They are not our ENEMIES

Girls are not only about fashion or make up or the one who are always crying over little things in life. They are also about emotions that care about humanitarian family. A student of GGSIP University studying M.Sc. in Environment Management, Neha Bhagat has come out as a person who not only says glossy and things beyond imagination but believes in actually implementing it. Being an upcoming Environmentalist, her love and devotion for the most hated and unwanted creatures- Stray Dogs- are the perfect example of humanism.

The work started with a motivation from her sister Radhika at an early age. Both the sisters had been working for the street dogs of the colony of their homes in delhi for a long time. But she took the individualistic forefront in the GGSIP University itself. It is 18 months back when she found a stray dog named Beauty suffering from rabies. The disease made the poor creature look pale with thin body and no hair. She bought medicines on her own expenses and nourished him with food and medicines. Till now she had served many stray dogs in the university with the puppies. Her job carries from injecting the dogs with medicine to weeding out Maggots from their body, of taking the bleeding dog to the hospital to facing the unhelpful eyes of people on the way. These are some of the big no-no job for many but she does them not only as a part of her responsibility but out of love for them. In her whole endeavour, she had even been bitten by the dog several times and got herself injected. But it never pulled her away or feared her in performing her work.
Everyday thousands of stray dogs on the streets are beaten up, shooed and chased. In general we grow up hating them as they don’t look good, may bring diseases and are not the way the foreign good looking dogs are whom we consider to be our best friend. We may feel like this is a big problem for us, and, in all honesty, it is. But when the God of the universe stirs the hearts of His people to fulfil His purposes, who can stop Him? In such a way, she had come up as an angel to give them a new life ‘All- together.’
Dogs are considered to be our best friend but only if they are pet. As we don’t choose our parents, the same way dogs don’t chose whether they are to be a pet or a stray. They are not our enemies, we are required to go beyond the boundaries of ‘stray dogs’ and explore the other side of them. Then only we can find them cute and loving and experience their selfless and truthful love. They will definitely turn out to be our best friends.

Morals Questionable

Recall when you were a kid in 5th grade. I said about 5th grade because that is the age where one starts understanding things around him. There is a thick line drawn at that time in the MORAL SCIENCE class as to what is good and what is bad. He starts understanding those things and grabs them. Thereafter he starts implementing on it. Yet there is still a major childishness as everything beyond his vision and sight is a fantasy and hence he starts questioning about them.

So if you could recall, the things that were taught to us at that time were help the poor and the needy, do not talk to strangers, wake up early in the morning, respect elders and be truthful and do not steal things and help people whenever they need them.

Now the thing is, are all these morals relevant in today’s time? For reference I would like to recall the latest incidence when the entire Delhi was shook by the serial blasts. The one bomb blast among the many in the capital had one thing in different. N September 28, a nine-year-old boy, was killed on the spot as he innocently picked up a black polythene bag containing a Tiffin box bomb, as it exploded in his face. If he wasn’t taught the moral values of helping people on streets who by chance (read deliberately) dropped a bomb near him.

At the end of the day, it is our honourable ministers asking people to maintain peace and calm in the face of this adversity. The meeting to beef up security system immediately lands on the first seat. But as some time passes, the things seem to be done with a cold shoulder. Why our system can’t stands boldly on the issues like this. Besides what do they think we should teach children as in the moral values? Should we start teaching them what the real world is like? Should we fill them with so many negatives about the world that they make their own life negative? Should we tell them that, ‘sorry kid, learn a different lesson because the moral that you had been taught, no longer survives in the world today’. The morals seem to be a decayed history today as the child had to pay for it by giving away his life.
(Picture courtesy- www.granitegrok.com)

Condemned for what?

Recently a news went unnoticed in a leading newspaper and was never covered by any news channel. It was about a girl Pratyusha from Wrangal who died of AIDS because of contaminated blood at children’s hospital. Why the doctor did not check the blood before giving it to the poor 7 year old child is a different issue. My major concern here is aftermath of the girl’s death.

The family was boycotted from the village as soon as the villagers came to know the reason behind her death making the life of the family worse than the hell. They now wished that they too have died with her. The family tried to convince the villagers and went through the blood test but all of their appeals to prove their innocence went unheard. According to them the family had done a major crime for which they will be convicted and punished.

Here again comes the question who is to be blamed for this? The villagers cannot be fully held guilty for the whole situation as there are less number of initiatives taken from the side of the government and NGOs to educate the masses that it does not spreads by touching or eating together and the like. This story is particularly important as legal battles surrounding rights of positive persons are bound to be few and far. It is simply because often the high risk groups are also the ones that already inhabit the peripheries of the social system and HIV only entrenches this isolation.

We need to tell the people that they are also human beings. When environment- earth, water, winds does not distinguish them then who are we to abolish them? Besides that what is the mistake of the family? Life is a gift for everyone by the almighty and we are no one to take it from them. There should be vast awareness programme on the AIDS related issues that can help them more. It is an issue that is really a taboo in many parts of India as of its diversity. We will feel shy to discuss about it with parents and it is the vice versa with them too. Both the lack of information and abundance of misinformation gathered from the websites or road side books harms youngsters. This misinformation leads to discrimination faced by positive persons both in terms of access to health care and social exploitation. They become victims of such a situation which denies them and their families even basic human rights.

A society cannot go on as it was in the past. With the change of time some changes which are necessary and healthy are required. It is not that we should blindly start imitating the West but at least we can make sure that such incidents are not repeated again.

Is Our Future Bright?

Have your ever thought about where your shoes or crackers for your children on Diwali were made or who made them. Whenever you go in any city in India, one thing that you would distinguishly notice besides the huge population and busy streets is children working at various places. Today there are about 90 percent child labourers who are into this profession either by force or by some unfavourable circumstances who end up doing begging, prostitution, domestic helpers and other odd jobs. One thing that is ideally expressed on anyone’s face is an expression of pity and sorry for these children and then we move on in our lives.

Every single situation has its own contribution to this head high problem. A solution to this urgent problem is desperately needed because most child labourers work under abusive and horrific conditions. The young innocent children are put to work in gruelling circumstances. These workers often toil for twelve to eighteen hours a day in congested, dusty, dangerous environments that severely impair their health. They face verbal, physical, and even sexual abuse from their bosses. According to the International Labour Organization, a workers’ rights alliance, there are at least 250 million workers between the ages of five and fourteen in third world countries.


Child labour issue can not be dealt until and unless concerned organizations influence appropriate Governments to re- evaluate the economic policies and rural economic growth. Target set for 2015 to eradicate poverty may not be achieved until we understand roots and real causes of poverty. This is what in my opinion Governments need to understand and bring policies in accordance. Besides it is one of those important duties that need to bring out a volunteer from each one of us as a responsible citizen of India. We need to make people aware about this issue and report against people involved in it to the concerned authorities. For this purpose our legal system needs to be strong enough to take actions against them.

A law which is not implemented is a sheer waste of time and energy Child labour is like a fast growing disease which needs to be eradicated before it has its roots in India. By buying products and services which actually involves young children, we may be contributing to their exploitation. As shoes show how rich a man is, children are mirrors where we can actually see how India will be in future. We need to change this ugly part of mirror.
(picture courtesy- google, Reference- ILO for figures)