Sunil Kumar
On 10th of December 2014, citizens of both India and Pakistan would have been feeling proud when Malala Yousafzai who represented Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi who represented India were addressing Oslo, Norway on being awarded prestigious Nobel Peace Prize of the year. Both of them will share this year’s Nobel Peace Prize for their noble work for the welfare of humanity. Although, both of them worked differently -Malala raised the voice of girl child education and Kailash fought against bonded labour in terms of Bachpan Bachao Andolan; the aim of both the Nobel Laureates was same which is to fight for the Child Rights. But the basic question remains unanswered. Would the citizens of both the countries follow Malala and Kailash and stand with them for the rights of children? It is very unfortunate that we don’t adopt the path followed by such social reformers because if it would have been so then there would have been no need of Swacchh Bharat Abhiayan today. When we could not achieve the vision of a Clean India which was seen by Mahatma Gandhi 65 years ago, there is no guarantee that we would follow Malala and Kailash and work together for the goodwill of children. There is no doubt that the name of Malala and Kailash would be written in history for their noble work but there is doubt that we, citizens of India would too create history when no child in India would be deprived of quality education and there would be no curse of child labour. We often read articles related to child rights on special days like International Labour Day/Children Day. We hold rallies/debates concerning child rights every year. All this is done to aware the society so that the curse of child abuse could be tackled. This curse can not be eradicated until the whole society works honestly with full dedication. But, the reality is that the society does not act like Malala or Kailash or someone else who worked for humanity. We just take part in rallies/debates to show others that we are doing something positive but do nothing in reality. Let me explain it with some examples. There is a complete ban on the use of polythene bags in J and K for the last few years. A large number of big hoardings\banners can be seen inside the Jammu city showing.
“Say no to polythene bags or using polythene bags is a punishable offence”. What is the result? Is there any benefit? There would be hardly a few shops which would have been avoiding use of polythene bags. We often find people carrying fruits and vegetables in polythene bags. Inspite of knowing its harmful effects very well, we are not ready to avoid plastics. Even law is not playing its role. Similar is the issue of energy conservation. Inspite of arranging painting competitions, debates/seminars, rallies every year, we often find glowing bulbs/lights even during day time or vehicles switched on at red lights. Similar is the case of child labour and child education. We see hundreds of children begging at bus/matador stands and railway stations or in the streets. We see children wandering here and there around us in search of junk materials. We often find children serving us at tea stalls/Dhabas. But, do we react? Do we ever try to listen to the problem of such a child and encourage him/her to go to school? Then, what is the fun of such debates.
The aim of Malala and Kailash can not be fulfilled until the entire society takes interest and work with full dedication. This aim cannot be achieved just by rallies and debates but by action because actions speak louder than words. Inspite of thinking globally, let’s pledge to work for those deprived children to whom we meet every day so that they too could live a happy and prosperous life.