Let's be the change that we want to see in the world

Mr. M.K. Gandhi once said "There are people in the world so hungry that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread."

MR. TOASTMASTER, FELLOW TOASTMASTERS AND GUESTS,

Yes, Today I would like to spend the next couple of minutes in bringing some awareness and speak about those countless children who are starving in the streets near us whose cries go unheard. Just over this weekend, while I was wating on a traffic signal, i met this very innocent child not more than 8 years of age selling flowers and asking me to buy some as he did not have his meal for ther day. I did purchase those flowers and On asking him about his aspirations, he told me he wishes to grow up to become a rich man, and if he were, he will give the street children food, medicine, shelter, love anf affection to the street children, so that no one is poor in the country. If a child in the streets who has nothing is willing to give away so much why are we not willing to share and have become so greedy ? In our country we have so much waste, we buy and throw away, buy and throw away and still we will not share with the needy even when we have more than enough we are afraid to share, we are afraid to let go some of our wealth. DUe to poverty in India, we have these countless young children who have been working as bounded labours, just to find bread for themselves and at times for their families.

Although the Constitution of India guarantees free and compulsory education to children between the age of 6 to 14 and prohibits employment of children younger than 14 in 18 hazardous occupations and 65 hazardous processes, child labour is prevalent in almost all informal sectors of the Indian economy. As a consequence you find children working in the following areas too:

1 Diamond industry
2 Fireworks manufacture
3 Silk manufacture
4 Domestic labour
5 Construction
6 Brick kilns

Although, Indian Government has been taking various pro-active measures to tackle this problem. Way back in 1979, Government formed the first committee called Gurupadswamy Committee to study the issue of child labour and to suggest measures to tackle it.Based on the reports from Gurupadaswamy Committee, the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act was enacted in 1986.  The Act prohibits employment of children in certain specified hazardous occupations and processes and regulates the working conditions in others. The list of hazardous occupations and processes is progressively being expanded on the recommendation of Child Labour Technical Advisory Committee constituted under the Act. In consonance with the above approach, a National Policy on Child Labour was formulated in 1987.

However, considering the magnitude and extent of the problem and that it is essentially a socio-economic problem inextricably linked to poverty and illiteracy it requires concerted efforts from all sections of the society to make a dent in the problem.


Children are our most valuable resources so lets come forward and pledge to help them learn, study and grow to become better human beings. Let us give hope to at least one child and be the change that we want to see in the world.  Let us fund just 1 child's entire education and help to lead India to become a 100% literate nation.