JOIN USWriter and social worker Harsh Mandar gave a call to end unequal childhood. Delivering a talk on ‘Unequal Childhood: the Fatal Accidents of Birth’ at Mahatma Gandhi Memorial College here, the evil of inequality is the burden carried forward in the country. Every third child is malnourished, homeless and is into labor in the world is Indian, he regretted.
He said the inequality is increasing day after day. Child Labour Act is scandalous. It is another instance for legal frame of inequality, he remarked. He reiterated that poverty is the result of child labor. Every child is into work and one adult is out of work at many places, he noted.
Mandar said the poor kids are on high risk of survival due to the bondage and disturbed life.
Asserting that the absence of public funding welfare programmes has resulted in the under nourishment of women and children, the social worker added that the Indian government earmarks just one percent of its GDP for health care. The government should at least spend three percent of the GDP, he said.
He said malnutrition in India is much higher that the Sub-Saharan African countries and Bangladesh. A mother who is engaged in labor is unable to breast feed her child and it results in malnutrition, he felt.
Mandar said Dalit students are not treated well in schools and the teachers ask them to clean toilets. Then, the morale of the child decreases, he remarked. He sad 25 percent opportunity for the under privileged under RTE Act is opposed by the high profile and sophisticated schools.
He said only seven percent of the downtrodden children complete degrees. It is only four percent among Dalits and two percent in rural households. The writer said surcharge should be imposed on rich and middle classes for health and education of poor and downtrodden children.