Besides being health issue, pandemic also a crisis of childhood: Satyarthi

In a Q&A, the Nobel Peace Laureate and founder, Bachpan Bachao Andolan buttresses his view by pointing out that 1.6 bn children in the world couldn't attend school for more than a year

He envisions a world where all children are free, safe, healthy, receive a quality education, and can realise their full potential. Meet Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi, who was recently celebrated as one of the Icons of India by The Leela group. Partnering with Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation (KSCF), The Leela is empowering children by sponsoring 10 Bal Mitra Gram (BMG) or Child Friendly Villages, an internationally recognised model for child-centered rural development while promoting child protection and child development.

Please tell us about your recent partnership with Leela.

It gives me immense happiness to note that The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts has joined hands with us to help create a child-friendly world through our Bal Mitra Grams. Compassion towards children and the will to empower them to become meaningful citizens will go a long way in freeing them from the shackles of exploitation. Businesses and corporations are compassionate and have a moral responsibility towards the children of the country who are the most marginalised, most vulnerable. This partnership with Leela will also set an example for other philanthropists as well as business houses and others that they should do their bit for children.

The pandemic took its toll on everyone. How do you assess its impact on the children in particular?

Right from the beginning, people like me have had serious concerns and fear that this (the pandemic) is going to adversely affect the lives of millions, perhaps billions of children across the world if it goes on like this, and this is what happened unfortunately. Children are always the worst sufferers of any natural disaster--pandemic, war or insurgency. And this is what exactly happened. Unfortunately the world was not prepared enough. I have been saying and I still say this was not simply a health or economic crisis, this was the crisis of childhood, the crisis of education, the crisis of freedom of children and future of children, because 1.6 billion children in the world remained out of school for more than a year or so. All children in all countries are not returning and we know a large number will drop out and many will be forced into child labour, prostitution, child marriages, child slavery etc. Exactly this has happened in India. This is about the most marginalised section of society.

But when it comes to children in so-called well-off families or middle-class or higher middle class, it has also brought bad news in terms of stress, anxiety, depression and aggression. This has been seen in India and elsewhere. We are also afraid that at least 24 million children globally according to United Nations data will not be returning to school. More than 40 per cent of the world's children do not have any access to online education. That is another disaster.

To what extent did child abuse increase during the pandemic period?

My organisation Bachpan Bachao Andolan and Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation have seen how child trafficking and the demand for child pornography and the production of pornographic material has risen--how children are being pushed into labour and working as child slaves. This is very critical.

We have no data on child sexual abuse. One study by a reputed international organisation revealed something quite shocking - within the first 10 days of the pandemic, the demand for child pornographic material was up by 95 per cent. It shows how sick our minds are to be demanding such things. Normally, child porn is only one indicator and it generally leads to several other consequences such as increase in sexual abuse, rape and so on of children.

Let’s take a step back. When you started Bachpan Bachao Andolan, how bad the situation was then and how much improvement have you seen in the lives of these children and the overall situation?

Well, when I started treading on this path, everyone from my family, my friends laughed at me. They were mocking me saying that I had gone crazy. I was an engineer, teaching at the university and in those days, India did not have so many electrical engineers. So when I gave up my career, people were surprised and shocked that I was embarking on what they felt was a “non-issue”. Though it was a serious problem in the country, no one was talking about child labour and slavery. Phrases like child bonded labour or child trafficking weren't used in India. That was in the late 1970s or 1980s. India did not have its own laws. There was an old British law but nobody knew about it. There was no single study –only two media reports: one, about the children engaged in Sivakasi in the firecracker industry and second, about some children working in the bangle making and glass industry in Firozabad. That’s all. So, it was very tough in India and the global situation was more or less the same. The biggest problem was mindset because people thought it’s common for poor children to contribute to the family. From that ground zero, we've now reached a situation where no country, no international organisation, no corporation in the world can ignore this issue. This is right at the centre stage of the corporate social responsibility narrative, and human rights and education narrative. My humble contribution here was to give visibility to the invisible lot. The crux lies in the action and conversation through action. It was in 1981 when the first group of enslaved children was freed due to my effort and I was leading this operation. When it appeared in the media, everyone was shocked. The very first incident provoked the conversation that slavery still exists in the country.

There are many layers to the entire issue of child labour. There is everything, from enslaving kids in factories to pushing them into the flesh trade and using them as domestic help. What is the worst form of child abuse?

We have much more clear and strong laws in the country and globally also. India is a signatory to some international treaties and conventions. So, we are responsible for adhering to them and following the global norms we agreed upon. According to the present laws in India on child labour, no child shall be employed in any occupation up to the age of 14. Children would also not be employed in any hazardous occupation up to the age of 18--there is a long list of occupations in that space. India has ratified two important conventions. One is on the minimum age of employment, which says no child shall be employed up to the age of 14. The other is the ILO convention on worst forms of child labour. So, children won’t be employed in worst forms of child labour. Prostitution, use of children for crimes, or as labour in mines and factories and other hazardous jobs where they are handling chemicals, fumes and dust and so on is illegal.

Which according to you is a bigger problem in the country–poverty or lack of moral fibre and breakdown of ethics and values? Which of the two is causing more problems in the lives of children?

I don’t see much difference between the two. Poverty is also man made. And that is also a moral failure of man for which we are responsible. Perhaps enough efforts have not been made. Perhaps some people are benefitting from perpetual poverty. Both things are there. But now the biggest issue is the growing inequality. Reports after reports show that the rich-poor divide is growing, not just in India but globally too. That is so shocking and disgusting. Who is responsible for that–our global polity, our economy, our decisions and priorities? Inequality, I would say, is an economic violence and a denial of the moral fabric of the society.

But there is hope too. Some of the richest people in the world have decided to give all their money for the betterment of society, charity, development and so on. These things are visible. But I am very hopeful about young people. The youth of our nation are, of course, the future but that future is in good hands. They want to do something for the betterment of society, be it doing some charity work, or volunteering for ecological issues or social causes. Some of them are working with us. We keep on receiving a plenty of good responses from young people as their minds are opening. Of course, they are under tremendous pressure to build their careers, get more marks, and top the grades in school and college. But it is heartening to see that they also want to do something or the other for society too.

If there is one thing that every individual in the country you wish could do, what would that be?

I can say just one thing and that is my strong belief. Love a child. Make a child you don’t know, happy -- the child who never approached you. See how you can love and feel responsible and make her smile and safe. Put a dream in her eyes. If each and every Indian starts working with one child and safeguarding his freedom as a child, then we can definitely contribute to the nation and to humanity.

On that note I cannot but ask you about child adoption. Covid deaths have created a lot of Covid orphans. While there is a vast pool of kids to be adopted, people are still keen to continue their gene pool and go for IVF, surrogacy and other artificial ways. Isn’t there plenty of scope for adoption of kids?

There is a good law on adoption and several improvisations have been made in the past few years. So according to that law, adoption is possible and could be encouraged. I strongly feel that it is the collective responsibility of the society- to begin with the state, then faith institutions and leaders to see that every child is safe. Be it the mandir, masjid, gurudwaras- and there are so many of these in our country that there aren’t so many schools in the country. It is their responsibility. When a Muslim girl child is in danger and if she finds a close by temple or gurudwara or church, can she easily run inside it feeling safe and not fear the pujari in the mandir or vice versa if it’s a Hindu girl, if she can feel safe in other faith institutions that is when we should think that we are a humanitarian society. If our kids find a safe haven in other religious institutions, only then I would gauge the length and breadth of India’s morality and ethics.