Speak up to end Child Labor!!!

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Child labor is a menace plaguing our society today. However, as a matter of fact, it has been brutally neglected in the Indian society.  If we come to think of it, in India, politicians have pushed sensitive issues like reservation in educational institutions ,addressing calls for Jan Lokpal, but no major initiative has been taken with respect to child labor. All the above issues have one element of commonality-they secure the vote bank. The solution to child labor rests in stringent legislation, but sadly enough, the people who hold the reigns to legislation see no gain to their vote bank by working to eliminate child labor. What therefore needs to be done is lobbying-socially sensitive people to demand from the government to frame a set of foolproof laws to deter hiring children for the most mundane tasks. The government could respond is by installing 24X7 helpline wherein people who witness child labor can report about it immediately. However, the following administrative procedures must be smooth so that people do not feel disincentivised to make use of the helpline. Children at school and colleges must be sufficiently sensitivised about the implications of child labor, which shall pressurize parents at home to avoid embarrassment in front of their children from hiring young kids. However, while these steps will definitely curb the symptoms of the disease called child labor, one must also uproot its ultimate cause-poverty and lack of opportunities to study. Schools must expand and reach out to slums and villages, the largest suppliers of child labor. This will enable parents to build the strong foundations of their wards’ future on a long term basis and not view them as merely helping hands to augment the family income. This two pronged attack on child labor will require the government to harness the sensitivity of the masses on one hand and allow for expansion of schools to far flung villages and slums. Those who are critical of either of the suggestions-the Anna Hazare movement shows that civil society can awaken the government;  and if we could achieve expansion of banks post 1980, why shall we not succeed when it comes to educational infrastructure?