In our new plant some renovation work is going when the contractor brought in two young boys in the age group of 10-15 to work. I was startled to find these boys attending civil construction work as masons and assistants for sums of Rs.200 or so instead of attending schools. Child labor is an issue which cries immediate attention of our policy makers who are clamouring for reforms in every field like in Retail, Insurance Banking etc while silently doing nothing to redeem millions of children being used as cheap labor across the country. I am sure the bureaucrats have no hearts that includes our own Prime Minister for whom pleasing imperialist forces is the top priority.We have Montek Ahuluwalias who say people consumingmore than Rs.32 worth of goods are above poverty line and people like Kamal Nath  and Ratan Tata who would like to indemnify DuPont from criminal liability for Bhopal disaster. But fortunately we have National Advisory council headed by a compassionate woman of foreign origin who chose to live as an Indian and a sensible group of people conscious of their social obligations. I read with interest an article by Harsh Mander - a member of NAC on the need to curb child labor. Well. we should regulate the industry in the interest of children and also provide opportunities for thesechildren to learn new skills including informal education through late night schools or through modes of distance learning portals. We could ask the IT industry barons to lend a thought to this noble task of providing afforable quality education to our poor children and enhance their standards of life and living. that should be the priority in order to benefit from the so called demographic advantage of having many young people in our exploding population.

I am sure that such tasks are done only by those who have a genuine concern for our poor and we have lot of them. Why the Anna Brigade which wastes its time in fighting politicians could espouse this cause. Remember Vinobha Bhave's  Bhoodhan achieved more phenomenal a success than land reforms of the government which were selectively and shabbily implemented by a corrupt bureacracy.

I would urge every citizen of India to petition the NAC to urgently take this reform.