LAW HITS LABOR OR CHILDREN
According to the human rights groups, there were as many as 100 million kids working in India. The data exceeds far more than any other country. Most of these kids were from villages who were sent by poor parents and families to cities to earn their living. But in October 2006. a new child labor law was implemented in India. This law forbids children under the age of 14 from working in homes or restaurants. This was necessary because many small children were forced to work in hazardous conditions. Children were excluded from schooling and included in bread earning; which is highly immoral act. The kids faced violence and torture, which is inhuman and brutal. The new law would certainly check these things. So, the law is most welcome.
All said and done, I have a confession to make. Sometimes some good things turn out to be a sad experience. The child labor law may or may not be implemented in most of the places but it has been implemented in front of my eyes; and left my eyes moist. Every good thing has another side to it, may be a dark side, or rather a grey one.
This is the story about Ramu, a typical twelve year old village boy, who came to Mumbai in search of work. He was smart, honest and clever. He soon got a job at a tea stall in front of my house.
He worked there, always full of energy. His smiling face made my day, everyday. I stopped preparing tea at my room because this boy used to serve the best tea in the world. Or may be, it just tasted the best because of his sweetness. He had a lot of anecdotes to tell about his village life that was the best part.
But that doesn’t mean he was blessed. He had a nagging mother at home and a drunkard father who used to beat him up for practically no reason. We may not believe this but it is the truth about many poor, uneducated families in Indian villages. He had scars on his body which was clearly visible. But amazingly there was no scar on his soul. He seemed like a happy-go-lucky-boy . It was this positive attitude of his that made him a favorite in our colony. He was loved by all. He was like a bundle of joy.
He wanted to be a writer when he grew up. He was learning to read and write. When we were going through a bad phase in life, just seeing him laugh would give us a hope in life. If he can be happy, why can’t we?
Now, he is sent back to his village. I wonder what he is doing there. I am anxious to know how he is being treated by his parents. There is a great need to check parent’s behavior towards kids too. In foreign countries, children are protected effectively even from an unkind parent. But our culture doesn’t allow us to question the parents about upbringing their children. It is necessary though that parents should be taught to be responsible towards children and those failing to do so should be punished severely. If we take up this issue seriously we’ll not hear news like- ‘mother fled leaving behind three children on station, taxi drivers take care of them in Mumbai.’ Or stories like ‘newborn left somewhere to die.’ Most of the uneducated villagers are usually unkind to their children more than their employer would have been. So, just making a law against child labor is not going to make kids’ lives better but making better parents would make happy children.
As it is said-‘It is so simple to be happy but it is so difficult to be simple.’ Ramu was always happy because he was so simple. Well, I wonder if there are more Ramus in our society who are sent back to their nagging parents. I hope they are doing well. I am waiting for Ramu to complete his fourteen years and come back again to spread joy through his innocent knowledge of this world. And this time I wish there are no new scars on his body and his soul is as bright as ever.
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