I saw lots of blogs against child labor. Lots of opinions, lotsâ¦. Heard a lotâ¦seen a lot..(not in y360!). I know children who are working , personallyâ¦.. in fact I grew up in a place, where there were a lot of poor people living in colonies, just on the back of my house, separated by a single wall. Every single day, till I was 15, I saw, I heard their life. Their sorrows, their screams, and above allâ¦. their hunger. And one among them (just a single one, among the hundreds!) was she. She was the mother of 5. Her husband was living in alcohol 24/7. She used to bring milk to our home. She had terrible Asthma, cos of the regular beating she got from her husband. Every nite, we heard her screams along with her childrenâs. Soon, she was down with illness, her 5 kids cried in hunger. And very soon the eldest of them, then she was my age (8), came to us. She was hungryâ¦just simply hungry. We could give them, food for once.. for 5 kids⦠next day when they were hungry again, she came to us and begged my grandfather(achachan) to give her some job, so that she can feed 5 rumbling stomachs and pay for her momâs medicines. She needed moneyâ¦not food!!! Finally my grandfather asked her to bring cow dung (that was available at her home). He said that just cos of her heart-melting begging (I was the witness to her begging!). She came with cow dung and my granddad gave her Rs 2 for each basket she bought.(with 2 Rs we could buy 2 kilo of rice, then!) That day she earned 10 Rs. Next day too she came. But we didnât want it anymore. But my achachan bought it and gave her money. Soon our home was filled with cow dung. Still my achachan didnât ask her to stop just cos, he knew her family situationâ¦.
Soon she started working in other homes as maid(as that paid her more!).
Every single child who is working will have a similar story to tell. By abolishing child labor like this, does the govt solve their poverty??? Are they seeing their hunger stricken faces??? Do they hear their hungry screams????NOâ¦NOâ¦they just go and abolish child laborâ¦.without solving the core reason or root of the problem. By doing this , what are they thinking to achieve??? Why are they blind to the reasons which forced them to work???? Why donât they go and take a look at their family?? And why, donât they solve their hunger first and then abolish child labor, next??? Is their any law to feed hungry children???? Then why are they preventing their only way to satisfy their hunger???
Is this the right way to approach child labor???? By simply making law to prevent child labor, can they themselves be sure that those children are fed and protected???? NEVERâ¦NEVERâ¦this is another wrong wayâ¦.an entirely wrong way⦠why we are all blind to the hunger behind those child labourers??? Why donât we solve that first, rather than trying to prevent their only way to food????