Let’s protect the rights of children
CONCERN BY AFSHAN GAZI
Childhood is the formative phase in the life of an individual. Life moves on with so many ups and downs. So every child deserves a superior childhood, good education, an opportunity to get pleasure from life.
Dream of a boy merely 7-8 years old, in shreds, approaching you anywhere may be in a local bus or on a busy street and telling you “I yearn to be dressed in a school uniform- white shirt. I crave to be present at a school, desire to study and aspire to be an adorable and an endearing person in my society. However I’m not economically sound, what should I do?” What would you say in reply? And most importantly what would you suggest? Where should he go to fulfill his urge? You might not feel stunned as things like that often happen in Kashmir. You may not at all believe his words still out of empathy and kindnesses try to do something for him. What would you do? Pass a 10 rupee or a 100 rupee note thinking that you’ve done your job and still there are others to help him if he’s not lying. You will forget this incident as soon as you get down from that very bus or just get engaged with your other important issues…isn’t it so? But ask yourself have you done all that was in your power to save that child’s future if he wasn’t lying… I bet your answer is a big no.
We, as elders always want to give our children the best. If it is factual and realistic then why are we so indifferent towards the Kashmiri children? Children who work as laborers? Children who have many rights but unfortunately these are least protected.
Have you ever been to Sunday market or Batmaloo? If not, you must once at least visit those places and you’ll see the darkness of our future. Our children work for hours together to do all kinds of dangerous work and we are the people who abuse them if they retard their speed of doing work. In 2006 India strengthened its laws by extending the definition of hazardous work to include domestic labor and catering establishments but there is virtually no evidence of enforcement. Beneath the veneer of emerging super power India hundreds of millions face a daily struggle for essentials. Whenever you talk to some educated person about child labor, he would definitely give you a lecture concurring that it should not happen in our society but finally if you go just peep through a keyhole into his domicile you would surely find small children doing big things. It is true with most of the working ladies who fetch a young poor boy or a girl and make him/ her work at their residences… nevertheless, it's a tradition now a days.
In my society, youngsters are often seen fighting for their rights at home and other institutions. They want to spend more time outside their homes, spend money more lavishly, and squabble with their parents for gadgets like mobile phones, laptops, bikes and cars. With the growing age these demands increase considerably. Ask yourself doth it not happen? But have you yet contemplated about the children who are forced to work against their will and do not even have the basic rights. Child who should have a satchel in his hand filled with books is carrying polythene bags to sell them. There are many cases where parents sell their children as a bonded labor for a petty sum of money. To eradicate poverty we’ve created a new issue called child labor.
Mostly people believe that poverty forces children to leave the studies and work as slaves instead. But my dear fellow beings, it is not always so. In Kashmir, children work just for the sake of tradition or just that they don’t want to study. There are a number of people who have a firm belief that child labor is a usual practice in a developing nation-state like ours and these unwise and imprudent lay people cannot comprehend the potential of these children if given a chance to become doctors, engineers, scientists’ especially good humans and good citizens.
Population explosion that is considered to be one of the greatest threats to a nation’s economy can also prove to be beneficial… It’s just that we need to formulate this explosion into a resource for us and for our state. We need to bestow our children with quality and proper academic and moral education. Once we do so, our innovative youth can take the responsibility and run the world the way they want to and can give us all the idea of profit. We don’t always need to help such people with money… but a bit of care and counseling. In most of the cases children who work as labors in Kashmir have money in their pockets and a very young head on their shoulders…you can yourself imagine how disastrous can it be for us? Let’s come together and make child labor a history for our state.
(Feedback at: gazi.afi@gmail.com)
CONCERN BY AFSHAN GAZI
Childhood is the formative phase in the life of an individual. Life moves on with so many ups and downs. So every child deserves a superior childhood, good education, an opportunity to get pleasure from life.
Dream of a boy merely 7-8 years old, in shreds, approaching you anywhere may be in a local bus or on a busy street and telling you “I yearn to be dressed in a school uniform- white shirt. I crave to be present at a school, desire to study and aspire to be an adorable and an endearing person in my society. However I’m not economically sound, what should I do?” What would you say in reply? And most importantly what would you suggest? Where should he go to fulfill his urge? You might not feel stunned as things like that often happen in Kashmir. You may not at all believe his words still out of empathy and kindnesses try to do something for him. What would you do? Pass a 10 rupee or a 100 rupee note thinking that you’ve done your job and still there are others to help him if he’s not lying. You will forget this incident as soon as you get down from that very bus or just get engaged with your other important issues…isn’t it so? But ask yourself have you done all that was in your power to save that child’s future if he wasn’t lying… I bet your answer is a big no.
We, as elders always want to give our children the best. If it is factual and realistic then why are we so indifferent towards the Kashmiri children? Children who work as laborers? Children who have many rights but unfortunately these are least protected.
Have you ever been to Sunday market or Batmaloo? If not, you must once at least visit those places and you’ll see the darkness of our future. Our children work for hours together to do all kinds of dangerous work and we are the people who abuse them if they retard their speed of doing work. In 2006 India strengthened its laws by extending the definition of hazardous work to include domestic labor and catering establishments but there is virtually no evidence of enforcement. Beneath the veneer of emerging super power India hundreds of millions face a daily struggle for essentials. Whenever you talk to some educated person about child labor, he would definitely give you a lecture concurring that it should not happen in our society but finally if you go just peep through a keyhole into his domicile you would surely find small children doing big things. It is true with most of the working ladies who fetch a young poor boy or a girl and make him/ her work at their residences… nevertheless, it's a tradition now a days.
In my society, youngsters are often seen fighting for their rights at home and other institutions. They want to spend more time outside their homes, spend money more lavishly, and squabble with their parents for gadgets like mobile phones, laptops, bikes and cars. With the growing age these demands increase considerably. Ask yourself doth it not happen? But have you yet contemplated about the children who are forced to work against their will and do not even have the basic rights. Child who should have a satchel in his hand filled with books is carrying polythene bags to sell them. There are many cases where parents sell their children as a bonded labor for a petty sum of money. To eradicate poverty we’ve created a new issue called child labor.
Mostly people believe that poverty forces children to leave the studies and work as slaves instead. But my dear fellow beings, it is not always so. In Kashmir, children work just for the sake of tradition or just that they don’t want to study. There are a number of people who have a firm belief that child labor is a usual practice in a developing nation-state like ours and these unwise and imprudent lay people cannot comprehend the potential of these children if given a chance to become doctors, engineers, scientists’ especially good humans and good citizens.
Population explosion that is considered to be one of the greatest threats to a nation’s economy can also prove to be beneficial… It’s just that we need to formulate this explosion into a resource for us and for our state. We need to bestow our children with quality and proper academic and moral education. Once we do so, our innovative youth can take the responsibility and run the world the way they want to and can give us all the idea of profit. We don’t always need to help such people with money… but a bit of care and counseling. In most of the cases children who work as labors in Kashmir have money in their pockets and a very young head on their shoulders…you can yourself imagine how disastrous can it be for us? Let’s come together and make child labor a history for our state.
(Feedback at: gazi.afi@gmail.com)
