City-dwellers often cross path with the usually-unnoticed stark reality of urban places- underprivileged children for whom making ends meet is an arduous task. You can find them straying outside metro rail stations, busy traffic lights and buzzing marketplaces where they are either seeking your small favor in form of money or food or are selling such cheap stuff as balloons and cellphone chargers. We are sure you must have, at least once, been confronted with the thought of whether you should help them or ignore them and continue your journey.
For students of political science and development economics, it is easy to buy the argument that resources belong to all; hence there must be a share in development for even those who aren’t formally employed or come from a background that doesn’t allow them to be a part. For others, with mind occupied with exams, office presentations, client meetings and household responsibilities, ignoring these ‘street children’ is an easy way to steer clear of any mischief. Let’s today consider this subject and reach a judicious conclusion.
A child born to unprivileged household is never at fault. This child isn’t endowed with resources needed to pursue quality learning and thereafter become part of the corporate scene. As noted earlier, despite born poor, these children do have some ownership over natural resources that are exploited to improve the socio-economic landscape of the country. As the blessed ones, we, therefore, have certain responsibilities towards these vulnerable and marginalized members of our society and are bound by the rules of civilized society to extend a helping hand.
The question is how? Should you quickly pull out a currency note and hand it over to the child beggar you come across? No, philanthropy is much more than this. How about taking some time out from your busy schedule and having a short chat with the child? How about knowing why the child is forced to stray on streets when the law mandates compulsory education at this age? How about counseling the child and even her/ his family on why burdening them at such early age is nothing but ruining their childhood and preparing for even darker days in later stages of life?
That said, there are other tasks to be considered. Why not form a group of such children, sign up friends and family members to spare some time and impart whatever learning they can to this group, petitioning state authorities to take up the case of these children and arranging for their easy admission into state-run educational institutions? In India, various government agencies and private not-for-profit organizations work for development of such weak groups. Why not bring the plight of any such child we meet on streets to the knowledge of these agencies and assist in their emancipation and rehabilitation?
Even the Prime Minister of India has discussed the subject in his Mann Ki Baat programme where he applauded the efforts of ‘Save Child Beggar’, an NGO dedicated to the cause of street children. With every one of us joining hands and working towards the goal of upliftment of these children, success will be within reach. Why not start from today?
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