Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi offers to help Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
Satyarthi said current laws only barred labour until the age of 14 in hazardous locations
Hyderabad: Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi on Friday pointed to the lack of synchronisation between different legislation and hoped that child labour prohibition laws would be amended to ban all forms of child labour till the age of 14.
Speaking to the media, Dr Satyarthi said current laws only barred labour until the age of 14 in hazardous locations. India does not prohibit all kinds of child labour. But the Right to Education Act mandates that every child up to 14 years should go to school, he said. “But you are allowing non-hazardous child labour. It is a paradox. It is shameful,” Dr Satyarthi said. He said all the existing child labour prohibition laws, RTE and Juvenile Justice Act should be synchronised. All child labour till 14 years of age should be banned and child labour in hazardous sectors should be banned till 18. Dr Satyarthi said it was shameful that India had not ratified two international conventions on child labour. He offered to help Telangana and AP combat child labour.
Dream big and discover, says Kailash Satyarthi
Dream big, discover and do, these were the three Ds that Kailash Satyarthi had to say to the graduating students of the Indian School of Business on Friday.
He told the students to dream big not just for themselves but also for the nation. He said, “If you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem.” It was a special day for the Nobel Laureate as a parent too, as his daughter, Asmita Satyarthi was one of the students graduating on Friday from the business school. Asmita said, “I was hoping that this day would come but as my father is always busy it felt very special that he came as the chief guest and I received my post graduate degree from him.”
Kailash Satyarthi spoke about following one’s heart and said that if he had not done it many years ago when he left his job as an electrical engineer to fight for children’s rights, he would not have reached this stage in life now. He stressed on the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility.