How many Kuttys' are still there among us???

Situations may be. We are moulded by the situations in our life. May be she's in a situation which demands her to be mature and understanding. You know, when I meet these kind of people. I feel like, I'm a little immature. And that makes me little nervous for some reasons that I don't know of. So, I say situations has made her grow up. Society here can be one means of her maturity.

 

@sadhuvi,

Society is in away responsible.

Due to their family situation these children are forced to take responsibility at a very small age.They become mature very soon.Comparing to them even we may not be that much mature.

Mostly these children come from rural background where their main source of income is agriculture.As we all know agriculture is not very good right now in India.Government is not worried about agriculture.Hence the parents are sending their children as house maids which is very pathetic.

 

It is a very sad situation for any child to be in. However, we cannot paint this situation in black or white. It is a deep shade of grey.

If we look at it step by step, the first ones to be guilty should be the parents who mindlessly bring more and more kids into the world, knowing full well that they cannot feed them and deluding under the notion that they get an extra hand to bring in money. They don't realize that a lot of that money would be required to feed the same person who earns it. Maybe as a girl child she is not even fed properly at home. So basically the parents might just be using her to bring in the money.

The second party of guilty people are those who employ these kids without once considering their age, the rights and the wrongs.

A big culprit is the government which has laws against child labour but does nothing to implement them. Go to any government office. Who brings in the chai in a tray? A "chottu" from the neighbouring chai shop? Why are they allowed to enter the office. Why do the officers accept chai from the hands of these kids? Why don't they book the owner of the stall who has employed child labour?

On the other hand, consider this situation. All kids from slums and families of labourers are prevented from working and enrolled compulsorily in schools. Who is to ensure that they go to school, study and learn some skills that can get them a job at a later date? The parents go off to work and the kids just loaf around, neither working nor going to school. Compare a situation where the kids could be given small jobs in some business like a carpenter's shop or a tailoring shop where they get an opportunity to learn some skills hands on. Of course there is the risk that they will be exploited. I don't have any solution off the top of my head, but if that risk could be eliminated somehow, would it be such a bad idea after all to allow them to learn some skills which will stand them in good stead in future?

 

I would like to point out that, this is continuous chain. Every result is because of previous actions. Mostly, Poor families from slums have to see this. Consider a poor family having a newly wed couple. Mil will start nagging her DIL for a baby. DIL will in start telling her husband. Then they both try to conceive. They are blessed with family. Ok, one wish fulfilled. Oh wait!!! It's a baby girl!! We need a boy. Again try to conceive. Again blessed with girl. So, MIL starts blaming her DIL. DIL will start nagging to her husband. They try again. This time it's a boy. Finally, 2nd wish fulfilled. But Uh Oh!! There are three kids in the house. So have to feed them. But husbands salary in very low to do that. One more problem, we have to give them schooling. But no money for fees. It would have been better, if they had only one child. By that way they would have managed. But no!! MIL wanted a son for their family. Now, DIL has to go out in search of work as a maid. Income increases, but still very low. So, now what? Kids are big enough to work now. Get them to work, otherwise no chances of survival. And hence, we have a CHOTU and a CHUTKI working.

 

In our village there was a family with six daughters and one son. The parents were uneducated & so the children were. The father earned some odd amt by counting the coconuts in Coconut gardens or doing some odd jobs in temple festivals and marriages.saadham out of one kg of rice offered as nivedanam in local Ganesha temple was sufficient to feed them daily. Villagers alternatively offered them sambar or rasam.They had no other way but to send all the daughters one by one to some financially sound families.The children would get full meals, three sets of clothes and get automatically trained in all the domestic duties and will be eligible to manage a family when they were 17.Naturally children too were not interested in studies.They knew a little bit of Tamil to read and write and very smart in bargaining, shopping and very calculative and perfect in keeping accounts.
This was all that was needed in those days.
When I gave birth to my daughter in 1969 and son in 1973,I brought two girls one by one from the same family.However much I tried I could not make them study.She was more willing to play with the child, take him to nearby temples, comfort him/her when they cried. She had to remain with us and she was treated as one of the members of the family,she could eat whatever she wanted;she was extremely happy .But we felt guilty.The monthly income which we deposited in her account and a few ornaments and vessels which we gave were really helpful in conducting her marriage in the village. We contributed to many of the expenses.
The younger daughter looked after my son for 7 years. Her marriage also was conducted by us.

I used to question myself whether I would be prepared to send my daughter to somebody's house ,clearly s definite'No' was the answer.Yet the girl was simply sitting idle at home and the parents were willing to send her with us since we belonged to the same village and known for years. They didn't have to worry about the security aspect and they need not worry about the marriage of two girls. That was the main consideration.
Though the girls were given in marriage to men of low paid jobs, they ,with our monetary help, have made their daughters get University education.Those children are well employed now , married and well settled.
We cannot expect over all changes in a short period.
Yet slowly,definite awakening is there. There are less number of children, free education, free books and in about another 50 years, the child labour will totally vanish.

Jayasala 42

 

Whom to blame?? I'll definitely blame the parents for sure.
I think, if a person is strong enough to provide a best life for their offspring(s)
then only he/she gains the right to have baby.
If you cant feed one and have five then how its gonna work.waitingsmiley (excluding the cases of multiple births during single delivery)
In the above case, neither their kids feel blessed to have them as their parents nor the parents as they might think of them as a burden...(not all but quite a large number of ppl belongs to this category of blaming their kids for their miserable life)


To some extent, i will blame the custom of wanting a boy child in a family
and MEN (some women too) of our society for making the path tough for gals / women.
Wanting a boy child becomes one of the major reason for large size of the family. They keep trying till they have 1 boy. Why?? :rantI mean, boy or gal, its gonna be your responsibility.
Girls are taught to take care of the house, but Educating the boy child, giving the financial situation of their family as an excuse...notdonesmiley

One may come across a big group of beggars in vashi. The ladies of the begging group are all very young yet married and having 2-3 kids. Are you kidding me? Why having 2-3 kids, jab ek ka future bhi tum bright nahi bana sakte?
I literally hate these ppl because they use a crying baby for earning money.
I may sound rude but i hate them for their mindless behavior.

I'm not asking them to provide a luxurious life but atleast a decent life of 3 meals in a day, new shoes and dresses once/twice a year, a home sweet home to enjoy the time of togetherness with family, & (a must) an education to secure their future...

 

Angellic, I might accept this argument (and also second it) in cases of families which at least live in slums - they still have a roof over their head, have television sets, have some elementary degree of awareness, access to government hospitals and ways to limit their families.

However, in case of those beggar women on the streets, at least some if not all, have no homes, probably sleep on the streets with ensuing consequences ..... would not want to judge them. How many of them have ever seen the inside of a hospital or know about contraception? They are the responsibility of the government. Why are these people allowed to live on the streets? Why are they not they given some kind of shelter and made to be occupied in some kind of job or the other? Yes, some might run away wanting to get things the easier way (is it really easier?????), but then such recalcitrant beggars should be put behind bars and made to do some kind of simple labour and paid for that.

 

@jayasala42,
nice to know your contribution to the welfare and settlement of two helpless girls. Nothing is more rewarding than this. But, i somehow don't share your positive outlook of child labour being eradicated. Yes, slowly many of the children of our servants, people living in hutments etc have started attending school, college. But of them how many really make it good - is doubtful. This is mainly due to their surroundings- drunken fathers, mothers away almost all day on work etc. I was taking tuitions voluntarily for three primary school children belonging to the hutments in our area. Their parents are hard working and are running a small shop in the area and doing their best to send them to a private school - english medium - so that they can have a bright future. It was a real uphill task teaching them - as the only time they studied - was during this one hour tuition with me. They just did not have an idea of what is being taught in school and were way behind. Mainly because their parents did not even know to read their school diaries, dates of exam etc. Although i tried by best to explain to them each day after the tuitions, the children just managed to pass - that too after concentrating only on these 3 children. Some days they used to absent themselves from school without knowing importance of exam dates etc. This year, i therefore expressed my inability to teach them and it is really a pressure and very frustrating at times. Couldn't think of an immediate solution for such cases.
There are still countless homes in and around our area employing these young children and exploiting them to the core - for their own ends. It is a pity.

 

Teaching school kids is itself a task. It's very difficult. We have to get down to their level and explain it to them. And it requires lot of patience and experience. Otherwise, anybody can end up blowing their top floor after certain amount of time.