A True Story On Child Labour

I was once travelling by a local train in Mumbai when I saw two small girls about five years of age in the compartment begging. One of them was singing and asking for alms and the other one was quiet. I gave a rupee to the girl.

After a few minutes we heard a loud noise like a slap followed by a scream and sobbing. We saw that a man was abusing the quiet girl as she continued to sob. When we asked him the reason he told us its none of our business as he is her child. We persisted and found out that he was angry with the child for not singing while begging. We were enraged and what followed was a sound thrashing of the man who was taken to the railway police by some of us at the next station.

This is a true incident and goes to prove the sad prevalence of child labour and exploitation in our country. Please do not support beggary as it only causes exploitation of children. Next time you see a child at a traffic signal, please report it to the police or NGOs like CRY or Pratham, thank you and good bye for now.