Hello Friends,
It's been a while since I met you all here in my blog. Finally, found some time to check a draft blog from past and decided to post it here for my friends to read, comment and criticize... :)
In the recent past, I've heard far too many people crying out loud against "Child Labor".... They all convey their views, criticisms, opinions and demand everyone to avoid child labor. Great thought... Will genuinely appreciate anybody who takes a step to get children into school and to educate them and better their lifestyle and future. But will definitely not appreciate just propaganda against child labor without any action...
What's the point in protesting against a problem without solution? There's a saying that more than 95% of people know the problem and can talk about it... But only 5% can offer a solution for the problem rather than talking about the problem itself...
Personally, I've never given much thought about child labor and have never been encouraging or discouraging it. I realize there are child labor in this society just because of the living conditions and other social reasons.
If we want to abolish child labor, what's that family going to do for that extra income? How are they going to feed themselves? Are we intending to abolish child labor and put a entire family out of streets hungry? I don't think that's the right path or decision.
Also, increasingly I see anti-child labor slogans against the fireworks industry. Even my nephew told me couple of years back that he will not buy crackers for Diwali anymore since there are child labor in that industry.... Good job... Good decision.
Now, let us assume we all stand united and boycott buying fireworks for Diwali and other occasions. What will all the employees employed by these fireworks industry do for their living? Beg on the streets? By doing such abolition, we are not eradicating a problem called child labor... But, we are creating far more new problems like unemployment, economic slowdown (as this industry brings considerable % of foreign currency and revenue in other forms), loss of money to government through central excise and taxes, which will increase the other tax % in future, which is going to increase the burden on everybody else!!!!
Also, I do not understand targeting one specific industry like fireworks or match industry. Many people who are against child labor in fireworks and match industry, completely forget other industries / business which employ child labor. Some examples I could think of are below:
(A) Our friend, who boycotted buying match box and fireworks, goes to a tea shop and says "Thambi... strong-a oru tea kuduppa" to a 10 year old boy working there... Why not boycott drinking tea than ordering your tea through a child?
(B) We go to a shopping mall (or a shop) and we cannot carry our own shopping bags (this can be seen widely in big textile stores). So, our 'thambi' working there, who could be only 12 or 14 year old will carry our bags to our car and we will generously tip him for helping us. Why do we buy things which we cannot carry? Why not we shout against child labor there and stop buying clothes from such shops?
(C) We ride our motorcycle and unfortunately end-up with a flat tyre... We struggle to push the two wheeler to the nearest shop. There's a 10 year old sitting their managing the business. We tell him "Thambi... Urgent-a puncture seri pannuppa... I have important work"... We don't mind child labor there... Why not abandon our vehicle there and go find a shop which does not employ a child?
(D) We have seen many of our friends and neighbors employing small girl or a boy as their house maid. How many of us have protested against it? How is that right when employing child labor by fireworks/match industry is wrong? Why not we boycott such friends and neighbors?
Is our concern when we protest against fireworks industry and matches industry really about child labor or is it because of increasing prices of fireworks and reduced dependency on match boxes? I honestly feel we target these industries because many of us are hurt with increasing prices every year for fireworks. Also, I don't think many houses use match boxes anymore. Most of the smokers use lighters and match boxes are used at home only in pooja room!!!
In my humble opinion, above is the fact. But honestly, I've never fought against child labor. Because it is not the fault of the businessmen to employ young children. It is the need the family has to run their livelihood that they send their children to work. I believe, if we completely abolish child labor, we will end-up with far more social problems than a simple child labor problem.
As stated earlier, I don't want to be in the 95% mass of talking only about problems... I would love to be in the 5% (or at least try to work towards reaching into that 5%). I think below are the basic steps that needs to be taken in order to avoid child labor.
- Any family sending their children to work, should be compensated by the Government for children's education and better employment opportunity (to compensate the earning of the child) to the family so that they can earn their livelihood.
- Increased access to education and other facilities right throughout the country and increased awareness and assurance to the parents that they will have access to their necessities when they send their children to school.
Above are the couple of thoughts / ideas which immediately came to my mind... These are not entirely possible by individuals and social working groups. This needs a much better and bigger set-up like the governments themselves working towards this and funding this.
Also, this may result in little more of tax from us so that government can achieve these objectives.
How many of us are willing to bear extra expense/tax in order to achieve this? We all should... and then we can talk about abolishing child labor.
When Indian Government came-up with Education Cess, how many of us happily paid it? We don't even question the government on how they are spending millions of rupees collected... Shouldn't we all start from there?
As always, I look forward to comments and criticisms from my friends.... :)
It's been a while since I met you all here in my blog. Finally, found some time to check a draft blog from past and decided to post it here for my friends to read, comment and criticize... :)
In the recent past, I've heard far too many people crying out loud against "Child Labor".... They all convey their views, criticisms, opinions and demand everyone to avoid child labor. Great thought... Will genuinely appreciate anybody who takes a step to get children into school and to educate them and better their lifestyle and future. But will definitely not appreciate just propaganda against child labor without any action...
What's the point in protesting against a problem without solution? There's a saying that more than 95% of people know the problem and can talk about it... But only 5% can offer a solution for the problem rather than talking about the problem itself...
Personally, I've never given much thought about child labor and have never been encouraging or discouraging it. I realize there are child labor in this society just because of the living conditions and other social reasons.
If we want to abolish child labor, what's that family going to do for that extra income? How are they going to feed themselves? Are we intending to abolish child labor and put a entire family out of streets hungry? I don't think that's the right path or decision.
Also, increasingly I see anti-child labor slogans against the fireworks industry. Even my nephew told me couple of years back that he will not buy crackers for Diwali anymore since there are child labor in that industry.... Good job... Good decision.
Now, let us assume we all stand united and boycott buying fireworks for Diwali and other occasions. What will all the employees employed by these fireworks industry do for their living? Beg on the streets? By doing such abolition, we are not eradicating a problem called child labor... But, we are creating far more new problems like unemployment, economic slowdown (as this industry brings considerable % of foreign currency and revenue in other forms), loss of money to government through central excise and taxes, which will increase the other tax % in future, which is going to increase the burden on everybody else!!!!
Also, I do not understand targeting one specific industry like fireworks or match industry. Many people who are against child labor in fireworks and match industry, completely forget other industries / business which employ child labor. Some examples I could think of are below:
(A) Our friend, who boycotted buying match box and fireworks, goes to a tea shop and says "Thambi... strong-a oru tea kuduppa" to a 10 year old boy working there... Why not boycott drinking tea than ordering your tea through a child?
(B) We go to a shopping mall (or a shop) and we cannot carry our own shopping bags (this can be seen widely in big textile stores). So, our 'thambi' working there, who could be only 12 or 14 year old will carry our bags to our car and we will generously tip him for helping us. Why do we buy things which we cannot carry? Why not we shout against child labor there and stop buying clothes from such shops?
(C) We ride our motorcycle and unfortunately end-up with a flat tyre... We struggle to push the two wheeler to the nearest shop. There's a 10 year old sitting their managing the business. We tell him "Thambi... Urgent-a puncture seri pannuppa... I have important work"... We don't mind child labor there... Why not abandon our vehicle there and go find a shop which does not employ a child?
(D) We have seen many of our friends and neighbors employing small girl or a boy as their house maid. How many of us have protested against it? How is that right when employing child labor by fireworks/match industry is wrong? Why not we boycott such friends and neighbors?
Is our concern when we protest against fireworks industry and matches industry really about child labor or is it because of increasing prices of fireworks and reduced dependency on match boxes? I honestly feel we target these industries because many of us are hurt with increasing prices every year for fireworks. Also, I don't think many houses use match boxes anymore. Most of the smokers use lighters and match boxes are used at home only in pooja room!!!
In my humble opinion, above is the fact. But honestly, I've never fought against child labor. Because it is not the fault of the businessmen to employ young children. It is the need the family has to run their livelihood that they send their children to work. I believe, if we completely abolish child labor, we will end-up with far more social problems than a simple child labor problem.
As stated earlier, I don't want to be in the 95% mass of talking only about problems... I would love to be in the 5% (or at least try to work towards reaching into that 5%). I think below are the basic steps that needs to be taken in order to avoid child labor.
- Any family sending their children to work, should be compensated by the Government for children's education and better employment opportunity (to compensate the earning of the child) to the family so that they can earn their livelihood.
- Increased access to education and other facilities right throughout the country and increased awareness and assurance to the parents that they will have access to their necessities when they send their children to school.
Above are the couple of thoughts / ideas which immediately came to my mind... These are not entirely possible by individuals and social working groups. This needs a much better and bigger set-up like the governments themselves working towards this and funding this.
Also, this may result in little more of tax from us so that government can achieve these objectives.
How many of us are willing to bear extra expense/tax in order to achieve this? We all should... and then we can talk about abolishing child labor.
When Indian Government came-up with Education Cess, how many of us happily paid it? We don't even question the government on how they are spending millions of rupees collected... Shouldn't we all start from there?
As always, I look forward to comments and criticisms from my friends.... :)
