This 14-year-old girl from a small village of Jharkhand lives in abject poverty. Her parents find it hard to make ends meet. Then they see a ray of bright hope. A man from the neighbouring village who has made it big in the Indian capital and is a role model for all offers the girl a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The girl is apprehensive. She does not wish to go so far away in a place unknown. But the parents are insistent, driven to the brink with their poverty and hopelessness. The girl is told that she will work in luxury, live in a caring house and can earn a lot of money that will in turn be sent back to her family. The girl allows herself to dream just a wee bit. Suddenly the big city of Delhi seems exciting. Alas, her dreams were shortlived. As soon as she is taken to Delhi, she is kept in a dark room with other girls of a similar age, herded together like cattle with hardly any food that was enough for sustenance. The very next day she finds herself shunted to a large kothi (mansion) in Delhi. Maybe it is the end of her problems, she breathes. No, it was just the beginning! She is made to slog from morning to night, made to do work that an adult would find hard to manage. Given leftovers and hardly any food, she is perpetually hungry and tired but she slaves on. Then comes the slapping. Both the master and the mistress of the house hit her at the smallest pretext. Suffering the pain and humiliation, she labors on. When she asks to call her family, she is not allowed to. She is not permitted to visit them even when a year has passed by. For all practical purposes, this 14-year-old girl is a bonded laborer.
While the family gathers on their cozy sofas and laments the state of the country, a human rights violation of preposterous dimensions happens right under their roof! And don’t be under any false impression. None of the money that she earns reaches her family. It is pocketed by that slimy guy from the placement agency who has made it big in this city trampling over the heads of hundreds and thousands of innocents to fill his coffers. You see such guys and dubious agencies mushrooming in all large cities, especially in North India where hapless children are bought and sold daily, exploited mentally and physically and also sexually abused. The story given above is true.
Look around yourself. You will see this little girl around you, wearing oversized clothes and a frightened expression, sometimes sporting a bruise, at all times a bruised soul. This is how the educated, it’s always the rich and the educated, who indulge in this human trafficking, child labor and exploitation. Whether it is a babysitter who is taking care of someone just a few years younger to her or a child who cooks and cleans, slowly and methodically we are killing their childhoods and spirits and also committing heinous crimes.
Alas the lax Indian laws and even worse implementation allow the influential families to get away and back to their old ways. Clearly our country has no moral fabric left when despite having our own children we do not hesitate in brutally abusing the rights of others for the sake of comfort. Pick up the newspapers and find these tales of brutality every day.
What can you and I do?
- Pledge to never ever employ children no matter how much we tell ourselves that we are being kind to their families and helping them monetarily. It is delusional. If you wish to help the child and their family, sponsor the child’s education.
- Break off contact with your neighbors after raising the issue of the exploitation with them. I believe social ostracization of such people can work. What is the point of interacting, laughing and chatting with them and bitching behind their backs? Do not stay quiet if you see a poor child getting abused. What does it make you if you turn a blind eye?
- Reach out to child helplines or NGOs to report any children that you see employed in your neighborhood. You can do this anonymously as well. Google for child helplines in your city.
Yesterday, 12th June, was World Day against Child Labour. Can we all try to combat this evil and eradicate this from our society? It will mean slaying our own demons and sacrificing our comforts and even some friends/monsters who are indulging in it. I hope the government brings in the toughest of laws including harsh jail terms for all the perpetrators of this offense.
These children deserve to have an exploitation-free childhood, and we need a clearer conscience!Let that child free.
Images courtesy: Ilo.org
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