SAY NO TO CHILD LABOUR- World Day against Child Labour- June 12, 2013

As the world today is celebrating ‘No Child Labour Day’ , the sound of the shrill call from a elite friend of the past resonanced in my ears loudly again-   “Rama-   Ekkada chachavey”….meaning Rama, where the hell have you died….

The just 10+ year old child ran to her ‘Madam’ side in a less than a minute and this fabulous rich civilized woman creature gave her a kick in her pit saying that she should stay in her sight all the time.  The little girl was embarrassed for I was there watching this happen …and as I tried stopping this so called friend.   The Madam gave the instructions to Rama to start pressing her legs as she stretched them on the coffee table from the sofa.  I felt like pushing her sofa upside down.. The poor little girl started to obey her silently for everything she was instructed to!.  

This is just one of the millions Rama’s who silently endure the pain of a heavy childhood, not see a penny of their earning which get sent to their parents in the villages,  fed on the leftovers and let to sleep on the floor even in chill winter nights.  These children help in domestic chores of cleaning, cooking and washing.  Few help the elders run errands for them.  Few are destined to be baby sitting all the times as mothers keep busy with kitty party’s and clubs and sometime genuine work schedules.   

Children working as child sex workers silently, not knowing of pregnancy and child birth, and subsequent consequences are another side of this sad story.  Children trafficked to other countries as domestic help and baby sitters, forbid of their rightful education and growing up years of childhood to enjoy, the poverty of the parents push them to the chores beyond their age. 

Millions of children work in remote villages in farms, silently inside the rooms of the factories,  do demeaning chores hidden inside the industries and sadly in the red light areas of the country doing jobs beyond their age and understanding.  

Construction laborers’, hotel waiters and cleaners, domestic helpers, courier boys, news paper boys, car cleaners,  workers in quarries and as wood cutters, cobblers, painters and potters.  These children do not know what is it like having a four square meal, a good night  comfortable sleep,  education and alphabets,  money and savings and no dreams of a sustainable future.  They get for the day, they eat and sleep what ever is possible and carry on with their lives.   By the time, they realize what they lost, they can never get back -  the precious childhood and hopes of education

 Thanks to the night schools and no child left behind campaigns, the children today are getting the required awareness and attention.  However, there is yet a larger segment of the society that is not careful of this menace between us.   Thoughtlessly employing children at any form of work is made illegal in most part of the world, but the law remained in the books far away from action. 

Time to say NO to Child Labour and put a strong end to this in our country.   Every child need to be set free to dream and dare to move in their lives with confidence and choice than be pushed to labour and burdened childhood.

World Milk Day -June 1st- But the other side on the fate of Cattle!- Cowu Cowu, Holy Cowu...No More Lovuuuu...Its just a business and bargains for the benefit for Man...with cruelty to Animals...No more Cow is a form of Goddess as we were taught!

Cows' Milk is for Calves-  Is it really?

Dairy Industry	India Stands No 1 in the world	Followed by USA
Investment: Rs 2242 Crores	Demand: 150 Million tonnes of Milk	Target Year: 2016-17
Result	Tragedy to Cows	Production through artificial insemination
Government Proposal	Increase Animal Husbandry , Dairying and Fisheries	Productivity enhancement Village Level Infrastructure growth Greater access to world markets
India is cattle capital of the world	324 Million herd	Result:  Pollution, Fodder demands and illegal business Cruelty to Animals
Myth-1	Cow is an Indian God, worshiped and protected. Valued as a family member and loved raising in homes	Reality :  Horror show of cruelty.   Cow slaughtering and milking is a big business
Myth-2	Milk is source of calcium	Reality:  Osteoporosis is caused due to consumption of milk and have more calcium in the diet -          There is no connection between bone health and consumption of milk
Myth 3	Cattle rearing is protecting of animals	Reality-  Cattle growing numbers for business is a bane to environment -          Bovines produce Methane when they pass gas -          Each Bovine produces anywhere between 100 Lt's- 500 litres of methane per day- equivalent to carbon dioxide emission from a car for one day -          Huge bovine population makes methane a dangerous pollutant Ecological imbalance: -          Producing fodder is a strain on scarce land and water resources -          Animal agriculture occupies 30% of earth’s land area -          Forested areas are let to graze or grow feed for farmed animals -          Effecting the cost of increase in prices of plant based diet -
Various ways of cruelty	1.        Artificial insemination 2.       Infertility due to 360 days of pregnancy 3.       Poor equipment 4.       Lack of proper training 5.       Calves are separated from the mothers the next day of their birth 6.       Cow and Calves don’t have a chance to experience the joys of motherhood to avoid the calves drinking off the full milk 7.       Bellows of thirsty calves go unnoticed 8.       Calves are treated as Replacement Stocks 9.       Increasing yield by injecting harmones like Oxytocin which is actually banned in India 10.   Hormonal injections result in abortions, mastitis, lower conception rate, calves in fact mortality, delayed puberty. 11.   Milk cows expected to give birth  to calves every year. 12.   50% of calves which are males are used to ploughing or butchered 13.   Sheltered in dark, cramped and acrid quarters 14.   Male calves are let to starve to death, thus suffering an early death 15.   Cows are kept pregnant almost 360 days in a year resulting in them drying up at the age of 6 or 7 instead of usual 14 years of their life span 16.   Milked overly, suffering from artificial insemination, hormonal injections and trauma of separation 17.   Trafficked for slaughtering under inhuman conditions 18.   Non milking cows are let to live on food from streets and plastic waste	Products: 1.       Skin is used for leather 2.       Cow leather is used to make seat covers, shoes, belts, purses,  pouches and sandals. 3.       Meat is used for domestic consumption and exports 4.       Calf leather has huge demand and calf meat called Veal is in high demand in Middle East 5.       Unborn calves meat is used for medicines 6.       Cattle’s heart tissues are used to rebuild livers 7.       Horns and Hoofs are used to make buttons, adhesives, plastics, pet food, plant food, shampoos and conditioners, boards, lamination paper, and plywood. 8.       Blood is used for making pasta, imitation eggs,  cake mixes,  dyes and inks,  adhesives,  minerals, medicines, and laboratory research materials 9.       Flesh is used for meat 10.   Tail is used for fertility treatment 11.   Bones used for whitening sugar and producing Gelatin, Charcoal, fertilizers and Glass 12.   Anti-aging creams and medicines are produced from cattle brains 13.   Hair is used to make air filters, Brushes, insulation, plaster and textiles 14.   Internal organs are used to make musical instruments, tennis racquet's strings, harmones, enzymes,  vitamins and surgical sutures other medicinal materials 15.   Milk is used to make adhesives,  plastics,  cosmetics and medicines 16.   Manure is used for fertilizers , nitrogen and phosphorous 17.   Skin is used to make gelatin,  flavorings,  emery boards, wallpapers, sheets, candies and confectionery 18.   Fat is used to make chewing gums, candies, detergents, fabric softeners, deos, shaving creams, perfume, pet food,  cosmetics, creams and lotions, crayons and paint, oils and lubricants,  bio diesel and plastics, waterproofing agents, cement,  ceramics, chalk , explosives,  fireworks,  matches, fertilizers, antifreeze, insulation's, linoleum, rubber,  textiles and medicines.
People Vs Vegans	Population of 1.2 Billion	400 Million Vegetarians only
Laws Governing slaughter houses	28 states have laws for protection legislation's	Less or no stringent laws in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Lakshadweep, and largerly Kerala
Organizations fighting for Animal rights	1.       People for Cattle in India (PFCI)
Slaughter Houses	India- 3600 slaughter houses 9 Modern Abattoirs 171 Meat processing units	Illegal slaughter houses account to more than 30000 in India which are unregulated
India – Biggest Beef Exporter	16,80,0000 tonnes of beef and Veal exports followed by Brazil and Australian  in 2013 Forecast increase to record 2.16 million tonnes 1.24 Billions $s worth of beef exported in 2012 1.4 million tonnes of cattle legally slaughtered in 2012 nationwide	Key:  Government subsidies for increasing export market One dead animal is worth close to Rs. 30000 Tax payer money is used to give subsidies to gain export revenues in dairy products, leather and beef industries.
Solution	Plant based diet Production of protein rich plant based foods such as legumes, Soybeans, pulses, fruits, nuts using land and water resources that are other wise used to produce cattle feed	If we have to let the food on the plates of our children, then going Vegan is the only way!

Source:  An thought provoking article in Hindu newspaper recently