Child Support, Child Welfare in India

A Child for a Day

India can boast about the many strides it has covered over the years. It is a global IT giant and one for the fastest growing economies in the world. But it is also home to several little boys and girls, all under the age of 14,scrambling hard to get through the day to land one meagre square meal. Some children are as young as 4 or 5 and they struggle hard to make a day’s living without any child support. Yes, child labour has dragged through the country’s soul for many years. Moreover, for a situation that is to be treated like the black plague, it has been kindled by many and  we have the largest living child labour force, amounting to a whopping 30% of the total working kids in the world.

How it affects the Children

These children are forced into menial jobs to help sustain their poor families. This inevitably robs them of a chance to a proper childhood and its associated joys. It physically and mentally robs them of normal, mentalandphysical development. They are unable to get educated,become mere servants and thus never get the chance to see a healthy and prosperous life.They mentally cry to child welfare in India for support to care, unable to voice their opinions in fear of the wrath from family and employers.

The Inhumane Conditions–The Sorry State

They never get a break from work, often working through the seven days and slogging harder than their tender bodies will allow. To top it all off, they toil in absolutely inhumane conditions– dim and cramped rooms–without proper protective gear and inhaling toxic fumes and chemicals. They are subject to physical and verbal abuse by their employers and are never given a break to recoup from the fatigue.

1. Most kids are forced to such exertion for less than Rs 500 a month with long hours of labour. Some kids slog for more than 18 hours a day and, sometimes, are never allowed to leave the boundaries of the production centre or the factory.

2. According to a report by the India Tribune in 2012, even with proper child welfare in India, it would cost the country over $760 billion through a period of 20 years to put an end to this condition.

3. Children are usually trafficked into labour and the chances are that they would be sold to another form of labour after a few years. For instance,little girls are recruited in rural Nepal to work in wool and carpet looms. After they mature, they are trafficked to be sex workers over the Indian border.

Educate a child, Education

Educate a child

Education is the most important tool for the development of the society. It has many benefits not only to the individual but also to the society at large. Various studies have shown that the positive effects of education are far-reaching. Educating women significantly brings down the child mortality rates and educating a child helps in the overall development of the society, as a child is the future of the country and that child will contribute significantly to the growth of our country tomorrow.

More than 72 million children worldwide are not enrolled in schools. They do not have access to even basic education. Educating a child is not only a basic human right but also helps in reducing child labour and poverty.

It is imperative to understand that enrolling a child in school is not enough. Once they are in a school, it is important to give them a safe and nurturing environment where they get the opportunity to realise their full potential. There is a difference between educating a child and literacy. Educating is a much broader term and involves up liftment at various levels. Educating a child enables him or her to be more productive and it helps in building a career for the child. This, in turn, helps the society and the family of the child as well. This child is able to take care of his family financially and realises the potential of studies,therefore,he will ensure that his siblings, his children and the kids around him are also educated. This helps in bringing about a change in the society and helps in changing the lives of the poor.

It is not only a basic fundamental right, but basic education to the child gives a person greater financial opportunities and access to better healthcare, which, in turn, helps them in leading a much more productive life.

There is a clear demarcation between the children who are provided education and those that are not. Children living in slums, orphans, children who are involved in child labour, children with disabilities, etc. are the ones who are most likely to be ignored from being sent to school. Families of such children feel that they should be put to work so that they start earning at an early age. It is important for them to understand that providing education will help these children in getting a better job in the future. They will earn much more as their full potential will be realised and they will change the living conditions of their family as well.

To put it simply, education is the key for up liftinga family and the society as a whole.

There are several NGOs working for the noble cause of educating a child. Basic education at even the primary level helps in increasing the productivity of a person. Education helps in reducing inequalities in the society. An educated man is less likely to be prone towards violence against women or children. An educated person will not indulge in female foeticide and many such barbaric acts prevalent in our society today.

Importance of Charity in India

In today’s scenario, people are becoming increasingly aware about the importance of charity in the social fabric of our society. In our day– to– day stressed out lives, we sometimes forget about the less privileged ones. We shun them from our daily lives, we shoo away the poor children on the signals, turn away the vendors selling their wares. We do all this without realising that it is their livelihood and this money collected from us that help them buy their food at the end of the day. Although beggary should not be supported, there is a stratum in our country that is too poor and too illiterate to have any other opportunity. If we don’t support beggary we should do something to improve the condition of the underprivileged.

Here, the importance of education comes into play. However, families who are too poor to even eat two meals in a day or have a roof over their heads are sometimes forced to resort to such measures. We see small boys serving us at the roadside eateries and do not even blink an eye, while that is the time where he should probably be sitting in a school and studying for a better future not only for himself but also for the country.

One can spend one’s hard earned money on fancy cars, designer clothes, shoes or handbags. This is a way of rewarding yourself after all the hard work put in by you and there is nothing wrong in that. However, even studies have proved that it is much more satisfying if you reward someone else or make someone happy.

The mere act of helping someone who requires it desperately gives you a wonderful sense of wellbeing and happiness. You must have noticed that whenever you do a good deed or be a good samaritan you would immediately like to share it with your friends and loved ones. This is so because it fills us with a deep sense of happiness and satisfaction.

There are several NGOs who work for charity for India, but at the end of the day, how many people are actually taking up charity for India on a regular basis? Everybody knows about the skewed social status and injustice regularly meted out to the less fortunate ones. People are very quick to point out these issues immediately, but when it comes to putting words into action there is a dearth of people who actually come forward and take responsibility for something or someone.

India is full of such social injustices and a clear demarcation between haves and have nots. However, we as a society are not contributing enough to the unfortunate ones to try and balance the ratio. India desperately needs help for the ones who have not been born to wealthier parents or in better circumstances. There are several NGOs who support various causes — from saving a girl child to education for the poor and cleanliness for the people living in slums to making our environment greener. These are just a few examples of the noteworthy work done by NGOs, which really needs the support of their countrymen, not only in terms of money but also as volunteers.