Pix courtesy www.cry.org
-Brian Mendonça
It was a day when I was the English announcer on All India
Radio, Panaji. I had no inkling of the significance of the day. When I cued the
talk prepared for broadcast on English Yuvavani, I noticed it was titled, ‘Let
them blossom.’ A quick check on what the day was special for, revealed that it
was world day against child labour.*
The talk was by Belinda de Melo who lamented the fact that
child labour is taken for granted. Children under 14 are not permitted to work.
Yet we often see them in canteens, garages and construction sites. Children may
be forced to work because through their meagre earnings they bring some food to
the table. In addition they may also have to babysit children younger than
themselves while on the job. Jobs which are hazardous like manufacturing
firecrackers, inhaling coal, sifting garbage, or scavenging are really not for
their wee hands. But who cares?
It is estimated that 33 million children are involved in
child labour in India and regions nearby. Of these 80% are Dalits and backward
classes. Almost every chai shop has a
chotu to help serve the tea.
I was thinking how I could match the thought-provoking talk
on my show. I called up a list of songs about children on my console. I opened
with ‘Heal the World’ helmed by Michael Jackson. I then went with Axel Rose
from Guns n Roses singing ‘Sweet Child of Mine.’ White Lion’s ‘When the Children Cry’ was not
far behind. Next up was Mark Knopfler’s ‘Nobody’s Child.’ Oscar Harris had a
‘Song for the Children,’ while Don Williams had one called ‘Storybook
Children.’ Indus Creed brought up the rear with ‘Pretty Child.’
As I played the songs, it struck me that if I was not
scheduled for a duty as a casual announcer on that day at AIR, I would not have
known about the importance of the day. No local papers that I read highlighted
the matter. Only the Principal of a leading school in Panjim, chose to include
it in his morning message. He stressed the fact that many children do not have
the privilege of going to school.
‘The
only work children should do is homework’ is the slogan of the NGO, Child
Relief and You (CRY). Yet there are many children who don’t lead normal lives.
They may be seen on railway platforms; rummaging garbage bins; or shining
shoes.
Many
end up begging at traffic signals. Some
of them have lost a limb. These kids could have been kidnapped and maimed so
that they can evoke sympathy to garner more alms. These alms are pocketed by
their minders who keep a hawk’s eye on them at a distance. Girls have a
different destiny as they are the prize pickings of the trade in human
trafficking. That is why one mostly sees only boys on the street, not girls.
That is the chilling reality.
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12 June is observed as world day against
child labour. Published in Gomantak Times, Weekender, Panaji, Goa on Sunday, 23rd June 2019.
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