Thursday, December 31, 2015

Kailash Satyarthi and his children


On the first day of 2016, 7-year old Chiyu on the swings chatted of her school and sports. When she comes home, she goes for the swings with Aji and Ajoba put on leash; and Aji and Ajoba do not mind. In the last month of 2015, she won three bronze at relays held in Kandivili and University stadium near Churchgate. She likes to run, she runs but has not won any individual medal; her friend has won many medals, says Chiyu. Aji and Ajoba do not care if Chiyu wins medals; they want her around, chirping her life. At school the teachers do not hurt Shreya and Chiyu unlike Lady Trunchbull of Roald Dahl in Matilda. Aji is quite upset with Lady Trunchbull when she remarks: ' I have never been able to understand why small children are so disgusting. They are the bane of my life. They are like insects. They should be got rid of as early as possible. ... My idea of a perfect school...is one that has no children in it at all. One of these days I shall start up a school like that. I think it will be very successful.' Is India not today in most ways Lady Trunchbull..., wondered reading the Mint essay, From Child Slavery to Freedom by Kailash Satyarthi. 'Before being rescued by my organisation, Bachpan Bachao Andolan, 8-year old Arpita was forced to work for 16 to 18 hours a day in the home of her uncle as a domestic 'help'. When we rescued her, we had to break down the door. It was the dead of winter, and she was barely clothed and severely malnourished, covered in wounds, and cowering under a rag on her uncle's balcony,' Kailash says. New Delhi is sufficiently brutish to think up amendments to the Child Labour Act to allow children under the age of 14 to help their families in "non-hazardous" family enterprises or the entertainment industry. A worried Kailash Satyarthi adds: ' This may sound innocuous, but it fails to acknowledge a stark and undisputable reality: Work for 'family enterprises"can be as brutal as any other kind. And the list of  "hazardous" occupations is far from complete.' Will the Modi government forget the amendments to fill in the cruel agenda of development? Will it be less of Lady Trunchbull? New Delhi suffers an NGO aversion with the Home Ministry striving to shut them down. Maybe they cant do that to Kailash Satyarthi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate. When Dakhi asks Chiyu to do some work at home, Aji is stirred into a protest. Aji and Ajoba thank the luck of Shreya and Chiyu. They are growing up and 2016 will spend more time with friends than Aji and Ajoba. Aji and Ajoba will be the soft sofas in the drawing room, ready for their use. Will 2016 be less cruel to children? Will we have schools without children and family enterprises with children? 

No comments:

Post a Comment