In a contemporary popular movie
A cheerful and chirpy child Bishnu
Runs to supply hot water on demand
To the inmates staying in the lodge.
This reminds me of countless ‘Bishnus’
With innocence of their childhood lost
Largely employed in the informal sector
As domestic help, in factories and farms.
I wonder if children or their guardians
Have knowledge or any clue of evils of
The exploitative practice of child labour
While silently suffering from such abuse.
On one hand our constitution guarantees
Children a free and compulsory education
To all of the age between six and fourteen
Prohibiting employment in hazardous occupation.
Selfish interests and the greedy employers
Encourage the children rather than adults
For their higher efficiency and cheap wages
And total absence of usual labour problems.
True, many families send children to work
For poverty, large size family subsistence
And inadequate education infrastructure
In the surrounding city, town or village.
Also, the children are sold for petty sums
To pay off debt or to fetch a fresh loan
Situation leads to the child bonded labour
Often stretching long or even a lifetime
In most cases, for a minimal or no wage.
Not that there is no sufficient legislation
Then there are non-governmental organizations
But child labour flourishes unabated and goes on
A long road ahead and lot more needs to be done.
So stop committing crime on innocent children
And don’t take away their childhood innocence
Please allow them their right to proper education
To stay safe and ahead in the future generation.
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