India is my country, the current rising "Make in India", a developing one but sadly the home to the largest number of child laborers in the world. The census found an increase in the number of child laborers from 11.28 million in 1991 to 12.59 million in 2001. M.V. Foundation in Andhra Pradesh found nearly 400,000 children, mostly girls between seven and 14 years of age, toiling for 14-16 hours a day in cottonseed production across the country of which 90% are employed in Andhra Pradesh alone.
Poverty and lack of social security are the main causes of child labor. The increasing gap between the rich and the poor, privatization of basic services and the non-liberal economic policies are causing major sections of the population out of employment and without basic needs. This adversely affects children more than any other group. Entry of multinational corporations into industry without proper mechanisms to hold them accountable has lead to the use of child labor. Lack of quality universal education has also contributed to children dropping out of school and entering the labor force. A major concern is that the actual number of child laborers goes UN-detected. Laws that are meant to protect children from hazardous labor are ineffective and not implemented correctly.
A growing phenomenon is using children as domestic workers in urban areas. The conditions in which children work is completely unregulated and they are often made to work without food, and very low wages, resembling situations of slavery. There are cases of physical, sexual and emotional abuse of child domestic workers. The argument for domestic worker is often that families have placed their children in these homes for care and employment. There has been a recent notification by the Ministry of Labor making child domestic work as well as employment of children in dhabas, tea stalls and restaurants "hazardous" occupations.
According to HAQ: Center for child rights, child labor is highest among schedules tribes, Muslims, schedule castes and OBC children. The persistence of child labor is due to the inefficiency of the law, administrative system and because it benefits employers who can reduce general wage levels. There is a lack of political will to actually see to the complete ban of child labor.
There is another type of child labor called bonded labor which is a hidden phenomenon as majority of them are found in the informal sector. Bonded labor means the employment of a person against a loan or debt or social obligation by the family of the child or the family as a whole. It is a form of slavery. Children who are bonded with their family or inherit a debt from their parents are often found in agricultural sector or assisting their families in brick kilns, and stone quarries. Bonded laborers in India are mostly migrant workers, which open them up to more exploitation. Also they mostly come from low caste groups such as dalits or marginalized tribal groups.
The government has made efforts to prohibit all kinds of child labor by enacting Child labor laws but fails to completely uproot it.
Sadly we still see children who are suppose to be playing and studying are working and losing their precious childhood. Together say no to child labor
India is a land of unity in diversity and people from many religious,
social and cultural backgrounds harmoniously live in India.
However the diversity of the subcontinent has often been exposed under threats of religious violence.The Communal violence is one of the major threats to Indian democracy.
It has been a barrier to the economic development of India.
The Communal issue has deep roots in the Indian past. The colonial
rule was based on communal divisions. The British found the divide and
rule policy as the most comfortable way to establish their hold in
Indian subcontinent.
The communal issue associated with the Partition of India was
one of the major catastrophes in Indian history. India faced the worst
form of communal violence during the Partition which led to massive
death and destruction.
Even after independence, communal violence continues. The first
major clash between Hindus and Muslims occurred in Madhya Pradesh in
1961, the anti sikh riots 1984, the latest one Muzafarnagar riots in September 2013.There have been plenty more.
The Instrumental Explanation of Riots
In India, riots are often portrayed as a ‘spontaneous’ reaction to an
event that acted as a trigger, where the rioters are anti-social
extremist elements who threaten peace and amity between communities.
This narrative distances the violence from the masses, ignores the silence of the majority and more importantly, does not
identify the political actors, authorities who gain from these riots and
therefore instigate or refuse to prevent them.
Riots are triggered due to the presence of ‘institutionalized riot
systems’, informal networks that nevertheless function on ‘established
links of communication’ wherein a community is aware of the roles that
will be played by specific persons during a riot. The rioters are often
well-known to the police and local authorities. A set of ‘specialists’ take on different roles: from those
involved in the actual physical violence as ‘mobile gangs’, to those
‘fire tenders’ who await the chance of a riot by keeping the level of
communal relations in a state of tension and others who work at
spreading rumors, inciting violence among the general public.
Riots therefore, are partly organized, partly spontaneous forms of
collective action designed to appear or made to appear afterwards as a
spontaneous expressions of popular feeling.
It is the vote-bank dependent political environment banking on the
evocative use of religious symbols and historical memories to polarize
its audience, in my opinion, that helps explain the emotions of those
civilians who participate in the violence, the silence of those who
while not participating in the riots, do nothing to prevent it or help
those who are being attacked.
The UPA government came up with a bill Communal violence
(Suppression) Bill soon after it came to power. However, it was rejected
owing to its legal faults. Later Communal violence (Prevention, Control
and Rehabilitation) Bill was introduced in Parliament in 2005. It
was referred to the parliamentary committee on constitutional affairs
for review.
Prevention of communal and targeted violence (Access to Justice
and reparations) Bill, 2011 is one of the bills introduced in the
Parliament with an agenda to prevent communal clashes.
According to the bill it aims to provide equal access to justice
and protection to the vulnerable groups through effective provisions
for investigation, prosecution and trial of offenses.
The Bill also intends to provide for the restorative relief,
rehabilitation and compensation to all persons affected by communal
violence.
The Bill aims to prevent atrocities, sexual assault, unlawful
assemblies, hate propaganda etc being organized leading to communal
violence.
There are constant pressures from the social activists to pass the
bill for the prevention of communal violence in the country. However,
due to the criticisms of some of the contentious provisions of the bill,
it continues to be in cold storage.
According to the BJP and its allies, the bill is anti-majority and against the Federal structure of the nation.
However all these issues and other can be discussed on the floor of the
house by introducing the bill in the Parliament and eliminate its
shortcomings. After that it should be made into a law. The prevention of
communal violence is essential to keep the secular spirit of the
constitution and the glory of the nation.
The recent Dadri killing over beef rumor is one more example of a could be possible communal violence. Wake up people is this what we want,killing innocent people over rumors or in fact i should say yes over an animal. "NO" i am sure not,so lets pledge not to get lured over religious and sentimental propagandas spread and infected into us by enemies of secularism. We are all one, We are all Indians.
SPREAD HARMONY - LIVE IN PEACE - LOVE ALL .
