Early days tied with knot of responsibilities

Delhi is said to be ‘Dil walo ki Dilli’, a city where people are fun loving and warm hearted. But is it really true? Are we people really concerned and caring?

We all must have visited to India gate and if not, then surely we have read about such a monument in our history books. We often go there to enjoy with our family and friends, after all many of us consider it to be a good picnic spot. But how many of us actually know the relevance of this memorial which was built in the memory of 90,000 soldiers?

I was also like you people, not bothered and busy in the hustle and bustle of life. I never looked around and was always engaged in having fun with my family and friends, each time I visited India Gate. When I was a kid, I always insisted my parents to buy me balloons or ice-creams, but never gave a thought of what made that little children do that work at such an early stage of life. I never gave a thought the reason to why these children were carrying things for the purpose selling instead of books in their hands.

Few years later, when I again visited India Gate, this time I had a talk with some of the kids over there and unfortunately I came to know about a hard core reality. I realized, India gate, despite of being a prominent landmark of the capital there were certain things and stories surrounding there which we people were still unaware of. Those little kids were not only denied from their basic right to education but they were also married. It is so strange that these tiny kids with little knowledge were burdened with great responsibilities. Not only girls (merely 10, 12 and 15 years of age) but also boys of nearly same age were married. I was living in a misconception that these children were only victims of child labour, but these little innocent children were also victims of traditional norms of early marriages.

Although child marriages are illegal in India, but still it is widely practiced across the nation. Each year 10 million children are forced into marriages and in India, nearly 47-50% of the girls are married before the age of 18. Moreover India has the largest number of children employed than any other country in the world. Around 90 million out of 179 million children in the 6 to 14 age group do not go to school and are engaged in some occupation or other. This means that nearly 50% of children are deprived of their right to free and happy childhood.

Moreover it was really shocking to see that India Gate, the heart of the city, where few months ago protests were carried out vigorously and voices were being raised against injustice with Nirbhaya, has now itself become a breeding ground, where such evils of the society are growing silently but rapidly.