Children trained to earn sympathy
Begging in India
“There is no greater violence than to deny the dreams of children”, said Kailash Satyarthi at the Nobel peace prize ceremony held in Oslo, Norway. These are true words indeed. At this stage of their lives where they should be learning, they are forced to beg and work. They become instrumental in the selfish deeds of few atrocious people with awful mentality. Most people feel sad for them, and it’s an easy way to turn our backs on them. Pushing children to do begging in India is an offensive trial in every manner.
The picture explains a lot!
One fine morning as I walked across the streets of GolekaMandir; a popular place at Gwalior city, I felt a slight nudge in my feet. There was a small kid down there, too stubborn to let my feet go. He grasped my legs with both his arms like it was life for him, a small hope for a penny. A certain dilemma strained my brain. “Am I doing any good to him by offering him some money?” This is a common scene on the streets nowadays. Most people ignore these kids while few with little sympathy, give them a rupee. “A rupee” is not going to bring any change in their lives. Instead, this gives them an incentive to carry on their work and keeps them away from the bright side. We indirectly help to deteriorate their future and also provide an aid to those involved in child trafficking. These Mafia’s are greedy, they kidnap children and then paralyze them, as disabled children earn more sympathy from the public. Moreover, they give them drugs and make them addicted, which keep them from running. Children are innocent. Their mind believes what it sees. Not only Mafia, but few parents also send their children to beg to fulfill their selfish notions. They are blind to see what the future holds, blinded by greed.
A few good men…
So what can we do? Yes, this is a common question among most of us. Well, here is a great example. An NGO called “Bliss”, formed by few responsible college students, stood for this cause. They saw the condition of these kids at GoleKaMandir and made up their mind to help them. They emphasize conducting basic classes for these students to grow, under a project called ‘altruism ‘. At least they provided a glimpse of hope for these kids and we appreciate their effort. But is there effort appreciated equivalently by the parents of those poor kids? Most parents stop sending their kids to classes because they think it’s a waste of time. Today this retrograde mentality haunts our exalting society. This GolekaMandir case is a very small case in the context of our advancing thoughts. Not just GolekaMandir, there are several Mandirs across the nation where children are forced to beg and work.
Bliss team with kids at GoleKaMandir
These social issues are very important when we consider the growth of our nation in every sense. Several NGO’S are working on it, but are not fully functional. Begging in India has become a business with a huge turnover, and we cannot turn our backs saying it’s none of our business. We all are well aware of a very famous dialect among youngsters “chotu do chaii”, but that “chotu” doesn’t deserve that fate. If God has given us resources, we must try to convey them to poor kids. They deserve a bright future. False hopes can give them nothing but a life in vain. Come ahead; join NGO’s, work with them. You cannot make a difference, just by sitting back and feeling sorry! These kids deserve a brighter life, away from the boundaries that are dark and gray. So next time when you walk across a child who is begging for money, be generous, and for God’s sake keep that coin in your pocket!!
