Leave the labour to the mother

The phrase child labour brings images of a sweatshops in South-east asia or garbage dumps in India or even red light areas in parts of Asia. Are these the only situations that qualify as unlawful child labour? Let's have a closer look at the country we live in. Children working in tea shops, canteens, garbage dumps, construction sites or working as maids, babysitters, caretakers. The list is endless. Our eyes have grown used to the the sight of over burdened children doing the job of one or sometimes two grown adults. The large divide between the haves and have-nots in India make the haves indifferent to the perils of child labour around us. Most people feel that a child earning his daily bread, sometimes for his family as well, is noble and that education is overrated. How far would he go with basic education as compared to the skills he picks up working in a tea shop? The child could spend the rest of his life working in a tea shop, or someday own a tea shop, but he will live his life not knowing what his life couldv'e been had he gone to school. He could finish his 10th std education and then work in a tea shop but he would have with him the gift of opportunity to turn his life around if he wanted to.
Apart from being unlawful, child labour is inhumane. Forcing a child to work in conditions a grown adult would avoid or using children to increase productivity for the sole purpose of a profit is a selfish deed and is analogous to man using animals to his benefit. The person adopting child labour may not be responsible for the child's education but is unquestionably responsible for the child losing an opportunity for a better future. And that is as bad as confining an animal in a cage or a human in prison. Everytime we decide to hire a child as a maid or a cook, take a moment to consider the harm you're placing on that child's future. Apart from hampering the child's education we also obstruct him from having the one thing every child should have, friends.
As World child labour day, 12 June, approaches, lets make an attempt to condemn this social evil when we see it and more importantly not fall into it ourselves. Every child, no matter how low in the social strata, deserves to live like a child.

Misplaced patriotism and then some

"If patriotism and love for our country is a crime, then we shall committ the crime repeatedly". Talk about wearing the indian flag on your sleeve, an orange sleeve i might add. Could this statement (spoken by our very own Balasaheb) be a mere publicity stunt or suggest a deep rooted sense of patriotism? If there weren't so many glaring contradictions i would think the latter. Patriotism would seem to be the love for one's country, its people and resources albeit the differences in race, religion or caste. So how does crime against your own countrymen promote patriotism. Is it me or is this a contorted view of so called patriotism. It surprises me how most groups (Sena and the Maoists..to name a few) seek to protect their so called "ideals" with violence. The whole purpose of democracy is freedom to let your voice be heard without letting you hand be felt. How different is George Bush' war against terror as opposed to the Maoists war against the bourgeois or the Sena's war against non-maharashtrians. Slaughter the innocent to prove a point, after all it's all a means to an end. The end in most cases being political supremity!
The leaders of these groups are content with letting their "men" fight their battles while they sit comfortably promoting their propoganda to the masses. Ironically if the leaders do bite the bullet they would be considered martyrs and start a revolution, in most cases bigger and more dangerous than the ones they promoted.
The only way to bring these radicals to a halt would be to first to choke the very "ideals" they stand for and then bring the people involved to justice for the crimes they've committed. Use the weapon of true patriotism against those that use it as a weapon for personal gain. I belong to the world first and then my country and my state. Global to local and not the other way around.