen to talk about it either. In Indian movies, these child labors are seen to be happy and help the hero or the heroine with their problems about falling love or getting married. Sometimes, they even dance and sing.
These days both Indian and local media are all the time discussing about the rise of Indian economy and from their discussion we often get the idea that India has almost become an economic giant. Well, may be they are right. I am not an expert micro or macro economics. I only understand that with 60 million child labors, India has a long way to go to become an economic giant. May be I am wrong as I am not expert. May be, as we can see in Hindi movies, these child labors will become rich after few hours and sign and dance wearing beautiful dresses.
In the end, I wish that Indian government takes this world record seriously and do something substantial for the children. Well, one thing Indian government has done and that is to ban child labor. This is a right step but if Indian government does not follow through this ban then this world record will become more permanent and more impressive for India.
Am I wrong?
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You are certainly right that the law to ban child labour is a step in the right direction. But The law has been there since a long time. But it was banned only in a few industries and processes.
The recent notification which the article above talks of is about banning child labour in homes and in hotels/restuarants etc. which were no included earlier. This notification is significant because it is the first time that the law touches the unorganised sector.
The implementation of the law is the most important step after the law comes into effect from October 10th 2006. Equally important is the awareness among the people that child labour at homes and at restuarants is illegal. Culturally, child labour has been accepted as a necessary evil. Hence the awareness of the public is very important.
I work for an organisation called Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save the Childhood Movement) which works on child labour and education issues. We are planning a month long campaign to raise awareness among the public about the law. The campaign is planned for Delhi, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
This mail is a small way to spread the word against child labour on the Internet. Kindly pass this message to as many people as possible. For more information about the campaign, please visit www.bba.org.in. Soon, campaign downloadables would also be available there.
Posted by: Sandhya | September 13, 2006 3:29 AM | Permalink to Comment