Crimes against children.

An article in the New York Times of 26 February describes the shameful practice of child labor in India despite a law in 2010 which mandates that all children between the ages of 6 and 14 years must go to school. It says that 28 million children between 6 and 14 years of age are working in houses, farms, construction sites, tea shops, mines, factories and in many hazardous occupations. In Meghalaya children go to work in coal mines without any safety gear. The Mines Act forbids anyone below the age of 18 from working in mines but here little children are made to work mining coal. They have to crawl through holes a few feet across to get to the mine face. Many die. Suresh Thapa, 17 years old, works in such a " rat-hole mine " while his 3 younger siblings go to a government school. His mother, Mrs Thapa said," It is necessary for us that they work. No one is going to give us money. We have to work to feed ourselves." A mother without any sense of responsibility or tenderness towards her children. Why did she and her husband give birth to so many when they do not have the means to feed them? Why is no one reaching out to them to explain that having children exacerbates and perpetuates poverty from one generation to the next, forever? Suresh's boss, Kumar Subba agreed that mines are dangerous but said that they were owned by a state lawmaker. He said," Mostly the ones who come are orphans." He employs about 130 people who produce around 30 tons of coal daily. " People die all the time," he said. " You have breakfast in the morning, go to work and never come back. Many have died this way." Brutally honest. Bindo M. Lanong, Meghalaya's Deputy Chief Minister for Mining and Geology said," There is no child labor in Meghalaya. These allegations are totally absurd. These are not based on facts." Typical Indian politician's response - deny everything even if it is in front of your face. Such brutality is made possible because mines are owned by local lawmakers who control the police and so are above the law, poor people are encouraged to go on breeding to provide a constant supply of cheap labor and children are helpless to resist. It is no surprise that children who grow up in an atmosphere of violence become criminals, ready to use extreme violence against others because they have seen no different. What use is it enacting a plethora of laws if no attempt is made to enforce them? Yet, it is so easy. Pass a law that anyone who is born after 1997, that is 16 years or less, will not get any help from the government if they have 2 children or more. They will get 100% if they have only one girl, 80% if they have only one boy and nothing after that. That will remove the reward for having children. Publicise it on radio, on TV and through SMS. The poor are not fools. They will protest but crimes against children must stop if the country is to survive.