The death of Afzal Ansari,a 12 year old boy from Darbhanga,Bihar,has been the main news for the last few days.He was a minor,and a zari worker in one of the many sweatshops in Govandi,Mumbai.His employers kept him and 10 to 12 other boys in a dingy room where they worked for about 20 hours a day.The children weave bright shiny pieces of metal into strips of cloth.The children are mostly Muslim and are brought from UP and Bihar.It is estimated that about 12,000 such children are employed in Dharavi and Govandi.Those who have seen my earlier posting on this subject will realise the severe hardships these children go through for a pittance and to swell the pockets of their masters.Alamgir,the master of Afzal is now in police custody.
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this is very sad. i think more NGOs need to focus on child rights in india. but the problems are so varied that people who work on child rights are not able to give enough attention to many issues. they have to prioritize.
my friend in goa works for an organisation that deals with serious issues like paedophilia which is rampant in a hot tourist destination like goa. she says that apparently, because of a stiff crackdown on the trade in sri lanka and south east asia, most of these activities are now shifting base to india. what is really alarming and sick is that certain groups are openly talking about giving paedophilia the same status as homosexuality!!
that the issue of paedophilia has entered popular culture (the film page 3 dealt with it) means we do have a serious problem on our hands.
abuse of children is rampant.either in the form of hard physical labour or sexually like paedophilia.
i worked in goa for three years and it was during that period that a damning indictment was made on a couple of foreign nationality by a special judge appointed by the government of goa to hear the petition filed by this ngo.The accused were found guilty and sentenced but then they seem to have escaped from the net.the ngo did a very good job by pursuing the matter vigorously and relentlessly.it is a pity that the guilty escaped. there is no doubt that the problem is very serious and special focus groups are required to address these issues and bring some cheer in the lives of the unfortunate children
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